“You Did Not Act In Time” are the words that Ulysse chose to encapsulate his In-Motion entry that snagged him 3rd place in the Post-Apocalypse #kb3dcontest. The short film sends a chilling message as it flies through a world that could have been prevented, but was instead allowed to fester and wreak havoc by the people who preferred making profits to saving the planet. Now it is too late...
Ulysse, can you tell us a bit about yourself? Where has the artist's life taken you?
Hey all! My name is Ulysse Prom, I’m a cinematographer from Annecy (France)
I’ve been doing freelance videography for the last 13 years. It all started when I was 15 filming my friends rollerblading, and I realized that I had a passion for creating videos and at the age of 21 I moved to Los Angeles to pursue videography. I was inspired by so many different things there and it really opened a creative outlet for me. The possibilities seemed absolutely endless!
Another outlet for me has been painting. My grandfather is an artist and a huge influence on my creative process, which started when he taught me how to paint.
About a year ago I stumbled upon Unreal engine and started playing around with it for fun. Next thing I knew, I ended up finding myself creating brand new worlds I had only seen in my mind. Sometimes I find myself spending 5 to 6 hours a day getting lost in creation. It’s such a perfect merge for my love of painting and cinematography!
Wow, only a year in Unreal and you're already making great stuff! What is your process before starting a project like “You Did Not Act In Time”?
It really depends on my mood! For this specific project, it’s funny, at the time I was watching the tv show “SEE” (which by the way is amazingly well done) so it gave me a ton of ideas for post-apocalyptic scenery and moods. I had also been watching the movie “Oblivious.” To be honest, I’ve never actually paid any attention to the story, but some of the scenery in it is so powerful. Those two references really came together to inspire me.
Reference from the series "SEE" 
Reference from the movie "Oblivion" 
I do a lot of sketching also. I grew up painting canvases, I love drawing in general. If I want to get an idea down quickly, I use “Notes” on my iPhone and do some quick sketches so I don’t lose the basic idea of a scene that comes to mind.
What is the story or emotion you wanted to evoke with your entry?
I was trying to show something that can be seen as sad because obviously something horrible has happened, but I wanted the lens to depict it in a beautiful and brutal way. I love the type of scenery I grew up around in Europe, where big buildings and other similar locations are all around, and so with these scenes, the world is completely empty, but full of stories.
I used two quotes from Greta Thunberg at the beginning and at the end of the video. They are basically her saying that the result could have been prevented, but instead it was hidden and covered up by people who preferred profits to saving our planet. In this world it is too late.
Powerful and thought-provoking, thank you. Please take us through a step by step as to how you completed this entry for the #kb3dcontest.
I worked on this project for about two months. I built 15 different scenes and spent about 8 hours on each scene.
Most of the scenes had around 300k of foliage and each scene had other elements like wind, particles, and much more. Below I will give you an example of how I worked on one scene.
After blocking in my scene, I did a quick sketch over my render which is my way of making notes to myself for areas I want to add more detail like foliage and debris.
And finally, why do you make art?
I love being creative, the feeling of just letting my mind control my hand. I love looking at the result of something that was in my mind, but now tangible and expanded because I had time to really explore my thoughts and emotions on the piece. I mean, it sounds basic, but it just makes me so happy! To go from painting on canvases, to now being able to use tools like Unreal engine and KitBash3d is just so amazing! It’s like watching a scene from a movie mixed with a painting. It’s so cool to think of where we were 15 years ago and what we’re able to do today. The future is so bright!!
Speaking of Bright, are you making anything for #BrightArtDarkTimes?
Yes! You can check my bright art here!
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