Filmtools
Filmmakers go-to destination for pre-production, production & post production equipment!
Shop NowMore than twenty years ago, Quentin Tarantino wrote a scene for Kill Bill that never made it to screen. Now, that story came to life as The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge, for the first time inside Fortnite.
The Lost Chapter highlights how Epic’s real-time tools made it possible to bring film and interactive storytelling closer together, to create a scene never shot and share the experience with millions in Fortnite.
Directed by Tarantino and starring Uma Thurman, The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge used Unreal Engine’s virtual production tools to bring his vision to life, letting him direct the actors and see their performances inside Fortnite in real time. Yes, Tarantino and Uma Thurman are back working on Kill Bill, only this time using a game engine to recreate a missing scene from the original film.
The story came to life as The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge, for the first time inside Fortnite. The short film premiered in the game on November 30 and is also screening in theaters. Now Epic pulls back the curtain to show how the team made it happen using Unreal Engine to make a first of its kind cinematic experience.
Once the actors did their part the Third Floor and Epic Games merged those authentic performances with stylized animation, using MetaHuman technology to craft the actors’ likenesses. By drawing on Unreal Engine’s MetaHuman technology and Virtual Production tools, filmmakers were able to experience the immediacy of live action in a flexible, integrated system.
The team used a high-fidelity MetaHuman facial rig, trained on 4D scans, to achieve more nuanced facial expressions and emotions within Fortnite’s style. Using MetaHuman Animator with standard mono cameras—webcams and smartphones—as well as stereo HMC’s, the team captured real-time, high fidelity animation on set.
To enhance actor interactivity, the team developed MuzzleReport, a prototype hardware attachment for Airsoft prop guns that detects when shots are fired, and sends those events directly into Unreal Engine. This enabled the team to see real-time muzzle flashes, tracers, and bullet impacts in the virtual scene, giving the actors instantaneous visual and haptic feedback.
The production also incorporated real-time destruction, making it possible for physics-driven breakage and impact effects to play out live in engine during capture. This made shot composition more precise, helped actors adjust reactions in the moment, and freed up the team to refine key destruction beats during filming rather than in post.
