INVASION
Directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk
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The film is a mixture of fantasy and action , where the main thread traces the topic of communication between people without the help of technology.
The basis of the story is aliens attempt to conquer the Earth using its own information resources - digital media, social networks, news. The development of the popular fake news theme. Film send us a message, that only live communication and love save the planet. The visual solution emerged out of the juxtaposition of the human everyday lives and the modern technology . The second basis of the design was water. According to the plot it was a universal source of energy and matter for aliens, for us it determined the color, structural space of the film. With its various forms of transparency, ice, glass, reflection, dispersion, atmosphere, weather phenomena it can be almost anything. This is a huge, inexhaustible theme that connects both the living and the abstract. All of it possible physical properties are used by Hakon, and partially Julia owns them.
The secret research institute was created to study the properties of water, used by aliens. It appears at the beginning of the film and, based on the best examples of bionic architecture, defines the style of the film. We wanted to present the modern world more developed and striving for the future. Our design vector has become Zaha Hadid. The business center built by her was used for the office part of the institute.
The scenes inside the research center involved destruction and very special tasks, so they were almost immediately planned for implementation in the studio. I searched for the development of the architectural style of Zahi Hadid in brutalism and functionalism. The evolution of decisions was quite serious. The research center was a laboratory where the properties of water were studied. Thus, the core of the set was a pool with an experimental control bridge; I spied such a solution in scientific experimental basins for studying hydrodynamics.
During the discussion, Vladislav Opelyants, DOP, proposed to solve the scene with a more controlled and focused light. Also, the production budget and the size of the available pavilions required more earthly solutions. Here came the idea of a pool as a tunnel with observation platforms and light ceiling over it. This solution kept us in the light zone, it required the saturation of only the central bridge and reduced the size of the pool as it hides in shadows. However these reductions did not allow us to fit into the budget.
The final decision was to skip building up the entire perimeter of the pavilion, but use studio wall as they are, as a black technical room. I left the core of the previous idea in the form of a light moving dome over the pool. The pool itself was isolated with semi-frosted glass from the analysis zone. This idea had a number of advantages - a more complex solution with two different spaces, scope for visible damage, the double use of scenery inside and out, and significantly less construction budget.
Set Sketches
Set photos
During set creation i somewhat complicated the texture of the glasses. In continuation of the theme of water, semi-opaque glasses were covered with drip condensate and trickles of water. They turned this rather outlandish structure into something real, believable. Architecture that sweats.
The connection between the space of the research centre and institute lobby was carried out through the design of the dressing room, placed at Zaha Hadid Location.
The laboratory set was a large-scale, but not the biggest technical experience.
The most serious engineering solutions were implemented at studios in Hungary.
Two complexes were built there. The first one was created for the climax scene of Moscow flooding. It was a Chertanovo rooftop, last place in the district to survive. We we going to shoot it in 4 stages of water level. Since physically filling the pool with water turned out to be unacceptably long - about 3 days for each phase, we decided to make a design of 3 spacers, removing each one in turn, we put the set to the desired levels with a crane. However, the load calculations required a very serious inner frame, which ended up to weight about 100 tons. Not a single mobile crane in Europe was capable of lifting such a weight to the required boom reach. Finally we split it in 2 parts. In addition to the roof, it included an apartment inside this block, so that the hero could swim in and then get out onto the roof. Installation was carried out by huge LTM 1450-8.1 crane.
The second big task was the Defence Ministry basements set. It was important here to show the beginning of the flood. The first idea was also to immerse the construction into the pool. But the volume and the weight were larger here, therefore another scheme was invented. The decoration was built in a specially digged pit, and flooded later. The difficulty was that the shooting order was reversed. The first day was flooding, the next was in a dry state.
Set Sketches
Set Photos
State anti-crisis centre consist of two parts. The upper part, due to the significantly larger size and amount of working equipment, was decided to create on location. As the main porpoise of that place is surveillance, it was decided to fill it entirely with screens off all kind. There is a subordinative structure in those monitors; main huge screen, personal items, and command bridge with the whole picture. Everything here is subject to information and the emerging glitch.
To maximize the speed of approval and production, I modelled all objects in Rhino and rendered in Vray.
