The Mandalorian S1 E4: LED Volume Breakdown - How Much Was Shot on LED Volume?
I was the Virtual Art Department Lead on The Mandalorian Season 1 (under VAD Art Director Felix Jorge), and my job was to help design the LED volume virtual sets and work directly with the production designer, DP, and director to make sure their creative insight was translated to digital. We were there in the early days figuring out the pipeline with the key creatives, to understand how the whole process will work.
This post is a visual breakdown of how the LED volume was used in The Mandalorian Season 1 Episode 4. I mapped out where in the episode runtime the LED shots appear, categorized them by set, and visualized how the physical and virtual sets were arranged within the volume.
Episode Breakdown
The episode runs around 35 minutes. Of that, approximately 14 minutes were filmed using the LED volume. In the timeline graphic, yellow sections indicate scenes shot on the volume. You’ll also see labels for which sets were used. Some environments, like the space sequences, were created directly by ILM and didn’t go through the VAD. And for this episode, ILM took on the development of the Sorgan environments from start to finish.
This kind of breakdown is useful for producers, supervisors, and filmmakers who want a clearer understanding of when and how the LED volume was used.
LED Volume Set Breakdown
Below is an orthographic render of LED volume set used in the episode, to provide spatial context for how scenes were blocked and shot. These kinds of renders show camera placements, what was built physically (yellow), what appeared on the LED screen (blue), and how everything fit within the stage.
If you haven’t seen this process up close, it’s a straightforward way to understand how physical and digital elements were blended during production.
Sorgan Common House
What’s Next
More breakdowns are coming. I’ll be continuing this series through Season 1 and 2 of The Mandalorian, as well as Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, and Skeleton Crew.
As well as compiling a Season Review, where Ill show across all episodes how many times each set was reused and talk about the schedule for the VAD.
If you want updates for when those are published, you can sign up for the newsletter.
