REALITY DESIGNED FOR CGI — Journal

Half of every frame in this film was empty when we shot it. That was the plan.

First steps across the sand — the opening frame of the film — Thirty years ago, the journey began.

Two generations walking the dunes as towers rise from the landscape — Room for a future we believed in.

Live action first, effects second — but the framing, the light direction and the walking pace all had to be decided before anything digital existed. Get those wrong on the day and no amount of CGI hides it.

Asaad filming on location, holding a camera — On location.

Good CGI isn’t added to a shot. It’s already accounted for in the shot.

Industrial robotics at human scale, integrated into the live-action desert — With our own hands.

A symbolic gold coin suspended above the sand beside the two figures — Investing in ideas before they became reality.

Both generations walking toward the finished city skyline — Eyes set on the next thirty.

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