Untitled - Wiesbaden

SUMMARY
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A CHRISTMOOSE STORY
MIDDEN IN DE WINTERNACHT
Family
85 minutes
Lourens Blok
Marco van Geffen
Daan Bakker
Dennis Reinsma
Dana Goldberg
Jelka van Houten
Arjan Ederveen
Derek de Lint
and Mr Moose
“Es ist ein Elch Entsprungen”
by Andreas Steinhöfel
Dutch
Netherlands
Lemming Film
November 27th, 2013
Attraction Distribution
CAST
Max
Kiki
Kirsten
Santa Claus
Mr Panneman
CREW
Grandma
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Moose Animatronic:
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Producers:
Dennis Reinsma
Dana Goldberg
Jelka van Houten
Derek de Lint
Arjan Ederveen
Carla Hardy
Lourens Blok
Daan Bakker & Marco van Geffen
Annelies van Woerden
Elske’s Kast, Kemna Casting
Philip van Volsem, SBC / N.S.C.
Geert Vlegels
Srdjan Kurpjel
Niklas Lund
Monica Petit
Esther de Goey
Göran Lundström, Åsa Sjölin
Elwin Looije
Svensk Filmindustri, Davaj Film, Anchorage Entertainment
Eva Eisenloeffel, Leontine Petit, Joost de Vries
SHORT SYNOPSIS
LONG SYNOPSIS
A large moose crashes through the roof of young
Max’s garage! A moose who talks! A moose who
claims to work for Santa! While Santa and a
hunter search for the moose the friendly animal
recuperates and bonds with Max... Based on a
best-selling novel, this film will lift spirits, young
and old, to face a new year of hope.
Picture this: a full-grown moose comes crashing
through the roof of your garage! And not only
does it fly - if a bit carelessly - it talks! It seems
that Mr Moose was on a test drive with Santa
Claus when he lost control of his sleigh.
Max appreciates the uninvited visit, even if he
stopped believing in Santa ages ago. With his
parents recently separated, a new friend is
always welcome. In Mr Moose he finds a partner
with whom to watch movies, an unusual ally
against bullies and, most important of all,
someone who understands how much he misses
his father.
But Max finds out that being friends with a
moose isn’t all that simple. Especially since the
grumpy neighbour Mr Panneman is keen on
adding moose antlers to his hunting trophies.
And then there’s Santa, who wants his transportation assistant back. Max is in a pickle.
DIRECTOR:
LOURENS BLOK
After graduating from The Graphic Lyceum in Utrecht, Lourens Blok (b. 1978) attended the
Netherlands Film & Television Academy. His 2006 graduation film LIEFDE, DOOD EN LUCHTGITAAR
was nominated for a Student Academy Award. His first feature film, THE SEVEN OF DARAN, premiered in 2008 at the Netherlands Film Festival and won several international prizes. At the close of 2013,
two Blok features were showing on Dutch screens; FEUTEN (FRESHERS) and MIDDEN IN DE
WINTERNACHT (A CHRISTMOOSE STORY). In addition to film, Blok also directs TV series
(FRESHERS; THE SERIES & GODFORSAKEN).
CO-SCRIPTWRITERS:
MARCO VAN GEFFEN
CO-SCRIPTWRITERS:
DAAN BAKKER
Marco van Geffen (b. 1959) began writing screenplays after audiovisual studies at the Art School in
Arnhem. He has written several feature screenplays, including SCHNITZELPARADISE, THE SECRET
LETTER and VALENTINO. Besides scriptwriting he also directs. His short film, MY SISTER, he was
in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. His debut feature film, AMONG US, premiered in
competition at the Locarno Film Festival 2011, and showed at the Toronto’ International Film
Festival the same year. His second feature, IN YOUR NAME, was awarded the prestigious
International Relations ARTE Prize for Best Project (Cannes Film Festival) and is expected in cinemas
in 2014.
Daan Bakker graduated in 2009 as a director from the Netherlands Film & Television Academy.
His graduation project, JACCO’S FILM, was selected for the Berlin Film Festival and won various
international prizes. His short film, BUKOWSKI, won the prize for best debut and was selected for
many international festivals including New Directors/New Films in New York.
THE MAKING OF MR
MOOSE (ANIMATRONIC)
Mr Moose was designed by Swedish creature effects
company EffektStudion in 2012. It took a crew of 12
people under the supervision of Göran Lundström
over 3 months to create the character, and filming it
required 3 performers.
Mr Moose is built as an animatronic character, basically a very big mechanical puppet controlled by an
advanced control system.
The construction of Moose was based on “Arthur”
at a moose farm in the north of Sweden. Relying on
pictures of “Arthur”, EffektStudion first sculpted the
animal’s head, but also incorporated some human
features -- especially in the eyes and mouth. This
was to ensure that the final puppet could “emote”
and give Mr Moose the means to generate expressions.
An understructure of Moose was constructed, a kind
of skeleton into which mechanical parts were built.
The moving mechanical parts have the same function as muscles would have under the skin. After
deciding which parts of the face and neck would
need movement, servo motors were built into the
understructure to move these different features.
When this was finished the whole understructure
was covered with a foam latex skin. Foam latex is a
very soft material which flexes and moves naturally
when manoeuvred by the understructure. The foam
latex skin was derived from moulds made from the
initial Moose sculpture. It was painted carefully and
covered with short nylon hairs to give the effect of
the furry face. Realistic eyes, teeth and a tongue
were also sculpted, cast and painted to achieve the
realism of a live animal.
The head and neck movement were controlled by
a performer via a long arm protruding from the
back of the moose body, a technique similar to
how a camera crane is constructed. The eye
movements which usually correspond with the
head movements - rather than the speech and
facial expressions - were controlled by another
performer via a radio control.
To control the mechanical movements of the face,
and make Mr Moose “talk”, a computerized
motion control system was used. This “performance system” allowed the third performer - who
also read all the Moose dialogue - to control
movements from over 35 servo motors with only 2
hand controls, which in turn allowed full flexibility
on set and improvisation whenever the director
wanted to try something different.
PRODUCTION COMPANY:
LEMMING FILM
Established in 1995, Lemming Film is one of the leading film and television production companies
in the Netherlands. It has a track record in delivering quality film and television productions and specializes in fiction for children, families and teens as well as international art house productions.
Lemming Film produces projects that reflect an open-minded vision of contemporary society and
initiates and nurtures close collaborations with the most exciting screenwriters, directors and
acting talent. It is a key player in the international co-productions field and co-produces projects
in Asia, South America and Europe. Actively contributing to a European production community,
Lemming Film participates in d.net.work (a structural collaboration of 7 European production
companies) and is a part of the ACE network.
The company was founded, and continues to be directed, by co-CEOs Leontine Petit (head of production) and Joost de Vries (head of business affairs). In 2007 the team was expanded with the
addition of producers Eva Eisenloeffel and Derk-Jan Warrink.
In 2011 Lemming Film launched a German family entertainment company called Hamster Film. The
company is headed by Petit, de Vries and producer Dorothe Beinemeier. Hamster Film aims to broaden the scope of children’s and family films on offer in Germany by developing high quality features
and TV drama targeted at specific age groups and rooted in German culture.
INTENATIONAL SALES:
ATTRACTION DISTRIBUTION
Attraction Distribution is a Montreal-based world sales agent specializing in high quality family
feature films and prime time TV shows for all-rights and multiple-platforms distribution in the
international market. It is part of the expanding Attraction group that includes some of Canada's
leading production companies and regional radio stations.
info@attractiondistribution.ca
attractiondistribution.ca
All credits non-contractual