A preview of filmmaking's future
In Your Dreams, a three-minute short film currently submitting to festivals, offers a glimpse into the future of filmmaking. The digital motion picture, which utilizes Virtual Production technology, was created by live-action director Mike Krohn over several weeks during the pandemic. Virtual Production is the process of making a movie inside the virtual world of a computer, using the processes of real-life filmmaking. The computer simulates the locations, actors, lights, cameras and everything else necessary to produce a film. In Your Dreams was produced using Epic Games' Unreal Engine, the leading computer application for Virtual Production. This new technology is being used by Hollywood productions including the Star Wars' series The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and HBO's Westworld.
In Your Dreams was created by live-action director Mike Krohn over several weeks during the pandemic.
Mike Krohn began learning Unreal Engine during the pandemic. "I like to stay current with the latest filmmaking technology," said the director. "Virtual Production opens a lot of possibilities, including a way for me to make a short film while isolating at home." Krohn has a broad range of experience, earning him membership in the Producers Guild, Writers Guild and the Visual Effects Society. He began as a screenwriter, working for most every major studio, including writing for TV's Star Trek, and the superhero blockbuster film Green Lantern. In Visual Effects, he developed innovative software used in many Hollywood projects, including the Star Wars and Terminator films. Because of his qualifications, he was invited by Epic Games to join a group of experienced Hollywood professionals for intensive training in using Virtual Production to create motion pictures.
In Your Dreams is Mike Krohn's first motion picture made with Unreal Engine.
building a virtual world
In Your Dreams features spectacular views and other-worldly landscapes, which a short film cannot usually afford. Director Mike Krohn used Virtual Production technology to create the film’s epic scope. "It would've been impossible to get these sweeping vistas if this was a traditional film," explained the director. "Just moving from place to place would consume the entire budget. With Virtual Production, you have complete control over the locations, and nearly anything is possible."
The locations in the film were created from digital assets provided by Epic Games to help support Unreal Engine filmmakers. Epic provides a library of over 10,000 scanned real-world objects that can be used to build realistic sets and virtual locations inside Unreal Engine. Partial and completely built virtual locations, sourced from internal projects and classic video games, were also made available to the production.
Krohn reworked and combined these assets to create the visuals of In Your Dreams. Many of the processes in Virtual Production are just like making a live action film: constructing sets, scouting locations and moving cameras to create the right shots. "In some ways, it's better than live-action filming," the filmmaker observed. "In the computer, you never run out of sunlight. In fact, you can move the sun to the ideal position, and it stays there as long as you need it. Try that in the real world."
21st century animation
To create the characters of In Your Dreams, the filmmaker used the latest technology from Unreal Engine. The characters' performances were created using a combination of by-hand animation, and remixing motion capture animation files provided by Epic Games and Adobe Systems.
The director altered and repurposed these animation files, like a rap music producer using samples to make a new song. The detailed process required repeated adjustment to bring out the nuance of the final performances.
Charlie, the only human character in the movie, is a MetaHuman, an advanced development in virtual human technology. The digital character was created by the filmmaker using an early access version of the MetaHuman Designer, provided by Epic Games.
shot on a camera that doesn't exist
In Your Dreams is presented in an ultra-widescreen format created specially for this film. "I wanted an extremely wide format to emphasize the movie's scope," said the director. "To achieve this, I had to design and build a custom camera and lens system inside Unreal Engine that provides a wider view than normally seen in cinemas."
Inspired by Ultra Panavision 70, an extreme widescreen format used in the 1950s, the director shot the film in an ultra-wide aspect ratio of 2.76:1. The old Panavision cameras had to use special lenses to squeeze the image onto a standard-sized film negative. This caused artifacts in the image when projected in cinemas. To avoid artifacts like that, the filmmaker designed a unique extra-wide sensor for the camera that only exists in the virtual world of Unreal Engine. This sensor creates a 2.76:1 image with clarity unavailable in the real world.
filming a dream
The director made a deliberate choice to make his first Unreal Engine film a science fiction story about a robot's dream. "I wanted to demonstrate how cinematic and beautiful a film using Unreal Engine can be, while moving the audience emotionally," the filmmaker explained. "I also wasn't going to miss the opportunity to make a film featuring robots, space travel and exotic alien planets. I love that stuff, but you don't get to do it much because they are very expensive to do in live action. Virtual Production makes them possible even on the limited budget of a short film."
Expect to see Mike Krohn continue to make imaginative films. "Science fiction, fantasy and action-adventure films are my favorites," said the director. "Virtual Production allows me to make these kinds of movies far more economically. After the pandemic, I'll be incorporating live actors into the virtual world as well. It's a very exciting time to be making films."
As to the meaning of the film, the director is more circumspect. “When the audience connects with a film about dreams, I think they each have a private, subjective experience," he related. "I wanted to remind them of their own dream experiences, and also go beyond that. I wanted to evoke that feeling when you wake up from a vivid dream, and it lingers in your mind and colors your day. It becomes a memory from another reality, and it can change the way you look at your waking life. Several people have told me they've watched the film multiple times, which is very gratifying."