Past is Prologue

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Past is PrologueThe Mill (also known as TV Commercial :60 Spot on Metroid.com and TV Spot on the Nintendo Channel) is the live-action/CGI North American commercial for Metroid: Other M.
The 62 second version can be found here: , a 31 second version here: and a full minute-long version without gameplay here: 
The final line delivered by Samus, "What's past is prologue," is from William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Here, Samus is comparing herself to Antonio and Sebastian, stating that her past could not have produced any result other than combat with her enemies.
==Synopsis==
The commercial depicts Samus Aran, in her Zero Suit, walking through a sequence of her life events while introspecting (see monologue above). These begin with the attack on K-2L, where Ridley is landing on the ground, with a child version of Samus falling on her back. The next scene depicts a briefing by Commander Adam Malkovich in a Galactic Federation Army yard; Samus gives him a thumbs-down while other soldiers look on, and a group of them jogs. Afterwards, Samus witnesses herself fighting Zebesians in the 03 Bay, which may represent a location on the Space Pirate Mother Ship.
Following this, she proceeds into a cave, where she witnesses the hatching of the baby as depicted in Metroid II: Return of Samus and its later-released remake, and its death at the hands of Mother Brain in Super Metroid. Finally, Samus stops walking when she steps onto a platform. She activates her Power Suit in the same way that she does in Other M, by throwing her arms back while it begins to materialize through the Chozo mark on her chest. As Samus's visor flashes, gameplay footage follows.
==Production==
The commercial was produced by Smuggler in partnership with Unit+Sofa"Unit+Sofa is a production service company based in Prague, filming across the Czech Republic and neighbouring Austria, Germany and Slovakia. [...] The company is dedicated to facilitating production to the highest standard for directors from all across the world, and is proud to partner with companies including Sonny, MJZ, Smuggler, Somesuch, Pretty Bird, Corner Shop, Knuckle Head, Rattling Stick, Academy, Anonymous Content, Reset, Independent, Epoch, 75, Iconoclast, TPF, Soup Films… and many more partners and friends." Retrieved from https://www.unitsofa.cz/praha/about. It was directed by Filip Engstrom and filmed in Prague at abandoned warehouses and working factories. The Mill, an international VFX company, handled the visual effects in post-production.
thumb|290px|Samus, as portrayed by Lenka Volfová.
Because Nintendo was reluctant to share details about the story of Other M, the commercial's production team made use of elements of Samus's origin story. The initial plan for Past is Prologue was to have it chronicle more of Samus's early past, including the murders of her parents, her training and first mission. After Yoshio Sakamoto (who consulted on the commercial from Japan) read the script, he requested that the scenes from Return of Samus and Super Metroid, and Samus giving a thumbs down to Adam, be used instead. The fight scene with Zebesians in the 03 Bay was retained from the original script. While the production team wanted to depict Samus's parents being killed, they were asked to instead show Ridley almost killing Samus.Interview: Micky Coyne. Shinesparkers. September 2, 2022. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
At least two other concepts were considered. The first was a montage of a Zebesian's life, with it as a baby, undergoing training, and then disembarking a spaceship before being immediately decapitated by a shot from Samus. This would give way to gameplay clips. The second concept would depict Samus badly losing a battle, with a cover of Eye of the Tiger by French singer Chiara Mastroianni playing, before she found the strength to prevail.
Production of Past is Prologue lasted about four months in total due to the extensive use of visual effects. Nintendo had provided the 3D character models used in Other M to The Mill, but these were instead used as references for new models created by The Mill from scratch. The rain that falls during the Galactic Federation Army scene was real. The rooftop was for a mall garage, and it was also shot in an empty field. The production team had to enter the cave in small groups, and there was no signal, meaning the camera crew's monitors could not stream captured footage to those outside the cave.
Samus's English voice actress in Other M, Jessica Martin, also recorded the narration for the commercial. This included reading the ESRB rating of T for teen at the end. Nintendo rejected Martin's recording of the disclaimer since it meant she would break character, and requested that another actor record it separate from her narration. Since this would have required paying an actor a salary of $40-80,000 USD under SAG regulations, and they were running out of time to finish the commercial, Micky Coyne recorded the line and it was added and sent. In the end, Nintendo retained Martin's recording of the disclaimer for the final version. Her narration also changed several times during production. Coyne has a version of the commercial on his Vimeo profile with his ESRB rating and an earlier Martin voiceover, linked below.
Czech model Lenka Volfová portrayed Samus as an adult in the commercial, with an unknown actress portraying her child self. A 2023 investigation from Shinesparkers did not succeed in identifying the child actress, beyond confirming she was five to six years old at the time, and had to have her long hair cut short for the production.Shinesparkers. In Search of Samus. December 8, 2023. Retrieved December 9, 2023. Volfová was one of two finalists for the role, with Coyne and the rest of the production team (including Sakamoto) feeling she was better suited for it. According to Volfová, the commercial was shot almost non-stop over 48 hours in an industrial building, on a rooftop and in a cave. All of the other human characters, including the "flying kid" (child Samus) are played by actors, while Samus (in her Power Suit), the baby, Ridley and Mother Brain are computer animated. The environments were enhanced in post-production. It never aired in the native Czech Republic.Interview: Lenka Volfová. Shinesparkers. January 16, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2022.
Past is Prologue's musical score was composed by Human Worldwide, a Los Angeles-based music house. Goodby editor Paul Martinez collaborated with them. A full version of the music has never been released.
===The Mill information===
;Description
:"The story follows bounty hunter Samus Aran as she protects the world from Metroids.  To keep the look and feel of the game's ravaged surroundings, Filip shot the spot in Prague using working factories, abandoned warehouses and existing rubble. The galactic environment of the spot was a powerful reference to the video game. The Mill effects team enhanced the destruction with matte paintings, extra smoke, ashes, dust, rain and other atmospheric elements."
;Read more
:"There were many complicated effects in this spot including the creation of a fake contra-zoom. To do this Filip's team, joined by VFX Supervisor Hitesh Patel, shot the actress locked off twice. Lead Flame Artist Chris Knight morphed the two takes together, while pushing the background backwards creating an effect that is usually shot in camera.
:Along with Chris and his flame team, Becky Porter lead a Nuke team compositing many of the CG aliens, seamlessly combining them into the fantastically art directed background.
:Lead CG Artist Jamie O'Hara and his team remodeled characters from the game.  Creating these incredible CG creatures was no easy feat being that the characters already existed in the Nintendo game. To keep the creatures photo-real, yet true to the game, meant changing proportions and honing in on the similarities that could translate to the real world."
===Credits===
Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Producers: Chris Moore, Rachel Seitel
Creative Directors: Jeff Goodby, Margaret Johnson, David Kolbusz
Creative: Mike Coyne
Production Company: Smuggler
Director: Filip Engstrom
Executive Producers: Brian Carmody, Patrick Milling Smith, Lisa Rich, Laura Thoel
Director of Photography: Fredrik Bäckar
Editing Company: Arcade
Editor: Paul Martinez
Edit Assist: Rob Ufer
VFX & Design: The Mill
Executive Producer: Sue Troyan
VFX Producers: Arielle Davis, Lee Pavey
Shoot Supervisor: Hitesh Patel
2D Lead Artists: Chris Knight
3D Lead Artists: John Leonti
3D Artists: Jamie O'Hara, Adam Carrol, Steve Gagne, Robert Kim, Matt Longwell
Assist: Becky Porter, Andy Bate, Nick Tayler
Matte Painting: Dave Gibbons
Producer (US): Helen Hollienhttps://www.unitsofa.cz/praha/video/28-nintendo-metroid
Production Designer: Robbie Freed
Art Director: Jarda Bonisch
==Trivia==
*Martin's voiceover was recorded before she saw the visuals. In an interview with the Shinesparkers podcast, she revealed that her parents heard her voice in the commercial when they walked by a game store in Boston. They excitedly ran up to the store clerk and told them "That's our daughter!".Begins at 26:13 https://shinesparkers.net/podcast/episode-08-jessica-martin/
*The Metroid Dread Report's first volume introduces a monologue from Samus with the title "What's Past is Prologue".
==Gallery==
Kid Samus.PNG|Samus as a child.
MOM Tv Ad.PNG|Samus in the military, under Adam's command.
03 Bay.png|Samus battling Space Pirates in the 03 Bay.
Baby birth MOM commercial.png|Samus and the baby in the Queen's nest.
MOM Tv Ad Mother.PNG|Mother Brain kills the baby.
Othermcommercial.gif
PAX1.jpg|PAX 2010 display of Samus's costumes and one Metroid Egg.
PAX2.jpg
PAX3.jpg
Pax 2010 gfed patch.jpg
Pax 2010 gfed patch2.jpg
Past is Prologue page on The Mill website.png|The Mill website
==External links==
*The Mill
*Early version
*Micky Coyne's cut of the commercial
==References==
ru:TV Commercial :60 Spot
Category:Past is Prologue
Category:Wii