Created at Petrol Ad
Butcher Showcase
The work
Nine shots · Six weeksClient
Empty Vessel | Defect
Studio
Petrol Advertising
Year
2025
Role
Director, Lighting
Stack
Unreal 5, Houdini
Delivery
Character showcase
A cinematic character reveal built around atmosphere and weight. I directed the shot — shaping mood, camera, and environment so the character reads with presence and menace.
The approach lifts a game-ready asset into a story-driven frame. Volumetric lighting and environmental depth do the heavy lifting; the character doesn't move, the world around it does.
The character stays still — the world moves around it
This was a character reveal with no animation on the figure itself. All the energy had to come from environment: volumetric light, atmospheric depth, and camera work carrying the weight.
The constraint became the concept. A motionless subject surrounded by a world in flux reads as power, not limitation. The frame earns the menace.
