The Grey Man

Narrative Cinematic / 2026

1.Overview

A former officer turned private investigator follows buried clues until a long-distance call delivers a warning in his own voice: stop looking.

Role: Director / Unreal Engine Artist
Engine: Unreal Engine 5
Character: MetaHuman
Production: UNSW Capstone / Solo

2.Storyboard

The Grey Man's Storyboard

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3.Previs

The previs establishes shot timing and composition ahead of the finished film.

The Grey Man storyboard frame 01 — The Grey Man / Previs

4.Production Process

I developed The Grey Man as a ten-week UNSW capstone, with four weeks of planning and six weeks of production.

1
Story & Shot Design
2
Real-Time Staging
3
Lighting & Look
4
Edit & Sound

Weeks 1–4 / Pre-production

Plan

A beat sheet and storyboard mapped John Vale's investigation and final call.

Weeks 5–10 / Production

Produce

I built the cast and scenes, then finished the cameras, lighting, edit and sound.

AShot Lighting

I used a warm key and restrained red and cool practical light to reveal John Vale while preserving the office depth and noir contrast in the final camera.

Unreal Engine editor showing light actors around the main detective-office shot and Sequencer tracks — （ Office character lighting / Unreal Engine 5 ）

BLook Development

I placed a Rect Light behind JV to separate him from the background and create stronger depth and layered contrast.

Unreal Engine lighting setup showing the Rect Light placed behind JV in the cigar-room scene — （ JV backlight / Rect Light setup ）

CAnimation

I captured the performances with motion capture, then refined the body and facial animation by hand with Control Rig.

Unreal Engine Live Link Hub showing motion-capture takes prepared for The Grey Man — （ Motion capture takes / Live Link Hub ）

Unreal Engine Sequencer showing Control Rig refinements on a character performance — （ Control Rig refinement / Unreal Engine 5 ）

5.Render & Camera

Composite of The Grey Man Movie Render Graph and output settings inset at the lower right — （ Render Settings ）

Original output settings: 2960 × 2160 — （ Render Settings ）

Movie Render Graph exports the final frames at 2960 × 2160.

Unreal Engine camera settings showing 35mm Academy filmback and a 1.37:1 crop — （ Camera ）

The final film uses a 1.37:1 frame to echo 1950s television and strengthen its vintage period character.

6.Edit & Sound

In Premiere Pro, I paced the UE5 shots and layered dialogue, room tone, city ambience, effects and music to connect the rendered scenes into one film.

Adobe Premiere Pro timeline for The Grey Man showing multiple video and audio tracks — （ Picture and sound edit / Premiere Pro ）

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