Hybrid Production

We've been doing hybrid production at Secret Level for over three years, and we think it's the future of filmmaking.

Hybrid production is live-action filmmaking where the performance is real and the world is built. We shoot actors on a soundstage with real camera moves and real light, then build everything around them on Liquid Engine, our world-building platform built for hybrid production. It works for everything from a :30 spot to a whole feature.

Watch the reelMeet Liquid Engine
Terrarium · Our first feature

We made a feature film using this workflow.

Terrarium is one of the world's first fully hybrid feature films. It's a found-footage style horror film about a group of friends who take shelter underground following a catastrophic event. SAG-AFTRA actors perform on a soundstage, with the film's world built around them.

Written and directed by Jason Zada. Produced by Christina Lee Storm and Steven Schneider. Financed and executive produced by Artlist. SAG-AFTRA cast, DGA director.

Read about Terrarium
on set
10 days
from script to delivery
6 months
On set vs. on screen

Slide to see what was actually there.

Pick one and drag the slider. Creatures, cars, action, other worlds: same performance, same camera move, and everything else got built.

On screen
As shot

Zombie

On set, our actor aimed a prop rifle across an empty soundstage. On screen, she's holding her ground in a dark forest.

Our platform

Liquid Engine

Our world-building platform, built for hybrid production.

Liquid Engine is the platform behind everything we make. We built it from the ground up for hybrid filmmaking, so the world, the characters, and the performances all live in one place.

  • Storyworlds

    Every character, location, prop and wardrobe piece lives in one world, so it stays consistent across every shot and every project.

  • Built for hybrid

    The performances we capture on the soundstage and the worlds we build come together in one place, shot by shot, matched to the previs.

  • Built for long form

    Scenes and sequences are organized the way a film crew thinks, so a whole feature holds together, not just a single shot.

Why hybrid

Here's what hybrid gives you.

  • You keep the actor's performance. Real actors, no stand-ins. The world gets built around them, never instead of them.

  • You can go bigger. Bigger worlds, bigger scenes and bigger sets around your actors.

  • You can change a lot after the shoot. Hair, makeup, wardrobe, props, even the location, while the performance stays exactly as it was shot.

  • It's efficient. And that efficiency goes back into the work, so more of the budget ends up on screen.

Let's make something hybrid together.

Tell us what you're working on and we'll walk you through how we'd approach it.

Get In Touch

Secret Level Is an AI-Native Entertainment Studio Creating Films, Series, and Brand Worlds With Hollywood Craftsmanship, at the Speed of Culture.

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