The brief sounded simple: the client provided five virtual locations, and Broadley had to determine which one could evoke Murder UK’s signature darkness - its foggy tension, its unspoken dread, its sense of lurking truth. But turning theoretical locations into a credible cinematic space demanded rigorous visual exploration.
The team began where production designers traditionally start: research. They combed through online archives, photography libraries, and architectural references to gather images that captured the tone: cold stone, oppressive corridors, industrial hints of a crime scene afterthought. Out of this search, five curated moodboards emerged, each corresponding to one of the potential environments.
These boards became the compass guiding the project. After reviewing them in detail, the creatives selected the visual direction that carried the strongest true-crime DNA: murky depth, ambiguous scale, and an atmospheric realism that felt as unsettling as it was cinematic.
The creatives selected the visual direction that carried the strongest true-crime DNA: murky depth, ambiguous scale, and an atmospheric realism that felt as unsettling as it was cinematic.
For the first time in Broadley’s virtual production workflow, AI played a central role, and the team approached it with equal parts curiosity and caution. They began by generating still backplates using AI models, creating versions both with and without a human figure. The figure-less plates allowed for precise technical calibration; the plates featuring a stand-in guided relighting strategies for the green screen shoot, ensuring cast and environment would integrate seamlessly later.
Once approved, the static images evolved into living, breathing spaces. With tightly engineered prompts and extensive iteration, the team used video-focused AI tools to animate the environments, infusing them with the hyper-real atmosphere they had envisioned: subtle movement, unsettling quiet, and a near-photographic depth.
With the digital worlds locked, the greenscreen stage became the bridge between physical and virtual. The lighting team meticulously recreated the illumination suggested by the AI plates, matching shadows, colour temperature, and directionality. This step, equal parts art and science, ensured the Murder UK talent would sit naturally within the final composite.
In post-production, the project moved into DaVinci Resolve, where Broadley’s artists layered the greenscreen footage into the AI-generated environments. Compositors refined edges, adjusted grain and atmospheric haze, and stitched the elements into a cohesive visual universe. Colourists then shaped the final palette: moody, restrained, and imbued with the foreboding tone that defines Murder UK.
For the Broadley team, the Murder UK project became more than an advert. It was a creative experiment with real stakes. Integrating AI into a virtual production pipeline demanded new workflows, new guardrails, and a continuous balancing act between efficiency and authenticity.
Their takeaway? AI didn’t replace craftsmanship; it expanded it.
By pairing traditional design instincts with next-generation tools, the team discovered faster ways to iterate, richer ways to world-build, and new methods for achieving photorealism. The final advert is proof of that hybrid power: a brooding, atmospheric visual that feels unmistakably true to the Murder UK universe, crafted not through shortcuts, but through curiosity, precision, and a willingness to push the boundaries of modern production.
For the Broadley team, the Murder UK project became more than an advert. It was a creative experiment with real stakes.
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