News item: Religious Group builds permanent outdoor film set near Sydney, Australia

[tfraser]

The religious group known as Jehovah's Witnesses has constructed around 70 buildings as a permanent film set in the countryside nearby Sidney, Australia for the purpose of filming the life and ministry of Jesus. 

So all actors are unpaid volunteers and every aspect of build and production is provided via voluntary donations; so not a commercial venture at all; and so not under those pressures/constraints. 

6 min video of the production approach and challenges here. including glimpses of camera work and the CGI used to augment the physical temple steps.

Episode 1 concludes when the boy Jesus is 12 years old, and begins 3 years before his birth. Episode 1 in up to Full HD can be streamed or downloaded free, no registration req. (1hr 11min) Episodes 2&3 are in production for summer 2025 release with further episodes in coming years.

[MrSMW]

The second picture I assume is the Three Wise Men.

Clearly confused as to where to find the stable block.

[eatstoomuchjam]

I wonder how security is there and how long before urban explorers get in for photos and/or someone else sneaks in and films some form of video nasty.

[ntblowz]

I wonder how much it cost to build those set.

[IronFilm]

21 hours ago, tfraser said:

So all actors are unpaid volunteers and every aspect of build and production is provided via voluntary donations; so not a commercial venture at all; and so not under those pressures/constraints. 

good grief, they have a techno crane on set, that's not cheap at all. $$$$$$

Shooting with an ARRI.

ARRI WCU4 focus controller. 

Jealous, they're using a Sound Devices CL16!!

[eatstoomuchjam]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

Shooting with an ARRI.

On the fanciest Ready Rig around!

[Snowfun]

On 1/4/2025 at 12:10 PM, eatstoomuchjam said:

On the fanciest Ready Rig around!

The cross? 

[eatstoomuchjam]

34 minutes ago, Snowfun said:

The cross? 

No.  In the photo he posted, the Arri is on a high-end Ready Rig.

[tfraser]

On 1/3/2025 at 11:28 AM, MrSMW said:

The second picture I assume is the Three Wise Men.

😂 yes and you can see in episode 1 where and when they visited the young child. 

You can even view it in Zulu, as I did for just one minute out of interest... also noticed you can switch to Ecuadorian Sign Language and a "few" other languages.

[tfraser]

On 1/3/2025 at 10:39 PM, ntblowz said:

I wonder how much it cost to build those set.

that's a very good question, even though the labour is contributed, the cost of building materials and these high end video production items will come to a very serious amount of money. (also some specialist works beyond the scope of volunteers may have required contractors and the're operating a business so of course will have been paid out of donated funds)

Although the final videos are provided freely without charge, they aim to make a version that is the most accurate ever made.

The first episode is a taste of things to come.  You just know that the film set is going to be in use for some years as the first episode is 1 hr 11 mins and Jesus is only 12 years old and really hasn't done anything yet 🙂 

and I don't think they can manage more than 2 episodes per year.