Work Index — Haochen(Jimmy) Xu

Haochen(Jimmy) Xu

jimmyhcx@gmail.com
@jimmyhcx
/in/jimmyhcx

Unreal Engine Cinematic Artist | Layout & Lighting

Bridging cinematic layout, lighting, and spatial storytelling through real-time worldbuilding.

I am an Unreal Engine Cinematic Artist specializing in camera layout, lighting, and spatial storytelling for narrative-driven real-time production. My work focuses on shaping mood, composition, and emotional pacing through environment layout, lighting design, and virtual camera movement.

With a foundation in architecture, I work across short films, music videos, and previs pipelines, collaborating closely with directors and art teams to build cinematic real-time experiences for film, games, previs, and virtual production.

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SELECTED WORKS

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WHERE MEMORY ENDS
Unreal Short FilmDirector / Cinematic Layout \& Lighting Artist
(Unreal Engine)

Where Memory Ends is a short film created in Unreal Engine,
told through the perspective of an Alzheimer’s patient on his final journey as life flashes before his eyes. It traces a passage through nostalgia, comfort, and loss
—culminating in a moment of eternal sun.

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TERRAFORM
Unreal Short Film/Architectural Design Co-Director / Cinematic Layout \& Lighting Artist
(Unreal Engine)

Terraform explores the intersection between earth and architecture — building as an extension of the landscape, materially, gesturally, and experientially.

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MILLENNIUM GUARDIAN
Unreal Short Film/Heritage digital preservation Director / Cinematic Layout \& Lighting Artist
(Unreal Engine)

This is a digital reimagination of the thousand-year-old Longmen Temple in Shanxi, China, across millennia of time. Reconstructed through photogrammetry and Unreal Engine, this film explores how spatial memory and cultural heritage can be re-experienced in virtual presence.

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TUNNEL VISION: A MIND OF DELUSION
Unreal Short Film
Director / Cinematic Layout \& Lighting Artist
(Unreal Engine)

This film explores a series of tunnel-like spaces, each transition going deeper into the rabbit hole until the boundary of reality begins to dissolve.

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MONSTERS MV(Wes Scantlin-Puddle of Mudd)
Unreal Music Video Unreal Engine Cinematic Artist
(Previs / Lighting / Environment)

Collaboration on the music video “Monsters”, the new single by Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd.
I was mainly responsible for creating the opening room and first corridor environments, story development, and previs shot design.

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POINTOPIA
Unreal Lidar Visual/Digital reconstruction Co-Designer / Cinematic Unreal LiDAR Visualization Artist
(Unreal Engine)

Our goal was to explore point cloud as a design tool and a universal system where all types of models can unify, using the Lidar scan of the abandoned Hawthorne Mall to create a unified visual space where crafted, scanned, and AI-generated elements merge into a single coherent landscape.

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LIDAR RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAGODA OF FOGONG TEMPLE
Unreal Lidar Visual/Heritage digital reconstruction
Lead LiDAR Survey & Unreal Reconstruction Artist
(Unreal Engine)

A LiDAR- and photogrammetry-based digital documentation of the Pagoda of Fogong Temple, created with Shanxi Radio and Television Station and Taiyuan University of Technology, reconstructed into a cinematic Unreal Engine environment for real-time heritage visualization.

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ARCHITECTURAL AND SPATIAL ARCHIVE（2019–2024）

Selected works exploring form, materiality,
and spatial storytelling across architectural and digital design projects.

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