![\"Declan](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/a54db903-f725-4703-a1a2-05154f381211.jpg\")
Declan Keeney: \u2018We can recreate incredible environments in the studio now \u2014 we can bring new productions, at every scale, to Belfast that we wouldn\u2019t have attracted before\u2019 \u00a9 Liam McBurney\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
Studio Ulster\u2019s chief executive Declan Keeney said it will now be catapulted into an even bigger league, with \u201cvirtually limitless\u201d possibilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a destination of choice. We can recreate incredible environments in the studio now \u2014 we can bring new productions, at every scale, to Belfast that we wouldn\u2019t have attracted before,\u201d he told the Financial Times.<\/p>\n
The immersive wraparound mountain landscape, with an illuminated castle and tree branches swaying in the breeze, spans what Studio Ulster says is the tallest motion capture stage in Europe.<\/p>\n
The 75,000 square feet studio was part-financed by the UK government via a Belfast Region City Deal grant and developed by Ulster University in partnership with Belfast Harbour, supported by Northern Ireland Screen. It boasts special effects facilities including robotics, automation, remote sensor laser technology known as Lidar, 3D and 4D scanning, plus LED volume walls \u2014 the successor to green screens.<\/p>\n
![\"Sir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/3fd83fe3-a820-45be-8be4-dc4a6717f966.jpg\")
Renowned flautist Sir James Galway performing during Thursday\u2019s launch event for Studio Ulster \u00a9 Liam McBurney\/PA Wire<\/p>\n
Actors wearing sensors can be manipulated into computer generated images \u2014 think of Gollum in Lord of the Rings \u2014 and images filmed in daylight can be made to look like they were shot at night. <\/p>\n
On another set, young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, trained in virtual production and games design in one of Ulster University\u2019s \u201ctalent pipelines\u201d, work on the details of a gaming world.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen lots of film sets but I\u2019ve never seen anything to this degree of technical excellence \u2014 and I am hard to impress,\u201d said Michele Devlin, director of the Belfast Film Festival. <\/p>\n
Because of its level of automation, Keeney said Studio Ulster offers speed and flexibility. \u201cIt\u2019s not just one stage built and fixed\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. like nearly all of our competitors,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can change that to a completely new configuration in half a day to one day. Anywhere else in the world, it takes between three and seven weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/a3eae832-4df0-476e-b98e-b5e2fe233448.jpg\")
Studio Ulster is one of five so-called CoSTAR labs across the UK, government-backed hubs encouraging innovation in the creative industries \u00a9 Charles McQuillan\/Getty Images\/Studio Ulster<\/p>\n
In an expensive industry, virtual production is faster, cheaper and more environmentally friendly as crews do not have to be sent on location.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole industry is looking towards AI and virtual production solutions to help with stretched budgets,\u201d said Paula Heffernan, head of production at Element Pictures, whose movies include Oscar-winner Poor Things<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other advanced and virtual production facilities exist \u2014 Australia\u2019s Docklands studio<\/a> is one \u2014 but \u201cto be based in Northern Ireland will be a real selling point for incoming productions\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n Studio Ulster is one of five so-called CoSTAR<\/a> labs across the UK, government-backed hubs encouraging innovation in the creative industries. UK tax credits<\/a> of 34 per cent for films, high-end TV and video games also enhance Belfast\u2019s appeal, Devlin added, while the English-speaking workforce is a plus for US productions.<\/p>\n Northern Ireland boasts three studios besides Studio Ulster, but Richard Williams, chief executive of Northern Ireland Screen, said the new facility takes the region\u2019s industry to the \u201cnext level\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009its potential is enormous\u201d.<\/p>\n He expected it in time to bring an extra \u00a350mn to \u00a3100mn a year in private investment into the sector while Keeney predicted as many as 600 new jobs.<\/p>\n Creative industries contributed \u00a31.6bn to the Northern Ireland economy<\/a> in 2022, 3.2 per cent of the region\u2019s gross value added, according to the most recent official figures, with 39,000 people employed.<\/p>\n Within that, the film sector\u2019s output rose 7.4 per cent in 2022 compared with 2021, more than double the overall growth rate from the region\u2019s total GVA.<\/p>\n Netflix\u2019s How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, by award-winning Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, and Game of Thrones prequel, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms \u2014 although not being shot at Studio Ulster \u2014 are among other upcoming productions from Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n Even before its formal launch last week, Studio Ulster \u2014 located at Belfast harbour near to where the Titanic ocean liner was built \u2014 was used to film a BBC docudrama called Titanic Sinks Tonight, to be distributed internationally by Sony. Some of the upcoming series of award-winning Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights<\/a> has also been filmed at the facility.<\/p>\n Keeney said non-disclosure agreements meant he could not name future productions but \u201cmajor streamers are coming next year\u201d and \u201cvery big\u201d feature films. <\/p>\n For Element Pictures\u2019 Heffernan, \u201cwe\u2019d definitely, absolutely be looking to use Studio Ulster if we can find the right project\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sensors dotting an actor\u2019s black suit transpose his movements on to an animated creature. A huge monster curls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-204320","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114725286447545285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/cc9d1516-62a8-4d28-b790-762d0a77e551.jpg\")
About 40,000 people are employed in the creative industries in Northern Ireland \u00a9 Liam McBurney\/PA Wire<\/p>\n