Mandalorian S3

Evolving Real-Time Worlds into ICVFX-Ready Environments

Leading virtual production strategy and workflow from pre-production through final delivery.

As VP Producer at Narwhal Studios and a production consultant to Lucasfilm, I focused on building and scaling the team for Season 3. At the same time, we were supporting two Lucasfilm shows in parallel, so artists had to be shared across projects, while new team members were onboarded and trained into the workflow.

The goal was to keep pushing the pipeline forward - so environments could move directly from the VAD into Unreal Engine and onto the stage for final ICVFX shots.

We were already heading in that direction, but this season really leveled it up - working on a previs schedule while delivering many locations that were final. Some environments went straight to stage, others extended through post or were rendered using Helios, depending on the need.

A big part of the role was supporting the production designer and producers with team and technical needs, while managing the VAD budget and overall resourcing. I helped onboard new creatives into the process - getting traditional VFX artists comfortable in Unreal, and guiding game artists to think more like filmmakers - while the team led virtual location scouts. From there, it was about keeping everything aligned from concept through completion of the VP shoot, making sure art, production, and VFX were all moving together.

We developed a turnover process with the art department, where VAD art directors worked directly with VFX vendors to carry the creative forward based on what was established with filmmakers early on. This, along with other workflow refinements, helped keep surprises from happening later.

TEAM

Narwhal Studios VP Producer & Project Consultant: Felix Jorge

COLLABORATORS

Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Rick Famuyiwa, Kathleen Kennedy

Directors: Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rachel Morrison, Lee Isaac Chung, Peter Ramsey

Production Designer: Andrew L. Jones, Doug Chiang

Cinematographers: David Klein, Dean Cundey

PROJECT DETAILS

190+ Virtual Stage Walks With Production Designer

95+ Prelight & Camera Sessions With DP For Techviz

60+ Virtual Location Scouts With Key Decision Makers

12 Virtual Art Department Artist

7 Months Of Set Design

16 Hero Sets With Multiple Variants

75+ Set Variants

65+ Set Dressing Assets scanned

85+ Lighting Scenarios

400+ Cameras Placed