ENGINE OF CHANGE

The Unreal Engine is a pioneering software which has been bringing spectacular graphics to video games like smash hit Fortnite. But now it’s being adapted for movies – and with eyepopping results.

Recent films like Ad Astra, Ford v Ferrari and John Wick: Chapter 3 have all used the technology to enhance their visual effects and upcoming blockbusters such as The Batman have done the same.

It means that the days of filming epics in front of green screens, getting stars to look at a tennis ball on a stick to work out where a monster will be and having to only guess what the backgrounds will look like until the post-production wizards have finished their work are over.

That’s because directors working with this new tool stand their actors in front of giant screens onto which Unreal Engine graphics are projected so the cast and crew can have an immediate immersive environment in which to work.

“This is something incredible. You see this world around you and forget where you are,” said veteran film director Werner Herzog, who is among the technology’s most devoted fans.

The Unreal Engine, which was created by Epic Games, promises to make movies as immersive as the video games for which the process was originally intended.

It seems unreal but this is clearly an engine for big change in the industry.

—Sandro Monetti