Shootingthefilm, though,was typicallypainstaking,with thetwoCaprinos
involvedalongside long-timecollaboratorBjarneSandemose, sonof the famous
Danish-NorwegianwriterAksel.AswithallCaprinofilms, thewholedialoguehad
toberecordedfirst.ProminentNorwegianactorToravMaurslad,whohadvoiced
manycharacters inpreviousfilms, returnedasLambert,withhisvoicesloweddown
byfivepercent;whilewell-known theatreactressKariSimonsenplayedSonnywith
high-pitchedhuskiness, speededupby fourpercent.“Unlike, say,aPixarfilmtoday,
whichwillsell thevoicesofstars,wewantedtohide theactor’svoice,”saysRemo.
“Wewantedthecharacters toonlysound like themselves.”
When itcame tofilming,everymovementhadtobematchedperfectly to the
soundtrack,with theteamphysicallymeasuringthe lengthof thedialogueon
magnetic tape.“Peoplealwayssaytome, ‘Itmusthavebeenso fun,’”saysRemo.“It
was,but ifyoudivide65minutes intofiveyears,youhaveplentyofordinary,quite
tediousdays.A lotofwhatpeople loveaboutthefilmtoday isthe levelofdetail– the
fact thatyoucanwatch it100timesandstillseesomethingnew–butevery little
tree,everypieceof furniturehad tobemade.Youcan’t justbuy thisstuff.”
Budgets, saysRemo,were tight. Ifyou lookcloselyduring the famousracescene,
thecrowd isagreatesthitsofpuppets frompreviousCaprinofilms,manyof them
madeby IngeborgGudeFolkestad,whopassedaway in1963.
As for theactualanimation,Remosaysthat Ivomovedpuppetmaker Ingeborg
Riiser’scharacters1.9million times.“Ifyou lookat, say, theorchestrascene,you’ve
goteightguysplaying therightnotesontheir instruments–wehadtofilm thereal
players,andthenbreakdown theirmovements, frameby frame. It’senormously
laborious,but it’s that levelofdetail thatmakes itstandout.”
“Itwasmakeorbreak forus–ourhomeswere literallyon
the line– sowewerehugelynervousat thepremiere”
ARCHIVE IMAGES COURTESY OF CAPRINO STUDIOS; CORBIS; SCANPIX
056\
n
