Why Making a 3D Animated Sketch of Your Film Is a Game-Changer
💡 The eternal question: How do we cut film budgets, without cutting quality?
If you're planning a film, making an animated 3D version (also called a previs) before you shoot can be a huge help.
🎧 On the Team Deakins Podcast, world-famous cinematographer Roger Deakins talks with Greig Fraser (known for Dune and The Batman). Fraser shares how they made a full animated version of The Batman before filming.
🔗 Link to episode ( Timecode: 20 minutes 30 seconds )
Now, with tools like Unreal Engine, we can do the same, even on small projects.
Three Times Animated Previs Solved Production Challenges
Enklare – Thanks to Previs, We Could Afford to Build a Custom Set
Ridsport – Visualize Complex Ideas So Everyone Gets It
Frilansfinans – Find the Right Pacing for Short Ads
1. Enklare – Thanks to Previs, We Could Afford to Build a Custom Set
I got to direct a commercial and wanted to build a custom set in the brand’s colors.
But full sets are expensive to build. Renting an office is cheaper, but you can’t change much, and you have to return it to normal after.
So I asked: What if we only built exactly what the camera sees?
We trimmed the budget to the max and realized that if we removed the ceiling and side walls, we could stay within budget.
Next question: Would the scene still work?
I built the simplified set and tested it in 3D software. I placed the actors, moved around with a virtual camera, and explored shots that would hide the missing parts.
After a few versions, it worked. The scene looked right, the story made sense, and we stayed on budget—building only what we truly needed!
3D sketch - No ceiling and no side walls
Real build - No ceiling and no side walls
A 50/50 split between the 3D previsualization and the final delivery.
2. Ridsport – Visualize Complex Ideas So Everyone Gets It
This 30 second film had two tricky parts:
1. The first 15 seconds (of a 30-second film) had to show out talent getting up after falling off a horse and getting back in the sadle. How do we tell that in 15 seconds?
2 - A match cut where a girl, dressed in civilian clothes, runs and jumps onto a horse. At the moment she lands, the scene cuts to her landing on a wall—now wearing military gear.
We had very little time on set, and a real horse - so I didn’t want to waste a single second explaining the concept on set. I used animated previs to show the whole idea beforehand, and again on set. Everyone could see the plan and understand how we’d film it. No confusion, no delays.
Me building the Previs in Unreal Engine
A 50/50 split between the 3D previsualization and the final delivery.
3. Frilansfinans – Find the Right Pacing for Short Ads
On one shoot day, we wanted to create as many short ad-stories as possible, each just 6 to 10 seconds long. (In the end, we made about 8 videos. Phew!) No 30-second films, just short video ads.
But that raised a big question:
How many shots do you really need? And how complex can a story be in just 6 to 10 seconds?
To help guide us in pre-production, we created short symbolic previs animations based on the actual location.
Previs isn't about perfection — it's about communication.
If you can fix just one issue and save just one hour on set — where 10 or 20 people otherwise might be waiting — that’s a big win.
Don’t fix it in post - fix it in Pre(vis) ;)
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