For Media and Press

Innovative Motion Novel technique comes from Oulu

Julkaistu 05.01.2012

The Dr Professor's Thesis of Evil film, which satirises media and fan culture, has been given the City of Oulu’s seventh ‘100 Acts’ award.

Dr Professor's Thesis of Evil is the first film to use the internet and mobile devices as its main channels of distribution that has received funding from the Finnish Film Foundation. Another new thing is that the distribution of the film is also being taken care of by a newspaper: the web premier of the film from Oulu was screened on the website of the Kaleva newspaper in October.

Dr Professor's Thesis of Evil is about Dr Professor, the world’s most celebrated super villain who has lost his passion for doing evil. The main character realises that he has become the prisoner of a media circus and his idol status and so he decides to take his destiny back into his own hands.

The actual starting point for the film was a technique that combines photographs and motion pictures that was thought up by Jukka Vidgren who specialises in advertising and short films and Juuso Laatio who is a photographer. The work originally started out as the thesis of two young men studying Communications at the Oulu University of Applied Sciences but it soon grew into an independent professional production created by their own Mutant Koala Pictures company. The ambitious film project was carried out over a few years in Oulu, initially by a working group. There was international cooperation with professionals from San Francisco, Toronto and London. The lines of the English-language film were recorded in North America and directed in Oulu via the internet with Skype.

A gifted working group created Motion Novel, a new and innovative technique, for the film. Motion Novel combines photographs, image processing, 3D graphics, animation, music and sound to create a visually stylish work which could be described as a certain kind of motion comic. The visual nature of the film has received a lot of praise in Finland and abroad.

The film was invited to the Helsinki International Film Festival - Love & Anarchy in the autumn. Jukka Vidgren, the film’s director and producer, says he was very flattered by the invite and at the same time very satisfied with the great start to the festival distribution. The film was also selected for the Tromsø International Film Festival and nominated for the Kettu film award in Finland. In 2012 the film will be distributed internationally through the iTunes store and at festivals, for example.

The film can be viewed in Finland on the website of the Kaleva newspaper until 15 January 2012 at the address www.kaleva.fi/thesisofevil. Visit the film’s website at www.thesisofevil.com.

The 100 Acts programme brings Oulu area municipalities together and gives everyone the opportunity to highlight small and large acts that take the area forward, bring joy to the population and serve both local residents and businesses. Seventh of the 100 Acts is the innovative “Dr. Professor’s Thesis of Evil” film. This project is a wonderful example of the competence and creativity of our people. Submit your action for inclusion in the 100 Acts and find more details from www.oulu.com/100tekoa.

Futher information:

Katja-Maaria Kilponen, Marketing, PR
+358 407637515
katja-maaria(at)bronsonproductions.net

100 Acts. From Oulu.
Suvi Ilvesviita, Project Manager
+358 40 4848 618
suvi.ilvesviita(at)businessoulu.com  
www.oulu.com/100tekoa