Dragon Age: Redemption Episode 6 Part 2

At long last we come to the final blog for Dragon Age: Redemption. If you've been following along, you've seen the magnitude of the project we set out to do, and the uphill battle we fought along the way to do it! The BarnYard took on the lion's share of the visual aspects of prepping the film, including the sets, props, and make-up effects. Any one of those departments should have had the budget of the entire project, and my crew should have been 10 times the size. but it wasn't, and the people involved worked that much harder to make everything amazing. You may wonder how many unseen dozens of craftsman helped in bringing the DA:R art department's task to fruition, but the truth is everyone involved has been mentioned and/or pictured in these blogs. We were a rag tag team of believers in what Felicia Day had planned, and despite the odds that were against us, I think things turned out pretty well.

Every episode has it's own behind the scenes story, and I hope I covered most of them on these pages. The final episode brought us to a place of magic and mayhem, Sundermount, the ancient burial shrine of Elves.

Photo 1: When we last left Sundermount, it was being ravaged by the incredible winds ripping through the mountains above the San Fernando Valley. I got a crew up there as early as possible in the morning so we could get the set back together and in perfect shape before filming began.

Photo 2: We were going to be on the location for several more days, so the trick was not only to get the set standing again, but to make sure it stayed that way for the rest of filming! We quadrupled the number of stakes, sandbags, and ropes we used to secure the walls down on the backside, and we fortified them with jack stands on the front side when the set wasn't being filmed.

Photo 3: Sundermount stands again! Very little of the set can actually be seen in the show, which is disappointing, since I think it is the only real setting that directly connects our world to Bioware's virtual world.

Photo 4: The Sundermount shoot spanned over a few "splits". This is when the 10 to 12 hour work day is pushed later in the day, or way early in the morning, to split the time between the dark of night and the light of day. We needed daylight for the travel shots to Sundermount, and for the morning after the main battle. Of course, that battle all took place in the dead of night.

There was a lot to shoot, so even though most of episode 6 all took place in one location, it was heavy divided up over those several nights. Many things needed to be reset, including the blood ritual. Here, the maze of runes is being redressed for a second night of sacrifice!

Photo 5: Moviestar drinking Rockstar! (I gave Marissa Cuevas the nickname "Moviestar" on Labou, our first project together, a long, long time ago! Her birthday is this week, so send her well wishes!) The hardest part about working splits or night shoots is staying awake! No matter how many nights of a shoot I work, I never seem to fully adjust and find myself still waking up during the day to do stuff, which makes it more difficult to jump into a 12 hour work shift. Marissa had a very emotional scene during the Sundermount night shoots, so energy drinks became her best friend. Felicia and Kim gave their love to the crew in the form of a coffee truck, which kept us warm and awake on those long. cold nights!

Photo 6: One thing Marissa learned is that it is hard to keep warm when you are spending long hours playing dead! The saddest part of Dragon Age: Redemption for me was the fact that Marissa's character, Fina, dies in the end. (Sorry if that was a spoiler!!! But I hope everyone has seen DA:R by now!!!) The only bright side was that I got to participate in the dramatic scene by crafting the jawbone sacrificial dagger that does the deed. I know I showed this to you before, but I couldn't reveal all the versions of it to avoid the above mentioned spoiler!

Here is the final hero dagger, the bloody stunt dagger, and the half dagger rig that attached to a harness under Marissa's costume for the initial stabbing.

Photo 7: In the make-up trailer, make up artist John Wrightson begins Doug Jones's transformation into the corrupt mage Saarebas.

Photo 8: Originally, I planned on sculpting hand appliances for Doug, but his movement and physique are so perfect already, a paint job and some custom-made creepy finger nails were all that was necessary. This helped out the budget immensely, as hand appliances would have needed to be remade for every day of filming and added expense to our already taxed budget!

Photo 9: Our first round of zombies didn't get shot due to time restrictions, so I hobbled together a few more for the next night of shooting.

Photo 10: We have a saying around the BarnYard make-up effects shop that has never been proven wrong, and it goes a little something like this: "It takes a while to apply our creature make-up, but when we're done, it's time for lunch!" No matter how much we try to work with the A.D. department, it is inevitable that they will schedule the lead creature actor to have his make-up applied BEFORE lunch, and then go on to set with a monster face covered in spaghetti or pizza grease. Luckily, Doug is the consummate professional, and has mastered the art of preserving his rubber face no matter how restrictive it is. Unfortunately, the finger nails prevented him from enjoying the corn on the cob!

Photo 11: After lunch, I did a quick retouching, and Saarebas was good to go. Looking at this shot mostly makes me think of how awesome the costumes were that Shawna Trpcic put together.

Photo 12: The same winds that plagued the Sundermount set wreaked havoc on the cast and crew during filming. FX make-up supervisor Erika Ladd had to keep Saarebas's hair tied up between takes to prevent the wind from destroying the wig. Note Marissa playing dead in the background, bundled up for rehearsals.

Photo 13: No one had it so bad on those nights as Felicia herself. When I was designing the Tallis costume, many key words floated around in my head: Sexy, Strong, Functional, Authentic, Organic, and did I mention Sexy!?! Words like "Warm" and "Cozy" never really made the cut. You will never feel so wimpy as when you are standing on a mountaintop in mid January, wearing multiple layers of Down, electric thermal gloves, scarves, wool face mask and fur lined hat, and complaining about the cold as the star/writer/producer stands next to you in skin tight leather pants and revealing corset of your purposeful design.

But Felicia is a trooper, and wardrobe had giant warm coats to bundle her up in between takes. Once the scene got going, Tallis was very active, and Felicia channeled her struggle against the cold into fierce assassin energy.

Photo 14: The Sundermount battle climaxes with Tallis making the choice to execute Saarebas (Again, sorry if that's a spoiler. But really? C'mon!!!) In the original script, Tallis delivers a final blow that severs the Qunari mage's head from his shoulders. In the last scene, as the remaining heroes bury their dead, Tallis walks off toward the horizon carrying the head as her prize.

Ultimately, it was decided in the final version of the show that keeping the head was out of character for Tallis, and the imagery changed the message Felicia wanted for the message of the show. Although I completely agree with the way the finale plays out, I was bummed that one of my favorite DA:R props found it's final resting place on the cutting room floor.

None the less, I made it, and here's how! I did a fiberglass cast of the cowl and horns from the silicone matrix mold used to create the make-up, as seen above.

Photo 15: Then I did a 1630 urethane cast of the face appliance, backed with fiberglass. Because the action in the script was very specific, and the head would only ever be seen held by the hair as a trophy, I decided to create it as a rigid version from the original molds. Ordinarily, if it needed to roll or be held by the face, or move in any way, we would have made a foam or soft silicone version. However, this would require additional molds, an underskull, possibly simple mechanics. Doing it as a rigid "looks only" prop saved us days of work and thousands of dollars.

Photo 16: I wanted to add a "dead" expression to the head, as apposed to the neutral look on Doug's lifecast, so I dremeled off the lower lip and chin, and removed the closed eyes. I glued in some glass eyes that were pretty close to Doug's color, then used Magic Sculpt 2 part epoxy resin to sculpt in the eyelids. I tried to make them look relaxed and asymmetrical, since the muscles would have loosened up after death.

Photo 17: Next, I fused the face to the cowl. I glued the lower jaw back on, but repositioned it so it was a little slack, and slightly twisted to one side. I used more Magic Sculpt to bridge the spaces created by the cuts, and rebuilt the lower lip to sag from it's own weight. Then I added castings of the secondary horns. I was also careful to not secure the top of the forehead, so the wig could be tucked under after the head was painted.

I used the hole in the bottom of the neck to put a set of teeth in, since the open lips revealed them. I believe those are a spare casting of Ben Affleck's teeth that were laying around! Once those were set, I capped the severed neck off with a circle of sintra plastic, then smeared some Bondo over it roughly to simulate meaty, sinewy bits!


Photo 18: This is the head after I finished painting it. I matched the paint scheme I did on the hero appliances, but added more purple veins along the wound, the jawline, and eye sockets, to represent settled, clotted blood.

Photo 19: This is the head after it was splattered with blood on set. I also did a light spray of Krylon Crystal Clear to give the skin a dewy sheen.

Photo 20: Because you can't blog about a severed head and not make the joke...WHAT"S IN THE BOX!?!?! (If the reference is lost on you, click here) The sad truth is, the head IS boxed up now, waiting for a future open space on my display shelf. As for Tallis's trophy, it was digitally removed from the final show.

Photo 21: There were many moving parts to the series finale, and the restrictive time schedule put more things at risk of ending up on the chopping block than just my prop head. There were several key moments that main unit just couldn't fit into the schedule, so Felicia called The Guild director Sean Becker to step in and helm 2nd unit.

Sean was in charge of capturing all of the insert shots and pick-up shots from various scenes that would help stitch the sequences together seamlessly. Most of this was done towards the end of the schedule, when we were back on the stage, so my team needed to recreate small chunks of the various locations in corners of our warehouse.

Photo 22: The Guild's director of photography, Chris Darnell, joined Sean to film each shot. We all studied the footage together to make sure that the right environment was created, and Chris very carefully recreated John Bartley's lighting. Inserts and pick-up shots are more difficult than they look, as you are trying to match another team's footage exactly while being in a completely different place, with completely different resources.

Here, Chris lines up an over the shoulder close up of the mask of Fen'Heral as Saarebas prepares it for the ceremony.

Photo 23: The mask and dagger await their close-up insert shots by 2nd unit.

Photo 24: The biggest challenge for the 2nd unit art team was piecing together environments for the fight scenes. We needed pick-ups for both the cave fight and the Sundermount fight, which were both heavily location dependent sets. Here, Chris rigged a large backdrop out of a black fabric called Duvetyne to simulate the night sky above Nyree as she deals her death blow.

Photo 25: Lune is at the receiving end of that rock! Pooja and Red 5 helped Sean and Chris painstakingly recreate a small section of the Topanga mountains in order to complete this scene. I think that grass is from my lawn!

Photo 26: When filming was done, we spent the next week striking the sets and wrapping out the show. I tried to hang on to as much as possible for use in future projects, but there really was just too much! We ended up filling three 40 yard dumpsters with set walls and broken props. It's always a little heart breaking to work on something so hard for so long, and see it end up in a trash pile. Here, the remains of Sundermount await their fate.

But don't be too dismayed! I made sure all of the hero props, weapons, and set dressing was carefully packed away. And there was a lot of it! Imagine the final shot in Raiders of the Lost Ark, that giant warehouse of wooden crates containing all the known secrets of the universe. Just know that there is a version of that storing everything you love from Dragon Age: Redemption, The Guild, Legend of Neil, Labou, Babylon 5, Speilberg's AI, Lost World, and everything else I ever worked on, just waiting for a reason to be put on public display.

Photo 27: All of those things will not be forgotten, much as DA:R will not be forgotten even though the series has come to an end. Tallis vanished over the horizon, but everything that Felicia accomplished by bringing Dragon Age to life has paved the way for so many more adventures to come. Hopefully some of them will be yours! I know I would love to see them.

And the genius of digital media is that the entertainment doesn't need to end when the show is over. I'm certain this is not my last blog ever about DA:R, as I remember new stories every day about the journey we had to create it. Felicia has also created an episode by episode commentary so you can get more of her insight on the making of the show.

So, for now, that has been my experience on the making of Dragon Age: Redemption. I hope you have enjoyed my public logging of the memories! It was an amazing project to work on, and I must thank Felicia for involving me, and especially for letting me take on so much of the responsibility, even when everyone else thought I was crazy for wanting to do so. Everyone else except Kim Evey, who I am eternily greatful for, as she suported my artistic insanity to the very end. Huge thanks to BioWare for letting me play so freely in their abundant and detailed world. I also need to thank my tireless crew again for their undying dedication during the endless hours and often unbarable weather! I hope this blog allowed you to know more about them and their incredible talents, without which the show could never have been made.

And I want to thank you for reading this. The response to my blog has been overwhelming, and honestly, surprising to me, and I am honored that so many are interested in what I do. It means the world to me that I get to ineract with you about the work done at the BarnYard, and your comments and sharing have really insired me to do more. Thanks again!

With Dragon Age:Redemption complete, it's time to move on to other things. But now that you have seen EVERYTHING, definitely let me know what your favorite set, prop, make-up, or any part of DA:R was! And I feel like I covered pretty much everything, but was there something I missed that you really wanted to know about? Leave a comment below and let me know. Oh, and don't forget about that DLC! As of right now, Talis is pretty much my favorite video came character ever. I think Felicia might agree...

Dragon Age: Redemption Episode 6

So this is it, the final episode, the exciting conclusion of Dragon Age:Redemption! It's been a long time coming. We started this over a year ago, but at the same time, I can't believe it's over already. I'm very proud to share this behind the scenes look at last chapter of the saga, yet it's a bitter sweet moment. I've enjoyed reliving the process by blogging with each new episode, and I'm sad that we've reached the end so quickly. I hope you enjoyed my posts, as well as the realization of Felicia's amazing vision.

Photo 1: One of the biggest challenges of the final episode, and actually, of the entire series, was bringing Sundermount to life. Sundermount is known in Dragon Age II as a sacred place to the Dalish elves. A place of magic and power, essentially the Stonehenge of Bioware's virtual world.

One thing that I have learned about Felicia Day is that we share a very similar approach to writing. Before a story is completely fleshed out there will be certain visual elements that she will lock onto and the script will grow from there. It can be anything really, a character, an action, a prop, in the case of DA:R, a place. From our earliest conversations, before there was even a solid plot, Felicia knew that she wanted the characters to eventually visit Sundermount.

Photo 2: What made this set so challenging is that it was the one environment we were pulling directly out of the game. Much like all of the weapons and props that I had blogged about from previous episodes, I wanted this set to be as accurate to the game as possible. We literally constructed the set stone by stone to construct the graphics.

Photo 3: Despite out best efforts, we did have to take some liberties. We searched the entire radius of Los Angeles for rolling European hills, but couldn't quite find anything accessible to match the grounds in the game. It was ultimately decided to shoot in the alien landscape of the Topanga hills. The setting was very cool, but it forced us to change our color scheme from European gray field stone to California desert sandstone.

Photo 4: Another challenge was trying to make the small shootable area that we found look like the vast landscapes that Bioware provided us. Several of the views revealed houses and freeways in the distance, and the Sundermount walls wouldn't block them all.
Photo 5: My solution was to move the in game gates and crumbled walls closer to the sacred ruins
Photo 6: Due to time budget and space constraints, I had to pick and choose which game assets we brought to reality. In some cases, such as this gateway, I chose what I felt were the coolest elements, out of a larger structure, pairing it down to a more achievable set piece.

Photo 7: All of the Sundermount elements were made of polystyrene sheet foam, the kind used to insulate houses, mounted onto wooden frames. The foam was carved, coated in joint compound, and painted.

Photo 8: Several days before shooting the set pieces as far up the mountain as possible, then carried by hand the rest of the way. There were over 20 pieces total, some being more than 12 feet in length and several hundred pounds. Lets just say, it was not easy to get up that mountain.

Photo 9: It took my crew two days to erect Sundermount. Once all of the places were staked in place and connected, all of the seams needed to be puttied and painted. The really tall structures needed to be roped off against the elements.

Photo 10: Several rock samples were taken to the shop to help guide the painting of the sets, but once it actually stood at the location, it was obvious that we needed to do some more painting to blend it into the landscape.

Photo 11: It is funny that I would blog about this alter in one of the finals DA.R posts, being that it was actually the first set piece to be constructed for the entire series. It consists of a 2x4 and plywood frame layered with the styrofoam which was then carved to look like individual stone blocks.

Photo 12: We knew that the alter was going to be involved in the fight scene and possibly end up needing to hold a lot of weight. The wooden structure was completely up to the task, but the foam stone skin would not be able to take any weight or impact. I decided to put several layers of fiber glass on the altar's surface to protect it.

The polyester resin we use for fiber glassing actually eats the styrofoam, so a trick I use is to spray mount a protective layer of aluminum foil onto the sculpted foam. This allows all of the detail to remain and keeps the resin away from the foam. Here, Josie Kavadoy and Jason Swearingen apply the final layer of fiberglass mat.

Photo 13: The final alter as it appeared on set awaiting it's sacrifice.

Photo 14: Of course, that sacrifice happens to be my dearest friend Marissa Cuevas. I knew all along that this prop played a big part in Marissa's climactic scene, so it was kind of special to be able to build it for her.

She was very excited about the role that Felicia wrote for her. And who wouldn't be? After all, its not everyday you get to dress like a princess. Especially one who gets to wear a dress designed by Shawna Trpcic, who also designed many of Marissa's favorite shows, including Firefly! Here she is during the final fitting for her ceremonial dress. I couldn't wait to see her in action.

Photo 15: Of course, actually seeing it was horrifying. That is one of the cruel twists of Hollywood, working with friends and loved one on movie sets, despite the fact that none of this is real, there are certain images you never really want to see.

It's okay though, Marissa was unharmed in the filming of this scene. The dress, however, did not survive.

Photo 16: Marissa was not the only things pretending to be dead at Sundermount. The evil mage Saarebas attempts to hold his ground by raising an army of the dead to battle our heroes. Luckily for him the Dalish elves buried their fallen comrades in a cemetery not far from the Sundermount ruins. We made a wide variety of tombstones based on Bioware game assets from foam and wood.
Photo 17: Tombstones being set in place in the Topanga hills, creepy but peaceful. For the moment...
Photo 18: This next series of photos are truly a behind the scenes exclusive. Due to circumstances beyond our control, production had delays during the Sundermount shooting schedule, and almost all of the zombies, which I am about to show you, did not make it on the film. We created a variety of foam latex appliances, such as this one piece pull-over zombie. All of the appliances were sculpted by Digger Mesh and myself.

Photo 19: One of the first pitfalls was that the stuntman hired to play the large zombie was allergic to latex, so I couldn't apply his make up. We considered switching actors but there was no one available to fit the mask. In an experiment to see what the latex would look like on a smaller person, I donned the dead elf head. You can tell its me because of the hat.

Photo 20: Here we have a female zombie elf warrior. This was a full head single piece appliance.

Photo 21: The best part of the zombies was that it gave members of my art department an opportunity to do some make up effects. Here Rikki Techner applies the zombie girl. Rikki's true passion is make up, so she really enjoyed being able to create a character that would be filmed on a set that she had helped to build.

Photo 22:This pruney zombie was sculpted on a life cast of Ben Afflek's face.

Photo 23: Art Department Coordinator Pooja Sharma tries her hand at applying zombie make up for the first time.

Photo 24: This elf obviously died from severe wounds to the face. It was done as a one piece face appliance.

Photo 25: Yeah, yeah, yeah... you get it.

Photo 26: About at this point we were informed that the zombies would not be filmed. As you can see, they were not happy about it.

Photo 27: No really, they were not happy! They kind of haunted us for the rest of the night.

Photo 28: The ghastly ghouls had their revenge though, summoning the dark forces of nature to reek even more havoc on poor Sundermount. When we returned in the morning, we discovered that the winds that blew through the mountains in the late hours of the night took down our set, despite out best efforts to secure it. Needless to say, I had a situation on my hands...

Photo 29: It was a mad scramble to get everything back online, but I will save that story for the final post of my DA:R blog.

I am excited to hear all of your reactions to the epic finale of our series. Please leave comments below and feel free to ask me about anything I might have left out within these blogs. Don't forget to like and share this page below!