Artwork
Narrative Cinematic / 2026
Overview
A former officer turned private investigator follows the traces others would rather bury—until a long-distance call reaches his office and a voice identical to his own repeats: stop looking.
Set in a 1950s noir world, The Grey Man explores moral ambiguity, isolation and the unstable line between guilt and innocence. Police records, secret evidence exchanges, a missing child and a burned photograph assemble the case through fragments rather than exposition.
Created as a solo real-time production, the film was directed and produced in Unreal Engine 5 using MetaHuman characters, Sequencer, cinematic lighting, animation, VFX, sound design and editing. The final phone call—carried by a voice identical to the investigator’s own—opens the mystery into a possible multiverse and turns the case into a question of identity.
UNSW Capstone / 10 weeks
The Grey Man was created as my final capstone for the UNSW Master of Animation and Visual Effects. Across ten weeks, I took the project through every stage independently: four weeks of planning, followed by six weeks of production and post-production.
Weeks 01–04
I developed John Vale, the missing-child investigation and the final long-distance phone call, then translated the story into a beat sheet, storyboard and shot list. Noir references guided the framing, contrast, colour and costume, while early UE5 tests, asset planning and a production schedule kept the scope achievable.
Weeks 05–10
I dressed the environments, built the MetaHuman cast, retargeted animation and staged performances and virtual cameras in Sequencer. Each shot was refined through motivated practical, window and coloured lighting before rendering from UE5 and completing the edit, pacing and sound design in Premiere Pro.
Production process
The workflow moved between direction and technical problem-solving, with every decision judged by what the audience needed to see and feel in the finished cut.
Narrative beats, visual references and a shot plan established a readable mystery without relying on exposition.
MetaHuman performance, retargeted motion, camera blocking and timing were developed together inside Sequencer.
Practical sources, hard window light and controlled red and blue accents created the film's noir depth and tension.
Shot selection, pacing, layered effects and sound design turned the individual renders into a cohesive two-minute film.
03A / Shot lighting
The detective-office shot had to reveal John Vale without flattening the room. I treated the Rect and Point Lights as motivated sources from the window, desk and background practicals. A warm key shapes the face, while restrained red and cool spill separate his silhouette and preserve the noir contrast. The result was evaluated through the final camera and Sequencer timing rather than as a standalone lighting setup.
03B / Look development
For the cigar-room scene, practical and Point Lights were distributed through the set before hard window light was used to project long shapes through the blinds. The contrast creates separation across the leather furniture, floor and haze, while keeping the character's position clear inside a large, asset-dense environment.
04 / Edit & sound
Premiere Pro became the final narrative workspace. I assembled the UE5 shots across multiple video layers, refined the rhythm of each reveal and used transitions only where they supported the investigation. Dialogue, room tone, city ambience, spot effects and music were built across dedicated audio tracks so the sound could guide attention and connect separately rendered scenes into one continuous film.