Paper Ghost

Film + television

Interactive props, screen visuals, projection software, and set previsualization tools for 15 film + TV productions.

Professional Work

Contribution: Russell Jahn
Software + digital art + animation. Supervision of a team of three others.
Context: Film and television production with Zed Axiz Productions
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

The work covers 15 major film + TV productions, with interactive props, screen visuals, projection playback, and set previsualization tools.

Russell delivered programming, digital art, and animation, while supervising a team of three others and meeting the deadlines of film and television production.

Production involved direct collaboration with directors, producers, and VFX supervisors. Zed Axiz Productions provided hardware + set operators.

X-Men: Apocalypse

Contribution: Russell Jahn
Pentagon video wall software + digital art for screens and command consoles
Context: On-set screens for X-Men: Apocalypse
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

A nine-projector video wall shows missile timers, world maps, world clocks, and aircraft and submarine controls on the Pentagon set.

Dozens of 1980s CRT TVs and computers were retrofitted with projectors to display custom digital art.

X-Men: Apocalypse / a wide view of the Pentagon screens.

X-Men: Apocalypse / screens and consoles on the Pentagon set.

X-Men: Apocalypse / screen visuals for the submarine set.

View X-Men: Apocalypse

The Glass Castle

Contribution: Russell Jahn
4K/360° video playback software + color calibration + video warping + Android playback controls
Context: Rear projection for The Glass Castle
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

4K/360° video playback supports a large rear-projection setup for shooting car scenes in a film studio.

The software includes color calibration, video warping, and wireless playback controls from an Android tablet.

Zed Axiz Productions provided hardware + set operators. Russell’s contribution was the playback software and its controls.

The Glass Castle / testing the rear-projection setup.

The Glass Castle / production monitors beside the car set.

The Glass Castle / projection playback software.

The Glass Castle / a finished car scene.

The Glass Castle / a finished car scene with the landscape moving outside.

The Glass Castle / a frame from the finished film.

View The Glass Castle

mother!

Contribution: Russell Jahn
Set previsualization software + virtual camera + Mac, Windows, and Gear VR versions
Context: Preproduction for mother! by Darren Aronofsky
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — production collaboration

Set visualization software lets the director and cinematographer frame shots and block actors before filming.

The virtual camera uses real-world measurements and physically based lens settings, with Mac, Windows, and Gear VR versions.

The images below show the tool in use during preproduction, including the Gear VR version.

mother! / the set visualization software in motion.

mother! / the set visualization software and its controls.

mother! / the tool in use during preproduction.

mother! / the Gear VR version of the set visualization tool.

View mother!

Arrival

Contribution: Russell Jahn
Drag-and-drop tools for military maps + surveillance controls + screen simulations
Context: On-set screen applications for Arrival
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

Drag-and-drop tools let the production team customize dozens of military maps, surveillance controls, and simulations for the screens on set.

Read about the Arrival set design →

Arrival / screen applications on the surveillance tent set.

Arrival / surveillance screens and controls.

Arrival / screen applications for the office set.

Arrival / screens on the science tent set.

Arrival / screen visuals in the cryptography tent.

View Arrival

Quantico / Season 1

Actors surrounded by surveillance screens and controls inside the Quantico audio surveillance van. — Quantico / the audio surveillance van.

Contribution: Russell Jahn
259 Android phone apps + interactive set-prop software
Context: Interactive props across 21 episodes of Quantico, Season 1
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

Actors could make calls, send texts, and operate surveillance screens directly during filming.

Phones + interactive set props #

Programmed 259 Android apps to simulate cellphone calls & texting within 21 episodes.
Designed & programmed hundreds of interactive apps for set props. Many apps were operated directly by actors for key hero shots.
- Hi-tech video surveillance stations.
- Interactive video walls.
- Audio surveillance van.
- Command center computer stations.
- Bomb timers.

Quantico / interactive screen props in a scene from Season 1.

Quantico / interactive screens on the training set.

Quantico / an interactive bomb timer prop.

Quantico / screen props in use during a scene.

View Quantico / Season 1

Ça Décolle!

Contribution: Russell Jahn
Real-time cloud generation + controls
Context: Aircraft scenes for Ça Décolle!
Collaborators: Zed Axiz Productions — hardware + set operators

Clouds move past the aircraft windows during a scene. The software generates the clouds and lets the production team adjust them in real time.

Programmed software to generate and dynamically adjust clouds in realtime for aircraft scenes.

Ça Décolle! / moving clouds during an aircraft scene.

Ça Décolle! / clouds beyond the aircraft windows.

Ça Décolle! / another view of the aircraft setup.

View Ça Décolle!

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