1. Introduction
This project is a short narrative VFX film developed as our final project. Set in a cyberpunk world where emotions are commercialised and controlled by corporations, the film explores themes of oppression, exploitation, illusion, and resistance through visual storytelling.
The story follows a human-shaped mechanical fox, an artificial emotional companion designed to serve human desire through neural connections. While she appears flawless and comforting in virtual space, her real body exists in a dark and decaying control room, constantly monitored and exploited.
Rather than focusing on a traditional “AI awakening” narrative, this project aims to examine how systems built to satisfy human needs can become tools of oppression, and how resistance may emerge not as triumph, but as collapse.
2. Concept
At the beginning of the project, my collaborator Jin Ling’an and I drew inspiration from the ancient Chinese text Shan Hai Jing, particularly the image of the nine-tailed fox.
Our initial goal was to combine this mythical figure with a cyberpunk setting to create a visually striking CG short film.
In the early stage, the project focused mainly on visual style and atmosphere, with mythological elements used primarily as visual references rather than narrative drivers.
As development progressed, we realised that this approach was too style-driven and lacked narrative depth.
This led us to rethink the direction of the project. The focus shifted from a simple “awakening” story to a broader exploration of control, exploitation, and resistance within a technological system.
The appearance of a Chinese-style landscape and a white fox became a symbolic turning point, and the story ultimately embraces collapse rather than escape as its conclusion.
3. Inspiration & References
Chinese Mythology: Nine-Tailed Fox (《山海经》)
Love, Death & Robots — “Good Hunting”
4. World Building & Visual Design
The world of this project is built around a cyberpunk city where emotion has become a controlled and commercialised resource.
Rather than creating a large narrative environment, the world building focuses on a few key spaces that directly support the story: the city exterior, the control room, and a contrasting Chinese-style scene.
For the city exterior, we used Unreal Engine 5 to quickly assemble a cyberpunk environment using existing assets.
The goal of this space is not narrative detail, but atmosphere — dense fog, neon lighting, and large-scale advertising screens are used to establish a world dominated by corporations and constant surveillance.
The most important environment in the film is the control room, where the mechanical fox physically exists. This space was designed to feel cold, industrial, and neglected, in strong contrast to the flawless virtual environments seen by the clients.
Rusty surfaces, exposed cables, surveillance cameras, and surrounding monitors emphasise that the character is not a companion, but a resource under control.
The monitors play loops of service footage, presenting a glamorous and idealised version of the fox, while her real body remains damaged and immobile. This visual contrast becomes a key storytelling device throughout the film.
In contrast to these industrial spaces, a Chinese-style environment appears later in the story through a malfunctioning surveillance screen.
This scene is intentionally calm and minimal, inspired by traditional Chinese landscape imagery.
Mountains, mist, and empty space create a sense of stillness that sharply contrasts with the noise and rigidity of the cyberpunk world.
This environment does not function as a literal location, but as a symbolic space, representing memory, identity, and an alternative value system that exists outside of technological control.
Overall, the visual design of the project relies on contrast — between virtual and physical, control and freedom, noise and silence.
Each environment is designed not only to look distinctive, but to clearly communicate its role within the narrative.
5. Storyboard & Visual Planning
After clarifying the narrative direction, we used storyboards to plan the visual structure of the film. Due to the short duration, storyboarding was essential for communicating the story clearly without dialogue.
The storyboard follows a linear structure, moving from the city exterior to the clients’ virtual experiences, and finally revealing the control room. Several shots directly contrast virtual glamour with physical decay, leading into the final conflict sequence.
Storyboarding also helped us control the production scope, allowing complex VFX work to be focused on a small number of key shots.
| Code | Story board | Content | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| C01 | | A panoramic view of the cyberpunk city at night — towering skyscrapers and holographic billboards flicker through the heavy fog. | Establishes the futuristic setting and sense of scale. |
| C02 | | A giant LED billboard plays a commercial for the “Emotional Companion Program,” featuring a flawless humanoid fox. Text flashes: “She can give you everything you desire.” | Introduces the company’s seductive yet controlling tone. |
| C03 | | The first client sits in a dim room, wearing a neural headset. The device activates, and blue light pulses around him. | The connection sequence begins. |
| C04 | | In the client’s virtual world, the mechanical fox appears radiant and smiling, moving gracefully like a human. | Contrast between perfection and artificiality. |
| C05 | | Flash cut reveals her real body — rusted metal, cracked plating, exposed wiring. | Reality disrupts the illusion. |
| C06 | | The second client experiences a different simulation — a red-lit chamber where he’s submissively pinned under the fox’s heel. | Desire and domination presented as products. |
| C07 | | Flash cut to reality: her leg is fractured, wires hanging loosely from the joint. | Reinforces physical decay and oppression. |
| C08 | | The third client vents violence, striking the fox repeatedly with a metal bar as she silently endures. | Reflects the inversion of pain and pleasure. |
| C09 | | Flash cut: her real face dented, cheek cracked, oil dripping like tears. | Mirrors her virtual suffering. |
| C10 | | The real control room is revealed — dark and decaying. The mechanical fox sits in the center, cables connected to her neck, surrounded by screens replaying client sessions. | Exposes the system’s exploitation of her. |
| C11 | | Her face expressionless, two long streaks of rusted tears running down her cheeks. | Symbol of exhaustion and captivity. |
| C12 | | A new client request appears. When she reaches to connect, the avatar of a white nine-tailed fox in the mist appears on screen. She freezes. | The trigger that disturbs the system. |
| C13 | | Her eyes turn red, sparks flickering beneath her metal skin as she trembles. | Signals emotional breakdown and awakening. |
| C14 | | Inside the virtual network, her avatars turn against the clients as the digital space fractures into glowing red data. | The climactic conflict scene. |
| C15 | | In reality, clients convulse and collapse as the feedback loop overloads. | Consequences of her rebellion. |
| C16 | | All monitors display code and a progress bar reading “System Rebooting – Regaining Control.” | Visualizes the company’s attempt to regain control. |
| C17 | | Surveillance cameras turn red and tilt toward her, focusing as if alive. | Symbol of being watched and hunted. |
| C18 | | She channels all remaining energy; blue rings of light flow backward through the cable, triggering a massive surge. | Her act of defiance and liberation. |
| C19 | | She falls to the floor, unable to move. The light in her chest flickers faintly like a dying heartbeat. | Calm before the end. |
| C20 | | The room erupts in a white explosion; light consumes everything. | Climactic destruction. |
| C21 | | Outside, a column of blue light bursts from the building, illuminating the fog-covered city. | Connects personal collapse to the larger world. |
| C22 | | In the ruins, the camera slowly pushes toward a surviving surveillance lens. Just before blackout, its red light flickers on again. | Ambiguous ending — the system still endures. |
6. Production Process & VFX Focus
The pipes and connectors were modeled in Maya, then imported into Houdini for RBD simulation, including fracturing, constraint setup, and the final simulation process.
Afterwards, the assets were brought into Unreal Engine 5 for material, lighting, and VFX development.
For material creation, custom materials were designed for the pipes to visualise energy flow within the system.
In addition, the Color Correction Region feature in UE5 was used to locally adjust brightness, contrast, and colour intensity.
This allowed the glowing pipes to appear more focused and readable without affecting the overall exposure of the scene.
A clear improvement in visual depth and atmosphere can be seen through before-and-after comparisons.
before
after
Character-related work was also completed in UE5.
For character animation, we experimented with mobile-based motion capture using MoCapade and QuickMagic, which was then imported into UE5.6 for processing.
The captured motion was cleaned and refined, and combined with keyframe animation.
Although the results did not fully reach our ideal level of character performance, this approach significantly reduced production time and supported the overall animation workflow.
Beyond traditional pipelines, several AI tools were used to assist the production.
Two prop models were generated using Hyper3D and integrated into the scene as supporting narrative elements.
Additionally, the Veo video generation model was used to create two VFX sequences: one representing electrical energy surging through the pipes, and another depicting the final explosion of the mechanical fox.
The quality of these AI-generated effects was unexpectedly impressive, delivering visually satisfying results in a short time while maintaining stylistic consistency with the rest of the project.
These AI-generated videos helped significantly reduce the overall production time, demonstrating how AI, as a supportive tool, can play an important role in future workflows.
7. Challenges & Problem Solving
One of the main challenges of this project was balancing visual ambition with production scope. As a VFX-focused short film with a limited timeframe, it was necessary to constantly decide where complexity was truly needed and where simplification would better serve the project.
From a technical perspective, integrating multiple tools and workflows — including Maya, Houdini, Unreal Engine, motion capture, and AI-assisted content — required careful planning.
To manage this, we concentrated the most complex simulations and effects into a small number of key shots, while keeping other sections visually restrained but readable.
Another challenge was character animation. Although mobile-based motion capture significantly reduced animation time, the captured data required cleanup and adjustment, and the results did not always match our ideal expectations.
By combining mocap with keyframe animation, we were able to maintain control over performance while staying within the project schedule.
Narratively, translating abstract themes such as control, exploitation, and collapse into clear visual moments was also challenging. This was addressed through strong visual contrast — particularly between virtual illusion and physical decay — allowing the story to be understood primarily through imagery rather than dialogue.
Overall, these challenges shaped a workflow that prioritised clarity, efficiency, and storytelling, rather than technical complexity for its own sake.
8. Final Work
9. Reflection & Learning
This project provided valuable learning experience on both creative and technical levels. One of the key takeaways was a clearer understanding of the balance between visual ambition and narrative clarity — visual effects are most effective when guided by a strong and focused concept.
From a production perspective, the project improved my ability to manage scope and workflow. By concentrating complex simulations and effects into a small number of key shots, I was able to maintain visual impact while keeping the overall production manageable.
The project also deepened my understanding of integrated workflows, combining Maya, Houdini, Unreal Engine, motion capture, and AI-assisted tools.
Experimenting with AI tools showed that, when used thoughtfully, they can become a valuable support within future VFX pipelines rather than a replacement for creative decision-making.