![\"Pacemaker](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/YK5RJYJK7ZHVBAD6S5LEZXPEEE.JPG\")
Pacemaker Press 10-11-2025: Studio Ulster’s head of virtual production, Eranka Weerasuriya and her team in Belfast.\nPicture By: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press. <\/p>\n
There is a line in the 1989 Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams, where the narrator tells Costner\u2019s character Ray Kinsella to build a baseball field in his Iowa cornfield: \u201cIf you build it, he will come\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the decades since, the quote from the film \u2013 which sees long-dead White Sox and Yankees baseball players later playing in the field \u2013 has been often garbled, and subjected to a thousand interpretations.<\/p>\n
The quote\u2019s essence springs to mind as one approaches Studio Ulster\u2019s home in the Belfast Harbour Studios complex on the left-hand side of Belfast Lough, just before the M2 swings left for Ballymena.<\/p>\n
Today, Costner would not have to go to Dyersville, Iowa, or to Galena, Illinois, or Boston\u2019s Fenway Park to film Field of Dreams, since every blade of corn or wisp of grass could be created on Studio Ulster\u2019s giant LED screens.<\/p>\n
Put aside thoughts of computer-generated imagery (CGI) that looks fake, however: \u201cWe can create environments in this building that are impossible to find anywhere else: the Mojave desert, or a blizzard, or anything else,\u201d says Declan Keeney, the chief executive and co-founder of Studio Ulster.<\/p>\n
Inside its cavernous interiors, one stage is filled with a backdrop of a harbour at night-time, with lights flickering from a portside caf\u00e9, a ship bobbing on the water\u2019s edge. Everything has been created on LED screens. And it looks real.<\/p>\n
Pacemaker Press 10-11-2025: Studio Ulster’s head of virtual production, Eranka Weerasuriya and her team in Belfast.
\nPicture By: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press. <\/p>\n
Past efforts to do anything like this would not have looked as realistic, would have cost fortunes to make and would have taken weeks to build and dismantle. Here, everything can be done within days. Hours, often.<\/p>\n
Pointing to the screens, Keeney says: \u201cIt depends on what they want. If they want it in this configuration, it\u2019s just a matter of throwing up the content. If they want us to move the wall, that\u2019ll take a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything can be moved on omnidirectional wheels, he says, as he seeks to find the joystick required. \u201cThey\u2019re hiding it on me. They get very nervous when they see me coming,\u201d he says, laughing.<\/p>\n
![\"Studio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CKGHKYVDOJHXXGCTVOLYNFOZS4.JPG\")
Studio Ulster’s Alyssa Boyle, Prof Declan Keeney and Eranka Weerasuriya in Belfast.
\nPhotograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can start from scratch and rebuild the stage. It literally takes three people to do it all, two to make sure we don\u2019t run into anything, and one to move it. Then it\u2019ll take a day or so to reset and do all of the other bits and pieces. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor anybody else in the market currently that\u2019s work that takes five or six weeks. For them, it\u2019s like starting from scratch each time, even if they have only to move four feet to the left,\u201d Keeney declares.<\/p>\n
The Dargan Road premises, which just opened in June, has already been used by two critically-acclaimed BBC series, Blue Lights, centred on the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and the four-part Titanic Sinks Tonight series.<\/p>\n
![\"Dell](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/MWNUEOFWVFBFVNBU6DQVNCW7YE.jpg\")
Dell Studio Ulster <\/p>\n
Alyssa Boyle, the studio\u2019s head of operations, has so far shown Studio Ulster off to 500 leading executive producers from around the world since January.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a huge interest in this, it has been phenomenal,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have a busy new year ahead. That\u2019s a great complaint to have. From then, everything really kicks off in a way that even we could not have anticipated, and we have tried to anticipate everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though much of Blue Lights is filmed on location across Belfast, some night-time scenes were brought indoors to Studio Ulster \u201cand done at two o\u2019clock in the afternoon, rather than two o\u2019clock in the morning in the rain\u201d, says Keeney.<\/p>\n
For Titanic, set designers used a 3D model of part of the ship created by a preservation society in England to \u201ccreate a bit of the deck of the ship, and the cabins, and it looked extraordinary\u201d, Keeney tells The Irish Times.<\/p>\n
![\"Studio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/UYCIUEP2NFCA7LHUBR4PXN3T6I.JPG\")
Studio Ulster’s chief executive Prof Declan Keeney in Belfast. Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press <\/p>\n
The finished product was so good that executives at Sony, which owns the makers of the series, the Belfast-based Stellify Media, came to see for themselves: \u201cThey couldn\u2019t understand just why, and how it looked so good. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt just feels like you\u2019re on the ship. Look on camera and you can see the whole ship at sea, the water\u2019s dynamic, it\u2019s live,\u201d says the Donegal-born Keeney, who, besides his role in Studio Ulster, is also professor of screen technologies and innovation at Ulster University.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe actors loved it because they just felt that they were standing on the deck\u201d, rather than against blue and green screens used by film-makers up to now for digitally-created backgrounds, Keeney goes on. <\/p>\n
Studio Ulster does not exist in a vacuum, however. Standing on the roof of its building, one can easily see across the Lagan to the Titanic Paint Hall at Titanic Studios, where much of Game of Thrones was filmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cEight seasons of Game of Thrones, the very biggest serialised drama show in the world, has helped us build an infrastructure here that is world class, one that can cope with any scale of production here,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
![\"Studio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/JVHESW6UDFF77JAHR2E7KFS75Q.JPG\")
Studio Ulster\u2019s Alysia Boyle in Belfast. Photograph: Arthur Allison\/Pacemaker Press <\/p>\n
Today, Northern Ireland is home for up to 1,200 highly-trained film crew along with 6,000 extras, says Boyle: \u201cWe could have three feature films, two or three TV series and a whole lot of other stuff going on at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the land that is home to Studio Ulster came from Belfast Harbour Commissioners and the project itself has been heavily backed by British government money, Studio Ulster is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ulster University (UU).<\/p>\n
The university is investing heavily in film and animation. Today, there are 845 students enrolled in 10 degree courses run by UU\u2019s Ulster Screen Academy, \u201cones endorsed by the industry\u201d, Keeney tells The Irish Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are building quite a complex ecosystem here,\u201d he says, adding that about 400 of the film crew already available in Northern Ireland are fully trained in virtual production, with a couple of hundred equally-skilled graduates emerging each year.<\/p>\n
Everything works together with the university\u2019s Costar Screen Lab, one of several such technology hubs around Britain funded by the British government, specialising in developing new waves of technology.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the really critical piece. Independent research lies cheek-by-jowl with commercial industry. That\u2019s the difference. It\u2019s not that Studio Ulster owns a research wing,\u201d says Keeney, \u201cThat\u2019s not that unusual. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut what\u2019s unusual is that we have an independent, government-funded research lab, one of the best funded in Europe, right in the heart of the business. That is a fundamentally different ecosystem to anywhere else,\u201d says the former BBC news cameraman.<\/p>\n
Opportunities<\/p>\n
The alliance creates opportunities for small local tech companies, north and south of the Border. Their number is growing: \u201cThey\u2019re creative technology companies inside film, animation, games, immersive. It\u2019s not only just about film,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n
Studio Ulster\u2019s technological advantage has been hard-won, but Keeney and his colleagues have gone to extra lengths to ensure that that advantage remains. \u201cEverything here has been future-proofed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ninety fibre-optic cables \u201cwith 32 channels of 8k uncompressed video at the same time\u201d serve the building. For professionals in the trade, the numbers just quoted would \u201cleave their jaw sitting on the floor wondering how that is possible\u201d, he goes on.<\/p>\n
Under a deal finally announced in November, but long in the planning, Dell Technologies supplies the building\u2019s world-leading IT sinews: \u201cDell are quite proud of what they\u2019ve helped us achieve here. We have a mini data centre here,\u201d he declares.<\/p>\n
The pride felt by everyone involved in the technological leap it offers is evident, but encountering the reality on one of its sound stages filled with the backdrop of a jungle genuinely impresses.<\/p>\n
The backdrop changes as one walks \u201cinto\u201d the jungle, unveiling previously unseen parts. Turn left, or right, and the view changes again, with new paths becoming visible, while one can bend down and touch. For the watching cameras, one is in a jungle.<\/p>\n
Pointing back to Blue Lights, Keeney said that it is just one example of how the film-making world will be changed by virtual production \u2013 with far fewer locations needed, far greater productivity, far lower costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike I said about those night-time shots for Blue Lights, those can be done at two o\u2019clock in the afternoon, perfectly dry, unless they need rain on the vehicle. If so, that can be arranged with the flick of a switch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe quality of life for the actors, for the crew will improve, too. They\u2019re avoiding the late nights; the productivity is twice as high. They can get through maybe nearly half as many again sequences in a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd you don\u2019t have cars backfiring and ruining images,\u201d he says, adding that directors of photography \u201clove\u201d virtual production because they can use many cameras and know \u201cnobody is going to fall off the back of a low loader\u201d, he goes on. <\/p>\n
The end of needing to go \u201con location\u201d for months at a time, working all the early-morning and night hours that God sends to get the shots required by film directors means that film becomes attractive for workers who had moved away from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who have stepped away because they couldn\u2019t work in the middle of the night because they have young families or whatever can go back in. They can be fairly sure that studio days can be fixed daytime office hours,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n
Without the opportunities offered by Studio Ulster, the makers of the Titanic TV series might well have had to go to Cape Town in South Africa for filming on water, or use CGI blue and green screens.<\/p>\n
Life-like backgrounds so good that no one could tell that they were filmed by the side of Belfast Lough are just a part of Studio Ulster\u2019s capabilities, as a display of its \u201cmotion capture\u201d equipment quickly shows.<\/p>\n
Forty-five years ago, Christopher Reeve was mounted on to a fibreglass body and attached to a counterweighted rig that allowed him to \u201cfly\u201d for the Superman sequences that made him a worldwide star.<\/p>\n
No computer-generated imagery, still in its infancy, was used, but multiple cameras and highly-reflective screens created the illusion that Superman was flying at lightning speeds. It was the work of months of planning.<\/p>\n
Child\u2019s play<\/p>\n
Today at Studio Ulster, such matters are simpler, if not child\u2019s play. Sensors attached to an actor track movement, creating a life-like avatar: \u201cSo, all the small breaths, the little twitches, all the little nuances are captured,\u201d says Eranka Weerasuriya.<\/p>\n
Weerasuriya, Studio Ulster\u2019s head of production, is but one of several sought-after international staff who have been attracted by the opportunities it offers to make their home in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Now little more than three months in Belfast, Weerasuriya, who lived in London for a decade, saw the position advertised on LinkedIn: \u201cI never had it in my head to go to Belfast but I came anyway and fell instantly in love with the place,\u201d she tells The Irish Times.<\/p>\n
She came with a reputation, though she has to be pressed by Keeney into giving details of her past career, which includes working for Star Wars creator George Lucas\u2019s production company Lucasfilm.<\/p>\n
Once Lucas sold the company to Disney, Weerasuriya worked on the Marvel films before moving to London where she joined others \u201cinitially dabbling\u201d in the early days of virtual production, before moving on to Netflix.<\/p>\n
Even with that background, Weerasuriya is clearly impressed by the things that Studio Ulster can do that would have been deemed impossible until now, saying that she had \u201cnever seen anything like it before\u201d. <\/p>\n
Multiple shoots can be held at one time, stages can be changed, while film-makers can block-book times for a series of scenes confident that they will not be delayed by weather, traffic or anything else, she says.<\/p>\n
Belfast appeals, too, she says: \u201cFirst of all, I love the people. They have a generosity of spirit that I haven\u2019t experienced elsewhere. And they\u2019re funny. Good craic, too,\u201d she says, with a smile.<\/p>\n
India Vadher-Lowe is another who has come to build her field of dreams. Raised in Oxford, she arrived last January for the Titanic series, even before the studio officially opened.<\/p>\n
She started as a runner in a company making video games in 2015. Following time working on Disney films, she entered virtual production during Covid when film-makers could not take anyone anywhere for filming.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve settled here. Everyone\u2019s lovely. The place is changing a lot. But you\u2019re never more than 10 minutes away from everything. I\u2019m not travelling an hour and a half into London to go to work. I travel 12 minutes down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now living in a small town in Co Antrim, Callum Smith-Halvorsen is yet another arrival, and one equally taken by the lifestyle offered by life in Belfast, rather than the southeast of England.<\/p>\n
He also came even before Studio Ulster opened and was then persuaded to stay. He did \u201camazing work\u201d, says Keeney. Smith-Halvorsen stands, looking embarrassed.<\/p>\n
Life in Belfast suits, he says: \u201cIt\u2019s nice. I\u2019ve come from a small village, so I\u2019ve gone into another village and I\u2019m building a home up there. It\u2019s been good, very good. Life here is so much more,\u201d says the softly-spoken Englishman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a line in the 1989 Kevin Costner film, Field of Dreams, where the narrator tells Costner\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":215244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4501,9686,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-215243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-belfast","tag-common-ground","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}