>> Creativity lies in all of us.
FILFURY: What was refreshing with this brief from Epic
was that it was so open to showcase different creators
within different industries.
SAGA ALAYYOUBI: This project was a brand film for Epic Games
meant to showcase the Unreal Engine, from architecture
and film, to media and entertainment and gaming
and automotive.
FILFURY: And they trusted me with the vision
to kind of have some fun, bring it to life,
and really push the possibilities of what
could be done in Unreal.
So for me, that was just an awesome starting point.
When I wrote the script, I just had some fun.
I was literally thinking, how can I
communicate these kind of important core values of what
you can do in Unreal?
SAGA ALAYYOUBI: Fil's original brief was incredibly ambitious.
And I think Unreal Engine was absolutely critical in creating
a film in this short amount of time
that could accommodate this very ambitious scope.
FILFURY: I didn't know too much about Unreal, and the engine,
and what it was used for.
I've got an amazing team at The Mill,
and we pull off all these big visual effects-- commercials
and films that we make together.
So I kind of naively just thought
it would be the exact same process.
But I later found out all this was to be done in Unreal.
SAGA ALAYYOUBI: The interesting thing about this project
is it gives a lot of freedom and flexibility
to the artists working on it to craft their shots
and not have to rely so much on standard VFX workflows
where everything is much more siloed.
FILFURY: I'm usually getting grayscale renders, playblasts,
first renders without any comp, without any love and magic
and atmosphere.
And I'm also having to communicate with the client,
I know this doesn't look great yet, but give it some time.
Once we've kind of massaged the layers,
it's going to look so much nicer.
Everything happens in the 11th hour.
With this project, that just didn't really happen.
Very quickly we saw 80%, 90% looking picture
for most of the project.
SAGA ALAYYOUBI: One of the biggest challenges
of this project was that we shot the live action plates
just as the COVID lockdown was about to take place globally.
FILFURY: Often shoots don't have the luxury of time
on their side.
But add in that safety barrier in there,
it was probably the most uncomfortable shoot
I've ever done.
But the truth is we got some really, really
good live action.
I saw the robot looking amazing really quickly,
and that instantly made me go off
on a tangent with all these different color skins for him.
If that process had taken much longer,
that idea may not have even happened
because I'd still be waiting to just see that base metal
skin on him.
It made me come up with ideas on top of my ideas
because I knew we had the luxury of time
because we already had something good.
In a way, it made me think had I gone crazy enough?
And there's a really cool scene, the robot
is kind of running through a museum space.
He breaks into all these balls.
These balls eventually become finer grains of sand,
like a particle mist that transitions from one scene
to the next.
It didn't really cross my mind that we could
get to that level with Unreal.
It was just a first for me.
So that's exciting for me.
SAGA ALAYYOUBI: I would like to see Fil create experiences that
go beyond linear film with Unreal Engine,
look at all of the different disciplines and media
that he's involved with.
FILFURY: There is no limitation.
I've dipped my toe in the water of working in this new way.
I want to do it again.
It was really fun being an artist using the engine.
I think that's the thing.
Because now this world exists digitally for us to explore.
Moving forward, the kind of potential
of building the worlds before we do the shoot, to me, just
feels like a better use of the time.
I'd love to make Part Two or really kind of evolve.
I'd like to take these physical components
and create more conceptual art with them.
That's what's exciting for me.
Now I know we can do these things.
Now I can push it into new, more abstract realms.
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