The 22nd China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF), a flagship national cultural event, opened on May 21. This year's expo highlights the digital and intelligent transformation of the cultural sector, showcasing new productive forces and bringing together top-tier cultural and innovative resources from around the world.
Versatile Media, a Zhejiang-based leading enterprise in the province's integration of culture with science and technology, was invited to showcase China's latest advances in industrialized, AI-driven virtual production.
The Zhejiang Pavilion at the 22nd China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF). (Photo: Courtesy of Versatile Media)
At the expo, Versatile constructed a 125-square-meter immersive virtual production stage, offering hands-on demonstrations of the industrialized AI virtual production workflows. Powered by the company's proprietary AI agent "Moke" and the MoboCon intelligent motion control system, the platform enables the real-time integration of filming, rendering and final-pixel delivery.
Versatile Media's immersive virtual interactive studio. (Photo: Courtesy of Versatile Media)
The immersive experience attracted large crowds, with filmmakers and media professionals from China and abroad stepping onto the virtual set to experience the capabilities of this cinematic industrial system firsthand. Inside the cockpit, LED walls rendered alpine forest scenes in real time. Through MoboCon's integrated control, the entire filming process – including complex aerial shots – proceeded safely, efficiently, and with high precision.
An electric turntable-driven cockpit features LED walls that render virtual scenes in real time. Photo: Courtesy of Versatile Media
Powered by Versatile's end-to-end AI workflow and seamless data integration, scenes of helicopters flying above forest treetops appear instantly on screens before the audience. "This is like compressing a Hollywood post-production facility into a magic box you can literally reach out and touch," one visitor remarked after the demo.
This novel production model reshapes the traditional linear pipeline of "script-scouting-shooting-post-production," upgrading it to a highly integrated, visualized pre-production workflow. With its marked advantages in efficiency, real-time capabilities and operational safety, this new paradigm is becoming an increasingly preferred choice for film and television projects.
The technological shift received institutional support in February with the establishment of the "AI + Film Virtual Production Integration Lab" at Versatile's AI virtual film base. The lab was jointly initiated by the China Film Science and Technology Research Institute and the Zhejiang Provincial Film Bureau.
Versatile Media's AI Virtual Film Base in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province. (Photo: Courtesy of Versatile Media)
Versatile's presence at ICIF not only demonstrates Zhejiang's achievements in cultural and technological integration, but also highlights the vast potential of AI in driving cultural creation, giving the global industry a tangible glimpse into the future of cinema.