How theUNREAL ENGINE
used forThe Mandalorianis
transforming storytelling
AT THE LA PREMIERE ofThe Mandalorian,
Werner Herzog went rogue. Director Jon
Favreau was on stage with the cast of his Disney+
Star WarsTV show when the maverick
filmmaker suddenly grabbed a microphone
and started excitedly shouting about the
revolutionary new technology used during the
series’ shoot. “He was telling the audience, ‘You
have to understand, this is something incredible!
You see this world around you, you forget where
you are!’ He couldn’t contain himself,” laughs
David Morin, one of the people responsible for
getting Herzog so worked up.Morin is head of the Los Angeles Lab of Epic
Games, makers of the Unreal Engine. You might
have heard of it: since 1998, it’s been the software
behind more than 500 blockbuster video games,
including current hit Fortnite. Recently, though,
it’s been making waves in the world of cinema.
Ad Astra, Ford v Ferrari and John Wick: Chapter
3 — Parabellum all employed the engine to help
realise their visual eff ects. The Mandalorian,
however, showed its full potential.
Rather than using green screens and letting
actors imagine the galaxy far, far away around
them, Favreau surrounded his stars with giant
screens onto which real-time, hyper-convincing
Unreal Engine graphics were projected. The
result was an immersive environment for actors
to interact with and a more realistic look on
screen: much of what you see in The Mandalorian
was captured in-camera, with far less post-
production CGI wizardry.changing everything
No./ 12
PREVIEW