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Unreal engine is the self-described most advanced real-time 3D creation tool. It started out its life in 1998 as the “engine” behind the game “Unreal” and has since expanded over the years to become the content creation giant it is today. But don’t let the fact that it’s a game engine dissuade you if you’re a filmmaker as it has been used on over 160 major motion pictures and episodic television shows, and that number keeps on growing. The filmmaking pipeline is there, you just need to know where to look. With that said, I’m making this video for people who have heard about Unreal and are curious how they can incorporate it into their own workflows. Now, you may be looking at the footage here on screen and thinking “that’s out of my budget, I can’t do that,” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Indie films stand to benefit the most from Unreal and here’s why. Indie films are generally limited by their budget, plain and simple. But what if I told you that Unreal is not only free, but it can be used to sell your movie to investors, Save you huge amounts of money by informing buying decisions, And even help with the creative process? Does that sound good? Great! We’re going to kick things off talking about how directors benefit from using the engine. First, Unreal can help you decide on shooting locations for your film. Unreal is scaled to life 1:1 meaning that 1uu or Unreal Unit is 1cm in the real world. This means that as you’re scouting locations you can take measurements, boot up the engine, and quickly model it in 3D. Once you have the model, so many things can be figured out to make sure the location will do what it needs to. Will the equipment fit inside the doors? Is there enough standing room for everyone on set? We’ll get into this more during the other sections of the video, but knowing that a space is workable before even agreeing to use the location is helpful in saving time and money. Next is blocking. Where are the characters standing? What are they doing? Where is the camera going? This leads into the cinematographer’s world, something we’re getting to next, but it’s something that the director and DP should be working on together and something that Unreal will let you iterate on very quickly and efficiently all in a visual form filmmakers love to work with. As teased a moment ago, it’s time to talk about what cinematographers can get out of Unreal and why they should be using it. For starters, one of the first things a DP will need to do is work with the director on shot selection and composition. Usually this is done using an app like “Shotdesigner” or using pencil and paper with storyboards as reference. But with Unreal you can take it so much further. For instance, let’s say that the producer and director have selected a location. Once the location is quickly modeled, you could grab a 1:1 scale version of the camera body you want to use, replace the default camera in-engine, change the film back specs to match that camera and now it will behave exactly like the actual camera. From there, you can test angles and lenses till you pass out. Not only this, you can animate the camera and throw all of your shots into a timeline with the director and editor, and plan out the movie, shot-for-shot before you even step foot on set. Speaking of editors… Editors love Unreal engine for one reason, if all this pre-planning has happened before shooting, the editor knows that all the footage they’re receiving is only for scenes that the movie needs because the movie was essentially shot in “pre.” Blocking is nice, transitions were pre-planned from the get-go, what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, the ability to edit the film with the director and DP in Unreal’s NLE (non-linear editor) before shooting. Yes, you heard that right. You can see your film before even shooting your film. This not only speeds up the editing process in post, but editors have a chance to add their own editorial twist to the film before the camera is rolling and make sure that the weird shot that would make the film really pop is shot on the day. Speaking of making the scenes pop, we can’t forget the production design team members! Using free/paid assets as essentially Lego, you can build a set up from a greybox to a beautiful lush scene (or something much darker). And answer questions like: Will that large L-couch you want to use for a wide shot even fit in the room? Would a painting on the wall here help balance out the composition? Let’s test different rug patterns. It’s just four D’s “download, drag, drop, done.” Now, before wrapping up, I’d like to present a scenario. Let’s pretend for a moment that you have a screenplay written and you’re about to start looking for people to invest in your future film. Where do you even start? Well, using unreal you could build out a short trailer for your film using premade assets to help potential investors envision your story and get them excited for your film. It also shows your personal commitment to the project and looks extremely professional when done right. Wrap up Overall I can’t stress enough how helpful Unreal has been for my own filmmaking and how large its impact is going to be on the film world in the near future. You just need to pay a little time investment in learning the program and creating your scenes. A small price to pay for the amount of time and money you’ll save over the course of your film’s entire production timeline and your filmmaking career. The footage playing currently is what I’ve managed to pull together in just 5 months of using the program. It’s not rocket science and you can take it as far as you want to. Greyboxing is good enough almost 100% of the time, especially for indie films. Don’t let fancy design, lighting or effects you see in peoples’ reels sway you away from even trying. These are just a few examples of how unreal can be used for pre-production, and don’t forget that you can also use it during production AND post production, I just don’t have time to talk about those in this specific video. Unreal is an extremely powerful tool that comes at a very reasonable cost (free). You’ll be kicking yourself for not using it next time you can’t get a jib through a door or rented a lens that just won’t work for your climactic moment. If you have any questions about unreal, this video, or are curious about something not covered here, be sure to comment down below and I’ll get to as many questions as I can! Thanks for watching!