How Volumetric Video Raises Questions About the Future of Technology and Ethics in Entertainment

Increasingly, the entertainment industry is embracing and utilizing new forms of technology, including volumetric video. Volumetric video, a recent advancement in motion capture technology, is able to place people within fully rendered three-dimensional spaces. But while it presents new opportunities in film, commercials, gaming and sports, it raises several ethical questions as well. 

To discuss the opportunities and challenges volumetric video and other emerging technologies present, the 3rd Annual Labor Innovation & Technology Summit featured Volumetric Video and the Future of Entertainment on Feb. 19. The panel included SAG-AFTRA Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, as well as TetaVi Business Model Director Roi Lev, Irfan Merchant of Mobile Motion MoCap Studios, Arcturus Partnerships & Marketing Head Piotr Uzarowicz, and The Mill Global Director, Emerging Technologies Boo Wang. Matthew Papish, chief executive officer of Immersive Talent Management and the head of partnership strategy and business development at Samsung XR, moderated. 

Together, the group discussed how volumetric video is an opportunity for filmmaking in the industry and the importance of developing a system of ethics regarding fair use, compensation and consent for the use of performers’ and public figures’ images. Also featured was a demonstration of a volumetric video featuring SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris.    

To watch the full panel, scroll below. Click below to watch other events from the summit: 

• Welcome & Introduction by SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris
• Straight to Streaming: Pandemic Strategy or New Normal?
• Streaming & the Changing Business Model 
• Deepfakes Update 
• From Gaming to Dubbing: What’s Hot in VO
• 10 Game Changers from CES  
• Realigning Technology & Humanity
• Centering Unions in the Future of Work
• Innovation & the Pandemic: What’s Next for Essential Workers? 
• Big Data, Surveillance & Discrimination 
• Covering Content Innovators: SAG-AFTRA’s New Influencer Agreement 

The views expressed by the guests are their own and not that of SAG-AFTRA. Any mention of products or services does not imply SAG-AFTRA’s endorsement