Inside CCM’s XR Studio: where Media Production students experience the future of virtual production
Explore the creative potential of CCM's new performing and media arts lab space
CCM prepares students for the next stages of their careers by providing professionally-oriented immersive opportunities. Within CCM's Media Production Division, this means giving students hands-on experience with the latest virtual production technology.
UC's College-Conservatory of Music recently added an Extended Reality (XR) Studio to its world-class Media Production facilities. Dubbed the Performing and Media Arts Virtual Production (XR) Studio, this lab space allows the students, faculty and staff at the college to blend traditional physical performances with an immersive virtual environment created by the studio's 16x10 foot LED wall.
Pictured above: An actor performs in front of a virtual world created in CCM's XR Studio. The main feature of the studio is its 16x10 foot LED wall, comprised of 60 ultra-high-resolution Planar VPI VX2.5B tiles. The LED wall offers unprecedented flexibility and realism when filming. Students can create animated 3-D environments for the wall using Unreal Engine, so that actors, dancers and musicians become immersed in a virtual world. Photo/UC Marketing + Brand.
The studio is equipped with a positional camera tracking system that works with 3D creation tools like Unreal Engine to render digital scenery in real time, ultimately allowing students to create the kinds of cinematic worlds that once seemed impossible. This is the same state-of-the-art virtual production technology used by films like Disney's remake of "The Lion King" and the Star Wars series "The Mandalorian."
Experiential learning in extended reality
In Spring 2025, CCM offered its inaugural class in the XR Studio. Entitled "Virtual Production Studio Class," the course is taught by CCM alumnus Joseph Maiocco (BFA Media Production, '06). He explains, "The class is a very hands-on, studio focused class where we learn everything from the basics of Unreal Engine, how virtual production works with compositing and rotoscoping, and all of these intricacies."
Below, take an inside look at Maiocco's class and see how CCM's new XR Studio is preparing students for 21st century careers in the performing and media arts.
Bringing virtual production to the performing arts
The XR Studio collaborative lab space showcases the artistry of CCM through creative projects that transcend disciplines to create new knowledge and solutions that align with the strategic interests of the University of Cincinnati's Digital Futures initiative.
CCM Media Production Division Head Kevin Burke envisions the XR Studio as a truly collaborative creative space within the college. "This is another way that we can connect with different programs, specifically in the performing arts," he says. The studio will allow the many disciplines housed within CCM—not just Media Production, but also Theatre Design and Production, Performance Studies, Acting, Dance, Composition and more—to work together in the largest and fastest growing segment of the entertainment industry: virtual production.
"I think the sky is the limit on some of this work," says Maiocco. "And this to me is truly the future of filmmaking."
Below, watch a student-created short film produced in CCM's XR Studio as part of Maiocco's Virtual Production Studio Class.
About CCM Media Production
CCM’s Media Production Division emphasizes hands-on, experiential learning that is student-centered, professionally relevant and focused on creative content development.
CCM Media Production is student centered with small class sizes and an innovative, flexible curriculum that reflects the dynamics of industry demands and student needs. CCM's Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Media Production features five curricular tracks, allowing students to specialize in:
- Audio
- Broadcast News
- Film and Television
- Multimedia
- Sports Media
Students in CCM's Media Production Division acquire the hands-on skills and digital portfolio necessary to transition successfully into the professional world. In addition to classwork, students are connected with professional internships that are integrated into the curriculum. The division’s award-winning, full-time faculty has extensive professional media backgrounds that allow them to emphasize current professional media production tools and techniques while providing students with connections to the industry.
CCM also offers an Academic Minor in Media Production, which prepares students in the integrated media arts of film and digital cinema, television and broadcast media news, audio production, and new media design.
An Inside Look at CCM’s XR Studio (Virtual Production Studio Class)
CCM Media Production Division
Virtual Production Studio Class
Joseph Maiocco, Instructor
XR Studio Student Crew
- Matthew Abrams
- Tyler Barnes
- Anthony Dillion
- Blake Freechtle
- Kiera Hawks
- Chengxi Li
- Joel Mobley
- Nick Murphy
- Gabe Peters
- Iliana Rich
- Karsten Schick
- Gabe Tassi Borges Zenaide
- Lee Trimble
- Ella Wahlquist
Also Featuring
- Kevin Burke, Division Head and Professor of Media Production
- Faith Broering
- Katherine Fields
- Katie Griffith
- Tyler Hodgson
- Tony Miller
- Andrew Strawn
Production Credits
- Camera: Davison Black, Clark Comstock
- Interview Lighting: Annie Thompson
- Location Sound Mixer: Ben Terribilini
- Editor: Davison Black
- Producer: Melissa Godoy
Music "A Step Ahead" by Thomas Hogan, Lynne Publishing
CCM Media Production's XR Studio Short Film: "Dilemma"
"Dilemma" is the senior capstone project of dancer and choreographer Iliana Rich, who graduated from CCM with a BFA in Ballet in Spring 2025.
Rich explains, "My film 'Dilemma' is about a girl, portrayed by (fellow BFA in Ballet graduate) Katie Griffith, who we see is fighting an internal battle with herself. She doesn’t really know where she is in life and what direction she is going to take. She delves into anxiety and fear until a guardian angel, portrayed by Iliana Rich, picks her up with open arms to help. Katie doesn’t want to accept the help at first, causing herself to spiral even more. Realizing she can’t do it alone, she reaches out to her guardian angel, even though she has doubts about what lies ahead. Katie learns to trust Iliana, after Iliana saves her and offers reassurance time and time again. She conquers her dilemma and begins to see mental clarity as Iliana sends Katie walking out of frame, symbolizing she is no longer stuck in her mind and the anxiety that once consumed her."
"The inspiration behind Dilemma’s story was my own life," Rich continues. "I knew going into my senior year of college I was going to have a lot of challenging decisions to make by the end of it about my future. Some of them I could control, but the ones out of my control scared me. I often was overwhelmed, overthinking, and stuck in my head because I did not know what steps I would take next. Creating Dilemma became a way to process what I was feeling and turn it into something meaningful."
Production Credits
- Choreographer: Iliana Rich
- Director: Ella Wahlquist
- Producer: Kierra Hawks
- Editor: Anthony Dillion
- Director of Photography: Blake Freechtle
- Lighting: Chengxi Li
- 3D Visual Artist: Gabe Peters
- Dancers: Katie Griffith, Iliana Rich
Music "Fury" by Ardie Son, Artlist.io
Costumes Courtesy of CCM's Dance Department
Produced as part of the CCM Media Production Division's Virtual Production Studio Class
Joseph Maiocco, Instructor
Next Lives Here
At the University of Cincinnati, we realize the impact our teaching, research, artistry and service can have on our community and the world. So, we don’t wait for change to happen. We break boundaries, boldly imagine and create what’s Next. To us, today’s possibilities spark tomorrow’s reality. That’s why we are leading urban public universities into a new era of innovation and impact, and that's how we are defining Next for the performing and media arts.
We're about engaging people and ideas - and transforming the world.
We are UC. Welcome to what's Next.
Featured image at the top: students and faculty work in front of the 16x10 foot LED wall in CCM's virtual production studio in in a scene from the "An Inside Look at CCM's XR Studio" video.
Additional Contacts
Rebecca Butts | Assistant Public Information Officer
buttsrl@ucmail.uc.edu | 513-556-2675
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