Jan 27, 2023

The Voice In The Hollow is a stunning stylized CG short film, and the filmmakers documented the entire production.

Last year, filmmakers Miguel Ortega and Tran Ma (aka Half M.T. Studios) shared with the world a behind-the-scenes look at the making of their latest short film, "The Voice in the Hollow," animated using Unreal Engine 5 (UE5). The Voice in the Hollow," animated with Unreal Engine 5 (UE5).

A strikingly stylized and cinematic piece of work, the full short can be viewed below:

Knowing that their work with UE5 would likely be of interest to others, Ortega and Ma recorded over 100 hours of making-of footage throughout the production of the short film. Ortega and Ma recorded over 100 hours of making-of footage throughout the making of the short film.

Every Friday throughout 2022, Ortega and Ma appeared on the social media accounts of the Gnomon School, where they teach, to talk about the making of the short, answer viewer questions about real-time 3D animation tools, and and shared visuals in progress. The first video was posted on January 22, 2022 and is linked below.

In this video, Ortega and Ma share the amazing true story that inspired their short film, which is sure to fascinate anyone interested in anthropology or archaeology, and then dive into the aesthetic and narrative choices that made their story an evocative version.

The video, which runs a little over two hours, is incredibly detailed and delves deeply into the creative choices Ortega and Ma made along the way; the pair used Zbrush and Maya to design and create their characters, Adobe's Substance Painter and other tools for character texturing. The environment for this work was sculpted and textured in Gaea and layered in Epic Games' Megascans.

Later videos show how realistic costumes and fabrics were added using Marvelous Designer and then exported to UE5 as an Alembic cache. It also describes how motion capture was done using the Awinda suit and gloves from Xsens, and facial expressions were captured using MocapX and later modified using Maya.

With each video clocking in at two hours, the tutorials may seem overwhelming. But in fact, it is not. Ortega and Ma are experienced instructors who know how to speak to a crowd and regularly engage with viewers, creating a classroom dynamic that is both educational and entertaining.