PROOF OF CONCEPT - GANGSTER
Services: Concept Development, Art Direction, Studio Photography, Photorealistic CGI Environment Creation, Compositing & Post-Production | 2025
THE CONCEPT
Everyone in the room knew he was right for the part. Except the room had yet to exist.
I've always believed the right image can unlock the next chapter of an actor's career - get them in the room, land the audition, change everything. As a director and photographer, I regularly use pre-visualization and proof-of-concept stills to test whether a subject can fully inhabit a character before a frame is ever shot for a paying client. It's part of my process. It's also one of the most creatively alive ways I work.
So when my friend Phil Hyland, a seasoned actor with credits including “Hellraiser III and Starlight Falls Motel: Room 4” came in for a shoot, the goal wasn't a polished campaign. It was a proof of concept: a set of images cinematic enough to get him the next big audition he deserves.
THE CHALLENGE
Phil and I came in without a locked concept, which was entirely intentional. Working with actors means you have a collaborator who can improvise, transform, and surprise you. That creative unpredictability is a gift but it also means the environment, the character, and the world around him couldn't be pre-built. Everything had to follow the talent.
The challenge was this: create a series of high-end, cinematic character portraits, the kind that stop a casting director mid-scroll, with no location, no set, no pre-planned concept, and a budget as close to zero as possible. No problem!
THE APPROACH
Reading the Talent
I directed Phil on wardrobe based on what he had available, gave him broad direction, and let him move. We shot three or four concepts that day. With actors, there's always a moment where the character arrives, a shift in posture, a look, a gesture that tells you exactly who this person is in this frame. That's the moment I'm always hunting for.
When Phil stepped in front of the camera in his black suit and tie, I saw it immediately: a modern Hollywood gangster. Dangerous, charming, the kind of man whose whole story you want to know. From that point, every environment I built was in direct response to what Phil was giving me. I asked myself the same questions I always ask: Why does he feel this way? Where is he? What is he looking at? Then I built the answers.
Building the World in CGI
Each scene was constructed entirely in 3D: interiors designed from scratch, props selected to deepen the story. The bathroom mirror scene tells its own narrative: a religious statue, a burning cigar and prescription pills on the sink. Nothing is decorative. Everything serves the character.
After the shoot, final selects were siloed in Photoshop and brought into 3D software as image planes, with CGI environments built and lit around them. To achieve the round halo bokeh characteristic of a prime cinematic lens with shallow depth of field, I designed a custom translucent filter placed in front of the 3D camera during rendering. The result produces a controlled, cinematic quality bokeh effect very similar to a very expensive, cinematic f2 prime lens. This creates beautiful circular halos in the parts of the image that are out of focus.
To achieve the most realistic final results I used photogrammetry, custom modelling and photographic textures, rendered the scene in Blender 3D in Cycles Render Engine and final compositing with blue screen photography.
The Hybrid Advantage
What we created in a studio, with no location, no set build, and no pre-planned concept, would have been logistically impossible any other way. A traditional production would have required locking the character, scouting the location, securing permits, coordinating wardrobe in advance, and hoping the environment matched the performance on the day. The hybrid method inverts that entirely. The talent inspires the world. The world is built to match. Nothing is left to chance, and nothing is locked prematurely.
The freedom to experiment without preconceived ideas is something only the hybrid method affords. And even on commercial jobs, where concepts are locked and timelines are fixed, it creates room to pivot, refine, and elevate the work at any stage of production.
THE RESULT
The final series places Phil in a gritty, cinematic world of his own: a modern gangster with presence, danger, and depth. Images built to stop a casting director, anchor a character reel, or open a conversation with a director who needs to see range.
If you're an actor looking to build a compelling character portfolio, show the industry a side of yourself they haven't seen, or make the kind of image that unlocks the next chapter, this is exactly the kind of work I do. Get in touch.
CREDITS
Photography, CGI, Art Direction & Post-Production: Dale May
Agent: WSWcreative
Actor: Phil Hyland | IMDb
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