Filming of the first Ukrainian superhero fantasy movie is over
Two years of arrangements, fifteen hundred professionals, 58 filming shifts, a purpose-built wooden stronghold of the Kievan Rus’ times, thousands of kilometers combed by the crew in search of picturesque and mysterious film sites, one hundred and fifty unique dressing units, hundreds of kilograms of props, unique technology developed specially for the production, hundreds of stunts, and major astounding battle scenes, - and the filming of the first Ukrainian superhero fantasy movie is finally over!
“The Stronghold” is the first Ukrainian fantasy movie with the latest visual effects for general consumption, based on the eponymous book of Volodymyr Rutkivsky, a Ukrainian writer. This is a story about Victor, an ordinary schoolboy, finds himself in mysterious times of the past getting there through a mysterious portal, and there he meets Oleshko, Ilya and Dobrynya, the epic strongmen, and along with them the boy defends the Stronghold from the Cumans. Victor finds himself in the epicenter of the incredible events, fights mythical creatures and learns the meaning of real courage.
The magic portal into the world of the first Ukrainian superhero fantasy movie will open as early as December 22nd, right on the day of the winter solstice! And while the professionals from the Ukrainian Postmodern film studio conjure the fantasy content and create СGI и VFX, let us open some interesting facts about the filming process:
The sites for the movie include the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains and the Dovbush rocks, the Korostyshiv Quarry, the Teteriv Kish family center, a lot of mysterious lakes and swamps, FILM.UA studio’s own movie set, where major stage set of the Stronghold was purpose-built.
The art-director’s source of inspiration for creating Rymiv frontier town came from his trip to the Tustan historical and cultural reserve. In the Middle Ages a fortress was located on those rocks, it was an important defense and customs point in the Kievan Rus, standing on the famous Salty Way. More than 20 sketches have been developed before the site construction. Every log has been manually processed, using exactly the blockhouse technology that came to us from the ancient times, making the Stronghold look authentic. The balconies and the passageways were from a different era, but they look eye-catching in picture. The fantasy elements were also materialized in the wooden elevator with the unique gearwheel system.
Some weeks ago the largest FILM.UA studio’s stage housed a genuine Cuman camp – yurts, tents, open fires, horses… The yurts were re-created in fashion of those authentic, using original construction schemes. At first the wooden frame was installed, and then they covered it with various roofing materials. 200 square meters of felted cloth were used, along with more than half a hundred of finished and unfinished hide. In order to consolidate it all, almost a thousand meters of bendy rope was necessary, made using time-tested technology.
“When I first got to the Cuman camp, if I didn’t know it was a set-dressing, I would have thought those were real settlements where people have lived several years. The authenticity of the real aul was just that convincing.”, - said Erbolat Toguzakov, who played the part of shaman.
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And there can be no fantasy without magic artefacts! One of them was magic stone. You will find out about its magic nature when you see the movie. But Vlad Odudenko, the art director, tells us now how it was made. “I wouldn’t say exactly how much time we spent doing it, but I would definitely say that we had to break our heads over it a little. At first we wanted to make an ordinary, classical stone. But then we came to an idea it should be an extraterrestrial item, a key to new opportunities… Thus, it couldn’t be an ordinary XII century stone any more, but a thing from another world, an alien thing even. So it was then when we came to this sharpened shape, kind of stipulating moving forward – to another dimension. Nevertheless, we took a plunge to preserve its connection to that era, thus we added Perun’s mark to it, the god of thunderstorms. This is the way we created the magic stone you will see in the movie."
Specifically for the filming process, our costume director Antonina Belinskaya along with her team have designed more than a hundred and fifty exclusive dressing items, manufactured manually. It is hard to imagine, but Dobrynia’s armor consists of half a thousand of metal plates, and the whole strongman’s outfit weights more than 30 kilograms!
Exclusive of the eight-kilogram mace! The shaman’s costume required circa 450 meters of fabric, cut and braided, each braid painted separately in different colors.
The outfit of the cunning Andak, the key enemy of the Rymiv inhabitants, didn’t have a single factory detail!
They weaved canvas for female outfits, for it is no more possible to find the genuine fabric in our times. The embroidery and finishing was also all hand crafted. Even the necklace for female characters was also made using specific technology!
Moreover, the costumes for all the main protagonists are supplemented by genuine private collectors’ rarity accessories. For instance, Dobrynia’s earring comes from XI century, and Ilya’s buckle – from XIII century.
The make-up artists under auspices of Liliana Khoma have worked on the image of Tugaryn, one of the fantasy characters, for over 2,5 hours, and then they spent one more hour to take the makeup off.
One more secret is the bushy beards and moustaches of the proud Rymiv inhabitants and of the virile strongmen: they spent 2 kilograms of buffalo hair in total and three days to create each one.
800 square meters of green fabric – this is how much the directors required in order to create background for further visual effects and CGI development.
The movie creation process involved members of the initiative group # KinoKraina FILM.UA Group (distribution and postproduction), and StarLightMedia (media support), as well as the State Film Agency. The motion picture based on the eponymous book by Volodymyr Rutkivsky will be distributed by B & H Film Distribution.
Synopsis: The Solstice activated a magical time portal. Victor, an ordinary 21st century schoolboy, finds himself a thousand years back in time. This is how his dangerous and adventurous journey begins. Ahead of him is grave danger, black magic, new friends and genuine epic heroes – the strongmen: young Oleshko, mighty Ilya, and strict Dobrynya – all accompanied by stunning visual effects. Victor finds himself in the epicenter of the incredible events, fights mythical creatures and learns the meaning of real courage.
The Stronghold
Tagline: Protect the past for the sake of the future
Director: Yury Kovaliov
Producer: Egor Olesov, Yury Prilipko
Camera: Yury Korol
Cast: Daniil Kamensky, Eva Koshevaya, Roman Lutsky, Oleg Voloshchenko, Georgy Dereviansky, Slava Krasovskaya, Natalia Sumskaya, Alexander Komarov, Erzhan Nurymbet, Erbolat Toguzakov, Ivan Denisenko
Genre: fantasy, adventure
Release date: 22 December 2016
Runtime: 100 min.
Country: Ukraine
Production: Kinorob
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Synopsis: The Solstice activated a magical time portal. Victor, an ordinary 21st century schoolboy, finds himself a thousand years back in time. This is how his dangerous and adventurous journey begins. Ahead of him is grave danger, black magic, new friends and genuine epic heroes – the strongmen: young Oleshko, mighty Ilya, and strict Dobrynya – all accompanied by stunning visual effects. Victor finds himself in the epicenter of the incredible events, fights mythical creatures and learns the meaning of real courage.
The Stronghold
Tagline: Protect the past for the sake of the future
Director: Yury Kovaliov
Producer: Egor Olesov, Yury Prilipko
Camera: Yury Korol
Cast: Daniil Kamensky, Eva Koshevaya, Roman Lutsky, Oleg Voloshchenko, Georgy Dereviansky, Slava Krasovskaya, Natalia Sumskaya, Alexander Komarov, Erzhan Nurymbet, Erbolat Toguzakov, Ivan Denisenko
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Release date: 22 December 2016
Runtime: 100 min.
Country:Ukraine
Production: Kinorob
Follow the film news:
