BREAKDOWN 002 - The Last Supper (Far Cry 5) (Patreon)

 Third Anniversary of this shoot so here's the unlocked Breakdown.

Character Origins 

Far Cry is a franchise of first-person shooter video games, all of which have been published by Ubisoft. The first game, Far Cry, was developed by Crytek to premiere their CryEngine software, and released in March 2004.

Ubisoft announced Far Cry 5 in May 2017, with a release date of March 27, 2018. The game is set in modern-day Montana in the fictional Hope County. The player takes on the role of a sheriff's deputy who becomes entangled in a violent conflict between a doomsday cult called Eden's Gate led by "The Father" Joseph Seed and his children, and the resisting residents of Hope County who have seen their friends and family taken or killed by the cult.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry

In May 2017 soon after the games announcement Ubisoft released the first main Key Art piece featuring a cropped version of a take on the last supper via twitter.

Wasn't long before the full version was posted. It features some of the main protagonists mixed in with general militia. 

Project Details

Fury Fingers describe themselves as "a group of passionate friends and film-makers from Australia who make fan films based on video games for YouTube".

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT_BuZC93fYX1AR5rOFQvkA 

Fury Fingers and I have worked on a number of projects together in conjunction with the makers of Tomb Raider, Mobile Strike, The Division and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - the latter two for Ubisoft. So when Ubisoft approached Fury Fingers to make a short film as promo for the upcoming release of Far Cry 5 they asked me to do my thing and take BTS and character shots for the production. One thing we all wanted to do was recreate the Last Supper key artwork.

Location (Part 1) 

As two of the main characters in the shot (The Father and The Sinner) required heavy makeup for the film we were limited to doing the shot on set as part of the production which heavily limited the location. Finding a setting similar to the image was a big ask anyway; a valley with a church. I originally thought of Clarendon where there was a really nice shot down a valley that I could easily Photoshop a church into but it would have been a logistical nightmare to get the cast and props there so I was almost glad my option was limited.

I had to get the shot on day 1 or 2 of filming because they were the only days all the characters I needed were on set. Day 1 was to be at Woodhouse Activity Centre in the Adelaide Hills and day 2 was to be in a quarry which we had used in a number of other productions near Kuitpo Forest. While the quarry had trees they were pretty sparse so I decided to get the shot on day 1 at Woodhouse. I knew we couldn't get the background I wanted this meant to make the shot work we had to nail the setup and poses.

Props

The first thing I did was look at the original image and detail all the props I needed to find to make the scene come together. I find breaking a scene down into individual components that you check off makes a very complicated project a little easier to manage.

I posted this image to my personal Facebook page as well as Steamkittens and the Facebook group for the film production that included the production crew, cast and extras. I knew guns and weapons wouldn't be an issue as we know a cosplay group (Task Force Taipan) who have tonnes of this stuff. These guys usually play extras on productions so would have access to their impressive collection.

Here is the list of items I needed to find:

Grenades - The taskforce guys had a few, I would have liked more but some are better than none.

Ammo boxes - One of the extras had a couple of these, again I would have liked more but it would do.

Hay bales - I was actually calling around my area trying to source some bales and while I had a shoot budget, a tonne of hay would cut into it at $8 a bale and transport to the set would have been an issue. Luckily one of the extras came to the rescue as his parents had a farm and he brought along about 15 bales.

Apples  -  My partner went to a fruit store at Mitcham and they donated a large bag of apples.

Beer bottles  -  One of the extras had some old beer bottles and made some Eden's Gate labels to go on them.

Pie  -  My partner bought a homebrand apple pie from the supermarket. 

Pizza - Originally I decided to scrap the pizza as you can barely see it in the shot and was another element I would have had to buy and bring to set for a single piece. By a stroke of luck lunch was just before the shoot and it just so happened to be pizza so I made sure I kept a couple of pieces aside.

Round bread loaves  - We stopped at my local bakery on the way out to set and picked up some small rolls and some cobs.

Bullets  - We had a lot of plastic bullets but we couldn't get the bullets to stand in end so it was one element we were definitely lacking. 

Large book - Maddie had brought a couple large hardcover novel to play the Eden's Gate bible. I think it was a Wilbur Smith book.  

Large US flag  - A fan of my page supplied a large US flag that was the perfect size. The flag would need to be edit in post to replace the stars with the Eden’s Gate cross.

Goblet  - Found a few options on facebook marketplace but price or location was an issue. Luckily one of the extras found a couple in a discount store that would work for just five dollars. 

Handcuffs - Had a couple of options for handcuffs from the taskforce guys - we made sure they came with keys.

Hunting knife -  One of the taskforce guys had a huge collection to choose from.

Meat/steak - I didn't really want to spend $20 on a steak so I visited the butcher near my house and talked to the butcher about my options. His suggestion was liver steaks which we could cut with some sinew and they would be about 40c each, my biggest concern was the colour. While it would have the texture the deep red would take some post work to make look good in the shot. The day before the shoot my partner came home with a steak that was on special and she'd picked it up for about $10.  

Chain - One of the extras had a plastic chain. I would have preferred a real one as the way it hung down and looked was different because of the lack of weight and the difference in materials.

Fish - My partner went to the fish shop and we got three whole fish as it was one element I really wanted in the shot.

Wood cutting board -  This was to put the fish on and one of the extras brought one from home.

Wood bowl -  This was for the apples and I had a couple of options offered by fans of my page. Both were deeper than I'd wanted but we just filled the bottom with some of the spare bread to make sure we didn't waste apples.

Dog - I had recently put up a post asking for Wolf like dogs for a Mononoke shoot and there were a couple there that looked perfect,  upon contacting their owners I found that both I had select were actually interstate. One of the extras had a dog and we organised for him to bring his dog Sasha.

Flagging bottle -  Found one fairly last minute when one of my assistants came up with one that was perfect.

Sledge hammer -  One of the extras had one and brought to set items like this seem small considering the complexity of the shot but its small details like this that really add to the final composition.

Table cloth -  Left this quite last minute and one of the extras said he has a gray sheet he could bring.

White dress - I had picked Maddie to play this role and I quite liked the dress she had on in her facebook profile photo but then she sent me a shot of another dress which was a much closer match to the one in the original.

Floral headdress - Again had a couple of options from fans of my page. 

Here's some images from the many messages I got offering props.

Casting

Originally Ubisoft wanted involvement from the cosplay community to get some promotion going through those avenues and were willing to fly a big name cosplayer from interstate to be just in the photo, but there were a couple of issues with this. Cosplayers like amazing dress and intricate armor and the vast majority are female. Far Cry 5 while being an awesome game is from the Key Art looks like a bikie group having lunch with their bald head, beefy chests and tank top, not really a look to get cosplayers excited. I suggested approaching the wrestler community which we had used in previous productions.

So in terms of casting I had little input as it was cast for the film already set by Fury Fingers. My main input was casting Maddie (Clara Skye Cosplay) to play Faith Seed in the photo, the character doesn't appear in the film. 

In the lead up there was some chopping and changing to the people in the shot just due to who was available on the day. We had some people who looked more like  certain characters but sadly they weren't available to make it. The list was basically set before the day though and people knew which character they were portraying so they had time to study the pose and plan and source costume elements. Some even had Eden's Gate cross necklaces 3D printed.

Elliot Howard having his beard applied which was completely done in makeup.

Christopher Duncan getting an amazing make-up job of the word 'sinner' cut into his back.

Location (Part 2)

We arrived on set at Woodhouse at about 9.30am and the first thing I looked at was the weather it was a sunny mostly cloudless sky which is the worst conditions for photography. 

I was happy to see a large pile of Hay Bales and the first thing I did was collect and gather all the props and the first thing I realise is we have no tables and the guy who's supplying them apparently isn't there on day 1 he' thinks they're for day 2. There are immovable picnic benches which could be a last resort option but after a quick phone call we hastily arrange for him to being them down to set.

The shoot is planned for 12.30 directly after the shoot lunch break.

So the next priority is location scouting. Because I have a mobility issue and have trouble walking especially on uneven ground Maddie goes across the river from where we are and brings back some test shots.

The biggest consideration with an outdoor shoot is always the weather and on the day we had bright sun and cloudless sky (which I complained about on Instagram), so while there were some nice open areas they where unusable because of the bright sun. 

We need to find somewhere in shade that doesn't have too many bright hot spots behind so we get a nice even shot.  The other consideration is we wouldn't be shooting for about 2 hours so its not about where the light and shade is now but where the light and shade will be in two hours.

So the first two shots in Maddie's selection are my favs and while the second has a beautiful warm colour there are far too many hotshots so we go with the other choice which had a larger shadow patch which should be there all day. Another advantage of this location was it was right next to a large climbing wall and being next to a park attraction meant there was an access road to where we would be setting up so we didn't have to carry all the props, guns and all those hay bales from one side of the forest to the other.

So we had all there gear collected (including two white folding tables) so we begin setup. We setup both tables next to each other, I would have preferred just a little more length we can try and fake it by shifting tables but due to the complicated nature of the composition I decide to leave it how it is and work with it.

We put the table cloth on (which is a gray bedsheet) and its way too short. Like the tables we could shift it one way then the other but once the objects are setup in the middle I didn't want to move or mess with them and get potential alignment issues later in post when trying to align all the parts.  So I ask if we can chop it up, just because we have a lot of material hidden down the back of the table. So we cut this off and produce a strip we can place over one end and then the other so the majority of objects in the middle can stays static for the shoot. We did have some issue with the wind blowing the tablecloth  under the table showing table and peoples legs so we had to put some some hay bales under there to keep it at the front.

I have very limited time, production has already stopped for lunch and the longer I keep the main stars of the film the longer before they can start shooting again. I had planned to break the shot into three segments - middle, left and right and then composite these into the final. I did this for a number of reasons. I wanted to shoot in close with a 50mm prime lens to capture more detail. I didn't want to backup too far and lose that detail or use a wide angle lens. Plus because its such a complicated composition I only wanted to concentrate on a section at a time to ensure the positions were right. plus it was in terms of lighting it was easier to light sections rather than the entire scene.

I setup my tripod at the lowest to will go because the ground in front of the table slopes up the further back I go the high the camera angle gets and I get to try and match the table angle in the shot.

Setup One

So we started with the middle section so the main star of the film would be done first and can get back to shooting.  First thing we notice is that we have no chairs. So I'm glad we have extra hay bales we can use for seating.

We start by positioning the flag and the central items for the Father character. One of the items was the meat which I didn't really want to put on the flag and get blood on a borrowed item so we put some plastic down to protect it.

We had a couple of people with the original image on tablets and they were directing and correcting the pose.

First main test shot showed with had the hairlight to far in frame so we moved to further to the right and you can see our main light in the top left corner of frame. Setup 1 including light tests was 26 frames.

Setup Two

Originally I considered moving the camera to the center of each setup but I just decide to pan. We piled all the ammo crates and guns on the left. One thing we didn't have was a rope for the sinners hands and had to do with a bag strap.  Setup 2 was only 8 frames because they needed the sinner back on set and we got the shot really fast.  

Setup Three

Once we moved to setup three we swapped all the props over to the right side along with the lights and get everyone in position. Then its time to position the  Sasha the dog.... We try and boost Sasha into position and the first thing she does is grab one of the fish by the tail and tried to run away with it. So I decided to remove the fish and just try and get a shot of the dog in position. I got 30 frames with the Dog in shot and he didn't stop moving once, the bow ended up being in a bad spot and when he did look the right way the bow was blocking his face. I kind of wished I used the same dog I was planning to use in the Princess Mononoke shoot but didn't want to stretch the friendship.

In the end I had to use a shot of the dog looking the opposite way and cut him out and flip him. 

Once the dog was done we added the fish back into shot and took 20 more frames, the last few I moved the light further to the right to better light the last three characters who where a bit dark. 

Four of the frame where of a little fury friend who walk behind set. In the original artwork in the top left corner is a grizzly who I assume is the companion character Cheeseburger, well roughly in the same spot we had our own cheeseburger appear in the the for of a koala who walk through our shot.

Basic composition - This is the four main shots that made up the composition, obviously there was a bit of editing and I took elements from about 5 other shots in the final image.

Behind the Scenes

Gear

You can see the final short film 'Far Cry 5 - Baptism of Fire' here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLAaJL03lFU&t=635s

NOTE: The livestream video is publicly available on Facebook and YouTube and is not exclusive to this article.

That's a wrap! 

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Universe: Far Cry

Client: Ubisoft ANZ

Date: 3rd March 2018

Location: Woodhouse Activity Centre, Piccadilly, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

Assistant: Maddie Bain

Assistant: Cain Halliwell

Shoot Time: 1 hours + setup time