Way of the Blade

Short Documentary Film

This project was undertaken during my Bachelor of Fine Arts (Film, Screen and New Media) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT). The project was a reflexive and expository documentary, investigating the STAR WARS fandom and the communities that exist along the Gold Coast, celebrating the galaxy far, far away. I took on the role of Virtual Environment Artist for the project. I was briefed by the Director, that they wanted to develop a choreographed fight scene in the Virtual Production Studio, with a Battlefield as the backdrop.

Originally the team wanted to create a dark battlefield. Working within the limitations of the Virtual Production Studio, I pitched that the battle take place on a landing pad for aircraft at a military base during the day, with a Tatooine and Jedha inspired backdrop during afternoon. This would solve multiple production issues, as opting for a landing bad meant that precautions were no longer necessary to setup a complex practical set with organic materials such as dirt, stones and rock. The edges of the practical landing pad would work to hide the seem between the bottom of the LED Wall and the stage flooring. A Tatooine like environment during the afternoon create two effects, taking place in an environment that is instantly recognizable to STAR WARS fans will communicate efficiently the context of the battle, and having the environment in a brighter time of day would limit the amount of practical spill light on the LED volume Wall.

I began gathering reference images for the environment.

Reference Images Below:

I gathered online free assets and resources, namely from KITBASH3D and FAB.com where I began iterations on a virtual Environment within Unreal Engine. The context of the environment was for it to be taking place during the Prequal Trilogy Era of Star Wars, where a Galactic Republic Base has been setup on this planet, investigating the ruins of a lost Jedi Temple.

Above are references of a Galactic Republic Cruiser from STAR WARS that I aimed to re create by kit-bashing free assets together from online services such as KITBASH3D.

Below you can see the environment becoming more detailed, with the finished Galactic Republic Cruiser in the sky and on the rock wall.

Below is the final iteration of the environment, on set of the first production day.