The third entry in a series of animated fairy tales based on the classic Czech book “Fimfárum” by Jan Werich is also the first domestic effort to cash in on the recent craze for 3D animated feature films. Unlike most recent 3D films, though, the film uses puppet animation and not computer generated images (CGI).
“Fimfárum — Third Time Lucky 3D” (Fimfárum — Do třetice všeho dobrého 3D) contains three of Werich’s fairy tales: “How the Ogres Died Out in the Mountains,” “ The Hat and the Little Jay Feather,” and “Reason and Luck.” As with the previous two outings, archival recordings of Werich’s voice will be augmented by modern voice actors.
The middle tale —“The Hat and the Little Jay Feather” — concerns a king who sends his three sons to bring back a hat he left at a tavern when he was young. It was animated by Petr Poš and Vlasta Pospíšilová, co-director and animator of the first and second Fimfárum films, “Fimfárum Jana Wericha”and “Fimfárum 2”
The opening and closing tales were created and directed by new talents. The first story, where a film crews sets out to the Šumava mountains in Southern Bohemia to find out whether Ogres ever lived there, was directed by Kristina Dufková and animated by Denisa Grimmová Abrhámová. Dufková served as a producer on the short film “Bába,” which won first prize in the Cinéfondation section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.
The third and longest fairy tale, “Reason and Luck” is the most interesting. The two virtues of the title try to prove their importance by changing the life of a pig herder named Louis. This is the only story with a multinational team working on it. Director David Súkup was joined by Spanish animator Patricie Ortiz Martinéz, who lives in Prague.
The screenplays for all three tales were written by Jiří Kubíček. For “Reason and Luck” he added some modern embellishments to Werich’s original storyline. These include the presence of a (fictitious) website called budtekralem, meaning (become a king), and scenes showing that the inside of one character’s brain functions like a computer. These met with accolades from children present at a preview, but purists who grew up with the books and audio recording featuring Werich’s narration might not be so quick to approve.
Making the sequel in 3D with a Kč 30 million budget was a longer and more difficult process than with 2D animated films, according to the animators. “Things you can get away with in 2D animation just wouldn’t work in 3D,” Martin Vandas, producer of all three Fimfárum films, told the press, adding that filming with the new technology takes twice as long. The film took four years to make, 16 months of which involved the actual filming process. “We started post-production in September, and are still making minor changes as we speak,” Vandas said at the preview, making assurances that the film would be in its final from in time for its premiere.
But the investment should be worth it. “There’s a much bigger demand for animated films in the 3D format rather than 2D,” Vandas said. While the demand isn’t universal, it is strong on the demographic group that is most likely to see animated films. “There are still people who remain faithful to the older format plus some 4 percent of people have eyesight problems so they can’t watch 3D, but apart from that, audiences almost always choose 3D films, especially children.”
One problem the filmmakers encountered was the distance and size of the puppets and backgrounds, as 3D requires more space, and optical illusions that can be used to imply a large setting in a traditional film won’t work in 3D. The film will be screened at some 80 cinemas around the country, the majority of which needed to be upgraded to screen digital content.
Some 70 puppets were made for the movie, with one scene alone using 29. Each puppet has up to 40 movable parts, so some 100,000 movements were made for this scene. An animator could do five-seconds of film time on an average day. Up to 10 animators worked on different scenes at the same time, and no computer tricks were used in making the film.
| Fimfárum 3D — Third Time Lucky |
Werich’s book contains 17 tales. The first film, “Fimfárum Jana Wericha,” had five tales and and “Fimfárum 2” had four. With the third film, that totals 12 stories that have been animated, leaving five undone. Vandas declined to confirm plans for another animated feature-length film.
Zděněk Svěrák and Jaroslav Uhlíř, who have been writing songs together for over 40 years, wrote the theme song for “Reason and Luck.” Svěrák, who also recorded the song, is a co-founder of Centrum Paraple, an organization that supports people in wheelchairs. His cooperation on the film led to an idea to help the center by offering the original Luck puppet to the highest bidder via the auction website Aukro.cz, while the entire sum raised will go to support of the center. Bidding started on Feb. 7 and will end Feb. 14.
A new book with the same title has also been released by children’s book publisher Albatros as a tie-in to the film. It contains all three fairy tales illustrated by 3D photographs, and includes special stereoscopic glasses.
The film will be screened in select Czech theaters in 2D with English subtitles, with plans for an English dubbed version for film festivals abroad as well.
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