Role: Unreal Engine Programmer & Operator
Clients: High Res x Thinkhouse x Arrow Films
Shot: April 2024
Released: June 2024
Thinkhouse and Arrow Films produced this campaign for Keelings, with High Res delivering the real time virtual background. I was the Unreal Engine programmer and operator.
This project marked my first live production using a VP workflow I had previously tested in demos. We rendered a real-time Unreal Engine environment to an LED wall and combined it with camera tracking to create parallax as the camera moved through the virtual world.
Creative Direction
The creative brief aimed to capture the iconic look and feel of C’est La Vie by B*Witched. Saturated sky blues and lush greens associated with that era were central to the aesthetic. Unreal Engine allowed us to lean fully into that heightened aesthetic and refine it until it felt right on camera.
Unreal Optimisation and Set Integration
The production company’s in-house team built the Unreal environment. Shane Ross Murphy from Orijinn then optimised it for stable VP playback. Watching that optimisation process was invaluable and helped expand my understanding of how to prepare Unreal projects for real-time LED performance.
While the technology enabled the environment, the in-camera result relied heavily on the physical set dressing. The art department elevated the entire scene, blending the real and virtual elements seamlessly and making the world feel cohesive.
The production team were on the ball and knew exactly what they wanted. There was a detailed storyboard and shotlist, which made the workflow easy to follow leading up to the shoot and on the day itself.
The shoot day was not without pressure. At points, camera tracking dropped out. We also experienced significant frame drop issues. Nevertheless, we worked through each problem and stabilised the system. The experience reinforced how essential correct system specification is when pushing real time workflows at this scale.
Final Result
Although the setup appeared simple on the surface, it required careful coordination between creative ambition and technical execution. In the end, despite the challenges, we captured every required shot. Because the LED environment worked so well, the team also chose to shoot product photography against the wall.
Seeing the final campaign appear on bus shelters and across advertising spaces was incredibly rewarding. Most importantly, the final images look polished and natural. You would not immediately assume they were created using Virtual Production.
