Summary

Liquid Death aims to turn a simple product like water into a cultural experience. The goal of this project was to explore how cinematic CGI could capture the brand’s rebellious personality while demonstrating how real-time tools like Unreal Engine can be used to produce high-end beverage commercials.

We created a short cinematic CGI commercial inspired by Liquid Death’s heavy metal aesthetic. The piece features a coffin cooler opening on a mountain of golden skulls as a chilled can emerges through fog, water splashes, and dramatic lighting. The project combined product rendering, fluid simulations, and cinematic camera work inside Unreal Engine.

The project demonstrated the real-time production of cinematic product visuals using Unreal Engine. It also helped refine our internal production workflow and attracted new opportunities and increased client interest in our services.

Services Rendered

• Creative Direction
• Concept Development
• Storyboarding
• 3D Environment Design
• Product Rendering
• Material & Shader Development
• Fluid Simulations (Niagara)
• Lighting & Cinematography
• Animation
• Editing & Color Grading
• Sound Design

Collaborators

• PostHuman GraFX Team: Creative direction, 3D production, animation, and post-production.

Overview

Liquid Death is not a typical beverage brand. Founded by Mike Cessario in Los Angeles, the company built its identity around the idea that water could feel as rebellious and culturally relevant as an energy drink or a craft beer. With its tallboy aluminum cans, heavy metal aesthetic, and the now famous line “Murder Your Thirst,” the brand speaks directly to fans of punk, metal, and alternative culture.

What makes Liquid Death fascinating from a design perspective is how clearly the brand commits to its personality. The packaging, the ads, the music collaborations, and even the humor all live inside the same universe. Instead of positioning water as clean and minimal, Liquid Death leans into skulls, chaos, and satire. For us, it was the perfect playground to explore cinematic product storytelling.

Challenge

The goal of this project was to create a short CGI beverage commercial inspired by Liquid Death’s irreverent identity. We wanted to see if we could capture the brand’s dark, energetic tone while pushing our own technical skills inside Unreal Engine.

At the same time, we wanted to test something bigger. Could a real-time engine, like Unreal Engine, compete with traditional visual effects (VFX) pipelines for product commercials? If Unreal Engine could achieve the same level of atmosphere, materials, fluids, and cinematography, it could facilitate faster and more flexible production workflows.

Approach

We started by gathering assets and building the scene. A can model was sourced from Sketchfab, then reworked with custom UVs and textures created in Photoshop. The coffin-style cooler was modeled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter to give it the worn, metallic character that fits the Liquid Death universe.

Inside Unreal Engine, we focused heavily on materials. We constructed shader systems that could replicate condensation, water drips, and frost on various surfaces. Niagara fluids handled the water splashes and volumetric fog, while cinematic cameras were configured to emulate an IMAX-style anamorphic look. Sequencer was used to assemble the animation and control the pacing of the shots.

Execution

The commercial begins with a wide cinematic shot revealing a mountain of golden skulls. At the top sits a coffin cooler, subtly rumbling to the rhythm of the soundtrack. As the beat builds, the camera moves closer, shifting angles and revealing the Liquid Death symbol carved into the lid.

Suddenly the coffin bursts open. Fog and water erupt outward as the cooler reveals its contents. A chilled can rises through smoke and splashing water, illuminated by deep red lighting. A demonic hand reaches in and grabs the can, and the final shot reveals multiple cans resting inside the cooler, surrounded by cold mist and condensation.

Impact

This project became an important milestone for us. It proved that Unreal Engine can deliver cinematic product visuals traditionally associated with offline rendering pipelines. With the right materials, lighting, and simulation tools, real-time workflows can produce high-end commercial imagery.

It also helped shape our internal production pipeline. Many of the techniques tested here, especially the material systems and Niagara setups, became building blocks for future projects. Most importantly, the work attracted real opportunities. Safebook later approached us, citing this exact piece as an example of how experimental work can pave the way for new collaborations.