Danish Sci-Fi Project Exodus Uses Unique Approach To Visual Effects

By Brent McKnight | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Multi-platform science fiction properties seem to be an oncoming wave. Syfy’s upcoming Defiance will cross the borders between television and videogames, and now the Danes are getting in on the act. Director Tommy Ipsen is working on a project called Exodus, with an eye on spreading it across film, TV, games, novels, and whatever else you can imagine.

According to Twitch, at the moment they’re wrapping up production on “feature film pilot” that they plan to unveil at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013. The movie stars former Flava Flav squeeze Brigitte Nielsen, Thomas Chaanhing (Just Another Love Story), Cyron Melville (The Killing), Matias Varela (Snabba Cash), and Kristofer Hivju (season three of Game of Thrones). The story of Exodus “revolves around a far future human settlement on a distant planet populated by mindless giants.”

Besides the proposed breadth and scope of this venture, one thing that makes Exodus intriguing is how Ipsen and company plan to tackle the visuals. “Ipsen is smart enough to know that European budgets will never allow him to go toe to toe with US productions…and so he’s doing something entirely different.”

What he’s done is hire Thomas Pringle (Cloud Atlas) to bring the world to life. From there, instead of creating sets and digital effects based on Pringle’s work, they will use the actual concept art as part of the finished film. The objective is to do “something that has never quite been done before—a fusion of live action on green screen, concept art, 3D modeling, animation and a rare lightning technique to create something entirely unique.”

From the sound of this, the end result of this melding of disparate elements could be a really cool, distinctive style that sets it apart from other science fiction franchises. For instance, the pieces of concept art sprinkled throughout this post could find their way into the finished product. The potential for this is pretty exciting, and Exodus is definitely something to keep an eye on. I really want to see how this turns out.