Could you begin by telling us about yourselves and your company?
Storm Studios is the largest supplier of VFX for feature films in Norway. Our services range through conceptual development, art direction, VFX on-set supervision, animation to VFX production. We have provided visual effects for a number of successful feature films as well as numerous commercials. See www.stormstudios.no. Storm was first known for the CG Animated Feature “Free Jimmy” and later known for the post production work on the Oscar® winning short film “Peter and the Wolf”. Now we have finished our first creature-heavy production: “Troll Hunter”.
Artists interviewed:
Martin Andersson - Lead Modeler/ Lead Asset.
Henrik Karlsson - General TD/Grooming TD
Samuel Karlsson - Lead Compositor
Magnus Pettersson - Effects TD
What projects have you worked on in the past?
We have several Norwegian features and commercials behind us and we've also been fortunate enough to be working on some shorts as well. We worked on “Dead Snow”, which later became a huge hit in the U.S., “Max Manus”, a movie about the Norwegian resistance in WW2, several features like “Manhunt”, “Radio Pirates” and “The Olsen Gang Jr.” series. We’ve also done commercials for Subaru, Esthetique and a lot of other companies.
What is the premise for “The Troll Hunter”?
Martin Andersson: This is a mockumentary about three students who are doing a story on a local guy, Hans, who is rumored to be some kind of weirdo. All they want is an interview with Hans but he refuses to talk to anyone about himself. They stalk him for some time because they really want that interview and eventually figure out he is indeed a troll hunter. Suddenly they find themselves in the middle of the entire hunt and that is one bumpy ride! Of course the entire troll situation is covered up by the government. Not only is it a struggle against the Norwegian trolls, but also against the entire system.
How did you become involved in the movie?
Martin Andersson: We had worked with Filmkameratene earlier on “Max Manus” with a similar setup. The VFX was split between several VFX houses on “Max” and the same thing would have to be done with this movie. We are a small group of artists here in Norway so no VFX house could take on this task alone. The last couple of years we have also focused on developing a creature pipeline so naturally you would give us a call if you have some creatures for the big screen. The Norwegian CG society is like living in a small town where everyone knows everyone, so you have worked with employers and employees in the other studios earlier. A lot of us originate from the same schools. I actually started my career at Filmkameratene, the Producer of “Troll Hunter”.
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