It is safe to say that Latibær has settled well at Miðhraun in Garðabær, where a four thousand square meter film studio was set up in just 80 days. The film studio employs about 120 people, of which more than 30 are foreigners. Do not worry about the crew because there you can find a perfect gym and canteen where the master chef prepares hearty and vitamin-rich food – all in the spirit of Latibær.
Unique technology
According to the company’s manufacturer, the technology that Latibær uses is unique and has not been used before. Three worlds are united; live actors, puppets and 3D backgrounds. A kind of computer-generated virtual world is created from Latibær’s set. It allows graphic designers to track all movements as if it were normal photography. The scene, with actors and puppets, is then stitched together with the 3D graphics.
“This technology is unique and used only to a limited extent” say Mark Reed and Raymond Le Gué, producers at Latibær. “Here in Latibær, a unique environment has been created and technically we are far ahead of production companies in Europe.”
As an indication of the state of the art, all content is recorded in so-called “high definition” quality on Thomson Viper film cameras. There are only six such machines in the world. The resolution of the image is such that even if it were projected on a tent, 20 x 30 meters in size, it would not lose any quality.
Mark and Raymond say it’s really amazing how far the company has come in the technical field compared to how few people work in Latibær. About 120 people work for Latibær, which is much less than for companies in the same industry. The producers say that it is not least thanks to Magnús Scheving for having an unwavering faith in the project. “Magnus knows what he wants” said Raymond.
Professionals in all places
One episode will be produced each week and each episode is 24 minutes. Within that episode, 2-3 minutes are spent on a music video. The videos are independent and Nickelodeon will show them in another order.
There are three main actors in the episodes. Magnús Scheving plays the Sports Elf, Stefán Karl Stefánsson plays glæpur and Julianna Rose Mauriello plays Solla Stirða. In addition, there are six puppets, where up to three people are needed to manage each puppet.
The company that produces the puppets is called Neil Scanlan, which won an Oscar for making a puppet in the movie Babe a few years ago. In addition, the show’s assistant director is experienced in his field. He has many times assisted in directing in Woody Allen films and spoken for Jabba the Hut in the Star Wars films.
Although Latibær has changed a lot in appearance since he first stage play at Loftkastalinn Theater, the message of the story has not changed – as it tries to promote a healthy lifestyle, exercise and a healthy diet.
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