Unreal Engine Virtual Video Production - Miley Cyrus, 'Mother's Daughter' Salemzlot cover

Take a look at the behind the scenes of our latest release, Miley 'Salemzlot' Cyrus, Mother's Daughter cover. Using virtual video production and our green screen studio in London we shot in real time with Unreal Engine.

Miley's video is a feminist piece that addresses current social constructs of gender and identity. It is a celebration of the female form removed from the male gaze, and features shots of diverse women; non-binary and transgender women, women of colour and women with disabilities. The work presents us with highly charged socio-political statements in quick flashes of text and semiotics throughout.

Watch Miley Cyrus's full video here.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Our artistic goal was to use the language of Miley's video, whilst representing our artist, Cal, through his multi-faceted performance. We featured his quotes on some of the issues he faces when he dresses in women's clothes or paints his nails. We want the piece to be a celebration of the individual, and to encourage comfort in non-conformity, we aim to challenge labels enforced by the media or by society - dressing in women's clothes does not make you gay - you should be able to express yourself however you want.

We find Cal inspiring and are proud to give him a platform to inspire others too.

I was the camera operator and Rich was the Unreal Engine generalist.

See more of Richard's work here.

We had four outfit changes and characters that Cal, our artist, was playing. As he was on drums, bass and lead guitar there were a few different set ups and camera angles we needed to get. We captured a couple of static and handheld shots for each instrument.

After that he transformed into Miley herself and performed.

Follow Cal's work here.

We built our own rig and recorded on an iPhone 12pro and we used an iPhone 8 as the live link tracking device for the virtual camera.

Affiliate link for the Amazon rig and green screens here...

Rig

https://amzn.to/3yFDu4H

Green Screens

https://amzn.to/3jHS99e

https://amzn.to/3yCyLAG

Pros - it gave me a real time preview of the composited footage inside the engine.

Cons - we kept having issues with it disconnecting, and the calibration was off.

After the shoot we were able to create custom environments to meet the requirements of the video, changing lighting and colours in post production.

Because of of feed connectivity issues we weren’t able to capture as much footage as we anticipated directly in the engine, and so spent some time adapting it in post production.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

Credits

Drums, Bass guitar, Lead guitar and performance - Cal, IG @salemzlot

Unreal Engine Generalist, Creative Director, Editor - Richard Taylor, www.rtav.xyz

Videographer, Creative Director, Photographer, Editor, Colourist - Freddie Evans-Jeanrenaud, IG @freddieej_

Equipment (affiliate links)

Rig

https://amzn.to/3yFDu4H

Green Screen

https://amzn.to/3jHS99e

https://amzn.to/3yCyLAG

Apple lighting adaptor

https://amzn.to/3Aww0RY

Camera Hot Shoe

https://amzn.to/3iCwPT8