Chasing the Kidneystone
- How was the movie? - Fun.
Funny.
Good.
Good, fun, original.
Great!
Excellent! Very funny.
It was funny. The sound was too loud.
A little scary. It was funny.
- Were you afraid? - No.
A bit disgusting.
- It's an American film? - No, Norwegian.
Norwegian.
Norwegian, I think.
Norwegian.
A boy has a grandfather.
The grandfather has fallen ill
and he's become very small.
He goes into the body of his grandfather
and managed to cure him.
Then all is well again.
KIDNEYSTONE ... film and the fantastic journey
Can we compete with the Americans?
Norwegian filmmakers are doing very well
compared to the Americans,
but few people know.
With this film we show
that we know how to use American methods,
advanced digital technology.
We're at the same level.
In addition we succeeded in bringing
a European touch,
a warmth,
a human story.
This is rare among Americans.
When I wrote the script for this film,
I didn't think about
the problems
related to creating it.
I thought of a story,
that's exciting.
I tried to interest people with my story
to make them want to make the film and found
good performers
and techniques.
When we had the green light to start
to prepare the film,
I contacted professionals in various specialties,
including the designer Ingrid Vylander,
and then the people began to come together.
The costumes should be part of the scenary.
They should have the same texture as skin
that can be achieved with latex.
Can't be sewn.
It seemed better
to mold the costumes rather than sew them.
We looked for Norwegians
who knew about that sort of manufacturing,
but couldn't find anyone.
Later we took advice
from Vin Birnham.
The costumes are made of latex.
This is an advanced process
for making costumes.
First they took my drawings.
Then made moulds of the actors.
Then sculptures were made on those casts
using clay, based on my drawings.
They were then
cast in fibreglass,
the final model.
It is filled with sand,
and dipped in a vat
of latex.
It is dipped 3 or 4 times.
That's another thing
about sewing.
- Lubricant? - I don't know.
It shouldn't be seen in the picture.
All the team leaders are Norwegian,
the sets are made by Norwegians,
at Slemmestad.
We are proud
to have been able to achieve
this even though we received outside help.
We can add crystals.
No. I like it as it is.
We had high expectations
with this film and very large sets.
There wasn't a studio large enough.
So we rented
half of a Slemmestad factory.
We began the construction there
and began with the heart chamber.
We tried to give a form
and a reality
and tried to evoke Lennart Nilsson.
He photographed inside the human body
with wonderful results.
From this, we constructed a fantasy world
that has become increasingly ours.
To start I made some sketches
of ideas that we liked
and I made a series of drawings...
a kind of storyboard.
It's quite complicated
so we've simplified it.
Finally, after several months, we reached
a kind of construction plan
that you see here.
When we came here
to build the sets,
we realized that it was impossible
because they were too big. They would have
needed an area of over a thousand square metres.
Let's see.
This is the basis of the design.
It's missing the vaults that are on the drawings.
Martin had the idea of miniaturization to reduce
the total height
from the original drawing.
I'm responsible for special effects,
mechnical and physical effects.
That is to say smoke and water,
the usual things,
but for me the most important
and most exciting is still
making the models.
There were plans for 83 models in the film.
That's a lot!
Besides the models,
there are the puppets to worry about.
They're at 1/3 scale,
which is large enough for the puppets,
about 80 cm.
I've worked with models in more the 10 films.
I've never seen puppets as perfect as these.
It was fantastic!
The head, hands and feet
are made with a plastic
that hardens easily.
This gives a very specific material
easy to paint
and easy to work.
Usually the body is shaped
with plasticine,
we then made a plaster mould.
In this mould
is cast a shell of latext, very flexible
allowing the introduction of a mechanism
that moves the figures.
Some move their arms, others hands,
another must fall naturally.
Let's shoot!
He's passed out.
It collapsed!
Try again. Let's go!
- They pass the bend. - Yes.
Why change between shots?
That's a model of the colon,
it's only a quarter of the main set.
It's a pipe 35 m long
with hollows, bumps and turns like a roller coaster.
We made lots of different things.
There they suspend all the models,
and the camera and filmed it in reverse.
A question of efficiency.
It's easier to film them emerging.
Here we take care
to refine the details
of what will be painted and connect with the rest.
We work freehand.
The form appears as we go along.
Where are we?
In the appendix.
It's a common procedure in the United States
and England, but they do it differently,
they build with...
they build differently and it's more expensive.
We have our methods.
Part of the challenge and pleasure,
is that it takes shape gradually
as we work.
To do this
we work freehand.
The assignment frightens you?
Yes, scared but it also piques my curiosity.
I'm happy.
- Long days? - Yes, many hours.
For periods there were...
yes, 16 to 18 hours a day.
Here are the wheels in the gallbladder.
In there will be people
who will run operating a pump
that dissolves fat and cholesterol in bile.
We will scour the back.
The windows, these moving membranes
will enable us to obtain this wonderful
transparent effect.
Helen shapes Karta's crest.
Each crest is made by hand.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails.
I wanted to keep it
but I touched the edge
and I blew it. We have to start again.
We didn't let the edges curl.
So be it.
The join won't be smooth.
The lower fold and the whole cast is done.
It took me a day.
We have to shake it like that constantly.
It's always exciting to see what comes out.
If it is whole,
it curls.
You don't see it immediately.
Then you have to wait a little.
First he begins to fidget.
You wait a little longer
then you see the secret service agent...
- Simon? - Yes, Simon.
You had already found the children?
I made a film in New York
with a nine year old girl.
I managed a few small roles
in this film. It was a short film.
That was my experience before this movie.
Raise your head! There. Not much.
A little more. So that I see...
That's right.
It's Kieran? Wipe his head, please.
- Go! - Should...
- I feel left. - I know.
And there we are!
Look!
We had English advisors
and some Americans,
an American stuntman for example
and an English stunt coordinator
that helped us
with the salt mine sequence.
Okay, here we go!
Go! Watch out!
Kill them!
Remove some of your makeup.
- Good. - Can I come?
Great!
You can come.
You can hide there.
We'll be ready soon!
A bit more.
O.K.
Again, a little more.
Look at yourself in the mirror!
Who are you?
Simon.
Simon?
I'm trying to find what's wrong.
What's wrong?
Don't cry! I hate that!
When I write
I put my own experiences and feelings into the characters.
There's a lot of myself
in Karta for example.
I remember very well my feeling as a child,
which were painful.
I use it for my characters.
But the difference is minimal between my feelings
as a child and as an adult.
In fact there's a lot more of me in children
and the characters they encounter.
There's what in the lungs?
- A red problem. - Hurry!
One, two...
three!
- Continue? - One more time!
We tried everything.
Thank you!
Continue?
Go! Let's go!
Okay.
Ready! Camera!
- Let's go! - One...
two, three!
- I take it? - Yes, yes.
I'm suffocating and my voice is taken.
Why?
If only I knew!
A broken heart?
Don't be afraid.
Are you ready?
Turning! Speed!
- Yes, it's ready! - Let's go!
Cut!
Thank you!
Shoot! Change it a little.
Hold him by the lapels. Change it. Pull it.
Pull it towards the camera.
Try to set aside a little!
Pull it closer to the camera.
A little more shade.
From the beginning I worked
with photographer Kjell Vassdal. The most important
part of Kjell's expertise
is a calmness.
It's a true gift when you're starting
this sort of project.
Because deadlines are difficult to maintain.
So to have a photographer who remains calm whatever happens,
it's significant.
That's the secret agent!
The salt miners attack!
The salt miners?
Look!
- Here are the fugitives. - They're criminals.
The salt miners...
We made these masks
of the foreground image
which we placed in the background
leading to other versions of the figure.
It is built freehand
or from primitive
spheres as seen here
or cylinders
that have merged into
one structure. And it was modelled,
or rather carved, into the final model.
Then comes the 3D animation process.
One thing you can do
is grab a point in the folds...
to select the part we want to manipulate,
and it stretches.
We can also do this by setting the duration.
The images are automatically calculated as well.
You can control the movements, for example
the nose that moves...
I'll do a test to see.
The nose moves... Here is a deformation
of the nose for this character. It can grow again.
The 3D models created by computer
are placed in this system
which is a digital compositor.
The test animation
was made that way.
We superimpose
moving masks
to determine the animation.
The result will be seen
on it.
I put the animation inside
the cloak of the secret agent.
I submitted this script
thinking this would be a cartoon,
but I really want a movie
with real people in sets.
It was very exciting to explore
the possibilities of computer graphics
to find an original vision.
Some special effects
we came up with during filming,
such as the portraits of witnesses
in the secret agent's cloak. Originally, they were photos.
Seeing the interesting
animation results,
it was thought that this would be good in his coat.
Look!
- Here are the fugitives. - They're criminals.
The salt miners...
How to find them? I searched everywhere.
Simon is drawn.
He is tiny in the universe he enters.
So we used special effects.
Simon was placed
against a blue background and then
was reduced by placing an image
the children also,
in places, to give the illusion of vastness
of the body they enter.
The design has been processed with a chroma-key.
It takes these characters
and puts them in another scene.
We must remove the green and replace
the colour with the image below,
remove the unnecessary colour.
In this way, it combines the two images.
In the scene in the heart, we start
with a model.
The model is 2.5 to 3 m high.
We may want to animate a part.
We can always improve it by retouching.
We can transform
it until it's no longer recognizable and create
the illusion of movment.
Watch out! Ready?
- Ready? - Let's go!
You're always angry!
You're no better!
But I'm healthy!
Be a little more lovable!
I'm too excited to be kind.
I'll push the stone.
I liked the old...
Simon wants to help Jenny to cry.
But Jenny has a better option.
She begins to cry.
It's a chance at such a shooting.
I'm the teacher of the children,
but also the father of Karta.
Not bad if there is a problem
to be there as well as a parent tutor.
The children learn
that film is neither "glamourous"
nor what is shown in magazines.
They learn that film is mainly waiting
and hard work.
Getting up early in the morning,
working long hours and home late.
This is at the expense of fun things
like playing football or being at a youth club.
On the other hand, I'm sure
it will be difficult for them after the shooting ends.
I can't say.
I hope they are still children at the end of the film.
Do you want to or not?
To meet someone?
Certainly not!
He should... Karta is angry.
Of course he is...
When a designer and that includes
everything we can do,
it creates other visual ideas.
The final result is very different
from what I imagined at the start.
Different and much better.
The blue colour will be dissolved and flow.
You're so sad!
That pain is in my bladder.
Nothing works in the body.
I have no voice.
No doctor can
teach with this film.
I find it interesting that the body works
as a setting for a dramatic story.
It is rewarding to explore all our imagination
about the internal organs. All of us!
Here's the urethra and the kidneys.
He said they were many. It would happen soon.
You're not leading us into a trap?
The music of the heart never lies.
All the viscous liquid where they fall should be green.
It was a large quantity
to fill
the pool!
Finally,
after many trials
to get the colour and the desired viscosity,
they found a molasses
they have beaten
with whips.
When all the sugar was delivered,
the police came
because they thought we were distilling alcohol!
They didn't think it was funny to find
we were making bile.
Nobody escapes control of the lipids
in the gall blader!
I was born for this role.
Especially since
I was in my green period as an artist.
It was also important to enter this green landscape with Vibeke.
Kerstin has a long green tongue of more than one metre.
As usual we did it using computer graphics.
Come back!
To be serious,
Vibeke contacted me and showed me the drawings
to tell me a little of the character of Mrs Bile.
I thought it was funny
and I immediately said yes.
Except for the five hours of makeup
and the usual expectations of shooting,
I had to wear blinkers at 6 in the morning.
An Englishman put the makeup on my nose and ears,
assisted by a Finn.
Actually, it didn't bother me and it was quick
because everything was finished within days.
I loved those huge sets
and it was a magnificent image.
My two children are fans of the film.
They often go to the movies this autumn.
We never have
any quality time
anymore.
You didn't read my memoirs
from my arrival
up till today.
As if it wasn't good enough.
He said: "You didn't read my memoirs?
"You didn't read my memoirs?"
Here I added:
"You didn't even read my memoirs."
"You didn't even read my memoirs
from my arrival in America up till today."
- It's too fast. - Let's do it again.
I have an adrenaline rush seeing them.
"You didn't even read
"my memoirs from my arrival in American until today.
"As if it wasn't good enough."
If we cut there and hold it...
Simon!
Check the bag of salt!
Stop!
Check here!
No, no! Over here!
Stop!
It is a strange story,
a very strange story.
I loved reading the script.
It is a beautiful story.
Subtitles: Quantum 12/2009