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Yard Act - Live From Utopia

Virtual Production
Client
Molten Jets
Year
2024
Format
Video

No Ghost was tasked with creating a virtual, animated set based on the psychedelic album artwork by Thomas Robinson. The set was to last the full 45 minutes of the album, and the team had just two weeks to complete it. Never one to shy away from a crazy project, No Ghost eagerly took on the task.

Utilising the latest virtual production techniques, the incredible team at the Mars Volume took the No Ghost’s Unreal setup and with on-set support from VFX extraordinaire Simon Legrand, created the resplendent virtual set.

Album Art Comes to Life

No Ghost was tasked with creating a virtual, animated set based on the psychedelic album artwork by Thomas Robinson. The set was to last the full 45 minutes of the album, and the team had just two weeks to complete it. Never one to shy away from a crazy project, No Ghost eagerly took on the task.

Utilising the latest virtual production techniques, the incredible team at the Mars Volume took the No Ghost’s Unreal setup and with on-set support from VFX extraordinaire Simon Legrand, created the resplendent virtual set.

A Throwback in Style

Paper Cut-Outs in the Digital World

Making a world in this style was particularly intriguing for Creative Director, Tom Flavelle:

"As soon as we saw the album artwork from Thomas Robinson, Terry Gilliam’s work immediately came to mind. His influence guided me in both the naïve animation style of the various elements and over-the-top psychedelic perspective distorting reality the artwork conveys.”

Technical Hacks, Cheats and Tricks

Building a world this dense required a smorgasbord of particles and rendering tricks:

“We’re quite used to Niagara (The FX system in Unreal) as a studio now and like to use it for all sorts of weird things. For the huge crowd, sea and fizzy fishes and a bunch of other smaller FX it was a no brainer. It required some out of the box thinking to get it all to come together. I’m thankful for the incredible talent of Simon Legrand for taking my scene and running with it on the day and tinkering with it across the performance!”

A crowd of disembodied hands holding lighters for Yard Act’s ‘Live from Utopia’ performance video.
Yard Act performing songs from ‘Where's My Utopia?’ in a psychedelic virtual set.
Mid shot of the Yard Act front man James Smith singing Fizzy Fish from the ‘Live From Utopia’ music video.
Yard Act are framed by a molten red sun as they perform the song Grifter's Grief from the album ‘Where’s My Utopia?’.
A hellish red background frame from the Yard Act front man James Smith performing Grifter’s Grief.
Yard Act vocalist lighting his cigarette from a disembodied hand holding a lighter.
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Recognition

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BTS

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Credits

Producer

Luke Gibbard

Engine Generalist

Tom Flavelle

CG Supervisor

Simon Legrand

Director

Ja Humby

Producer

Rhory Danniells

Production Assistant

Ciaran Walker

AD

Henry Heffer

DoP

Jed Darlington Roberts

1st AC

Darius Williams

2nd AC

Ari Priede

Steadicam Op

Krystian Winszewski

Gaffer

Massimo Filippi

Spark

David Zrolko

Desk Op

Charlie Ring

Production Designer

Lyndon Ogbourne

Art Assistants

Sonnie Day, Georgia Llewelyn, Murs Topham

Music Producer

Justin Lyndley

Sound Assistants

Yiğit Bülbül, Simon Lyndley

BTS

Charles Gall

HUM

Dakota Blacklaws-Lacy

Editor

Ja Humby

Recorded and Mixed by

Justin Lyndley and Zac Lyndley

Live sound by

Yiğit Bülbül

Exec Producer

Rowan Pitts

Senior Producers

Kylie Mccarroll, Lauren Rogers

Unreal Operator

Cameron Bishop

System Engineer

Jamie Sunter

Facilities Assistant

Viktroia Kaplonai

Studio Assistant

Justyna Novak

Yard Act

James Smith, Ryan Needham, Sam Shipstone, Jay Russell, Christopher Duffin, Daisy Smith, Lauren Fitzpatrick

Manager

Ollie Jacob

Tour Manager

Jacob Price

Senior Creative

Josh Mitchell

Head of Marketing

Sam Flynn

Senior A&R

Jack Greengrass
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