STAY

Inspired by The Last of Us

GALLERY

A year in the making…

Based on the critically acclaimed video game, Stay features an original story that intertwines with Ellie’s path towards revenge during The Last of Us 2.

Stay is the story of two survivors whose hope for the Santa Monica Pier lights their path through the ruthless, dying world of The Last of Us.

Neil Druckmann (TLOU Creative Director, Writer and EP of TLOU HBO show) said it was a "Beautifully done TLoU fan-film!" and Duncan Jones (Director of Warcraft and Moon) said it was, "Excellent use of the short format."

Written and directed by Compositing Supervisor and Hollywood VFX artist, Joshua Toonen (Godzilla vs Kong, Star Wars IX: Rise of Skywalker), this film is our first photorealistic glimpse into the brutal, zombie-infested universe until the upcoming release of the official HBO TV show starring Pedro Pascal.

Clickers and Stalkers

The Infected are brought to life in bloody, skin-crawling detail by visual effects and video game industry professionals. 7 separate film locations and 100+ VFX shots flesh out the bleak, decaying atmosphere and expand upon the environmental storytelling from the game.

Stay opens with Ellie performing an original cover of Have You Ever Seen the Rain by Credence Clearwater Survival. The final film was shot in Wisconsin during the pandemic and fully-realized by 40 different cast and crew members across the globe.

VFX BREAKDOWNS

The VFX Crew

Eight artists contributed to the visual effects that brought the world to life. The film spotlights extensive use of matte paintings of destruction and decay to match the world of The Last of Us. The Clicker’s fungal-plated faces were created digitally based on the models from the actual game to match the horrifying design from the artists at Naughty Dog.

The Corpse is an original design that was sculpted and textured by Character Artist Juras Rodionovas.

The entire film was inspired by a stunning piece of concept art by Santiago Betancur. It was modeled and textured in 3D by Generalist Timothée Maron.

PRODUCTION

The crew worked hard to bring the apocalyptic look to real-world locations alongside DP Kyle Kadow, who brought a naturalistic style that grounds the film in reality. The entire on-set team designed and placed vines, destruction, and debris in camera.

At our church location, the team found non-destructive ways to dress the set in order to recreate the barren aesthetic of the game. The special effects crew balanced makeup for 12 zombie extras to create The Infected for the short.

TIKTOK

We’ve taken an untraditional approach to marketing the short. On our TikTok, we created behind the scenes videos while we were making the film. We’ve reached over 5 million views and 110k followers within 6 months.

Here’s a collection of the most viral videos so far.