Poseidon's Island

The film opens with the mythological birth of the island by Poseidon, then follows Odysseus's adventures and his stay at the court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians. From there it leaves myth behind and moves into Mycenaean history and the naval battles fought around the island at the start of the Peloponnesian Wars. It continues through the Roman era and the various powers who took hold of this strategic and fertile island, before arriving at the Venetian era — whose presence shaped the island's character up to today.

The visuals were produced mostly in Unreal Engine, by a three-person team, with additional support from a drone operator for photogrammetry and a scientific consultant on the fortifications' architecture. I worked as visual director, producer, and storyboard artist.

For the mythological opening, we leaned heavily on AI-generated imagery to show an island emerging in epic, earth-shattering shots.

As the story moves into the ancient world, the architecture, interiors, ships and characters were built from kitbashed third-party assets. Armies and crowds were handled with custom tools. With Unreal Engine's superpowers the camera traverses large distances and levels of detail, showing naval battles with triremes — large ocean simulations, real geography, and AI-assisted VFX all working together.

The Venetian section got the most historical attention. Working from old Venetian maps, we reconstructed the walls that once ran from sea to sea, enclosing the old town completely — from the New Fortress on the north side down to Garitsa Bay in the south, joining up with the Old Fortress on the town's eastern edge. Once complete, the whole town sat inside these walls, earning it the name Kastropolis, "fortress city." Interesting details made it in too: the Porta Reale gate, one of four original town gates and now long gone, along with the ancient fortress itself. Drone photogrammetry of the old town added another layer of real-world accuracy to that part of the film.