the making of „the final land”
“Three people in a small, old spaceship... maybe even just two...” that's roughly how the ‘idea’ for a movie sounded in 2009, or... not even an idea, more an image, very vague and simple, but also very fruitful, as it turned out. A whole 10 years later, this film was finished and premiered at the Max Ophüls Preis film festival. For quite a while, it was shown at many other festivals around the world and won several awards, such as in Austin, Texas, for 'Best Production Design' and in Sydney, Australia, for 'Best Film'. It was finally released regularly in many countries - and since 2021 also in Germany, where it was produced.
But what happened in between? How did a vague vision become an almost two-hour screen adventure?
As a foretaste of the making-of documentary on the limited 4-disc collectors edition, you can find out a little here.
concept and style
“The Final Land” is set in a distant future and yet deals with things that are timeless: Escape, curiosity, search, homesickness... It is about the odyssey of two people at the edges of their world.
In the beginning, however, sometime in 2009, there was nothing more than a vision of some people in a cockpit - although this cockpit already had a very specific appearance: dark and dirty, overgrown and wayward. Worn fittings with unknown purposes, lights that blink and you don't know why... Cables hanging from the ceiling like vines. It was a little like the “Nostromo”, the spaceship in Ridley Scott's “Alien” (1979), only a lot smaller and narrower. It was a ship so narrow that you can't avoid each other and with a past that wants to be explored.
This image was finally combined with a completely different idea that had been around for some time, inspired by films such as Werner Herzog's “Aguirre - The Wrath of God” (1972) or Franklin J. Schaffner's “Papillon” (1973): three (or even just two?) trying to cross a desert on foot - in vain, but without giving up. The desert now became outer space and the feet became a spaceship. So, in addition to having to deal with a strange and mysterious ship, the space travelers would also be on a hopeless, but nonetheless necessary journey.
These images and thoughts first matured in the blue. It wasn't until 2012 that the decision was made to actually make this movie.
the spaceship model
Getting clear about the spaceship as a motif, location, character and shape marks the beginning of the production. Its design and character ultimately gave rise to the theme, material and story - who would voluntarily travel in this thing if they had no better option? Who wouldn't discover its secrets at some point? And who wouldn't get on their own nerves at some point?
As we had already been inspired involuntarily by designs from the 80s, we soon consciously took our cue from them. We also opted for a chunky shape, perhaps because it simply looks particularly stolid and constricting, perhaps also because we had the equally chunky 'Thunderroad' from Joe Dante's 'Explorers' (1985) in mind (which is about a couple of guys building a spaceship). The outer skin was not meant to be smooth and streamlined, but jumbled and messy. Like the Millenium Falcon from 'Star Wars' (1977), our ship should not look as if it had just come out of the shipyard, but as if it had already been tinkered with a lot.
We also decided to use the methods of the early 80s for the actual cinematic realization of the ship. We wanted to capture something that computer-generated images don't have - and we didn't just want to simulate the tinkering character, but actually create it. That's why we built our spaceship as a tangible model using the kit-bashing method: A lot of parts from old (and only a few newly purchased) model kits were attached to a wooden core, about the size of a puppy dog, in a deliberately jumbled and messy way. For example, a locomotive, several tanks, an X-wing (from 'Star Wars') and a Voyager (from 'Star Trek') came together on the ship. A red flashing light was added to the stern, the whole thing was painted and patinated - and when it became visible with the right lighting against the right background, it had become the spaceship. And it wasn't completely made up. Much of it was simply inspired by the parts we had available.
The same method was used to produce all the other missiles you see in the movie. And you could even say that we ultimately approached all phases of production in this way.
the spaceship interior
The central stage for our plot, the interior of the spaceship, should not only take up the external impression, but also deepen it. The ship should not only be cramped, but also wild and winding. And because it was also supposed to look as 'real' and tangible as possible, the whole thing was built as a completely enclosed set - from the end of 2012 to mid-2014.
The front half with cockpit, galley, research corner, bunks and space toilet was also built on an old tractor trailer so that turbulence and vibrations could be simulated later. The cylindrical room was created from a sheet steel frame, clad in wood, and was fitted out with countless newly combined and uniformly painted individual parts. Most of these parts came from old computers and electrical appliances: Housing parts, circuit boards, cables, switches and all kinds of unique elements. Lead set designer Massimo Müller was particularly taken with an old washing machine, so productive and surprising in everything it offered.
To breathe life into the ship, all kinds of lights and monitors were also installed, all of which could be controlled or played. There were also switches and levers that could be moved, flaps that could be opened, a custom-made sliding door made of sheet steel (and flash-rusted with salt water), the obligatory pilot's seat (originally a dentist's treatment chair) and much more.
props and costumes
A spaceship wouldn't be complete without the right things on board. Some props just had to be specifically searched for and found, such as a huge wrench, a small flashlight or a simple washcloth. Some others also had to be significantly edited or even manufactured.
For example, there are orphaned overalls in the ship that are actually British flight suits, but have been embroidered with the logo of an invented space agency and artificially aged using a nailbrush and paint. There is also a sinister weapon that was once a colorful toy weapon, but was then variously upgraded, for example with parts of a welding machine, and given a uniform paint job.
Like the ship, the things in 'The Final Land' look old, dirty, used or in need of an overhaul. They bear witness to a past that can be traced, but they also all play their own new role in the present adventure.
intermezzo: crowdfunding
'The Final Land' was and always remained a no-budget production. Everyone involved put their free time and some even their own money into the film.
However, as the project grew in size during pre-production and our demands did not diminish, but quite the opposite, we tried a crowdfunding campaign via Startnext, with success: Around 300 people from all over Germany were so enthusiastic about our project that we managed to raise around 14,000 euros. As you know, that's not a lot for a typical film production, but for a rather atypical one like ours, it was crucial.
The majority of the money went towards the set, with the rest going towards the set and equipment. And as crucial as that was, of course everyone involved could only continue to work part-time on the film. In the end, the production took almost 7 years, a long time - but this had a welcome effect on the creative process. The work was and remained characterized by improvisation, (re)inventing methods and constant fiddling around, which ultimately had a positive effect on the character of the images and sounds.
shooting
The filming was an exceptional phase, because at least it had to be done in one go and full-time - in 14 very concentrated days in the summer of 2014. The script was still quite fresh, it had been written in constant interaction with the set design.
However, it is difficult to describe everything that happens in the interaction between the script, actors, effects team, spaceship, equipment and director, how important good catering is and how decisive coincidences can still be. In any case, the characters and their story have now been 'lived through' - and captured in images and sounds. The ship, set and equipment now had to hold their own, we had to deal with light, water, fog, wind and artificial dirt. There were rehearsals, spontaneous changes to the text, unexpected repairs to the ship and ingenious choreography in a very confined space - and not just between the actors. The camera and sound crew also needed space and were not allowed to get in each other's way.
Even after filming was completed, smaller teams often came together to reshoot individual images, such as the sight of screens or hands and feet doing something - such things were only caught up on later.
editing
The first cut, completed in 2015, naturally lacked any effect shots. So when the script said you would see outer space, all you saw were the words “outer space” (white on black).
What this version did convey, however, was the rhythm of the film, its often very slow pace - and the points at which it picked up speed. So it was this version that first showed how the animated images were to be 'tempered' depending on the scene in which they were to be incorporated.
effect shots
Despite being a chamber play, 'The Last Land' is a movie full of tricks. Whenever you look out into space or see the ship from the outside, it is, of course, a trick. But none of the image content is computer-generated - the computer was only used to put the various elements together and to tweak the colors, the chiaroscuro and the like (color grading).
The spaceship was set in motion the old-fashioned way: The still model was shot with a moving camera in front of the green screen - and as soon as you replaced the green screen with a space background, it looked as if the camera wasn't moving, but the ship was.
The space backgrounds consisted mainly of stars, which were nothing more than holes in black cardboard, and what we called 'star fog', which was actually acrylic paint dissolving in water, combined with cornstarch on black glass. So we ended up making landscapes and craters out of plaster, stalactites and rocks out of polystyrene, vast plains out of illuminated glass, and rocky deserts out of pancakes.
This also gave the space and the planets in our film a certain materiality, something that would have been missing if they had only been created in 3D.
foleys and sound design
The sound design was a journey in itself. It filled the whole of 2017 and involved completely new discoveries and many unexpected inventions. Because all actions and events, all objects and effects need sounds to be complete. However, sets, props and animated images are either mute or do not make the sounds they are supposed to make. Therefore, only the dialogues from the actual shooting can be heard in the finished film - everything else was dubbed.
For example, all body movements were dubbed with the help of a rich-sounding old rucksack. A cast-iron sewing machine frame was struck or touched many times with many different things - depending on the specific kind of collision between man and ship. In this way, visual impressions could be deepened, weighted differently or even changed qualitatively: like when something that was actually made of plastic suddenly sounds like metal.
In addition, there were numerous elements that we had never built because they are invisible. But they still have to sound - inside the engines, the machines, the units. Recordings were made of heaters, kitchen appliances, computers and vehicles (as well as a beehive or an ultrasound device) in order to break them down into their components, recombine them and mix them together.
score and mixing
The work on the music that filled the whole of 2018 was no less characterized by experimentation than any other phase of the production. Synthesizers and real instruments were used, including a cello and a harmonica, as well as objects that were misappropriated as instruments, such as a wind chime, an egg slicer or a squeaking rubber dinosaur. A howling tube also played a very special role.
and then...?
After mixing and mastering (and the creation of an optional 5.1 surround sound) as well as readjustments in terms of color grading and effects, the film was finally finished and, luckily for us, it was relatively soon accepted into the program of the “Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis”, one of the largest and most important festivals for young German-language films. The work wasn't over yet: poster, subtitles, DCP, press kit, FSK approval, bonus material for the crowdfunding thank-you DVDs - all this was now on the agenda.
On January 15, 2019, 'The Last Land' was shown on the big screen for the first time and was followed by seven more screenings at the “Max Ophüls” in Saarbrücken, another at the “Berlin Independent Film Festival” and two at the “Neisse Film Festival” in May. In the same month, we celebrated our UK premiere at the “Sci-Fi-London Film Festival” and just two weeks later, in June, we went to Milan for the Italian premiere at the “Oltre lo Specchio - Festival dell'immaginario fantastico e di fantascienza”.
Meanwhile, work began on the soundtrack album, the radio play for the film and a series of small 3D-printed spaceship models (all also crowdfunding thank-yous). In early September 2019, the film celebrated its Australian premiere at the Sci-Fi Film Festival in Sydney, where it also won the award for Best Feature Film. It was shown at the Bremen Film Festival at the end of September and at the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival in Sweden at the beginning of October. This was followed by festival participations in Bruges (Razor Reel Flanders Film Festival), Mainz (“FILMZ - Festival des deutschen Kinos”) and again in Berlin (Berlin Sci-Fi Film Festival). The 2019 festival year ended in December with the US premiere at the Other Worlds Austin Film Festival, and there were two more trips to the USA in early 2020, to the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival and the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival (only virtually due to the coronavirus).
In the Corona era, an American world distributor and a German distributor (“Indeed Film”) finally came on board and so our film was soon - whether you would have thought it at first or not - released in selected German cinemas, on DVD and Bluray and on Amazon's streaming service.
Since then, it has been distributed worldwide and we often don't even know what's going on with it anymore. It was still shown in at least Spain, South Korea, Israel and Japan, there is an English dubbed version and a genuinely Norwegian, very atmospheric artwork (neither of which came from us, but from the respective distributors).