Felix Jorge

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A man with curly hair and a nose ring stands against a dark blue wall with graffiti. He is wearing a white dress shirt, a patterned tie, and a black leather jacket with white contrast stitching.
A man with curly shoulder-length hair poses against a solid dark brown background. He is wearing a formal black suit with a white shirt and patterned tie, layered under an oversized black leather jacket featuring white stitching. He has several rings on his fingers and an ornamental belt buckle.
A low-angle shot of a man with curly hair looking off to the side while leaning against a dark maroon wall. He is dressed in a white shirt, a black tie, a black suit jacket, and a black leather jacket with visible white stitching.

Felix Jorge

0%

0%

A man with curly hair and a nose ring stands against a dark blue wall with graffiti. He is wearing a white dress shirt, a patterned tie, and a black leather jacket with white contrast stitching.
A man with curly shoulder-length hair poses against a solid dark brown background. He is wearing a formal black suit with a white shirt and patterned tie, layered under an oversized black leather jacket featuring white stitching. He has several rings on his fingers and an ornamental belt buckle.
A low-angle shot of a man with curly hair looking off to the side while leaning against a dark maroon wall. He is dressed in a white shirt, a black tie, a black suit jacket, and a black leather jacket with visible white stitching.

What percentage of The Mandalorian was shot on the volume?

Article

Production Designer, Virtual Art Department

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Source

Felix Jorge

Date

2026

What percentage of The Mandalorian was shot on the volume?

When I was invited to art direct virtual sets on The Mandalorian, I had no idea what I was getting into. Since then I've seen plenty of LED volume shoots go sideways from under planning. The complaints I hear most: "it looks gamey," and "we didn't get the amount of minutes we expected." The Mandalorian is still the benchmark. The target was 40% on the volume, varying by episode, and Safari Sosebee's breakdown of the first four episodes shows how each one split, with awesome visuals to match.

How much of a show does an LED volume actually cover?

Producers ask this first, it helps set the budget, stage booking, and VAD size.

The numbers

Episode

Runtime

On the volume

Share

Sets

1

~35 min

~13 min

37%

Nevarro Alley, Client Office

2

~27 min

~13 min

48%

Arvala Mudlands, Arvala Resting

3

~30 min

~8 min

27%

Razor Crest Cockpit, Nevarro Rooftop

4

~35 min

~14 min

40%

Sorgan Common House

Total

~127 min

~48 min

38%


Episode 1. Yellow marks what was shot on the volume, labelled by set.

Episode 1. Yellow marks what was shot on the volume, labelled by set.

Episode 2. The highest share of the four, about half the episode.

Episode 2. The highest share of the four, about half the episode.

Episode 3. The lowest, around eight minutes.

Episode 3. The lowest, around eight minutes.

Episode 4. ILM developed the Sorgan environments start to finish, and the volume is where they played.

Episode 4. ILM developed the Sorgan environments start to finish, and the volume is where they played.

What about revisiting a location across a season?

That saves a lot too. A set that looks expensive for four minutes in one episode is cheap across a season, and that's where the VAD's value shows.

Below: yellow is what was built practically, blue is what played on the LED screen.

Nevarro Alley, Episode 1.

Nevarro Alley, Episode 1.

What to do if you want to use Virtual production.

Having a percentage goal is a good idea, but not sacred. Go through the script and mark the scenes where the volume makes the most sense: scenes with many pages in one location, shots with blurry backgrounds, interiors and exteriors with softer lighting. Add those up, and get your numbers from there. Then plan the rest of the film with their own shooting methods as well. Thx for reading.

All graphics courtesy of Safari Sosebee.