Cruel

Jackson Wang needed an epic, dance-driven music video set inside a sprawling, nightmarish post-apocalyptic environment, a burning urban wasteland full of decay, ruined skyscrapers, upturned cars, rubble, and a massive industrial throne room at the base of a derelict nuclear power plant.

The video follows Jackson as he dance-battles his way to confront the queen of this burning world.

The production had only two weeks to prep and two weeks for post. The required scale and mood ruled out practical locations, the only suitable sites in LA were small, low-lying, and would require expensive augmentation. Shooting at night added further complexity: summer nights were short, and lighting large practical areas with pyro effects would have been prohibitively expensive. Green screen would have turned every shot into a VFX shot, blowing both schedule and budget by a factor of three.

Using funds saved by avoiding location and travel costs, the production moved to Synapse’s VP stage. Synapse’s VAD team built both large purpose-built virtual environments in Unreal Engine in under a week. The remaining prep time was used to test assets and help the physical art department hone exactly what needed to be created practically to sell the illusion.

Because all environments were captured in-camera, including smoke, fire, and large set pieces, the team shot without restrictions on shot length, camera movement, or setup count. Handheld shots of dancers with flying hair and motion blur were captured cleanly with no keying, no roto, and no greenscreen spill.

Within two days of the shoot, the team had a rough cut. The editor’s reaction: “How in the hell did you guys shoot this?” The remaining VFX work was limited to enhancements on practical fire effects, a smoke effect, and glowing eyes, all minor additions handled easily within the remaining post schedule. The production stayed on budget and on schedule while achieving visuals that would otherwise have been completely out of reach.