Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Wormworld Movie


Saturday, August 18th was a very special day. I  packed my car full with flood lights and cable drums and together with my wife and son drove to my brother's house in the country. We met up with the whole family and my good friend Peter Sendfeld who brought his Canon SLR. Our crazy plan was to shoot a movie at that day.

The idea was born out of a whim. When we were holding the first prototypes of the sword replica in our hands, my wife and I thought that it would be cool to create replicas of Jonas's complete adventure outfit. My sister in law jumped onto the idea and started to knit the red turtle neck jumper. We also found a little backback that was close enough to the original from the comic and I cut up a pair of working gloves to round up the whole outfit. Then our attention moved towards my 12 year old nephew Jakob. If he would get a proper haircut...

All these crazy ideas culminated on this Saturday. It was a hot summer day. In fact it was SO hot that filming on the attic was a real challenge for man and material. Grannie's line from Chapter 2 "Why are you wearing that old jumper? It’s much too warm outside for that!" started to make a lot of sense for my poor nephew who was literally soaked in sweat when the shooting ended at late afternoon. I'm really sorry that the script had him running through the forest...

I experienced some very special moments on this day. The whole family was together, everyone was helping carrying cable drums, distributing fog or holding light reflectors. And in the middle of all that stood this boy that looked so familiar. That jumper, the sword, the attic. It was like a dream. I actually could have cried over all this but I didn't want to irritate all the people around me that were so busy and enthusiastic about helping to bring these scenes to life.

Jakob Lieske as Jonas Berg


Later in the studio, when I was examining the footage that we shot that day, I couldn't believe it. It all came to life and it all looked SO like the thing. This little movie is very special to me and I hope that you'll enjoy it, too.

Here are some more fotos from the shooting. This movie was unlocked by the backers of the Wormworld Saga Kickstarter Campaign and as a backer - among your other rewards - you'll receive a download package of a high quality Quicktime version of the movie together with a LOT more photos and a 'Making Of' video. You can still jump on board until Saturday!

Examining the location and lighting for a take

Me drawing the "Hands Off!" note for the chest

Jonas's treasure chest

preparing the treasure chest for shooting

Fixing the sword on the backpack

Pure awesomeness



9 comments:

  1. The music was awesome! It fit the movie perfectly (I mean, I know it's not about the music but it was almost something out of an opera or ballet . . . or Fantasia)! Is it from anything in particular (that you are aware of) or did a friend write it up for this movie (which was really great, by the way. I'm almost sad it's so short)?

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    1. Maurice Ravel is credited. If I’m right, at least parts of the music is from Daphnis et Chloé.

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    2. And looking at his Wiki page certainly explains why I had never heard of him and why the music sounded like it was from a ballet.

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  2. Hello! So I have taken a few Maya animation classes and just saw the Wormworld movie that you made. I was just thinking how awesome this comic would be as an animation! I am very passionate about animation and would completely be willing to help make it. It would be great experience and a lot of fun! Let me know what you think please! I can send you some samples of my work, if you would like. I only have about a year's experience but I am still really good at it.

    Please get back to me and keep making more Wormworlds!
    Alyssa

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  3. First of all congrats for hitting the 15k Dollars! Second, concerning the video credits: if there were more Lieske family members, the music soundtrack would probably be created by one "of them", too :D . Third and last point: apparently, you don't have to move to New Zealand in order to find beauuutiful landscapes as a location for fantasy stories ;) .

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  4. this boy IS Jonas! Aewsome stuff, Daniel, you are good in making imagination come true!

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  5. What a great movie for a great graphic novel. Well done! I will order your wormworld book on amazon for sure, because my 11 year old son likes to think he is like Jonas :-)

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  6. What happen if you got a similar experience than J.K. Rowling ?

    I mean : someone will contact you for to do the real movie like with Harry Potter movies.

    That would be SO amazing ! To experience ! :D

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  7. This is awesome! I just can't imagine how this epic digital comic is coming to a motion picture. Can't wait!

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