Burning Gas like Artemis II: On My Way to the Moon

The goal of this sprint was to refine the animatic, reduce some of the workflow bottlenecks, and move the project closer to final production. A big focus for us was getting clearer on the “big idea” of the project while also improving how we divide tasks and work together as a team.

Marathon

This sprint felt more like a marathon. In my quest to beat deadlines and check boxes, I contributed as much as I can across several areas to keep the production moving forward. I spent a lot of time supporting team members and stepping in when certain members were not available. The team needed to maintain progress, especially as we worked through dependencies and technical challenges.

Below is a complete breakdown of how I focused on this “marathon”. 

After last week’s client feedback, we revisited the animatic to better define the core idea. What the story is really about and what the audience should take away. This required ongoing collaboration, discussion, and small corrections rather than large creative changes.

At the same time, I contributed across multiple areas to keep production moving:

1. Helped refine the animatic and overall narrative direction.

2. Set up layout cameras in Unreal Engine for blocking.

3. Implemented the water fountain system into the garden, including automatic animation for camera use and updated water particles.

   

   Shot_0010 (Original Animatic)

   

   Shot_0010 (My Correction)

   

   Shot_0020

   

   Shot_0030

4. Continued supporting and training Michael on the Metahuman workflow.

5. Created and re-created Metahuman assets and applied parametric clothing

   

6. Updated the garden environment and created a marketplace environment.

   

   Concept Art (Created by Mahsa)

   

   Early marketplace build

   

   Added Metahuman for scale

   

   No Metahuman

7. Collaborated with Antonio and Blaise on diversion control workflow set-up.

8. Assisted Josie in navigating Unreal to set-up new cameras.

9. Introduced a new reporting format for daily Scrum logs and maintained updates.

A key part of this sprint was stepping in where needed. For example, I set up cameras out of necessity to ensure we had visible progress for review during the first half of this sprint. I also set-up the marketplace environment due to a team member not having access to diversion control. Created new Metahuman asset due to a team member not being familiar with that workflow yet.

Challenges & Blockers

This sprint revealed both technical and process-related challenges.

On the technical side:

• Diversion control initially caused conflicts Overlapping commits resulted in lost progress.

• Some marketplace assets were unavailable for download, requiring replacements.

• Deleted Metahuman due to diversion control integration. Required rebuilding assets multiple times.

On the process side:

• Task dependencies slowed progress in certain areas.

• Coordination required more proactive ownership to avoid delays.

These challenges emphasized the importance of clear ownership and better workflow structuring to reduce bottlenecks.

Client Review: Inspection and Direction

During our client presentation, we continued to receive positive feedback on the project’s direction. At the same time, they reinforced the importance of clearly communicating the core idea, narrative intent and historical accuracy.

Cameras are looking great. Lighting and mood needs more refinement. Small tweaks on the garden and marketplace need more clarity. Leaf animation is looking good but hand-painting animation needs more adjustment.

This served as another inspection point, confirming that while production is progressing, clarity in storytelling remains critical as we move toward final delivery.

What Worked Well

Once we adapted to diversion control and understood its limitations, the team was able to collaborate more effectively with fewer conflicts. Workflow stability improved, and coordination across environment, animation, and asset development became more manageable.

Retrospective: Workload and Sustainability

The biggest takeaway from this sprint is the importance of sustainable workload distribution.

To keep the project moving forward, I took on a large portion of the production tasks across multiple areas. While this helped maintain momentum, it also introduced a real risk of burnout for me.

During our Tuesday team meeting, I brought this up openly. The team acknowledged the imbalance and agreed to take on more responsibility moving forward. This was an important moment of team alignment and accountability, reinforcing that successful collaboration requires shared ownership, not just individual effort.

Keys to victory: Next Sprint

• Distribute tasks more evenly to reduce workload concentration

• Continue refining the animatic with a stronger narrative focus

• Improve workflow structure to reduce task dependencies

• Finalize environment updates and continue lookdev for Peanut

As we move into the next sprint, the focus shifts toward refinement and completion. With better task distribution and clearer direction, I’ll be able to focus more on finalizing textures, environment work, and advancing the look development of Peanut.

With a clearer path forward and better alignment as a team, I’m confident we’re on track to bring everything together.