Virtual Production Film: In the Year 2525

Project Overview

In The Year 2525 is a collaborative film utilising virtual production techniques and principles. It makes use of Unreal Engine 5 and the LED volume at the Savannah Film Studios. The film is set in a museum gallery that features different Unreal levels made by different artists; a story was developed to narratively string these levels together. The team was responsible for all aspects of production: concept development, creating digital environments, X.R. video production, acting, editing, and colour grading.

My responsibilities in this project include assisting Desmond Du in assembling the creative treatment. During production, I was responsible for modelling and shading various 3D assets, as well as lighting certain environments with Desmond. On the X.R. stage, Desmond and I took turns providing cinematographic and directing duties.

Be sure to check out Desmond’s breakdown of this project on his website.

Role

3D Artist, Shader, Lighter, and Cinematographer (shared).

Software Used

Autodesk Maya, Pixologic ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, Epic Unreal Engine, Quixel Megascans.

Breakdown

Creative Treatment

The gallery scene takes place in a museum exhibition called Life is but a Dream, which showcases Magic Realist paintings that offer an interactive experience to visitors. The scene followed a friendly and adorable flying drone named “W45H-U,” as it navigates the exhibition and admires various paintings.

Furthermore, the X.R. stage can be utilised to capture footage of actors portraying museum visitors in the virtual space. For example, two visitors were seen noticing the drone as it entered the exhibition, pointing at it in surprise and amazement.

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Art Direction

Due to the project’s tight schedule and limited resources, [Desmond and I] made the decision to leverage the emerging trend of MidJourney to aid in the design of the museum environment and docent robot. This allowed us to streamline the design process, reduce our workload, and focus our efforts on other aspects of production where our strengths lie. However, this approach was proven not to be fully effective as Midjourney couldn’t produce enough details to help in the 3D modelling process. In the images below, the mood boards on the left were our starting point, and the one on the right is produced by MidJourney.