While Disney’s upcoming The Lion King remake is an animated feature like its 1994 predecessor, director Jon Favreau used virtual reality (VR) to approach the project as if he was directing a live-action film, according to a preview from Entertainment Weekly.

“The whole reason for all of this is to make an animated film feel live-action,” Favreau told Entertainment Weekly. “To have a real crew come in, interface with an animated film, and make all the camera decisions that you would on set, instead of somebody sitting at a keyboard programming in the camera moves. If you look at the way we’re covering and cutting [the animated performances], all of that is related to traditional cinema.”

With technical assistance from Magnopus, Vive, Oculus, Unity, and others, The Lion King‘s set was essentially a VR studio that put Favreau and his crew on location in the African savannah, with each crew member represented as an avatar. According to the preview, Favreau could use VR controllers to fly up above Pride Rock to get a wide view of the environment. “Suddenly there you are, suspended in the clouds alongside the director, watching a scene play out between two animated lions on the rocky, sun-drenched peak,” said Marc Snetiker, author of the preview.

The freedom offered with this approach allowed Favreau and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel to move their virtual camera to achieve whatever angles that they desired – something that would be time-consuming and expensive in real life. The set was apparently so accurate that there was a VR video village for crew members to gather in to watch scenes play out.

“There are times when I follow the animal and it jumps and I miss the action and we have to do it again because I didn’t operate perfectly, and there are times when I didn’t operate perfectly and it looks even better,” said Deschanel, a veteran cinematographer. “Virtual reality is more a tool than the end result. You have to live in it, in a weird way, and feel what it’s like to be at Pride Rock in order to decide what you want to do and where you want to do it. But other than that, you really are doing exactly what you do when you make a movie.”

Innovative workflows such as Favreau’s lay the groundwork for all sorts of new ways that artists can create in VR. Experiences like Tilt Brush are just the first taste wave for the general consumer – in a few years’ time, as VR becomes more refined and powerful, The Lion King‘s production could become the norm for CGI works.