Unreal Connectors: Storytelling – What’s important and a look behind the scenes

INCAS Training is launching a new learning experience for you this year that is different from the previous concepts of modular one-day or multi-day courses. With the Unreal Connector: Storytelling you have the opportunity to familiarize yourself with a new field in an unprecedented intensity over several weeks with intensive practical experience.

You can find the training at incas-training.de/en/connectors

Unreal Fellowship: Virtual Production

The idea begins in August 2020 with the first Unreal Fellowship. The Unreal Fellowship is an end-to-end, five-week, full-time intensive training and hands-on event hosted by Epic Games and attended by up to 100 people. The Unreal Fellowship takes place online in the US West Coast time zone. Participation is by personal invitation only from Epic Games. The topic was Virtual Production. Where from the beginning it is about learning the Unreal Engine, virtual production concepts and the skills to create your own project. Each participant has the task of producing a short film of about one minute in the Unreal Engine.

The Unreal Fellowship is primarily aimed at professionals in the fields of film, animation and VFX. In addition to the many live online training sessions, hands-on labs and guest lectures, participants benefit from experienced mentors to learn how to use virtual production tools professionally. Hands-on sessions will cover the basics of Unreal Engine, Model Ingestion, Animation, Mocap Integration, Lookdev, Lighting Setups and Cinematic Storytelling.

Unreal Connector: Storytelling

The Unreal Fellowship is the direct model of the Unreal Connector. Just with a new name. The Unreal Connector is intended to be the link to the rest of the world and now bring even more people together and ignite their passion for the changing times in virtual production.

The Unreal Connector: Storytelling is identical in content to the Unreal Fellowship VP. Now based on Unreal Engine 5. It is conducted under the auspices of Epic Games in German language in our time zone by INCAS Training. Participation is possible for everyone. The prerequisite for participation is a high affinity for media production and ideally experience in this field. The Connector thrives on the diversity of experiences brought to the working groups by participants from their industries. It is an event for team players. Working together and building a community that offers you support even years after your participation are part of the DNA of this concept.

The time frame of the Connector

The program requires a month of your time. That is a lot of valuable time. A valuable investment in your future.

In Connector II/2023, we will kick off on Wednesday, May131 2023 with a one-day kickoff event and onboarding.

• Kickoff: May 31
• Connector-Week 1: June 05-09
• Connector-Week 2: June 12-16
• Connector-Week 3: June 19-23
• Connector-Week 4: June 26-30
• Connector-Week 5: July 03-07
• Film Festival and Graduation: July 07

At the film festival we ask for festive attire: Here the prizes for the best films are awarded and the trophies are presented.

During the Connector weeks, our team and sworn community will always be there to help and advise you in the chat if you continue to work on your short film and need support.

Team leaders, trainers, mentors and guest speakers

All participants are divided into teams at the beginning of the Connector. Each team has a team leader and its own mentor. This means that you always have a contact person for technical, organizational and content-related questions. Your team leader and your mentor have already participated in one of the Unreal Fellowships themselves and know the approaches first-hand. In our blog you will find a testimonial from Sven Esch, one of our team leaders, about his participation in the last Unreal Fellowship. The trainers for your training program are experienced Unreal Authorized Instructors (UAI) and are also available to answer your individual questions. The guest speakers are evangelists from Epic Games or well-known influencers from the media industry who will give you new impulses.

Your own short movie

Your personal goal for completing Unreal Connector: Storytelling is to produce your own short film. We will give you the right tools for the job. The basis is the knowledge of how to work with the Unreal Engine. In two dozen training units and training labs, we will build this up with you over the course of the Connector.

Another pillar is the creative part: Shortly before the start, we give you a topic that should be reflected in the short films. Then you develop an idea for your short film and present it in a session with your team and your mentor. You will learn how to create a storyboard and what to look for in storytelling to make your story compelling. Narrative structure, perspectives, editing, camera work: this is what you learn from your mentors.

At the end of the Connector, there will be a film festival where the results will be presented in front of the jury, which of course includes Epic Games.

Unreal Connector Online: How does it work with technology?

The best news first: You don’t have to invest in new hardware or a new graphics card to participate in the Connector. We provide you with your own powerful virtual workstation for the entire duration of the Connector! All you need is a simple office computer with two monitors, camera and headset. You can access your training PC simply via your internet browser. You don’t have to worry about your graphics hardware or software installations.

Whether for the exercises of the individual trainings in the Training Labs or for your own Unreal Engine short film project: You can do everything on your virtual machine. But of course you are also free to work locally.

Access to the recordings of all sessions

All sessions are recorded and will be available later on your own video portal. So if you want to watch something again or if you missed a day: Everything is still available to you afterwards. Even after the end of the Unreal Connector.

Talk to us

We will be happy to answer all your questions. Call us, write an email: We will be happy to answer you.

Conclusion

The Unreal Connector is a unique opportunity to take the leap into the future of virtual media production today. These 5 weeks will change your life. Not just because you’ve created your first short film and have now made the Unreal Engine a part of your working life. But because you have now become part of a restless community that will carry and support you like no other.