How Barnabas Csutak Is Using Digital Twins to Redefine Film and TV Production
In the fast-changing world of film and television, timing is everything, but so is preservation. Sets vanish overnight, overseas shoots drain budgets, and creative teams are often scattered across continents. Barnabas Csutak, Producer and Growth Consultant at District Cinema, is tackling all of that head-on. By combining cutting-edge reality capture with virtual production workflows, he’s helping productions plan smarter, shoot faster, and even revisit locations long after the physical set is gone. His mission is simple: make high-end virtual production tools accessible to everyone, from indie filmmakers to major studios, without the limits of geography or budget.
Barnabas Csutak, Producer and Growth Consultant
Barnabas, for those who don’t know you yet, who are you and what do you do?
I’m Barnabas Csutak, working with District Cinema. I design and implement virtual pre-production workflows that merge reality capture technology with the practical needs of film and television. My background is in large-scale physical production, but I transitioned into virtual workflows to help productions work more efficiently, sustainably, and creatively.
Tell us about some of the ways you’re using these workflows today.
A big part of our work right now is in pre-production. We scan filming locations in centimeter-accurate detail, giving directors, cinematographers, and art departments the ability to virtually explore and plan from anywhere. Blocking shots, testing lenses, tracking sun paths, and taking precise measurements without physically being on-site. The process combines LiDAR sensors capturing over 200,000 points per second with imagery from four wide-angle cameras, projecting high-resolution textures directly onto the point cloud. The result is a photorealistic 3D environment that teams can step into as if they were there in person.
We also use this approach for set preservation. On certain productions, we’ve been brought in right after shooting wraps to capture entire sets before they’re dismantled. Those scans become a high-fidelity record of the environment, which can later be used for pickups or reshoots. Instead of rebuilding or re-dressing sets, productions can place actors in front of a green screen or LED volume and composite them into the preserved 3D environment, saving time, money, and a lot of logistical effort.
You’ve also extended these capabilities beyond traditional production, correct?
Yes. At District Cinema, we work in the location-based entertainment space, designing immersive experiences that integrate these scans directly into the environment design. It’s the same core technology, just applied to create live, interactive worlds.
We also scan event spaces for sales enablement. Imagine a venue being able to send a fully explorable 3D version of their space to a potential client, they can walk through virtually, visualize layouts, and make decisions without an in-person visit. It’s a powerful way to speed up the sales process and make it more engaging.
What’s your bigger vision for the future?
I’m working on making these tools accessible to everyone from independent filmmakers to major studios, so creative and logistical decisions can be made faster, without the limits of geography or budget. To achieve that, I’m building a global network of reality capture companies so productions anywhere can access consistent, high-quality scans.
If you had to sum up your mission in one sentence, what would it be?
To give productions the ability to capture, preserve, and plan with complete creative freedom wherever they are in the world.
