Declan Keeney

Professor Declan Keeney, PhD, FRSA, SFHEA, is Co-Founder & CEO of Studio Ulster Ltd, a £72m next-generation virtual production studio and creative tech company based at Belfast Harbour Studios, a pillar innovation project of the Belfast Region City Deal.

Declan is a global leader in real-time screen technologies and holds a Chair in Screen Technologies & Innovation at Ulster University. He is Director of the CoSTAR Screen Lab, overseeing £12m in R&D investment. A board member of the British Film Institute and Northern Ireland Governor, he has secured over £91.5m in R&D&I investment funding, co-leads several major UKRI-funded national initiatives in virtual production, and founded the Ulster Screen Academy — home to the UK and Ireland’s first university-based VP studio.

Courses and Content

Video

Harnessing the Power of Virtual Production for Indie Filmmakers

With: Alyssa Boyle and 3 more

FREE

Harnessing the Power of Virtual Production for Indie Filmmakers

With: Alyssa Boyle, Declan Keeney, Jamie Harvey and Niamh Gormley

Virtual production (VP) offers filmmakers a new avenue to achieve high production value on a smaller budget. In this immersive introduction to the technology, viewers receive a virtual tour of Studio Ulster, one of Europe’s most ambitious VP studios located in Belfast, Ireland. Representatives from Studio Ulster discuss the benefits, logistical issues, and challenges unique to VP. Viewers also hear from independent producer Jamie Harvey on his honest experiences working with VP. This session offers an informed, on-the-ground exploration of VP for independent filmmakers curious of the new technologies, including: LED volumes, real-time engines, camera tracking, in-camera VFX (ICVFX), and motion (or emotion) capture (MOCAP).

FREE

Event Recording

Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation - ON DEMAND

Together with creators, educators, industry leaders, and technologists, we explored the creative technologies that are impacting storytelling and how today’s artists are evolving. Now you can experience it all on-demand for free.