RENEGADE HARDWARE - UE4 Short Film by Micah Moore

Описание: Hi! This is my very first short film in UE4. It started as a learning experiment and I got a little carried away.

In this short film I used character assets from the game "Paragon," and a map from a 2014 demo for Unreal.

In the days prior to starting this project, I learned the basics of assembling levels and how to drop in characters. For this map, I duplicated, moved, and resized a lot of effects and props to focus visual energy into specific areas for the action.

Because these characters were from Paragon, I was able to utilize a number of their packaged animations. By re-timing some of these animations, I was able to redefine their intention. For instance, when Phase (the protagonist) catches the giant robot punch, that original animation was actually a sassy 'talk to the hand' taunt. All of Phase's dodge movements here were re-purposed animations.

As the story unfolded, the need for other movement arose, so I learned how to retarget animation, which was new and challenging to me. I also did a little bit of animation by hand which was easier because the interface was more familiar.

Even though the low-key character lighting I designed for this is simple, I really enjoyed adding so many lights without paying for them. Although I'm not a gaffer, I do have a basic working knowledge of film lighting.

I had a few advantages with this short film.

I'm well versed in live-action camera movement, and I understand the relationship between visual decisions (like DoF, angles, and movement) and viewer psychology. Because I'm an editor experienced with After Effects, Premiere, Motion and Final Cut Pro 7, keyframes and timelines come naturally to me. Plus I was introduced to virtual cameras in an old storyboarding app called Frame Forge.

Thanks to that background, I was able to use the UE4 camera without any instruction. (I did later watch tutorials to make sure I was using everything in the most effective way.)

My other advantage is a long history of working on live-action fight pre-visualization. When I'm not developing fight scenes in a gym with stunt performers, I'm studying them. That includes action sequences from international cinema and anime, as well as video game cutscenes and promos.

Many of the tricks I use to sell live-action fight scenes were useful in this short. Of course there's the obvious things like stacking hits, or using wide-angle lenses to exaggerate distance. But there's also some subtle things. I have filmed stunt performers hitting the ground so many times that I know how a camera shakes when following that type of action. When Phase takes her high fall here, I was able to replicate that specific camera shake with keyframes.

I'm really loving Unreal, because it's been an opportunity to apply my practical filmmaking experience, add visual stylishness that would be difficult to pull off in real life, and work on scenes that would cost tens of millions of dollars to produce in live action....but this short was made with free assets, on a free game engine, on an old 2015 iMac.