Virtual production is rapidly disrupting traditional methods of production and becoming an increasingly important part of the film and TV industries. Production teams are finding ways to cut costs and deliver quicker results by combining real-time rendering, Mocap, CG, & traditional techniques to create their projects. Join this webinar to find out about the future of virtual production & the XR sector from industry experts.

Panelists include:

• Mariana Acuna Acosta | Glassbox Technologies
• Ben Grossmann | Magnopus
• John MacInness | MacInness Studios
• Habib Zargarpour | Digital Monarch Media (a division of Unity Technologies)

Panelists biographies

Mariana Acuna Acosta | Glassbox Technologies

Mariana is a technologist, connector, and entrepreneur. She is the co-founder and CPO at Glassbox Technologies, where she leads the roadmap for new and existing technology developing tools for Virtual Production using XR transforming the way filmmaking is done today. She was one of the ten finalists of the Women Startup Challenge VR and AI, she was also named one of the top 10 VR innovators to watch out for.

During her years at The Foundry, she focused on virtual reality post-production workflows, as well as being the Head of Creative Specialists in the Americas. Mariana was a pioneer in her hometown Mexico City, where she founded the first VR and 360 video production and branding agency – JoltVR.

Prior to her switch into tech, she worked as an on-set VFX supervisor & senior digital artist and has over 13 years’ experience in the motion picture industry working at such studios as Sony Imageworks, CIS Hollywood, Digital Domain, HBO, Columbia Pictures and Fuse FX. She was featured in the book Voices of Labor: Creativity, Craft, and Conflict in a Global Hollywood, as well as in the acclaimed documentary “Hollywood’s Greatest Tricks”.

Ben Grossmann | Co-Founder, Magnopus

Ben Grossmann is an Oscar-winning and Emmy Award-winning virtual production supervisor who has worked with the likes of Martin Scorsese, JJ Abrams, and Jon Favreau.  He is co-founder of Magnopus, a team of 150 people forging the digital and physical worlds into a unified experience that doesn’t suck.  Most recently he was the Virtual Production Supervisor on The Lion King.

John MacInnes | Founder | MacInnes Studios

John is a writer, producer and director working exclusively with Epic Games’s Unreal Engine since 2015. He first gained recognition as a screenwriter, writing CALL OF DUTY, ADVANCED WARFARE, the biggest selling video game of 2014. He is the recipient of an Academy Nicholl Fellowship from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) for his script OUTSIDE THE WIRE.
John launched MACINNES STUDIOS in 2020, a virtual production studio creating hyper real virtual characters. His journey into all things virtual began with his experience working on CoD which led to him creating cutting edge and award-winning VR and AR.

He won a Lumiere Award for Best AR for his work on the global marketing campaign for Netflix’s Altered Carbon featuring real-time hyper-real UE4 digital characters and created the art installation We The People, featuring interactive avatars of Presidents Obama and Trump, for the Sotheby’s Art Of VR exhibition. More recently John worked with Ryot Studios on their 5G digital human and virtual production pipeline for Verizon. His avatar of David Bowie was the recipient of an Epic Games Mega Grant and was revealed at the 2019 Infinity Festival in Los Angeles to great acclaim.

Habib Zargarpour | Head of Film Development Digital Monarch Media | a division of Unity Technologies

Habib has been nominated for two Academy Awards and won two BAFTA’s for his work on Twister and The Perfect Storm.

His visual effects career has included developing groundbreaking effects while at Industrial Light & Magic, Electronic Arts, and as Director of Visuals for XBox Publishing at Microsoft. His film credits include: Greyhound, Blade Runner 2049, and The Jungle Book where he pioneered Virtual Production using Real-Time Engines. Other credits are Signs, The Bourne Identity, Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace, Spawn, Jumanji, Star Trek: Generations, and The Mask. He has also been Senior Art Director on hit video games such as: RYSE: Son of Rome, Need for Speed Most Wanted/ Underground, James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing. He is currently directing his first feature film, Squadron.

While at UNITY Habib continues to develop real-time techniques for film making and combining his experience in film and real time engines in order to bring their benefits to Virtual Production. He is an active member of AMPAS, BAFTA, and a founding member of the Visual Effects Society and the 5D-Conference.