Combining an advanced implementation of Epic’s Unreal Engine with The Mill’s proprietary virtual production toolkit, Mill Cyclops™, “The Human Race” merges real-time visual effects and live-action storytelling. The combined technologies were pushed beyond the limits of existing real-time rendering capabilities to produce a futuristic film that features the 2017 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in a heated race with the Chevrolet FNR autonomous concept car.
The only physical vehicle filmed for “The Human Race” was the Mill BLACKBIRD®. Until now, CG cars were added by visual effects artists in post-production, requiring days of rendering to produce high-quality imagery. During this shoot, however, live video feeds as well as positional data from the Arraiy tracking system were fed directly into Unreal Engine. The Camaro was then rendered and composited seamlessly into the footage in real-time AR, allowing the directors to instantly see the final look and composition of each shot.
The same real-time technology was used to create, alter and produce the short film, blurring the lines between production and post.
Role: 2D Lead Artist
Studio: The Mill
Credits:
VFX & Design: The Mill
EVP International: Alistair Thompson
Chief Creative Officer: Angus Kneale
Group Director of Emerging Technology: Boo Wong
Group CG Director: Vince Baertsoen
Executive Producer: Melanie Wickham
Producers: Katie Kolombatovich (Project Producer), Wyatt Savarese (Technical Producer), Lauren Bickers (Experiential Producer), Hayley Underwood Norton (Social Producer), Michael Brown (Social Producer), La-Râ Hinckeldeyn (BTS Producer), Devan Saber (BTS Producer), Chris Harlowe (Deputy Head of Production LA – Blackbird Shoot LA), Pete King (Executive Producer LA- Blackbird Shoot LA)
Production Coordinators: James Scott, T.J. Jones
Shoot Supervisors: Joji Tsuruga, Michael Lori, Vince Baertsoen
Creative Directors: Rama Allen, Westley Sarokin
Realtime Lead Artist / Realtime Supervisor: Joji Tsuruga
Realtime Artists: Xuan Seifert, Trent Atwood, Olivier Varteressian, Jimmy Gass, Greg Gangemi
Creative Developers: Eric Renaud-Houde, Mike Manh
2D Lead Artist: Lee Towndrow, Jimmy Bullard
2D Artists: Ben Kwok, Taner Besen, Kyle Zemborain, Chris Sonia, Yoon-sun Bae, Ari Garber, K Khanna, Blake Druery
3D Artists: Tim Kim, Peter Karnik, Adam Dewhirst, Mike Garcia, Ren Hsien-Hsu, Matt Parent, Anton Lerin, John Wilson, Nick Couret, Jasper Kidd, Alex Allain, Vlad Jakovlev, Rachel Start
Art Directors: Tetsuro Mise, Anthony Dodero
Design: Will Adams, Pierce Gibson, Brian Wilcox, Tom Murtagh, Christopher Mennuto, Laura Nash, Aran Quinn, Mike Batista, Thomas Heckel
Technical Innovations Manager: Tawfeeq Martin
On set support: Freddy Para, Steven Olson, Monique Espinoza