Brand Film · Documentary · 2026

The Rudie
Recovery

2BigProduction × Jordan Marder Pre-Production · AD · AI Visual Hanoi · 2026

Overview

00 · The film

The Rudie Recovery is a three-minute mini documentary and brand film for Rudie, an underwear brand that shut itself down over the microplastics in synthetic fabric and spent roughly three years rebuilding the product before coming back with a new development at 92% bamboo. Rather than launch the new product, we made it as an honest account of why the brand went dark, moving across four acts, from the decision to stop shipping, through the years of reworking the fabric, to the relaunch. It runs on the founder and the product designer speaking naturally on camera, and a model displaying the product, to carry Rudie's story.

I worked on the film with 2BigProduction. I planned it from pre-production, breaking the script down into a full shot list and a clear division of what would be shot live and what would be generated. On set I ran as Assistant Director, leading the shoot for the majority of the scenes and throughout the production day. In post I assisted in the AI visual development, generating the microscopic look at the skin and fabric and the archival-style textile footage, the parts of the story a camera cannot reach. I planned them shot by shot alongside the live action so they read as part of the film rather than an insert.

Client	Rudie
Format	Brand documentary + reels
Setting	Hanoi, Vietnam · 2026
Runtime	3 minutes
Role	Pre-Production · Assistant Director · AI Visual
Production	2BigProduction

The idea

A recovery that became a rebrand.

The Process

01 · From brief to grade

A recap of how the film was built. Open a phase to read more.

For the concept and treatment, we asked Rudie to provide detailed information on their story and their purpose for the relaunch, as this gave us the context and visual clarity to shape the approach. Their account, from the decision to pull the synthetic product over its microplastics to the years spent rebuilding it at 92% bamboo, became the spine of the film and the four acts it moves through.

From there we combined a documentary-style narrative, with a mix of locations that resembled the development of Rudie’s rebrand, alongside a second style that showcases the product, its usage, and how it was developed, bringing both into one medium. As we carried the concept, script, and flow, we went back and forth between the creative team and the client, making sure to retain the story’s message while executing the visual storytelling alongside it.

From the treatment / storyboard

To construct and capture Rudie’s visual concept, I used a combination of generative images built on JSON prompting and custom building. I recreated the layout and conditions of the film set we had planned for Rudie, creating a digitized environment of the set and combining it with all the props we had prepared for the shoot. Building this let me demo lighting setups, different combinations and placement for set dressing, and camera placement for the interview setups and branded material, as well as test cinematic concepts to pass on to the camera operator.

When we arrived on set, the production and coordination across the crew was clear and on the same page. This provided efficiency and a clear, conceptualized visual for the client and myself, levelling out expectations and eliminating confusion throughout the production.

Digitized set · lighting, set dressing, and camera tests

The same digital build fed straight into the shot planning. It helped construct the production resources we shared across the team, such as the shot list, shooting schedule, and treatment. Afterwards, a custom-built .skill file automatically sent a snapshot from the mid-point of each clip once production wrapped, building a dailies document for the editor that made the revision and workflow process easier.

Shot list · shot index · shooting schedule

For the AI integration into the Rudie documentary, I built a custom node workflow in ComfyUI, moving from detailed JSON prompting to image generation and then a resolution enhancer. We brought the generated stills into Kling 3.0 video generation, using START and END frames so the shots ran sequentially and flowed perfectly between each other, building full, high-level cinematic scenes.

We kept the imagery and style consistent throughout the video, to enhance the storytelling in a way that goes beyond what a camera can capture.