Director Dane talks Ada, Unreal Engine and UWE

Stranded on an arctic island with a dying man in 1921, an Alaskan seamstress must overcome her fears of the wilderness and find the strength to survive if she ever hopes to return home to her son. Inspired by the true story of Ada Blackjack. As part of the Blue Zoo Shorts programme, Ada is the short film directed by Dane Winn and rendered entirely in Unreal Engine. With the brief to tell a captivating true story in Unreal Engine, the team devised this graphite-style to give the film a raw appeal that doesn’t look like it was made in a game engine.

This Summer UWE animation graduate Dane Winn released Blue Zoo’s newest short, a true story about Ada Blackjack. We caught up with Dane who talked to us about creating Ada, his time as a UWE animation student, and his advice for graduates.

When did you come to UWE for study animation, and what did you take from the experience? 

 How has your career developed since the days as a UWE Animation Student to now? 

I began work as a Junior Animator on a children’s series at Blue-Zoo Animation Studio in London. I was very keen to learn from the artists around me, and prove myself. I eventually moved into a more senior role in the Productions department as a Lead Animator. Throughout this time, I was constantly working on mini-projects outside of hours, writing stories and making shorts. I realised that ultimately what I enjoy the most is telling stories and I wanted to be more creatively involved in the projects I was animating. In 2016 I made a jump into the Commercial department where I worked up to become a Director and Creative Lead. The projects are shorter turnaround times, but have a lot of variety in styles and concept, making for a great playground to learn and experiment.

How long did it take to make Ada from script to screen and could you tell us a bit more about the process?

I began writing the script in March 2018, it required a lot of research because the story was based on true events and I wanted to understand what happened and who Ada Blackjack was as much as I could. I spent around 6 months writing, and working on thumbnail storyboards, going through many, many, many revisions. I was juggling other projects at work during this time, but Blue-Zoo was happy to give me the time I needed to figure out the short.

We began working with a concept artist, Sukanto Debnath, and exploring how we would achieve the look of the film. We were learning new tools for the film, working with Unreal Engine, to render the entire film using realtime technology. Typically this tech is used in the video games industry, but we felt the tools could be used for animation production. The style was very drawn and tactile. A lot of what we knew that happened to Ada was from a diary she kept and her first-hand experience so I wanted it to have the feel of a faded memory and gestural scenes, so we had to develop some techniques of our own to achieve this, relying on post-processing materials and a lot of manipulation to camera.

The majority of shots are static because I wanted them to feel more photographic, with very long focal lengths to flatten the frame off. The pipeline for the project began as we normally would in design, then building assets and animating in Maya, but for the shading, lighting, and rendering we went into Unreal Engine. We didn’t do any post-production in an external program, we aimed to create the final frames of the film straight out of Unreal, so the artists were seeing exactly what the audience would as they worked. It was very liberating and meant combining several roles into one. We had a short break from the project at the end of 2018 to devote resources elsewhere, then the team grew and we worked for several months in 2019 to complete the film by June.

This was made as part of the Blue Zoo Shorts Programme – how does this programme work?

The program is constantly evolving,  but once or twice a year the whole studio is given a short film brief. They vary a lot and tend to focus on a technical area the studio wants to explore or experiment with, leaving the narrative side more open. We were doing one for Christmas, which was more season focused and another in the summer that went in very different directions.

Everyone at the studio is allowed to pitch an idea and then it goes to a studio vote as to what one we should make. Then the person who wins gets to direct the film. The brief for Ada was to tell a true story and to use Unreal Engine. I was interested in telling a survival story because I always loved how the character goes through both a physical and emotional journey. I recognised there weren’t as many stories like this about women so I started researching. Ada’s story was one I found that really grabbed me and not many people had heard, so it felt like an appropriate one to bring to light. Something about the story really resonated with me and I was excited to try and capture it.

For the pitch, we were asked not to present any visuals, but instead, stand up and tell the story and what your vision is, which can be quite intimidating. I’ve been pitching to do one of these studio shorts for years now so was thrilled to get the opportunity.

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After Ada’s success at festivals, do you believe it would be used again on other projects?

In terms of the tools we used to make the film, we’re very keen to use them again. We’ve already started using Unreal Engine on client projects, but there is still a lot of RnD needed for us to bring it into our Production work. In terms of the style of Ada, it’s hard to say. It’s had a lovely reception and we felt like we created something quite unique, especially for real-time technology, but like all good projects, the style should support the story, so I don’t think we’d want to use it unless it was appropriate. The ethos at the studio is to keep moving forward and try new things so we’re more excited at the moment to see what else we could do with the tools.

How is it working for Blue Zoo during Lockdown?

It’s been a very interesting experience. The studio has been incredibly supportive during this time. They’ve emailed every day with updates right from the start of the pandemic, provided services for mental health, encouraged socialising over Zoom calls, and adapted to different people’s technical circumstances. I feel very lucky to be working there at this time. I actually became a dad just before lockdown so my personal experience has been quite different as well. Despite all the limitations of being stuck at home, I have found a lot of joy being able to see and spend time with my little Riley every day

Do you have any tips for our newest graduates coming into the animation industry?

The biggest thing that helped me was my showreel. I was specialising in character animation so my reel was very much catered for the role I was applying for. When it comes to an interview, be friendly and passionate. When you’ve got the job, stay humble, keep trying to learn and if you can, keep practicing in your spare time. The work you do won’t always be the most creatively fulfilling every day, and clients may ask you to make changes you don’t agree with, so it’s important to find creative outlets and keep challenging yourself.

Be sure to check out Dane’s short film below! If you want to see more of his work his website is also here: https://www.dane-winn.co.uk/