IF YOU'RE NOT REAL- TIME YOU'RE HISTORY - W+K Basement
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IF
YOU’RE
NOT
REAL-
TIME
YOU’RE
HISTORY
W+KEMENT
BAS E 01
ISSU
£8.00
W+K Basement
W+K
Wieden+Kennedy London
We were all ready to go to print with this first
edition when the world changed. A few weeks
ago Corona was just a light beer we enjoyed with
a wedge of lime in the neck of the bottle, we’d
never considered how much toilet paper might
be needed in case of a ‘lockdown’, and we’d
never even heard of a furlough.
However you look at it, the start of 2020 has
been one of the most scary, surreal, unsettling,
and game-changing periods in our lifetime.
Whole industries have been upturned and the
already blistering pace of digital transformation
just got turbo-charged.
The creative industries are adjusting to a new
normal. Quick to embrace a world of stock
footage, archive material, animation, small shoots
with remote crews, and other techniques that
don’t need large crews and risky travel. But these
are stop-gap techniques. These aren’t the future
of storytelling.
It’s become clear that the advantages of
real-time production only get amplified during
turbulent times. Brands who’ve invested in vir-
tual world building have been able to continue
to produce outstanding content and experiences
with minimal disruption from the pandemic. When
your talent, locations, props, lighting, cameras
are all virtual, incredible things are still possible.
Travis Scott’s event in Fortnite is perhaps the
biggest and most iconic example we’ve seen so
far (more on p.32).
Real-time was already one of the most exciting
developments in creativity, technology and sto-
rytelling. But in an accelerated and uncertain
world it may have just become essential.
This publication aims to give you a solid grou-
nding in real-time production; what it is, how
it works, and why you should take it seriously
(whatever business you’re in).
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
08
DON’T THINK GAMES,THINK
WORLDS! LEVEL UP!
26
16
MEET YOU BY THE SPEAKER
ON THE LEFT WOW! I DI-
32
DN’T KNOW THAT WAS MA-
DE WITH A GAME ENGINE
36
GAME ENGINES DON’T MA-
KE GREAT WORK PEOPLE DO
GREATEST HITS REIMA-
44
GINED W+K BASEMENT
46
EXPERIMENTS FROM BUI-
52
LDINGS TO BRANDS Q&A
56
4 BIG QUESTIONS
60
71 64
RESOURCES SOURCES
70
https://wkbase ment.com/ FMsasfctxwHa chLsdfvsdfFasd fRNJdfwJhB JsvhzdGa
GLOSSARY Avatar
An icon or character
used to represent a player
Digital Twin
A digital replica of
a physical property
Real-time Production
Production technique that
allows rendering and outputs
in a video game. e.g. car, place, person. to be instantaneous.
Augmented Reality Emerging Technology Render
Interactive experiences where Technology that is still in Process of generating images
computer—generated objects the development phase or to create the final output,
appear in the real world. Think whose application hasn’t normally in a single file.
Snapchat filters, Instagram yet been defined.
lenses and Pokémon GO. Unreal Engine
Fortnite Game engine developed by
Building Information Modelling Online game, developed Epic Games, used to power
3D digital representations by Epic Games, and played Fortnite and much more.
of the spatial and functional by over 350 million people
qualities of buildings, most worldwide. Unity
often used in architecture Game engine developed by
and construction. Game Engine Unity technologies, primary
Software used in the competitor to Unreal Engine.
CGI production of video games
Short for computer-generated- to create 2D and 3D graphics. Virtual Reality
images — any and all imagery A simulation, normally of
created by a computer, Immersive Experiences 360 environment, with which
normally in a game engine. An environment, often you can interact. Generated
created in virtual reality, that by a game engine.
Character Skin gives the illusion that you
Customisable outfits or are part of and/or inside the Virtual Production
appearances for your own experience allowing the user Production technique for
character inside a game. to feel part of a brand. planning, visualising and
completing scenes. Most
Connected Device Motion Capture Suit (MoCap) often used when blending
Physical objects that can A wearable device that digital and physical worlds.
connect with each other. captures body movements.
Your phone connecting with
your watch is one of the
simplest forms.
HOW
DID
WE
GET
HERE
The evolution of the internet, social platforms, and 2007 saw the release of the first ever iPhone,
the dissemination of information has fuelled our but it wasn’t till the iPhone 4 was released, and
collective desire for instant gratification, instant Apple ended its exclusivity contracts, that things
results, and instant content. We’ve been condi- really started to change 3. For the first time 3.2
tioned to need micro-installments throughout the million people in the UK had a 5-megapixel
day. With eyeballs glued to screens, we search camera and video recorder in their pocket.4
out personalised, iterated, and reactive content. And at about the same time, Instagram launched.
The current climate has ensured that the explo- Suddenly, not only did we all have a camera
sion in virtual content will not slow down, or in our pocket, but also a place for our content to
give in. We are now working virtually, socializing live, and the buzz of a community reacting to our
virtually, and consuming virtually with unpre- photos instantly.
cedented demand (Amazon is now making Today it is possible to make and publish
$11,000-a-second 1). This demand for versions, ite- content faster, and at greater volumes, than
rations, speed and scale, strains creative and ever before. People are reacting to the news, to
production teams both operationally and fina- tweets, to each other, faster and faster and faster.
ncially. Yet, even during societal shifts, creative TikTok, for example, was downloaded 2 million
industries still hold on tightly to their ways. times in the US during the first week of their
For example, it can take on average 12 days isolation in March, and a small family from North
to get a single piece of content 2 to market, and in Carolina who coined “The Quarantine Olympics”
some instances over a year for TV. They follow on the platform at the start of April are, at time
the same release formats of two to four big of publishing, responsible for 63.6 million views.
activity bursts a year, create rigid digital editorial Far surpassing even the best Covid-19 TV advert.
calendars signed off months in advance; under Culture was once formed by brands, controlled
normal circumstances a director search takes by those with big budgets, and distributed on TV-
place, there’s a shoot, maybe a digital shoot, screens. Not any more. Culture is now contributed
a separate out-of-home shoot, there’s pre-and-post to and developed by those who break formats,
production, edits, grading and sound. Versioning react within moments, and have a video camera
for platforms. And multiple translations for different in their pocket.
audiences. And, all the while, people are looking We’re now competing against makers and
to deliver all this, for less money. The answer is not content that isn’t trying to build a long-term brand,
bigger whips, or removing the bagels from the on- that doesn’t have multiple stakeholders requiring
set catering. sign-off, that doesn’t care about licensing, or
While we’re scratching our heads, and analys- business affairs. All they have to care about is
ing spreadsheets, our audience has moved on: making it good, and making it fast.
they’re all glued to their phones chuckling at
memes about that ungodly thing a politician did
three minutes ago.
1. Neate, R (2020) Amazon reaps
$11,000-a-second coronavirus lockdown
bonanza, The Guardian
2. Adobe (2019) Branded Content Survey
3. Molla, R (2017) How Apple’s iPhone changed
the world: 10 years in 10 charts, VOX
4. Ipsos. (October 1, 2018) Penetration rate
of Apple iPhone in Great Britain from 1st
quarter 2011 to 3rd quarter 2018, Statista,
Statista Inc
TO COMPETE
While mass culture was being flipped on its head,
a quiet revolution was taking place in the back-
ground. Game engines were gaining in power and
WE NEED A
becoming the primary way of creating digitally
animated 2D, 3D, and immersive content. These
tools and the gaming industry grew hand-in-
TOTALLY NEW
hand: an industry that is now bigger than music
and movies combined. But for some strange and
perplexing reason, many people in business still
WEAPON
dismiss anything connected to ‘gaming’ as niche.
20 It’s anything but.
18 One particular game engine that has been
19
getting a lot of attention recently is Epic Games’
17 Unreal Engine. Now in its fourth iteration, it has
been free for anyone to use since 2015 — from
16 students and enthusiastic amateurs to massive
corporations. But there’s another reason Epic have
been in the news a lot, they’re behind the largest
grossing online game of the past two years, with
15 over 350 million players worldwide, Fortnite.
14
13 11
12
01
10
09
08
02 05 06
04 07
03
Production Upgrades
01 Faster Output
02 Multi-User
03 Multi-Output
04 Spatial Animatic
05 Platform Agnostic
06 Instant Feedback
07 Infinite Camera Lens
08 Crowd Simulation
09 Impossible Architecture
10 Virtual Casting
11 Playable Scripts
12 Otherworldly Physics
13 Dynamic 3D Type
14 God Mode Lighting
15 Slow Motion
16 Hyperspeed
17 Weather Control
18 Livestream Ready
19 Malleable Set Builds
20 Real-time Content
But the game is not all running around and offing
your friends in novel ways. Fortnite has several
ways for people to build on the game. There are
basic variations in your character’s skin. There’s
the ability to buy emotes, (dance moves used
to celebrate throughout the game), which are
even mimicked in the real world by goal-scoring
Premier League footballers. And importantly there
is the Creative Mode, where whole new islands
can be built by players and collaborators.
In much the same way that the iPhone and
Instagram made us all photographers, Unreal
Engine and Fortnite are turning people into high-
end CGI artists.
Whether they know it or not, 350 million Fortnite
players are being trained in Unreal Engine. And,
because Unreal Engine is completely free, and
with training and support readily available, the
journey from player to professional creator
couldn’t be easier.
This emerging phase of game engine techn-
ology will signal the start of a new age of content
creation and storytelling as photorealistic anim-
ation, design, and graphics are created instantly,
by anyone, anywhere. If the success stories of the
past decade were defined by social media, and
the iPhone, game engines and the content they
power will define the businesses of the future.
DON’T
THINK
GAMES THINK
WORLDSAs game engines become more advanced, Here, your entire project is live as soon as
growing in power and output, they are being used you start, and any change is as simple as a few
to create simulated, living, breathing worlds. clicks of a mouse. There is set up to do and,
Leaps and bounds are being made in creative depending on your needs, varying degrees of
industries that are not usually associated with crafting, however the world you create is there
this kind of technology, from advertising, to local for everyone to see (and sign-off) at the start of
weather channels and Hollywood blockbusters. the process, not the end.
With a real-time production, changes made
to anything and everything adjust in the moment.
“Architecture, aeronautics, real estate Things that were once significant set-backs to
construction, media film, marketing, auto timelines, such as character swaps or creative
engineering — all of these industries are amends, sending teams and project plans spir-
being revolutionized. There’s so much aling, can all be reset in the moment. The outputs
more than just being a video game aren’t rendered over the course of days or weeks,
maker that you can do with an engine.” you’re rendering around 60 times every second.6
Ricky Bennett, Director of Innovation
and Partnerships, iD Tech Camp 5 “There is something very important
going on with Unity and Hollywood that
is going to impact media production
A game engine is used to create everything dramatically in the coming years as
needed for your story or experience - character, game production techniques begin
environment, props, motion, cameras, effects, to supplant hundred-year-old narrative
lighting, interactions, and data integrations. And entertainment production techniques.”
other tools such as motion capture suits can be
used to track movement of actors and attribute Charlie Fink, Consumer Tech
them to characters (or anything else in the world) Contributor, Forbes 7
in real-time.
‘Real-time’ is a concept that may be hard to
imagine for those more attuned to traditional
production methods. In its simplest form, real-
time moves everything from a physical set to a
virtual world.
5. Plante, C (2018) Using ‘Fortnite’ to train
the next generation of video game
developers, Inverse
6. Wilson, M (2017) This Crazy New Technology
Transforms Movies Into Video Games,
Fast Company
7. Fink, C (2017) Unity To Disrupt Film And
TV Production, ForbesTRADITIONAL PIPELINE REAL-TIME PIPELINE Physical sets Virtual sets Time-intensive, slow renders Instant, always live renders Static Interactive Single use Multi use Fixed Iterative One-way Collaborative Artefacts Worlds Complete Ever-evolving
Because of this speed of rendering, game engines How much do you agree with the following statement?
allow creators and producers to interact in real- (real-time rendering technology...) 9
time with the environment created, controlling
look, feel, sound, and even narrative nuances. Speeds up processes
This centralised approach, where the production-
82%
factory-assembly-line turns into round table
collaboration, ensures that every moment, and
every decision made moves teams forward more
quickly, pulling decision making out of post-
production and into the day-to-day creative process.
Drives faster iterations and revisions
82%
“Usually, in post production you’re just
giving notes. By the time that note gets
from your supervisor, to the person in
the department, to the person on the
box, they’re just going off a checklist.
With The Lion King, we would get the Drives better quality and outcomes
shots back and instead of giving it a
81%
layout note, we would pull it back up
and then we just said, ‘Here, this is it,’
and then let them confirm it and do the
render on top of it… it maximises the
efficiencies, and also creates a sharper, Creatives, directors, and clients can work collab-
more focused, collective of artists that oratively to bring a vision to life with no more
are working on the vision.” need for extensive time lags between treatment
and story reviews, long feedback cycles, pre-
Jon Favreau, Director, The Lion King 8 production, post-production, or editing. Work
doesn’t get locked in too early in the process and
has the opportunity to grow and be shaped by
Imagine the possibilities for advertising. Instead the team organically.
of labouring over storyboards and animatics, we For other outputs, say social storytelling or
can just grab the objects and characters we eCommerce, gaming engines allow us to reuse
need from a 3D library and do a ‘rough shoot’. The core assets, in different environments, sizes, and
process is then very simple, and iterations are formats, without the labour intensive design slog.
typically focused on adding craft and quality, and As soon as everyone is happy, all the versions
responding to feedback. There are fewer surprises. are available pretty much instantaneously. And if
And there’s never a shot that didn’t get captured. you’ve got an eye on the future - VR/AR versions
of your content can be output by default - which
is pretty mind-blowing, no?
8. Failes, I (2019) ‘The Lion King’ and ‘The
Mandalorian’s’ Jon Favreau is all-in on virtual
production, real-time and LED
walls, Befores and Afters
9. Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership
Spotlight Commissioned By Epic Games
(2018) Real-Time Rendering Solutions:
Unlocking The Power Of NowHow much do you agree or disagree with While the shift toward game engines and real-
the following statements? (Showing time production is perhaps perfect for current
“Strongly agree” and “Agree” only)10 times: fewer meetings, more collaboration — with
the best talent from anywhere in the world —
Driving productivity through real-time rendering remote management, less scripts and a sea
will improve our bottom line change in the post-production landscape, for
many businesses it will mean an even more
radical shift from being creators of brand
90%
artefacts to curators of branded worlds.
“We’re changing the landscape of what
Visualisation is important to deduce design can be done with broadcast...providing
errors before structures are built the ability to tell new stories, and it
can be used by any business that wants
to engage their audience with more
84%
emotional stories.”
Rob DeFranco, VP Sales and Development,
The Future Group11
Visualisation is important when designing
new structure and sites
Whereas traditional models meant agencies
were used for scripts, out-of-home ideas, and
77%
activations, game engines mean there are opp-
ortunities to create and become custodians of
long-term immersive brand experiences. These
universes will go beyond the scale we are used to
It is important that we can produce highly realistic creating. There will still be characters, narratives,
imagery with our visualisation technology and tone, but the scope will stretch to include
if, when, or how the brand world responds
to the audience’s every whim, how it interacts
78%
with the environment it’s placed in or even
how it responds to data and feedback loops —
the possibilities in terms of placements and
extensions will be quite literally limitless.
The time it takes to render with offline solutions
is a barrier to exploring creative choice
76%
Key: 10. Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership
Legs = Strongly Agree Spotlight Commissioned By Epic Games
(2018) Real-Time Rendering Solutions:
Unlocking The Power Of Now
11. Epic Games and Forrester Consulting (2018)
Pushing the boundaries of possibility in
media and entertainment
Trousers = Agree“If you’re watching an animated TV show,
why shouldn’t you be able to change the
costume on the Princess, or change the
location, have a personalized experience
– and share your version with friends?”
Kim Libreri, CTO, Epic Games12
LEVEL
UP! hether you’re in the princess business or not,
W
here are four key opportunities available today.
CREATIVE
PERSONALISATION VARIATIONS
Imagine a world where every piece of content Gone are the days when you’re stuck with the final
can be adaptive and reactive to any form of data shot or the final edit. With a game engine you can
or variable. shoot something once and then repurpose it for
At a basic level this would mean your favourite multiple platforms, formats and campaigns.
restaurant on Deliveroo can update ingredients Much like the power of personalisation, what
in a video instantly to reflect seasonal change. if your work could easily be repurposed for social
Or that the colour of the jumper in a film reflects and digital platforms? Or even more effectively
local stock levels. contextualised in digital out of home? What if the
Or, getting a little freakier: there could be same world could respond one way to the morning
a virtual winner of Britain’s Got Talent with their commute on a Monday and totally differently to
jokes, costume, name, hair colour, and entire Friday’s journey home? Or better yet, respond
performance totally personalised to each of the to real-world events like the latest football score or
9.7 million viewers. election results in real-time?
INTERACTIVITY COLLABORATION
“One day soon, you’ll pause the NBA What if you could complement traditional sto-
game, reach for the Xbox controller, and ryboard methods with game engine techniques?
take over where the real players left off.” What if that difficult camera angle, or the intro
shot that was just too hard to explain could be
Mark Wilson, FastCo13 brought to life easily and in a digestible way for all?
What if instead of waiting for post-production
Being able to play along with live action or, even or a rough cut of something, you could make
better, rewinding and taking over to rewrite the creative amends there and then?
outcome of the game. Imagine being able to What if a CMO had an idea of how something
replay the vital penalty in a World Cup shoot out. should look and feel, but needed to see it to
What if a car ad on your TV dynamically featured understand the reality of how it could be envisioned?
the model you’d been Googling in full cinematic What if a creative director had a vision of how
4K? What if your smart TV let you take over the a certain character should walk, talk, look?
drive, experiencing the engine sound from inside Moments like these can be developed and
the car? Letting you actually feel the acceleration! released in an instant.
Oh, and it’d also be on mobile with no extra
development time or cost.
12, 13. Wilson, M (2017) This Crazy New
Technology Transforms Movies Into
Video Games, Fast CompanyGAME PAUSED RESUME GAME FACE INSTANT REPLAY HAIR EDIT PLAYER BODY SAVE JERSEY LOAD SHORTS HELP SHOES SETTINGS QUIT
MEET
YOU BY
THE
SPEAKER
ON THE
LEFTSummer 2019: Travis Scott plays to 50,000 fans at
Wireless Festival London. Not even a year later
MEDIA BEHAVIOUR
and he’s playing to 250x that number during By opening up the event across multiple time zones
his Astronomical event in Fortnite. Creating an and days, Epic reached a far larger audience than
audience ten times larger than the biggest music last year’s Marshmello concert. And gave superfans
festival in the world. the chance to experience the event multiple times.
Those who have seen Scott perform before know The event was also designed to be streamed
how elaborate and intense his shows can be. But and shared and spread. Instead of clamping down
this was something much bigger. The performance on creators with takedowns and copyright infri-
moved beyond replicating a real-world event inside ngements — the event encouraged creation and
a game. Roller coasters, psychedelic effects, and sharing. Epic also promoted its financial feedback
a giant spaceman joined a skyscraper-sized Travis loops, enabling creators to get paid directly for
Scott walking across worlds. The audience was purchases made by their fans.
free to roam / swim / fly around the gig; this was This environment allowed content to spread far
a performance like no other. beyond the initial event. 29.8 million views of the
Although the raw numbers (12.3 million watched content on TikTok. 75.5 million views on the Top 5
the first performance, and 27.7 million unique YouTube videos. Millions of mentions on Twitter.
players experienced the performance in-game 72.7 million streams of Scott’s last four releases.
45.8 million times across all five shows) paint an And over 80,000 song downloads.
impressive picture, this is about more than just the For most brands, the kind of free rights access
scale of audience. It’s also worth digging into what Epic delivered would be unheard of, never mind
this means for community and media behaviours. giving over control of the brand messaging and
distribution of content and income streams. But
COMMUNITY for this kind of access, reward, and recognition are
becoming expected. Can you live up to that?
The coverage of games in mainstream media has
been mixed — but a consensus is forming that ADVICE FOR AN
games can be a real force for good: allowing us to
express our imagination and creativity, and allo-
wing people to connect with each other in ways
EVOLVED WORLD
that other media can’t imitate. Events like this provide an opportunity for brands to
Virtual communities are second nature to those deepen their engagement with audiences – existing
who grew up online. But, as Fortnite, and other and new. And in a world where putting on large-
titles like Call of Duty, Valorant, and Animal scale events might be challenging, moving them
Crossing, grow in popularity, we’re seeing these online seems to make a ton of sense.
environments become places outside of the ga- While building a massive cosmic Travis Scott and
meplay where people simply hang out together. dropping him off in Misty Meadows is awesome,
During the Astronomical event, friends could this isn’t about musicians, or Fortnite, or even games
meet each other, virtually reacting to each other in general. This is about developing incredible new
or the show together. There was a real sense of places to hang out, play and do stuff. But most of
a shared collective experience. It had a time, and all the big opportunity is creating massive shared
a place, and a real sense of “being there”. experiences that blow people’s minds.WOW! I DIDN’T
KNOW
THAT
WAS
MADE
WITH A
GAME
ENGINEBROADCAST
THE MANDALORIAN GAME OF THRONES
The latest Star Wars spin-off on Disney+ has had With the bar for epic visuals rising with every new
the internet awash with Baby Yoda memes and production, and audience expectations for Game
cites Epic Games and the Unreal Engine in its of Thrones Season 8 off the charts, Third Floor,
credits. After the success of using Unity on The a visualisation company whose work includes
Lion King, director Jon Favreau turned to Unreal. Avengers: End Game, expanded their services to
This time the team created environments as if include pre-visualisation so the Game of Thrones
they were locations or sets and projected these team could explore and stage complex and grou-
onto LED walls that changed based on a camera’s ndbreaking scenes. From the position of a dragon in
position and lens. Because the LED walls replaced a throne room to the final showdown at Winterfell,
greenscreens, actors had locations and enviro- Third Floor and Game of Thrones directors worked
nments to instantly engage and interact with, together to recreate key moments using the Unreal
making for much richer storytelling. Engine and VR. The flexibility, experimentation and
constant feedback the game engine gave allowed
the team to populate worlds at a click of a button
“It would fool people. I had people come by and increased creativity across all departments.
the set from the studio who said, ‘I thought
you weren’t building this whole set here’
and I said, ‘No, all that’s there is the desk.’“
Jon Favreau, Creator, The Mandalorian14
RUN
HBO’s new show Run takes advantage of real-
time production toolset ThruView (from Stargate
THE WEATHER Studios) which uses real-time rendering, interactive
footage, 4K screens, and connected lighting to
CHANNEL dynamically control the view from 40 train windows
covering 3,000 shots.
The Weather Channel creates live, interactive storm
simulations that respond to data during natural “It really is such a radically different
disasters. Some of their original work of this type has approach than what you would normally
been viewed over 37 million times on social media, do. We now say, instead of ‘fix it in post’,
representing nearly a billion media impressions over it’s ‘fix it in prep’.”
the past year. By the end of 2020, the channel wants
80% of its broadcasts to include this style of work. Sam Nicholson CEO, Stargate Studios15
Image courtesy of Industrial Light Image courtesy of The Third Floor Visualization
& Magic / Lucasfilm Ltd
15. Failes, I (2020) ‘Run’ and Real-Time, Befores
14. Failes, I (2019) ‘The Lion King’ and ‘The and Afters
Mandalorian’s’ Jon Favreau is all-in on
virtual production, real-time and LED walls,
Befores and AftersSPORTS
FOX SPORTS FOX SPORTS
WITH NASCAR WOMEN’S
Fox have been using the Unreal Engine since 2018
as their virtual set for NASCAR. The set is actually
WORLD CUP
a small corner of their studio in Charlotte, North
Carolina but the realism and versatility delivered “If Fox Sports needs to move on to
by Unreal makes it often feel like the hosts are another show for the next hour, the whole
right on the NASCAR track. thing can be swapped out in minutes,
and without any literal heavy lifting.”
“In the past, virtual sets were used as a cost- Billy Steele, Senior News Editor, Engadget 17
saving venture, but with new technology –
specifically what we’re doing with the
Unreal Engine – the level of realism that The same technology that was used to create
you can achieve opens the doors to so the studio for NASCAR was used again in the
much more. You’re not limited to a space, Women’s World Cup. This time, by recreating
and you’re not limited to graphics to Paris landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, as
convey story-lines during your shows.” well as stadium shots, it was possible to capture
perspectives that would have otherwise been
Zac Fields, Senior Vice President, FOX Sport 16 lost for audiences across the world. Branded on-
air graphics were also dynamically updated and
responded to data in real time.
Image courtesy of FOX Sports and Zero Density Image courtesy of FOX Sports and Dekogon Studios
16, 17. Steele, B (2018) Fox Sports’ new virtual
studio runs on Unreal Engine, EngadgetAUTOMOTIVE OTHER
AUDI SHOWROOM THINGS
EXPERIENCE WE
Audi’s latest digital and showroom configurator
was developed in house with Unreal Engine experts.
The latest iteration makes every vehicle totally
LOVE
customisable across every variable and output
– from marketing materials to in-showroom cata- The FBI trains new recruits using ‘choose your own
logues. This also means that whenever anything on adventure’ style simulations created and automa-
the vehicle changes, for example, new headlights tically updated with game engines.
or new colour-ways, the Unreal Engine automatically
updates all files across all touchpoints. HKS, a global architecture firm, uses game engines
to bring sport stadiums – between 1.5 and 3 million
square feet – to life for clients including structural
HARLEY-DAVIDSON details, lighting, shadows and reflections, and even
thousands of fans.
Harley-Davidson, Theia Interactive and Autodesk
University teamed up to allow people to walk
around and interact with a virtual life-sized mot-
orcycle using the Unreal Engine and AR. Viewed
through an iPad, the AR demo let participants swap
between the vintage rusted Harley, which was
there in real life, and a fully-restored AR version
with near perfect visual realism.
Image courtesy of Audi Image courtesy of HKS, IncGAME IAIN TAIT
ENGINES DEREK
46
LUI
52
DON’T MARC
MAKE WINKL-
GREAT HOFER
56
WORK RYAN
PEOPLE STAAKE
60
DARREN
DO O’KELLY
AND NEIL
DAVIES
62
ALISTAIR
THOMP-
SON
64GREATEST HITS REIMAGINED IAIN TAIT –ECD, Wieden+Kennedy We thought it might be interesting to take three projects from the W+K archive and attempt to reimagine them through the lens of real-time. What would we have done differently and, more importantly, what new creative opportunities would emerge? Apologies to all of the people behind all of these amazing projects for taking liberties with your brilliance. OLD SPICE – RESPONSES With a motion-captured Old Spice Guy and a virtual bathroom, thousands, if not millions of personalised responses could have been created. Using machine learning each one could be tailored to the recipient. And just imagine how many people would have dusted off their forgotten VR demo headsets to get into the shower alongside the man your man could smell like (if he had pores and wasn’t a 3D model).
HONDA –
TYPE R
When this came out people loved the fact that
solid craft and storytelling had been fused with
interactivity in a seamless way. Film geeks loved
it for its interactivity. Interactive geeks loved it
because it was so filmic. I’m not sure I’d try and
mess with this winning format too much. But two
things spring to mind.
From a production and cost point of view it’s
interesting that once you’ve built one side of the
story, adding subsequent sides becomes comp-
aratively trivial with this new workflow. Swap
the car colour, swap the lighting, switch a bunch
of models (characters, cars, buildings, etc.), and
you’re away.
Secondly, the original experience perhaps suf-
fered from a lack of portability. It only lived in one
place. Now we’d be able to publish it to myriad
platforms easily.THREE –
PONY MIXER
When this little Pony moonwalked across our
screens to Fleetwood Mac, the world fell in love.
And millions of people went on to create their
own customised films via the Pony Mixer.
Now we’d be able to make the personalised
versions as high quality as the TV, and have
literally millions more variations and options to
play with. We’d be able to make the Pony dance
in time with whatever it hears on your phone.
The Pony would be a moonwalking Instagram or
Snapchat Lens. There’d be digital out of home ads
with the pony moonwalking past local landmarks.
There’d be a living breathing moonwalking pony
in every Three store window. There’d be AR
ponies moonwalking wild.
Basically: if you want a CGI character or
characters to slay in a multi-channel world, game
engines are your new jam.W+K
How do you think real-time What would be your dream
production will change your real-time project?
work over the next year? I would love to create an
BASEMENT
Between the ideas in my head always-on news channel where
and a finished project, there’s we respond to pop culture
always a huge chasm. Clients immediately through virtual
EXPERIMENTS
might not get the vision. characters made in the Unreal
Storyboards don’t do it justice. Engine. Imagine Twitter and
And oh, what if that dog was Instagram accounts where we
a lizard instead? The beauty of never post text or flat images,
real-time production is that we where a puppeteered news
DEREK LUI
– Creative, W+K Basement
can direct, cast, and pace out
a film while we’re writing it. The
vision becomes more tangible.
anchor can respond in real-
time to followers.
Collaboration becomes easier
– people don’t just comment on
a script, they can pick up a
virtual camera and actually
explore the world.
How did you feel about the
experiments [MoCap, Head-
master] that we’ve done so
far this year?
I am obsessed with ‘God
mode’ games like SimCity,
Rollercoaster Tycoon and
more recently, Minecraft. They
satisfy hypothetical diabolical
scenarios in my head: what if
I unleashed a thunderstorm on
this hyper speed ferris wheel?
These real-time experiments
gave me the same controls,
but through the lens of writing
and art directing.W+K BASEMENT EXPERIMENTS
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Derek Pig Face Simulation
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INTRIGUED? MOCAPSUIT_VRTEST006.jpg
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Wondering how the world of real-time production
and game engines can transform your business
Screenshot 2020-03-13 at 16.01. SPACE_ODDYSSEY17.jpg or project? Or are you already working in this
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space and think we might be able to make some
thing amazing together?
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We are excited to talk to you and have a number
of partnership opportunities available to discuss.
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Visit wkbasement.com and start a conver-
sation. But, no pressure. If you’re not quite ready
to talk, follow W+K Basement on Instagram. We’ll
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stroke your eyeballs until you are.
skeleton.png
SPACE_ODDYSSEY19.jpgFROM
I started my career as a researcher in the field
of architecture at The Bartlett UCL and TUIBK.
I joined in the middle of the greatest trans-
BUILDINGS
formation of the construction industry since the
industrial revolution.
Gone were the days of the architectural draw-
TO BRANDS
ing board, instead everyone was talking about
Building Information Modelling (BIM). Think of
it as a malleable 3D model of a future building.
Every party involved collaborates on the same
model that lives in the cloud and is updated
MARC WINKLHOFER
– Real-time Specialist, W+K Basement
in real time.
If the client decides to increase the floor space
by 10%, the BIM instantly calculates an updated
cost estimate. Architects, urban planners and
engineers immediately see the new shape of
the building to re-evaluate aesthetic decisions,
conformity with master planning and structural
integrity and even on site construction workers
(thanks to Augmented Reality powered by BIM) can
see in real time how a change impacts their tasks.
Large-scale building projects are often in
development for over a decade costing billions
of pounds and have a multitude of errors through
miscommunication with drastic knock-on effects.
In the UK, it’s estimated about 35% of a constr-
uction budget is wasted on planning mistakes.
That’s potentially hundreds of billions of pounds
a year saved through adoption of BIM.
So why isn’t everyone doing this? For all their
potential, standard BIM solutions have limited
aesthetic capabilities. The technical diagrams
that a structural engineer needs are quite diff-
erent from a stunning visualisation that wows
stakeholders and customers.
Game engines to the rescue!
It’s now possible to import any 3D content
into video game engines like the Unreal Engine
and create photorealistic content in real time.By combining BIM data and game engine rendering, have on businesses and propelled my interest in
live building information becomes inseparable their application beyond buildings.
from a spread in a glossy magazine. Clients There’s a huge opportunity to take the lessons
love this, because rather than responding to ab- from this world, and apply them to how we build
stract cross-sections or photoshop mood-boards, advertising and brand experiences. By giving
they can literally walk around the final design the whole team access to more visual, malleable
before a single brick is laid. All with the re- and tangible assets, you can not only reduce
assurance that behind the scenes every technical miscommunication and costs; you can unleash
detail is 100% accurate. higher quality outputs across more channels
Architecture opened my eyes to the trans- than ever before.
formational impact that these visual tools could
Scandinavian House courtesy
of www.3darchstuffs.comQ&A
RYAN STAAKE
– Director, Riff Raff Films
What excites you about real-time? Maybe they’ll be shared exper-
I think the biggest advantage iences we can explore and control
to real-time is that it allows the together. There will definitely be
creation of spatial content that much more of a spatial sense of
can transform to the use case what the internet is, and what it
and device that it’s viewed on. means to collaborate with people
View a piece on your phone and online. As it currently is, it’s
it might live as AR on your table. such a non-place. I also think the
View it in a VR headset and you’re worlds of film and gaming will
potentially inside it. View it on a merge more and more.
standard 2D screen like a laptop
and it might resemble something What type of industry would
more conventional. In short, benefit from real-time
the medium of real-time content techniques? In what ways?
can gracefully morph to the I sometimes wonder if humanity’s
context in which it’s viewed. rampant desire for consumption
could be slowed down thanks to
How is it transforming real-time content. What if you can
storytelling? get the same appreciation from a
Just look at the gaming industry— 3D pair of shoes that you can from
games offer incredibly immersive, a new pair of real shoes?
rich and deep stories. Gamers are
much more invested in the arch As this technology becomes
of the story as they have agency mainstream and accessible, how
over the central characters. do you think people will apply it?
To me this makes storytelling I think we’re already seeing
for real-time a bit more of a it normalise as the world has
collaboration between writers, quickly embraced the creation
directors and the audience. of AR face filters.
How do you think it will be used You can take five 3D models to a
10 years in the future? desert island, what do you pick?
There will be a Netflix of imm- Cube, Sphere, Torus, Cone
ersive real-time experiences and Cylinder—from these basic
that can be tuned to your tastes. objects I shall make all objects!Q&A
DARREN O’KELLY
AND NEIL DAVIES
– Founders, Untold Studios
What excites you about real-time? How would you explain real-time
Ideas are quickly transformed production to an 8-year old?
into results. Camera moves, lens Real-time production is like
choices and lighting can all be having your own film set that
explored instantly, fast-tracking you can move around, travel
the creative process and bre- through and change instantly.
aking down traditional barriers. You could have dinosaurs cau-
Real-time technology used on-set sing mayhem in New York or
can be a game changer, allowing create your own fairytale cloud
the director to frame up and kingdom - the possibilities are
direct CG assets live. endless and you are free to create
whatever you can imagine!
Where do you see challenges?
The ultimate challenge is for You can take five 3D models to a
real-time to replace the trad- desert island, what do you pick?
itional workflow, and with Years of industry experience have
technological advances hap- taught us that any emergency
pening rapidly, challenges like 3D pack only needs: a human, a
hair, fur and fire are quickly generic four-wheeled car, a flock
becoming a real-time reality. of pigeons, and a 3D model of
planet Earth.
How has it transformed
storytelling?
Once you’ve built your real-time
environment, a bit like building
a set, you are free to explore
endless storytelling possibilities
from a cinematic point of view.
Ideas and options can be
generated very quickly and to
a higher visual standard than
would otherwise be pos-
sible using traditional pre-vis.Let’s start by explaining a little about Epic Games/
Unreal Engine, and Tim Sweeney’s, vision of
the future.
We’re very much orientated towards Unreal
4 BIG
being the foundational tool for the next gener-
ation of the internet. Think about it as the ability
to move 3D content between different media
QUESTIONS
and forms.
Essentially, that means you build a piece of
software but you’re actually moving toward
powering immersive, socially connected exper-
iences. This ecosystem - or metaverse, as some
ALISTAIR THOMPSON
– Head of Innovation Lab London, Epic Games
might call it - is a huge part of our belief system.
You can only make something broader and better
if lots of other creators are able to exist, co-exist,
in that ecosystem collaboratively.
This approach to collaboration, to co-existing
all together as creatives, means we are not
chasing the short-term financial gains a lot of
companies are. If we were motivated by money
or fame, we’d have done something different
ages ago!
We’re able to act like this because Tim is the
controlling shareholder of a company with a
vision and belief system that this is inevitable.
That this sort of real-time based metaverse, for
want of a better description, this is what will
happen eventually. But, let’s try and do it in the
correct way. This means, doing it with a sense
of community, a sense of open source, not only
supporting the big corporations but actually
making sure it supports everyone.
I guess that comes from the original community
vibe of the internet and gaming.Can you talk a little more about gaming, and how Taking a step back from this metaverse idea, what
that relates to broader culture? It’s often overl- are some of the unexpected ways you’re seeing
ooked by our industry. Unreal Engine being used?
So, what has happened with the original spirit Obviously our carbon footprint and the
of the internet is: social media, and how the climate emergency is massive at the moment. It’s
internet has grown, has slightly skewed our reality. exciting hearing from people who are using real-
The internet relies on text and messaging and it’s time technology to host virtual concerts and make
all sort of fairly anonymous engagement. You’re movies, for example, or ways of engaging with
not travelling anywhere, you’re just sort of being people, without massive strain on the environment.
given information. I’ve also seen it used to simulate the processing
Whereas the gaming community is much of pharmaceutical drugs, on a microscopic level,
more akin to how we normally live. People who and they were doing that virtually across time zones.
aren’t gamers or have never gamed don’t think of Headsets and virtual reality are used for
it this way. But those who are gamers get it imm- training programs, or creating learning systems for
ediately – it’s actually just another form of a social autonomous vehicles. A lot of work is happening
friendship group. You’re hanging out where you around virtualised environments. You can’t send
want, you choose who your buddies are. And cars out on to millions of miles of road, that’s just
importantly, you recognise and empathise with not practical, so you virtualise that and use AI
those people. You’re engaged with them and their within the context of the Unreal Engine to start to
avatars and now, their voice. Your empathy learn all these things and react to the environment.
levels around voice are much higher than they There’s also some exciting architectural and
are to text. spatial projects happening, using lots of digital
You pick and choose where you go and what twinning of cities or spaces. There’s a fantastic
you see and what you do within your chosen story of a guy at a major automotive company
timeframe. So, you don’t have to be subjected to who basically was from a background of
the disinformation we have today. We’re hanging computing and ended up working on the factory
out with ourselves, so the misinformation of today floor. He could instantly see there were ways of
just doesn’t exist. potentially increasing speed and efficiency of
The way we’re using social media is not how things were done. Instead of just thinking
really classic human interaction. It’s expansive, about it, he went home, and re-built the factory
but also anonymous, unregulated. It’s not the using Unreal. And he did it very quickly. He used
way humans are meant to be whereas hanging what he’d built to simulate different sections of
out, chatting, being in the platforms, inviting the factory and questioned what if we put this
your friends in, navigating together where you here? What if we put that there? What if we
want to go, what you want to do, this is very change this, would that reduce inefficiencies?
human. That’s what we hope the metaverse will I guess finally, if you look at the two of the
eventually feel like too. biggest shows at the end of last year, Netflix
The Witcher was based on a game, and then The
Mandalorian, which launched Disney+, had 60%
of its effects done in Unreal. It was one of, if not
the, most successful TV series in America last
year. So you’re beginning to see all these things
change across the board.Finally, let’s chat quickly about how Unreal and
real-time production will change advertising. IF YOU KNOW
HOW TO MAKE
Historically, agencies, and brands have mir-
rored each other. We’re all equally responsible
for this and there are a lot of people invested
CONTENT
in the traditional way of doing things and perf-
ecting things being done in a certain way. We’ve
segmented things. Someone is going to do your
LOOK GOOD,
online presence, someone is going to create
your TV commercial, someone else is going
to create an asset that lives here, but doesn’t
IF YOU KNOW
live there. It’s becoming inefficient. The world
isn’t like that. The world has changed dramatically.
There’s now far more fun to be had with assets
HOW TO
and content, things that can move across all
outlets. You should be able to generate assets
and create anything in CG and it can move from
CONSTRUCT
one area to another fairly seamlessly and not
be restricted by scopes, or delivery methods, or
where it’s being delivered.
A POWERFUL
With Unreal, brands and agencies share
an advanced and open universal tool that’s
available at every level, whether you’re at home
STORYLINE,
in your bedroom or on a virtual set. It unlocks
the ability for everybody to create incredible
content that can reach anyone on any platform.
IF YOU KNOW
We’re shedding the restraints of segmentation
and unifying efforts to reach audiences wherever
they want to be, in ways they want to be reached.
HOW TO BUILD
Because, if you build something in real time, with
the highest level of craft, it can live everywhere.
A CAPTIVATING
BRAND WORLD,
THEN THIS IS
THE FUTURE.RESOURCES SOURCES Things we read, listened to, and
watched to help inform this issue.
Adobe (2019) Branded Content Survey Molla, R (2017) How Apple’s Iphone Changed
So you’ve made it to the end and you’re as The World: 10 Years In 10 Charts, Vox
excited about game engines as we are – great! Alvarez, E (2018) With ‘Siren,’ Unreal Engine
Blurs The Line Between CGI And Reality, Engadget Morin, D (2019) Unreal Engine Powers Ilm’s
If you want to learn more about how to build Vr Virtual Production Toolset On “Solo: A Star
and develop your own worlds here’s a list Broadcast (2017) How Real-Time Game Wars Story”, Unreal Engine
of a few of our go-to resources and creators. Engines Are Enhancing Production
Neate, R (2020) Amazon Reaps
Buder, E (2017) Unreal Game Engine Could $11,000-A-Second Coronavirus Lockdown
Brackeys Change Vfx Forever, No Film School Bonanza, The Guardian
Game development tutorials on everything Carmody, B (2016) Tony Robbins On The Next Pimental, K (2018) The Future Group And
from Unity and programming to game design. Big Disrupter That Changes The Very Fabric The Weather Channel Create Lightning And
Uploads every Sunday. Of Your Business, Inc Tornadoes With Unreal Engine, Unreal Engine
https://www.youtube.com/user/Brackeys/ Cgicoffee (2018) Unity And Unreal Engine: Plante, C (2018) Using ‘Fortnite’ To Train
Real-Time Rendering Vs Traditional 3DCG The Next Generation Of Video Game
Kite & Lightning Developers, Inverse
Edison Trends (2019) Fortnite Maintains Lead
Virtual reality, gaming, experiments and demos. Over Online Games Quixel (2019) Rebirth: The Future
Who doesn’t love a dancing baby in real-time? Of Virtual Production
Epic Games And Forrester Consulting (2018)
https://www.youtube.com/user/kitelightning Pushing The Boundaries Of Possibility In Roettgers, J (2019) How Video-Game
Media And Entertainment Engines Help Create Visual Effects On
Maverick Movie Sets In Real Time, Variety
Failes, I (2020) ‘Run’ And Real-Time, Befores
Unreal and Unity development. We particularly And Afters Seymour, M (2018) Unreal Engine:
love the video on trees and buildings. What Is Virtual Production? [Podcast]
https://www.youtube.com/channel/ Failes, I (2019) ‘The Lion King’ And ‘The
Mandalorian’s’ Jon Favreau Is All-In On Virtual Seymour, M (2019) Unreal Engine: A New
UCgmX4icpN3HnOOwYtmyYz2w Production, Real-Time And Led Walls, Befores Era Of Storytelling [Podcast]
And Afters
Stassen, M (2020) Coronavirus Quarantine
Virtus Hub Failes, I (2019) Virtual Production Explainer: Appears To Be Driving A Global Tiktok
Game development, 2D and 3D courses What It Is, And What It Could Mean For Your Download Boom, Music Business Insider
with loads of free downloads and pathways Project, Cartoon Brew
Steele, B (2018) Fox Sports’ New Virtual
to choose from. Forrester Consulting Thought Leadership Studio Runs On Unreal Engine, Engadget
https://www.virtushub.com/ Spotlight Commissioned By Epic Games
(2018) Real-Time Rendering Solutions: Summers, N (2019) Inside The Virtual
Unlocking The Power Of Now Production Of ‘The Lion King’, Engadget
Quixel
As well as their great Medium blog, the Quixel Fink, C (2017) Unity To Disrupt Film And Takahashi, D (2013) The Making Of Pixar’s
TV Production, Forbes Latest Technological Marval, Venturebeat
YouTube channel is full of tutorials, how-tos
and displays of real-time brilliance. Ipsos, (October 1, 2018) Penetration Rate Of Webster, A (2020) Travis Scott’s First
https://medium.com/quixel-ab Apple Iphone In Great Britain From 1st Quarter Fortnite Concert Was Surreal And Spectacular,
2011 To 3rd Quarter 2018, Statista, Statista Inc. The Verge
https://www.youtube.com/user/quixelteddy
Jeffery, C (2019) Disney Uses Epic’s Unreal Wilson, M (2017) This Crazy New Technology
Engine To Render Real-Time Sets In The Transforms Movies Into Video Games,
Mandalorian, Tech Spot Fast Company
Molitch-Hou, M (2018) How Real-Time
Rendering Aims To Disrupt EngineeringA NOTE ON
W+K BASEMENT
W+K Basement is the Research and Development
2633-9919
department of Wieden+Kennedy London. We exist
to make things that bring to life the creative and
commercial potential of emerging technologies.
We focus on opportunities that are available
today, and that have broad relevance across
multiple sectors.
Once we’ve researched a topic, we build a net-
worked team of experts, makers and designers.
We brief them to create content, prototypes and
demos that make the opportunity tangible, under-
standable, and unputdownable.
By bringing together the WHY (strategy) with
the WHAT and HOW (creative technology), we
aim to keep our work at the forefront of culture
and business.
If you have a specific trend or technology
you think we should be exploring, or if you’re a
creative working in the field of new technology,
we’d love to hear from you: thebasement@wk.com
A very special thank you to Alistair Thompson
and the team at Epic Games for all their time,
inspiration, and especially the branded beer.
Thanks to Riff Raff Films, Untold Studios, and
Framestore (for generous loan of a MoCap suit).
To the best of our knowledge, all sources
and references used are correct and accurate
ISSN
at the time of writing.
Printed by Pressision
© Wieden+Kennedy 2020
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