Favreau’s vision pro: hollywood’s new imax, one take at a time
Jon Favreau is redefining the filmmaking process, leveraging Apple’s Vision Pro to deliver IMAX-quality visuals directly on set – and bypassing traditional cinematic constraints entirely.
A shift in production, powered by augmented reality
The director’s approach, detailed during a CinemaCon appearance, reflects a broader trend within Hollywood: a move away from bespoke technological development towards readily available consumer hardware. As Favreau stated, “Every time you visited our plateau, we were using video game hardware to launch a motion capture previsualization process. Because now it’s products designed for the mass market, there’s incredible innovation in them.” He’s essentially trading the complexities of building proprietary systems for the immediate benefits of established technology.
The key, it turns out, is scale. Favreau utilizes the Vision Pro not as a virtual reality headset, but as a powerful window onto a finished IMAX experience. “In the case of the Apple Vision Pro, the mixed reality glasses are basically the director’s point of view for framing IMAX shots from the plateau,” he explained. “So I’m making a movie in IMAX and I’m looking at a television screen. No matter how big your television screen is, it’s not an IMAX screen. We created software so I could put on my Apple Vision Pro and feel like I was sitting in an IMAX theater and see the aspect ratio complete while I framed a shot.”
This isn’t about creating a fully immersive VR environment; it’s about visualizing the final product in its intended format. His team developed a supplementary software to emulate the proportions and scale of an actual IMAX screen, allowing him to accurately judge composition and framing – a process previously reliant on cumbersome and lengthy screenings.
Bridging the gap between consumer tech and cinematic grandeur
Favreau’s use of the Vision Pro highlights a critical shift in how Entertainment is produced. Samsung’s Galaxy XR devices, a comparable piece of augmented reality hardware, represent an early step in this direction, offering a 360-degree viewing experience. However, Favreau’s method transcends simple immersion. He’s using the device to replicate the size of an IMAX screen – a concept he describes as “a size-real” experience.
He recalls his early work with virtual reality, emphasizing that the true magic lies not in 3D visuals or fancy lenses, but in the illusion of scale. “When I started using virtual reality, I would teach people about this concept of ‘size-real’ and it was the hardest concept to understand. Almost nobody imagines it until they try it.” The effect is startling – suddenly, a virtual environment feels tangible, with objects occupying a realistic scale. “If you visit the Eiffel Tower, you have to turn your head back and look at the roof to contemplate it.”
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