SOLSTICE is a five-part independent fiction series that moves between the real and the virtual using Unreal Engine. The project uses Unreal as a core system for world-building, scene construction, and hybrid storytelling between live action and real-time environments. We are applying to position SOLSTICE as a concrete case study of how Unreal Engine can support independent narrative production.

01 — THE STORY

Across the world, a group of artists begin receiving the same visions, sent by a cosmic intelligence known as the Architecture. These visions reveal that reality itself has fractured, and that the history of humanity, what the series calls its “narrative fabric”, has been corrupted.

Each artist carries a fragment of that broken story. Through their work, dance, film, music, image, they are able to enter a parallel layer of reality and attempt to rewrite these fragments. Their creations become acts that directly affect the structure of the world.

As they move deeper into this system, they uncover a failed evolutionary program, corrupted agents, and a growing force feeding on distortion and memory loss.

The series follows their attempt to repair reality itself, not through force, but through the act of creation. This is not a conventional superhero story. It reframes artists as operators within a larger system, where imagination is both a tool and a risk.

02 — THE PROJECT

SOLSTICE is structured as a hybrid series where physical and virtual production are developed in parallel.

The narrative moves between the real world and a parallel environment designed and rendered in Unreal Engine. These two layers are not separated in post, they are conceived together from the writing stage, allowing continuity in lighting, camera logic and spatial design.

The objective is to produce a seamless integration between live-action footage and real-time 3D environments, without relying on traditional VFX pipelines.

Key elements:

• 5-episode narrative structure

• Hybrid live-action / real-time production

• Unreal Engine integrated from development to final image

• Designed for scalability across episodes and future seasons

02 — PROJECT STATUS

The series is already well underway:

Episode 1: Completed and widely awarded on the festival circuit

Episodes 2 & 3: Currently in post-production

Episode 5: To be shot during Iceland total solar eclipse August 2026

The final episode will be shot in Iceland during the Iceland Eclipse Festival, within a major international scientific and artistic gathering. Participants, including NASA astronauts and international artists, will appear as themselves, intentionally blurring the line between fiction and documentary.

03 — UNREAL ENGINE PIPELINE

From Episode 2 onwards, Unreal Engine becomes a primary production environment.

The pipeline is structured around:

• Real-time environment creation (UE) replacing a large part of traditional set construction and location dependency

• Virtual cinematography aligned with live-action camera language

• Iterative scene development without render delays typical of offline pipelines

• Direct integration of assets across episodes to ensure continuity and cost efficiency

Around 50% of Episodes 2 to 5 are produced inside Unreal Engine.

This approach allows:

• Faster iteration cycles during production

• Reduced dependency on heavy VFX post-production

• Greater control over lighting and environments at the shooting stage

• Reusable assets across episodes and potential future formats

The project is designed to demonstrate a viable model for independent creators to adopt real-time production without studio-level infrastructure.

04 — MATERIAL SUBMITTED

To support the application, we are sharing:

Episode 2: LE MÉTRO DE PARIS
Work-in-progress cut of the first half of the episode

Password: solstice

05 — WHY THIS SUPPORT MATTERS

SOLSTICE is currently fully self-funded.

Support from Epic MegaGrants would directly accelerate:

• The production of Unreal Engine sequences across Episodes 2 to 5

• The expansion of the real-time pipeline

• The consolidation of a reusable workflow for hybrid series production

The project is positioned not only as a finished series, but as a demonstrator of how Unreal Engine can be used in independent narrative filmmaking beyond prototyping or short-form content.

With an established festival track record and an ongoing international network of collaborators, SOLSTICE is already operating within a distribution ecosystem. The grant would enable us to fully realise the technical ambition of the project and document a scalable production model aligned with Epic Games’ vision for real-time creation.

Thank you for your consideration.