Pre-Production

Concept & Scripting

The Liberty Lift Plunger Lift video was designed from day one as a high-precision, technically fluent communications tool. It wasn’t just marketing—it was a visual spec sheet engineered for oilfield professionals, procurement teams, and the engineers making the lift system calls. Our job was to clearly show why Liberty Lift’s technology is field-tough, service-ready, and structurally superior to standard plunger options—and to do it without watering down the details.

The client came ready with a deep bench of technical documentation: CAD files for every plunger and surface component, feature-rich product catalogs, materials data, flow coefficients, and internal field config diagrams. That gave us everything we needed to shape the narrative around what actually matters in the field. Instead of vague benefit claims, we built the script around specific, technically verifiable points: how 17-4 stainless stacks up to titanium, how the spring compression system is built, how trim size impacts pressure drop, and what real-world flow behavior looks like at 3900 psi.

We mapped this engineering-first content against real pain points—interchangeability headaches, corrosion failures, complexity during field swaps—and structured it around three visual arcs: subsurface function, surface setup, and overlay-augmented performance. We kicked things off deep downhole, using a stylized borehole cross-section to follow the full cycle of a Liberty Lift plunger. From there, we moved topside into a sunlit desert scene to showcase the surface stack in a real-world setting. Finally, we layered in on-screen UI: pressure curves, blueprint diagrams, PSI callouts, CAD highlights—each one snapped to a key feature, creating a visual rhythm of performance, proof, and product logic.

Script development was tightly aligned with both the visuals and the field specs. Every VO line was vetted against real use cases. Instead of saying a spring was “easy to change,” we animated the actual swap, showed threading behavior, and labeled the travel distance. Instead of calling out an ergonomic handle and hoping the visual matched, we timed the VO to a grip-specific camera move. Script drove animation, and both followed the same rule: be exact, or don’t say it.

Rapid Prototyping

Once the concept was greenlit, we got straight into Cinema 4D to build the RP (Rapid Prototype). The priority here wasn’t polish—it was logic, motion, and sequencing. We took the STEP files for each plunger and surface unit, cleaned and decimated the heavy CAD geometry, and reoriented every model for consistency in the animation pipeline. By standardizing orientation across plunger types, we kept the camera logic intact and avoided rework as we swapped variants.

RP scenes were modular. Each one represented a single product feature or system interaction, giving us maximum flexibility to rearrange or isolate blocks as client needs shifted. The downhole system was rigged with null-driven camera rails and vertical animation paths. Pipe geometry was simplified into primitives, giving us enough form to block motion without tying up resources on final mesh density. We used basic placeholders to represent the wellbore, liner, and surrounding strata.

Camera behavior was active but always legible. Lateral moves established context. Slow crane shots gave the viewer spatial grounding. Macro orbits locked in on friction points, spring compressions, and other high-touch features. We stripped out final lighting and textures entirely—this phase was about building a motion language, not a finished look. UI mockups were roughly composited into the edit using AE markers linked to exported nulls from C4D.

During this stage, we also began prototyping the UI language. Placeholder bars showed lift performance. Exploded callouts tracked with components as they disassembled. All of it was rough, but built to validate timing, cadence, and interaction before we committed to design and data integration.

Client feedback was weekly, detailed, and sharp. MP4 exports were reviewed with timecoded notes. We got revisions like: “rotate the lubricator to expose the side port during spring swap,” and “reorder plunger types from bypass to intermediate to conventional to match sales structure.” Every change made the story cleaner, tighter, and more aligned with how Liberty Lift actually communicates with the field.

Prototyping Animation Concepts

We focused early animation prototypes on solving mechanical behavior problems and syncing them with composition. The downhole plunger shot was a good example. We had to animate the plunger falling, hitting a mechanical stop, and rebounding—all while feeling grounded in physics. We built a rig that let us tweak bounce, gravity, and spin in real time, so we could lock the feel without guessing.

The spring swap sequence was another interesting one. We broke it into three states—compressed, removed, replaced—and had to show each thread, bar, and retention mechanism clearly. Every key moment was timed to a UI callout so the motion and data could hit simultaneously.

One of the trickier tests was building split-screen camera transitions. During the plunger material comparison—17-4 stainless vs. titanium—we needed to bring in performance bars, and then update the scene. That required coordinated AE timing, camera null syncing, and locked track transitions—all of which were prototyped and validated during RP.

Client Feedback Shaping Direction

The client was deeply involved in shaping the content. Engineering accuracy was the top priority, and they reviewed everything through that lens. After the first RP pass, we got a markup with updated plunger labels, adjusted dimension callouts, and a note to correct thread directionality in one sequence. They also asked us to surface pressure drop tolerances and trim size differences in the overlays—requiring us to expand our UI system to accommodate new layers and visual hierarchy.

Their feedback also pushed the visuals. They wanted the surface system to look like it was actually deployed—no abstract renders, no clean-room visuals. That led us to build out procedural dirt and shrub scatter, all based on terrain reference from West Texas and New Mexico. The desert had to feel like the real thing.

From a branding standpoint, they asked us to apply the Liberty Lift logo selectively—on specific components, not as a persistent watermark. Mid-production, they sent us updated collateral with revised component names, which we matched in every overlay and 3D label. Consistency mattered, and we matched it frame for frame.

By the end of this pre-production phase, we had a fully defined system: visual structure, animation logic, UI style, and spatial layout all locked. Everything in production—rendering, lighting, compositing—was built on the clarity, alignment, and engineering-first foundation established here. Nothing was guessed. Everything was grounded.

Production (Full Production)

Look Development

Once the rapid prototype was approved and structurally locked, we pushed the project into Full Production. Early on, we made the call to move the bulk of the work into Unreal Engine 5. The reasons were clear: real-time rendering, advanced terrain capabilities, and a flexible material system that could handle complex industrial visuals without slowing us down. While we used Cinema 4D and Redshift for specific hero shots in RP, UE5 was a game-changer for building out large-scale environmental scenes with field-level realism and real-time feedback.

We ran a split-pipeline texturing strategy to balance flexibility with fidelity. Painted surface components—like the wellhead, lubricator, and control housing—were textured in Substance Painter. Repeatable stainless and chromed parts were handled natively inside Unreal. Substance was our go-to for building PBR material stacks using smart masks, letting us simulate wear, oxidation, dust, and chipped edges based on actual usage. Each asset was exported with high-res UDIMs (4K), and we baked in normal, AO, curvature, and metallic roughness maps from the sculpt stage to maintain detail fidelity during close-ups.

We matched every surface to real-world field references from Liberty Lift: powder-coated parts with sun-fade at corners, gasket grime, oil transfer around maintenance contact points. Screens and gauges were created with transparent alphas and mapped on top.

The environment was built from scratch inside UE5. We used Megascans Nanite assets to lay down geological strata, then hand-sculpted terrain to support realistic wellhead placement, pipe routing, and anchor leveling. Foliage was painted using Unreal’s foliage system—low-density shrubs, wind-reactive grasses, and scattered debris, all tuned with dynamic material instances to respond subtly to ambient motion. That light environmental feedback—wind movement, shifting dust—added critical realism when paired with the rigid, engineered forms of the system components.

Lighting was driven by Unreal’s Directional Light and Sky Atmosphere setup, with real-time volumetric clouds and Lumen reflections turned on across all materials. This gave us natural reflections on stainless parts, even at tight macro zooms. Exposure, color balance, and ambient warmth were all managed using Unreal’s Post Process Volume system—letting us lock in the look before a single post-production color pass was needed.

Design & Animation

All animation and camera moves were initially built in Cinema 4D during the RP phase. For Full Production, we exported those sequences using Datasmith—pulling keyframed object transforms, camera nulls, and spline tracks directly into UE5. That gave us a precise base for each scene while giving us headroom to smooth transitions and fine-tune camera movement inside Unreal.

Animation stayed rooted in clarity and engineering accuracy. The spring compression sequence stayed in C4D and Redshift due to rig simplicity and render control—but we upgraded the materials and lighting to photoreal. Every other shot ran through Unreal, where we used Level Sequencer to finesse animation blends, timing, and keyframe easing. Camera language followed a consistent logic: slow dolly-ins for context, crane-downs for tubing immersion, macro orbits for tool detail. In the exploded spring shot, we staggered each part's separation to match the voiceover and synced it directly with After Effects overlays during post.

The plunger swap shot used a blueprint-driven system in Unreal. Actor visibility toggles and camera-triggered swaps gave us seamless transitions between plunger variants. Each model had distinct textures to match alloy type and finish, with callouts reinforcing what changed (durability, fit, pressure behavior). This wasn’t just a visual flourish—it communicated product logic in real time.

Style Choices and Reasoning

Our style direction was built around three things: clarity, realism, and modularity. No cinematic flourishes. Just solid, technically accurate lighting and clean surface behavior across every component. The result felt grounded—less like CG and more like documentation brought to life.

To maintain consistency across renderers, we calibrated HDRIs and sun orientation between Redshift and UE5. That kept our look tight even when combining passes from both engines. Metallics were tuned to reflect the environment without going mirror-shiny, and all surface textures preserved physical behavior—edge highlights, smudges, dust trails—all tuned to support realism, not distract from it.

Technical Details

Texturing followed a Metal/Rough PBR workflow from Substance Painter, with packed texture channels for efficient import into Unreal. Material assignment was handled via Instances for fast swaps. Nanite handled terrain and static environment assets. Mechanical hardware was kept Nanite-disabled so we could animate it cleanly. Material IDs from C4D carried into Unreal, giving us one-click shader reassignment and minimizing manual cleanup.

All renders came out of Unreal’s Movie Render Queue using cinematic settings: high-quality DOF, motion blur, and anti-aliasing enabled. A 2,500-frame shot took under two hours to render at full fidelity—compare that to 50+ hours in Redshift for the same visual output.

We leaned on lighting falloff and DOF to isolate focal points—like the lubricator’s threading or the spring lock. Background motion (parallax, dust, terrain shadows) remained active, giving the frame visual depth while keeping attention where it needed to be.

Overlay sync and AE callout timing were locked using JSON exports of camera nulls and object transforms, giving us accurate motion tracking in post without manual keying.

Unique Animation Techniques

The downhole dart plunger sequence used a nested spline path with eased velocity to simulate pressure-assisted descent. The desert environment above ground was animated with procedural wind materials and heat shimmer using UE’s volumetric fog—creating visual contrast between mechanical stability and natural movement.

In the spring compression and reassembly shot, we used rotational null constraints to simulate precise thread locking. Every turn was physics-informed. Every pause matched VO pacing. The result: a shot that made mechanical logic look intuitive, without needing a separate explainer.

Collaboration & Revisions

Client feedback during Full Production was fast, detailed, and specific. One major pass included flipping sleeve and ball orientation across plunger variants to match sales visuals. Another request swapped icon branding on the lubricator cap for text and added a secondary pressure gauge. We handled all of it at the model layer, reimported via Datasmith, and restaged inside Unreal with updated lighting and animations.

The modular nature of our pipeline made these revisions frictionless. Model swaps, material tweaks, even full shot retiming—all could be done live inside UE without baking new renders. Compared to a traditional offline pipeline, this was exponentially faster.

Challenges and Solutions

Top challenge? Managing real-time performance without compromising visual fidelity. Lumen is powerful, but brushed metals and emissives can break fast if overexposed. We built light function profiles and tuned reflection intensity per material to maintain clarity in both wide shots and macros.

The last hurdle was render consistency across platforms. With some sequences still running through Redshift, we needed to unify tone curves, white points, and vignette behaviors. 

Every problem had a solution because the pipeline was designed for speed, flexibility, and precision. 

Post-Production & Delivery

Final Compositing & Color Grading

Post-production was where everything came together. We handled compositing in After Effects, layering in data-aligned overlays, UI systems, and controlled color finishes to elevate clarity and reinforce brand voice. The photoreal base was rendered in Unreal Engine, which gave us room to work—grading flexibility, fast turnaround, and seamless integration for motion graphics. Renders were brought in as flattened EXR passes and grouped by sequence: downhole animations, surface assemblies, exploded views, and plunger interface sections. Each one was paired with purpose-built UI overlays, branded graphics, and real-world data inputs pulled straight from Liberty Lift documentation.

Color correction stayed neutral—grounded in field-based realism. Using curve adjustments, we balanced soft contrast, sharpened midtone detail, and controlled highlight rolloff on reflective surfaces. Underground strata scenes used targeted vignettes to focus the eye on key motion paths while preserving environmental depth. We carried that same approach into surface shots, using vignette subtleties to separate foreground equipment from terrain and background elements like foliage gradients.

VFX were minimal but intentional—meant to underscore realism, not steal attention. In the downhole strata shots, we used a heavy vignette and soft haze layering to deepen the sense of spatial isolation. Lens distortion and a touch of chromatic aberration were added to close-up orbits around lubricators and valve assemblies—subtle camera artifacts that helped push a tactile, optics-driven feel. These effects were carefully restrained to keep the tone technical and aligned with the audience: engineers, not marketers.

Infographics, UI Overlays, Data Visualization

This was the most design-intensive part of the entire post process. Every overlay served a purpose—it wasn’t just visual polish; it was a living technical document. All data-driven UI elements were custom built in After Effects and grounded in Liberty Lift's own specs. Each overlay reflected real component data: pressure thresholds, plunger types, alloy callouts, thread IDs. Nothing was generic. Every pixel had a job.

For example, the overlay for the downhole spring top was based directly on client-supplied exploded drawings and assembly diagrams. The graphics style borrowed from blueprint language—linework, x-ray views, numeric labels, and material keys. It was semi-transparent, data-dense, and visually anchored in 3D space.

In the plunger selection interface, we built a comparative carousel showing multiple plunger types. Each one was rendered photoreal in 3D, overlaid with real specs—material, flow profile (fast-fall, transitional, continuous), pressure range. Then we tied those UI moments directly to the physical plunger animation in Unreal. Using null tracking data from Cinema 4D, we matched the exact frame where each new plunger entered and reversed inside the tubing. It wasn’t just animation—it was a precise narrative beat built around actual performance logic.

Valve and motor control overlays followed the same rules. We pulled working pressures, trim specs, and flow path diagrams straight from Liberty Lift's cut sheets. In post, those values ticked, oscillated, and pulsed subtly—simulating live data behavior. These weren’t stylized HUDs—they were functional, legible, and technically referenced.

All UI panels were built in 3D space within AE and parented to tracked nulls from Unreal or C4D exports. That eliminated parallax drift and locked overlays solidly to camera movement. Typography followed Liberty Lift’s brand specs—same fonts, same scale hierarchy. Icon sets were drawn custom, matching the actual CAD profiles: valve handles, ports, sensors, fasteners. We even tested every UI against both high-glare and low-light conditions to make sure they held up.

These overlays were critical. They let us deliver detailed information without ever pausing the story. No cutaways. No separate explainer moments. Just real-time tech visualization that kept the energy and never lost the thread.

Final Edits & Optimization

For final delivery, we optimized all sequences using multi-pass encoding to preserve detail in UI overlays. We locked framerate at 30fps for AE compatibility and avoided interpolation to prevent any compression jitter on overlays or tool edges. Every overlay, color tone, and UI animation was anchored to Liberty Lift’s brand standards. Palettes followed their digital specs: blue for structure, gray for background hierarchy, red for pressure or warning indicators. Fonts matched their industrial print assets, and UI motion was restrained—clean scale-ins, soft deceleration, no wipes, no spin-ins. The tone had to reflect the field: precise, proven, steady.

Even transitions followed suit. UI elements didn’t snap or bounce. They faded in with purpose, moved on data queues, and exited cleanly. We engineered the overlays to feel like part of a trusted diagnostic tool—not a marketing gimmick. That decision held the line on credibility and gave the whole video a confident, engineered feel.

Collaboration & Revisions in Post

Client feedback was clear, fast, and rooted in product detail. They marked frames for language changes, UI shifts, and alignment fixes. Every overlay needed to match the naming, phrasing, and measurement systems in their internal documentation. Imperial units only. No exceptions.

We worked in weekly review cycles and pushed high-res review links for each pass. One major request—swapping a logo on the lubricator for a scripted product name—required a fresh model revision and rerender, but the modular Unreal pipeline made it easy. Same for the pressure gauge—it was modeled, textured, animated, and comped back into the final shot within 24 hours of the request.

Delivery

Final deliverables included a polished 1080p master video plus isolated exports of key product sequences: the lubricator, the downhole spring, and the full plunger set. We also created a looped GIF of the surface equipment scene—with animated foliage and heat shimmer baked in via Unreal Engine wind materials. 

All assets were signed off, posted, and distributed. The internal response from Liberty Lift’s sales and marketing teams was overwhelmingly positive—and every frame now lives in their core campaign toolkit.

Everything was versioned, backed up, and filed using their asset structure. Source files—Unreal projects, C4D rigs, AE comps, VO tracks—were all archived and ready for iteration as the product line continues to evolve.

Transcript:

Liberty Lift produces the industry’s most reliable and cost-effective plunger lift equipment. Tested in the harshest environments available to guarantee longevity.

Because it’s subjected to the most wear-and-tear, the downhole spring assembly must be tough. 

Our patent-pending interlocking design allows for easy replacement of individual components by wireline—and keeps costs low during routine inspections and spring assembly changeouts.

To further protect downhole equipment from damage and minimize the need for maintenance, Liberty Lift offers an all 17-4 and a 17-4 titanium combination version for maximum durability. 

Liberty Lift’s full range of high-performance plungers includes bypass and continuous flow plungers for high-rate flowing wells and gas-lifted wells, fast fall or transitional plungers to help maintain production on a steady decline curve and conventional plungers that allow wells to stay online to near depletion. 

Liberty Lift’s lubricator features an ergonomic triangular handle that turns more easily than traditional handle designs, which enables for a safer, more efficient way to retrieve and inspect plungers.

Available in a variety of trim sizes up to 2-inch full port, Liberty Lift’s durable, powder-coated pneumatic valves come standard with higher working pressures starting at 3,900 psi. 

With high-reliability components, customizable designs, and cost-effective operations, the Liberty Lift plunger lift system enable operators to optimize production and extend the life of gas wells.