Bringing the SHEE Realm to Life with Virtual Production
Some projects are about creating a digital environment. Others are about creating a world that feels believable through the camera.
For the surreal short film SHEEE, directed by Anna Dobos and Shannen Maria Samuel, Unform Experiences collaborated with the team to create the “realm” where the Shee appears, set in a mysterious landscape inspired by Manx folklore, emo culture and girlhood, set on the Isle of Man in 2006.
Working at The Creative Digital Lab in Croydon, we designed and built the virtual environment in Unreal Engine 5.3, combining drone-captured 3D scans of the Isle of Man with carefully selected landscape assets, rocks, ruins and terrain to create a location that felt both grounded and otherworldly.
Virtual Production is never just about the digital environment. The relationship between the LED wall, the physical set, lighting and camera movement is what ultimately sells the illusion. Throughout development we worked closely with the production to ensure the digital world and practical set design blended seamlessly, creating convincing depth and continuity in camera.
One of the highlights of the process was seeing the virtual landscape come together on the LED wall and watching the performers inhabit the world for the first time.
We’re looking forward to seeing the completed film.
If you’d like to support SHEE, please consider contributing to the production through their crowdfunding campaign.
SHEE Realm VP Credits
Production Company: Somewhere Films
Virtual Production Studio: Creative Digital Lab (Croydon)
Virtual Production: Unform Experiences
Virtual Production Supervisor & Virtual Production Designer: Estela Oliva
Virtual Production Assistants: Yongjin Li & Sheldon Warnick
FULL CREDITS
Production Company – Somewhere Films
Virtual Production Studio – Creative Digital Lab
Co-Director / Producer / Writer / Costume – Shannen Maria Samuel
Co-Director / Producer – Anna Dobos
Director of Photography – Bojan Brbora
1st Assistant Director – Liana Failla
Virtual Production – Unform Experiences
Virtual Production Supervisor & Virtual Production Designer – Estela Oliva
Virtual Production Assistants – Yonjin Li & Sheldon Warnick
VP Wall Tech – Zawdie Campbell
General Manager (Creative Digital Lab) – Herty Owusu
Sound Operator – Jade Lin
Set Design – Niall Harrison
Gaffer – Oliver Gannon
Photographer – Kym Apiro
Actor (Shee) – Cecile Sinclair
Actor (Roxy) – Issie Victoria
Hair Stylist (Shee) – Sepehr Badiei
Hair Stylist (Roxy) – Amy Melbourne Prosthetics – Charlotte Leighton-Woods MUA – Kayley Lou
Marketing (BTS Content) – Mia Erfani
Styling / Set Assistant – Lauryn Butler
Costume (Crown & Nails) – Evie Killey
Accessories – Faes Realm
