Film Craft > Production

THE JOURNEY

FIG, New York / ZILLOW / 2021

Awards:

Shortlisted Cannes Lions
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Film
Demo Film
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Overview

Credits

OVERVIEW

Write a short summary of what happens in the film.

The film opens with a girl named Iris and her two larger-than-life imaginary friends. They pack all their belongings into a small boat and reluctantly sail away from home.

None of them want to move.

Heartbroken, they watch their old house disappear into the distant fog as they sail into the unknown.

Their move is a fantastical journey, through violent storms, mysterious canyons, and eerie woodlands where the trees have eyes. They climb an endless staircase and finally arrive at a mountain cave. As night falls, they hesitantly move inside.

In the morning Iris is awoken by a kid’s voice outside. As she looks out, her world snaps to reality. It’s a new neighbor, waving from the sidewalk below. Iris waves from the window, smiles at her mom and leaves her companions behind - now revealed to be toys - as she runs from the house to meet a new

Cultural / Context information for the jury

Zillow is America’s largest online real estate company. They help people buy, sell and finance their homes.

Tell the jury about the production design / art direction.

This film brought to life the epic experience of moving through the eyes of a child. To reflect universal moving anxieties, Director Martin De Thurah worked with illustrators and concept artists to construct a world that’s never existed before.

Martin invented the girl’s imaginary friends in collaboration with artist Kristian Funder. Their concept sketches were developed by costume designers and fabricated life-size, worn by puppeteers and filmed in live-action. The costume designer spent an entire day searching Prague for bison fur so the character’s mane would “stand up as though he’d stepped into the garden and been frightened by a frog.” (This is true). The characters’ faces were animated by VFX artists, Blacksmith.

It was filmed on location in Prague to capture wildly different environments. Real landscapes were propped with set design and augmented through extensive visual effects. Every detail was considered to create a mysterious and impossible fantasy world.

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