“Operation Chrono” By Irmãos Meirelles
Synopsis
"Operation Chrono" is a narrative short made in partnership with the mobile game Free Fire for the release of footballer Cristiano Ronaldo as 'Chrono', the game's new character. It was entirely shot in the Jardim Peri slums of São Paulo with local non-actors, and it features a 17000 ft² wheat paste mural created on the top of more than 70 roofs in the neighborhood.
Directors statement
Operation Chrono is an exploration of the passion the game Free Fire inspires and it shows how much of an impact it can have on people's lives.
Our initial approach was to create a film around the urban art installation that was going to be built for the release of Chrono, the new in-game character based on footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Luan Cardoso of Nalata brought the idea of a “horizontal” mural using a huge amount of wheat paste posters on top of the roofs of houses. Free Fire is especially popular in the peripheral neighbourhoods of Brazil, so we chose the Jardim Peri slums as the location for the project. It helped that the neighbourhood already had a connection to soccer, since Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus was born there.
Through our initial visits to the place we got to know the reality of the young kids who lived there and how much they loved the game. Because of the pandemic, they basically spend their times either playing soccer or Free Fire, because school was closed. It was interesting and sad at the same time, since this is a very humble environment. That scenario inspired us to write a short film, a fictionalised version of how the mural was put together, and bring the children into the spotlight. In the script, a young Free Fire player would have a vision during soccer practice, and in a futuristic neon-light fever dream, discover the new character Chrono. We presented the treatment to Garena, the developer of the game, and they pretty much approved it right away. The only suggestion they gave was to have some of the game’s influencers in the film, which was a great idea. These are professional players, celebrities with millions of followers, who pretty caused havoc just by showing up on set. We fit them as cameo appearances, and the fans loved it.
From the beginning we knew we wanted to use local kids for the cast, so we held screen tests and chose the kids who were more comfortable in front of the camera. Our protagonist is actually an aspiring MC, and sang his own funk song in his audition. Since none of the kids had ever acted before, we approached the shoot with a more playful and improvisational style of directing. We avoided over explaining things and made it so they felt the whole thing was a game.
As for the technical aspects, we shot on Arri Alexa Mini LF in 4.5K in 2.39 aspect ratio with Leica R lenses. Shooting in the slums, or “community” as we call them in Brazil, is a bit challenging as far as the lighting and grip equipment go, due to the narrow pathways and crammed spaces, but our DP chose some versatile LED lights such as Skypanels, Astera tubes and the Arri L7C and put them to great use. We even had a 1000W light flying on a DJI M600 drone for the night shots, which was really awesome and an event in itself.
Overall, the feeling we left with is that we can bring positive impact with our work. The whole project brought a lot of good things to the people of Jardim Peri: apart from the fun of being in a Free Fire film, we renovated the roofs of over 70 houses to make the artwork the right way and brought a lot of donations for the local NGO. It’s very rare that we get to be involved with a film like this, it became a great Christmas present for everyone involved in making it.
Credits
Written & Directed by Irmãos Meirelles
Concept: Luan Cardoso
Executive Producers: Maran Poian, Juliano Libman, Luiz Restiffe
Producers: Gabriel Sidorenko, Vitor Youssef, Márcio Souza
Director of Photography: Júnior Malta
Production Design: Elizabeth Álvares
Wardrobe: Eliza Matta
Makeup: Kiko Moreno, Sergio Marinho
Drone Op: Alberto Youssef
Editor: Henrique Smith
Colorist: Cassi Umetsu
Post: The End
Sound Production: Mugshot
Music by AlterMauz
“Operation Chrono” was submitted to us by Irmãos Meirelles. Have a film of your own you’d like us to check out? Click here!