The Voice of Virtual Production Episode 3: The Making of Eminem’s ‘Houdini’ Music Video

The third episode of The Voice of Virtual Production (TVOVP) has officially dropped. TVOVP is a video interview series co-created by Synapse Virtual Production (Synapse) and Little Black Book (LBB) which is assembling industry-leading experts in order to shine a light on the ways in which the production world is transforming, and discuss how to get the most out of cutting-edge virtual production technology.

This third instalment sees Christopher Probst, ASC (‘Mindhunter’, Nike, Apple, Taylor Swift) and Rich Lee (Pirates of the Caribbean, I Am Legend, Minority Report) talk LBB’s features editor Adam Bennett through the process of creating the music video for Eminem's “Houdini” using Synapse’s state-of-the-art virtual production capabilities. Directed by Rich Lee, with cinematography by Christopher Probst, the video was entirely directed, produced, and filmed by Synapse Virtual Production.

Since its release, the “Houdini” music video has received over 200 million views on YouTube, won a Video Music Award for "Best Visual Effects," and earned a Grammy nomination.

Over the course of the episode we hear how the video went from idea to wrapping up in a staggering five days, and how virtual production was essential in the creation of the video’s environments and comic book aesthetic. You can check out the full discussion below: 

Released last year, the “Houdini” music video warped Eminem fans back in time to 2002 - with the star literally emerging from a portal at the start of the music video. The sheer scale of the project's ambition - featuring special effects and multiple locations throughout - combined with the extremely tight timescale meant that it simply couldn’t have come about without the help of virtual production technology. And that’s to say nothing of the deepfakes required to bring an unsettlingly lifelike baby-Eminem to life. 

“The whole premise of this project seems like an insolvable puzzle at first glance”, says Adam, reflecting on the episode. “Five days, an array of locations at different times of day, and a whole set of assets which needed to be designed from the ground up. So it’s fascinating to hear how the team used virtual production to make the seemingly-impossible, in fact, possible.

“As well as celebrating the greatest work, LBB and our readers have always wanted to discover more about how it gets made. That’s why we’re so excited to partner with Synapse on this one-of-a-kind series, which will open up conversations around virtual production like never before”.

For more information about or to register your interest in getting involved with The Voice of Virtual Production please contact lily@lbbonline.com and abi@lbbonline.com.