The Return of the Moomins

The Moomins are back -- and in 3-D. That's right: thanks to the latest digital advancements and the clamor for everything stereoscopic, Tove Jansson's big, white, fuzzy, whimsical trolls, which have taken Scandinavia and Japan by storm, are now primed for the big screen. Moomins and the Comet Chase, produced by Tom Carpelan's Oy Filmkompaniet Alpha in Finland, premieres tonight at the Cannes Film Festival in 3-D (a Nordic first) with voice work by such Scandi stalwarts as Mads Mikkelsen, Max von Sydow, Helena Mattsson and the father-and-son team of Stellan and Alexander Skarsgard. Plus Moomins fan Bjork has written "The Comet Song," with an animated music video forthcoming.However, the interesting thing about The Comet Chase is that it's actually a clever repurposing of the beloved '70s stop-motion series, which was a Polish/Austrian co-production with animation by award-winning Se-me-For Studios.Carpelan, who had been eyeing Scandinavian distribution rights of the series for 20 years but was thwarted by copyright snafus until 2007, saw a great theatrical opportunity by re-cutting, restoring and converting into a stereoscopic feature."The conversion process is called 'Hybrid Off-line 2-D to 3-D,'" Peltola explains. "This way, we have a great balance on cost-efficiency compared to some other conversions. Basically, the conversion contains a few phases. First of all, the source material (2-D images) is analyzed and the staff prepares for the conversion by reviewing the original material and its depth cues. Our conversion staff is highly experienced and consists of people from both technical and artistic backgrounds. So, there are people who have PhDs and there are professional painters as sort of a counterbalance. Both types of 3-D artists are vital in our conversion flow, as they bring their own points and pragmatics to the table.

We've used depth maps as the basis of our conversion. Through these different phases, we've carried out quality checks on which several people participate and go through a series of enhancement discussions relating to theoretical and practical aspects in the use of stereoscopy and, technical view and artistic feeling of the spatial design. For example, how to locate different objects in space, how to express depth by interpreting the 2-D image and coinciding with the story's emotion, how to maintain depth consistency…"

Another challenge was making the stereoscopic experience enjoyable for young children (who apparently experience the third dimension more drastically). "We have been emphasizing the quality and responsibility in the use of stereoscopy," Peltola continues. "Thus, we've made the stereoscopic movie to be more suitable for everyone to watch. We've done some qualitative tests for the use of depth with Moomins and it has had an important role in confirming our expectations. I think that the type of content, audience and main purpose for the use of 3D decide very much on what kind of a role stereoscopy should have and how it would be utilized as a filmmaking tool."