At Starting Pixel Live 24, London-based artist, producer, and director Estela Oliva captivated the audience with her approach to creating cinematic sci-fi worlds through virtual production (VP). Oliva, whose work traverses art, film, and digital realms, shared her journey in creating CLON, an ambitious speculative sci-fi project set in a world where sentient humanoid clones navigate life in a parallel reality. In her talk, Oliva took listeners through her creative process, blending art installations, live performances, and digital production into an interconnected story arc that is now evolving into a cinematic game experience.
Building a Sci-Fi Universe One Piece at a Time
Oliva explained that her approach to CLON is unconventional. Instead of following a linear script, she began in 2017 by developing individual installations, VR experiences, and performances. “I didn’t start with a story,” Oliva noted. “I started with concepts and visuals, and I connected them later.” Each piece of CLON explores a different facet of the sci-fi world she’s imagined, using everything from Cinema 4D to live game performances at festivals worldwide, allowing audiences to interact directly with her evolving vision.
Last year, Oliva took the next step by turning CLON into a cohesive game called Enigma, a narrative-driven experience where players uncover their identity as a newly activated clone, unraveling a story filled with mystery and introspection. The game’s core mechanic—a memory recall system—challenges players to explore the environments, interact with other characters, and gradually piece together the protagonist’s past.
The Shift to Virtual Production with Protocol 909
Through Enigma, Oliva entered the world of virtual production, leading her to direct her first VP short film, Protocol 909. In this narrative, the clone maker faces a critical decision when she discovers that her creations have escaped. To solve this problem, she contemplates activating Protocol 909, a failsafe that would erase the clones’ memories but at the cost of her career. “This was my first time directing in a virtual environment,” Oliva admitted, noting how essential support from the Creative Digital Lab in Croydon was to the project’s success.
The production used Croydon’s VP studio with a compact LED volume and Unreal Engine as the primary tool. Oliva spoke candidly about the challenges she faced, including maintaining spatial continuity and coordinating camera movements with the LED backdrop. “Understanding continuity in virtual production was a steep learning curve,” she shared, revealing diagrams and previz setups she used to map out scenes and ensure smooth transitions on set.
Overcoming Technical Hurdles with a Small Team
For the Protocol 909 shoot, Oliva assembled a lean crew, working with DOP Ben Saffer and a team from Creative Digital Lab. They operated a single Blackmagic URSA camera equipped with a MOSIS tracker and a modest LED screen setup. Despite the compact space, Oliva emphasized the benefits of matching the physical studio’s dimensions with the digital environment, an approach that helped her maintain spatial awareness and made scene-blocking more intuitive.
Oliva also described her journey in directing actors on a virtual set, a new challenge that required balancing her creative vision with the technical complexities of VP. “I realized that directing on a VP set needs a different approach—it’s all about careful planning and letting the team guide you through the technology,” she said. By coordinating camera angles, lighting, and actor positions with meticulous attention, Oliva successfully brought her vision to life, capturing the atmosphere and emotional depth she envisioned.
Crafting Atmosphere with Sound and Colour
Music plays a vital role in CLON, with Oliva working closely with sound designer Anna Kiroga to create an immersive, atmospheric score. She played a short audio clip, revealing the project’s tonal direction—tense, futuristic, and slightly unnerving. The soundtrack, paired with low-lit corridors and sterile digital environments, builds a feeling of suspense and isolation, reinforcing the story’s themes of memory and identity.
Oliva shared stills from the Unreal Engine scenes, showcasing an industrial aesthetic with reflective surfaces and minimalist lighting. Her dedication to details like color LUTs and ambient soundscapes demonstrated a commitment to realism, despite the digital nature of her sets. “The sound and visuals need to feel like they belong to the same universe,” she explained. “It’s the glue that ties everything together.”
Lessons for Aspiring Virtual Production Creators
Reflecting on her experiences, Oliva encouraged other creators to embrace VP, highlighting the importance of preparation and flexibility. She advised attendees to have a well-developed script, a clear production plan, and the willingness to adapt to new technical challenges. “VP requires humility and openness to learning,” she remarked. “Your first project might not look exactly how you imagined, but each experience teaches you something new.”
Oliva’s talk underscored how VP can empower independent artists to bring complex, speculative worlds to life. Her work in CLON exemplifies the potential for virtual production to merge the artistic and the technical, creating immersive narratives that push the boundaries of traditional filmmaking. As Oliva continues to develop CLON and Enigma, her journey is a reminder that virtual production is not just a tool but a creative frontier, enabling artists to explore new forms of storytelling and connect with audiences in unprecedented ways.
Estela can be found here: www.estelaoliva.com
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