“Til Siste Hinder” wins award at Nordic Filmdays Lübeck!

Posted on February 3, 2012

This is the video from the award ceremony at the filmfestival Nordic Filmdays Lübeck. My debut film as a director, “Til Siste Hinder” (eng: “Coming Home), won “The Prize of the Children’s Jury”. I was so shocked when they revealed the winner. I had not expected it at all, and was therefore a bit shaky when entering the stage. I want to thank Nordic Filmdays Lübeck and the whole staff for a fantastic and unforgettable filmfestival and all the people that have worked with “Til Siste Hinder”. You deserve this! :)

Questions and answers on Facebook

Posted on January 31, 2012

Today I arranged a question and answering time on Facebook, and a lot of followers could ask me questions about film making and video-equipment. I thought I would sum up all the questions and answers here and at the FAQ page here on axp.no. If you want to follow me on Facebook, you can press like here:

Q/A:

Is there a certain brand of ND filters you would recommend?

Actually I bought one of the cheapest ND filters I found at Bhphotovideo.com. They are called Tiffen ND filters (about $40 each). I bought the ND 0.6 and ND 0.9. I recommend them.

If you only could buy one, would you buy the Zoom H4N or Rode videomic?

The Rode videomic is more like a shotgun mic, which records quite good sound even though you are standing meters away from the mic. If your want to use the H4N’s built in microphone, it’s better for dubbing and voiceover since you have to be closer to the mic. Therefore I would go for the Rode videmic.

I want to make short film. Where should i start?

I would first get a camera. I would highly recommend the Canon 550D. Then I would have a brainstorming and find out what kind of film I would make. Then I would ask friends to join as actors and ask them to get feedback on the idea/screenplay.

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Short documentary about me on TV8!

Posted on January 5, 2012

This is a episode from a TV series in Norway called “Herlige Norge” (eng: “Wonderful Norway”) made by TV8 about me and my debutfilm “Til siste hinder”. They contacted me and wanted to document and film my day at the premiere of the film. I hope you enjoy the video! :)

“Til siste hinder” update and Directors statement

Posted on December 14, 2011

Hi again!

The last update on my debut feature film “Til siste hinder” was the news about the filmfestival in Lübeck. Since then, the DVD and Blu-ray have been available in stores in Norway. I visited a DVD-store the other day and asked the seller about the film, and she actually said that it was the best selling DVD at her store. That was amazing to hear, and the second day I was informed that the film was the number one top selling DVD at Spaceworld! (see picture 6 below). This was far over my expectations, and I’m really glad to hear that people like the film!

We have also been in contact with a sales agent in Denmark who will release the film in other countries too. Because of this, I was asked to write a Directors statement for “Til siste hinder” and thought I could share it with you:

Anders Øvergaard – Director statement – “Coming home”

I was quite surprised when I was asked to direct “Coming home” as I had just graduated from Nordland College of Art and Film in Lofoten, at the age of 21. I replied immediately that I was very interested in doing this job, since I both loved the screenplay and since this was a big chance for me to enter the film industry.

The woman behind the film is the screenplay writer and producer Kathrine Haugen, and she wanted “Coming home” to be a feel-good film for the whole family. I knew quite fast that this was a nice task for me, although it included direction of children and animals, which are supposed to be the hardest to direct. But my little sister was a great inspiration, since she was quite like the main character “Ida” and at the same age. I went to the stable together with her and watched how she communicated with horses and I could feel right away the magical relationship between horses and humans. This special bond was one the most important emotions I wanted to express in “Coming home”.

To be able to create magical and mysterious atmospheres and to bring the audience away from their every day life is what I really like about making films. In “Coming home”, I wanted the audience to feel how it could be to live in the beautiful, Norwegian countryside with a close connection to such great animals. One of my goals was to make the audience leave the cinema with a sensation of freedom and new possibilities. The bond between human, horse and nature was the fundament to express this and the actors helped me making this credible.

The locations were found at the stunning landscapes of Sømna in the Northern part of Norway and the story was to be told here. We had a local audition in Sømna to find three girls for the film. There was no problem finding girls with riding experience, but it surprised me how well they could act too, considering they were amateurs. We found three girls that matched the roles perfectly and the main character was found through Kathrine’s family.

The shooting went really well, despite the low budget and the inexperienced actors. I think my young age helped me a lot to get in better contact with the girls, and thereby making them less stressed and nervous on set. Since they knew a lot about horses, it was a big plus when doing the horse scenes. We had, in the pre-production, picked out the horse we wanted to use as the main horse. It was important for me to have a horse with a lot of character and it had to be calm and patient on set. We were therefor very lucky to find “Svarten” as the role “Kehilan for “Coming Home”.

Pic 1: Inger-Lill, me and Odd (producer) at the Hotel in Lübeck.
Pic 2: I had to give a speech when we won the prize (video of the speech will come!)
Pic 3: The children’s jury who chose our film to win.
Pic 4: All the winners of Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2011.
Pic 5: Odd, me and Stine Oppegaard.
Pic 6: “Til siste hinder” as number 1 at Spaceworld.

What’s hiding under the water?

Posted on November 17, 2011

New year, new trip to my cabin in Valdres, new film with my family! :)

Winner of The Prize of the Children’s Jury in Lübeck!

Posted on November 7, 2011

Wow, is this a dream? That was my first thought, and also the start of my speech, when I entered the stage at the award ceremony on Saturday for the Nordische filmtage in Lübeck, Germany. A children jury had seen several international children feature films throughout the festival, and had chosen my debut feature film “Til siste hinder” (”Coming home”) as the winner of the “The Prize of the Children’s Jury”. I had never expected this, and when they called me up to the stage, I was quite shocked.

The Nordic Film Days Lübeck, has one of the longest traditions of any film festival worldwide, and is an important meeting place for the film industry in Germany and northern Europe. Important people from the film industry, celebrities, producers, directors, actors, film enthusiasts and so on, are gathered to see films and meet in an four day event every year. The price ceremony were held at the end of the festival, and for me, it was like attending the Oscars. A big theater with moving floodlights, dressed up people arriving at the red carpet, press, big and outstanding stage, live music, tv-cameras, hosts, speeches… you now what I mean. And for me to be a part of this, was like having the most awesome dream.

At the picture, you can see all the winners.  The Norwegian films that won was”Kongen av Bastøy” which won two prices and the documentary “My Beloved – A film About Love and Courage” by Hilde Korsæth which won a price.  The jury for the children award who handed my the award, which consisted of children, stated for that the story of a city girl who moves to the country and discovers her love of horses shows that “true friendship is one of the most important things people can share in life.”

Now I’m back to Norway with a really nice trophy and a check worth 5000 euros. I don’t think I have yet understand that this really happened. I just want to congratulate all the people that have worked making “Til siste hinder” and hope you enjoy the award as much as I do :)

I will come back with pictures etc from the festival. Meanwhile you can take a look at this:

Nordische filmage Lübeck announcement (eng)

“Barnefilm sjarmerte tyskerne” NRK (norwegian)

Interview on RadioNova

Posted on September 26, 2011

For those of you who haven’t heard the radio interview with me on RadioNova, can hear it here! I talk mostly about “Til siste hinder” in this interview. PS. Norwegian only (sorry)!

I’m a feature film director!

Posted on September 11, 2011

The last weeks has been very stressful but also fun. My dream since I was a young boy has become true! I’m actually a real feature film director now! :)

I was asked to direct the feature film “Til siste hinder” with the English title “Coming home” in 2009. It’s a horse movie with a lot of girls and horses, and not the kind of film I would predict that I would direct, but that didn’t matter at all. I was 21 years old at the time I was asked, and very privileged to be asked to direct it!

24th of August this year, “Til siste hinder” had a premiere in Norway, and it’s still being screened all over Norway! :)

I explain what I have been through the last weeks in this video. Hope you enjoy!

“With you” music video!

Posted on September 6, 2011

My friend Benjamin Dante is the vocalist in a band from Denmark, and they wanted a music video. I took the job, and this is the result! I shot it with my new Canon 5D mark ii (I will explain why in a new video), and my friend Stephen St. Peter shot it with his Canon 7D. The video quality in these two cameras are so equal that it’s no problem using both of them together. Hope you enjoy the video! :)

Facebook page is up!

Posted on September 1, 2011

After several requests of making a Facebook page, I have finally done so! :)

The main reason for me to have a Facebook page, is to be able to update followers in a much easier and quicker way. I will still use my homepage, but for short news feeds, adding photos and videos on the fly, the Facebook page is excellent!

Press the like button under to join! I hope you enjoy! :)

What a week!

Posted on August 30, 2011

There have been some stressfull, but fun weeks! My debutfilm “Til siste hinder” was screened at Haugesund Film Festival last Monday, the film had an amazing premiere in Oslo last Wednesday, and on Friday it was screened in cinemas all over Norway!

Today, five days have passed since the premiere, and over 11 000 people have seen the film at cinemas! The reviews have been very varied, but the audience seem to love the film. Some say it is the best movie they have ever seen, and others want to see it several times. It’s amazing to hear this! A lot of international distributors have also contacted us and hopefully “Til siste hinder”, with the english title “Coming home”, will be released in other countries too! =)

Now, I finally have time to rest, and update you guys! I will start by uploading my short “Contact” when I reach 10 000 subs! I’m glad to be back :D

Ps: Check out the picture from the big premiere with nearly 1000 people in the audience!

Soon 10 000 subscribers!

Posted on August 7, 2011

My Youtube account has been up and going for about five years now. It has been the perfect place for me to upload and show people my work and my ideas. I started the account with some strange and funny videos of me and my friends, and then later I uploaded more serious stuff.

Today, some of my videos have over 200 000 views, and I have over 9000 subscribers. I really appreciate all the feedback I get and that people want to see my videos. Therefore I want to upload my short “Contact” when I reach 10 000 subscribers! =)

To see my Youtube account, click here:  http://www.youtube.com/Andyax

“Til siste hinder” music video!

Posted on August 5, 2011

I’m currently in Brønnøysund, in the northern part of Norway, to help my friend and colleague Kathrine Haugen with her new feature film. My main job is to edit the film, but I’m also helping out on set. 

A couple of days ago I also made a music video for the end title song for my debut film “Til siste hinder” (”Coming home”). “Til siste hinder” will have a premiere really soon, and therefore I made this music video to promote the song and the film.

The song is called “Bestevenna” (”Best friends”) and is made by Fred Endresen at Studio-nord. The lyrics is made by Olaf Øwre. I filmed it with my new Canon 5D together with a friend. I hope you enjoy it (even though it’s in Norwegian)! :)

Norway are in deep sorrow

Posted on July 23, 2011

I don’t have words…

Yesterday, Norway experienced the worst nightmare. A man managed to bomb the goverment building in Oslo, killing seven people, and then kill at least 84 people on a youth camp around 40 minutes later.

600 children, teenagers and adults were gathered on “Utøya Island” to have fun, discuss politics and talk about how to make the world a better place. Then a man arrived the island, dressed up as a policeman, telling them that he was there to protect them, since there had been bombing in Oslo. They had heard about the bombing, and were scared. They were gathered to talk about it, when suddenly the man started to shoot everyone around him with a machine pistol. People were in shock an ran away to hide. A lot of people started to swim away from the Island. Some drowned, some were shot.

The man used over two hours walking around the island, shooting youngsters. He managed to kill at least 84 of them. Seven others were killed in the bombing in Oslo. The man was then arrested by the police. He is a 32 year old man from Norway and not known by the police before. He is now convicted of murder both for the Oslo bombing and the shooting on “Utøya Island”.

This is the most tragic happening we have experienced since the second world war here in Norway. We all are in shock, and our thoughts goes to the people who are involved. The 22th of July 2011 will never be forgotten…

Read more here (english): http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/oslobomben/artikkel.php?artid=10080597

Back to work!

Posted on July 18, 2011

Hello everyone! I’m now back from vacation and ready to upload more videos and news! I have two new videos to come, but I can’t tell what they are about yet since it’s a surprise.

And thanks for all your comments! Because of them I know that people read my stuff, and It motivates me to continue uploading more. So keep ‘em coming!

One more thing: It’s crazy. It’s just about one month left to the premiere of my debut film “Til siste hinder”! It’s so scary to think about it, especially to think about the reviews that will be written. And it’s a though competition this autumn to get enough audience, because there are so many good films to come. 19th of August “Få meg på for faen” has a premiere, 26th of August “Hodejegerne” has a premiere (the same date as “Til siste hinder”), the 31th of August “Oslo 31. august” has a premiere, and it got a lot of good reviews already. So we’ll see how the outcome and the reviews will be! I’m excited!

I’m in the news!

Posted on July 1, 2011

VG is the most read newspaper in Norway and they actually called me a couple of weeks ago because they wanted to make an interview about my debut feature film. They wanted to hear the story about how I, as a young man, together with Kathrine Haugen (the screenplay writer), managed to make a full length feature film for the cinema, without any money to start with. Since most of the feature films that are being made today receive money from film funds, it’s hard to get all the way to the screen without any support of that kind. But with a mix of luckiness, hard work and really good co-workers, we managed to make the feature film “Til siste hinder”. We are very proud! =)

Read the news HERE (In Norwegian only, sorry).

Opening at Norwegian International Film Festival!

Posted on June 7, 2011

Now I can proudly announce that my debut film “Til siste hinder” has been chosen to open the Cinemagi at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund! When I heard that the film was to open the Cinemagi (the children-part of the festival) I was surprised and extremely happy. It was a big relief to know that the film was well received by others then just us working on the film, since we are so proud of the work we have done making it. I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to present the film at this festival in terms of the low budget we had for this project and all the people who worked voluntarily. I’m so excited and are looking forward to this big event on the 22nd of August!

Check out the link: http://www.filmweb.no/filmfestivalen/2011/article418282.ece?language=english

And see the trailer for “Til siste hinder” here (preliminary in norwegian):

The end!

Posted on May 3, 2011

About two years have passed since I started working on my debut feature film “Til siste hinder”. It has been a long and hard working process, and I’m happy to announce that tomorrow it’s actually done!

For the last weeks I have been working closely with Håvard H. Sethre from Universal Sound to finish up the sound design, and right now I’m actually watching Hugo Ekornes from Storyline Studios and Håvard doing the last sound mix at Frogner cinema, Norway (see picture). This is one of Europe’s biggest cinemas for audio mixing and it has been used for several big film productions here in Norway. It’s so amazing to see the film on a big screen with surround sound, wow!

I’m privileged to be able to work with all the professional people that have been doing their best for this film and working both day and night. We are all very happy and proud with the result and really excited to show people the film later this year.

I’m travelling to USA for a break now and will not update this site until I get back. When I get back however, I will hopefully be able to show you guys a teaser and/or trailer for the film! I can’t wait! =)

If you have questions, you can in the meantime check out questions and my answers in the comment sections or at the FAQ site. I’ll see you soon!

My first serious DOP

Posted on April 11, 2011

Two years ago I graduated at NordlandCollege of Art and Film, after being a student there for one year. During this year I had directed two shorts, “Alt for Norge” and “Kontakt”, and I had been Director of Photography (DOP) in seven shorts. These films were directed by other student at the school and they had chose which one they would like as a DOP from class. I was lucky and could work with talented students like Karin Pennanen from Finland. She made the fantastic short “Brudhlaup” which has been screened at several film-festivals internationally.

This was my first film to shoot at NordlandCollege of Art and Film, and my first serious work as DOP, so I was a bit excited and nervous. I thought I had to do a great job to not disappoint the director even thought it was a student film. I used my Canon XH A1 with the SgPro 35mm adapter, to get the nice depth of field and to achieve the “Film-look”. We shot the film during three days in the beautiful landscape of Lofoten, North of Norway. The film was quite artistic, so the scenery was perfect for this film. I hope you enjoy the film:

Lighting techniques

Posted on March 29, 2011

Light is one of the most important factors of photography. You can’t shoot anything without light, unless you use night vision cameras, and therefore it’s great that there is light almost everywhere. Light varies in color and brightness, and this makes a huge influence on the photos you are taking. Usually the light you want to use is not mobile, such as natural light, so to get nice photos you have to position yourself  and the camera depending on were the light is coming from. If you are planning on shooting some nice photos with the opportunity to move the light, you have to use external light or reflectors. By using external lights, it’s also easier to make good looking photos with light appearing from different angles.

There are several types of “presets” on how to set up lights for a shooting. Most of these techniques are meant for portraits, but are also used a lot when shooting films. There are no rules on how to set up lights, but with these presets you can easily achieve some good looking photos. With the most common technique (for portraits) you use three light sources. If you take a look at the picture to the right, you can see that there are two lights placed in front of the subject and one light behind. The light called “Key light” is the strongest light appearing in front of the subject. The “Fill light” is a bit weaker and is meant to lower the shadows that appears on the subject from the “Key light”, and the “Back light” is there to separate your subject from the background. It creates an edge light which can either be distinct or soft. Techniques like this can easily be achieved by using several flashes or lamps.

I decided to buy two flashes and two wireless triggers to be able to shoot photos with good light, and I tested them with some friends this week. I mounted the flashes on top of two tripods and placed them on different spots to test out different techniques. Here are the results:

Picture 1 is taken with only “Key light”. Picture 2 is taking with only “Back light”. Picture 3 is taking with both “Key light” and “Back light”. In the rest of the pictures I test out different combination of these, and also by using only lights found on location. Press the picture to see it in full size.

DSLR video equipment

Posted on March 15, 2011

More and more people choose to throw away their old camcorder for a new DSLR camera with video-function. Today almost every DSLR camera can record FULL-HD video with stunning quality. The most amazing part of this, is that the video quality in these cameras are actually good enough to shoot films for the cinema. Today a couple of feature films here in Norway have already been shot with DSLRs. There are no doubt that this cameras produce great video quality, but will this be the end for the camcorders?

Since the DSLRs mainly were built to take pictures, they have not yet included a good microphone, XLR inputs and other important film components in to the camera. Therefore it’s necessary to buy extra equipment if you want to shoot films with your DSLR.

Since I bought my Canon 550D (Rebel t2i) in February 2010, I have bought additional equipment for it to achieve what I feel I need to produce great films. I have made a list of my equipment and what I gave for it. The list is separated into three parts (I have not included rigs and tripods yet). The first part of the list is called “1. priority” and contains the most basic equipment you need to make films. The “2. priority” is for film makers who want to make bigger productions with longer shooting days, using several locations and have the opportunity to shoot both day/night and inside/outside. The “3. priority” is for film makers who want to spend enough money to get the best, but also one of the cheapest gear for shooting films with DSLRs.

Read more

New Youtube video!

Posted on February 18, 2011

Hello again!

The past weeks has been quite relaxing for me because of my feature film which is finished edited (I hope to upload some clips soon!). The film was edited by professional in Oslo (capital of Norway), but as a director I had to visit them quite often to give them my opinion about the editing. Now, as the film is finished edited, the sound design, music composing, and color-correcting still remains. This is also done by professionals, and they are going to work with this for two months now. This process is not as stressful as the editing process was, because then I had to really focus all the time on my vision and explain it to the editors. That isn’t always easy.

So, since I had time to do other things these days, I made a good old Youtube-video with my friend Eskild. He had an idea about making an Ipad 2 parody, since this product is soon to be released. We used three days to shoot the video, add effects and edit it. We uploaded it two days ago, and already now it has over 3000 views and magazines are writing about it (press here for article). You can see the video under. Hope you enjoy! =)

My first international award!

Posted on January 18, 2011

Yesterday I received a box in my mail from a guy in USA named Jason. I had no idea what this box contained, so I was quite eager to open it up. I cut it open and for my big surprise it was an alien mask with my film written on it. Then I noticed that it was actually a film festival award for my shortfilm “Kontakt” and that it had won a price for “Best student sci-fi short” at the “2010 International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival” in Phoenix! (check out the picture). Actually this is the first international award I have ever won, so I’m very happy.

I have placed the mask on top of my shelf and have ensured that it’s easy to view it from my desk. I’m very proud of this award, and so glad I chose to send my film to this festival. Films are made to be seen, and this is a great way to get a lot of audience.

I recommend everyone to send their film to a film festival. There are Internet pages that has lists of different film-festivals for you to attend. Send your film too and one day you could also be lucky and get an award in your mail =)

Covering front page of Indie MAG!

Posted on January 12, 2011

Some months ago I was contacted by a lady from USA that wanted to interview me for a film-magazine. I thought this was very interesting and said yes limitedly. She sent me a bunch of questions on e-mail regarding everything from my favorite directors, to what kind of equipment I use.

The film-magazine is called DreamTV Studios, and it’s about the Indie Community that are doing big things, with little to no funding. The magazine’s purpose is to showcase the artists at their best. This months issue is covering me on the front page, and there are three pages of text and pictures about me. That’s very cool!

You can buy the magazine at this page.

Shooting with DSLR cameras

Posted on December 17, 2010

When DSLR cameras hit the marked with a video feature recording FULL HD 25p video, I would say it was a revolution, especially for the film-industry. Amateurs and indie filmmakers were now able to shoot film with a stunning quality, nearly as good as the professionals shoot for cinema.

I bought myself a Canon 550D (rebel t2i) in February 2010. This was probably the first DSLR camera to record FULL HD video. When I first tested it out, I was blown away. The quality was simply amazing, and it looked so cinematic. It was exactly what I had been looking for.

After some months, I had made several test clips (see them on my Youtube-channel), and one of them have over 250 000 views today. More and more brands are selling DSLR cameras with a video-modus, and it sells like candy. The Sony released a new DSLR camera called Sony Alpha 33 some months ago. I tested it out and compared it to my Canon 550D. See the comparison here.

Commenting problem

Posted on November 26, 2010

A couple of days ago, I added a spam filter to this site. Strangely enough this filter was so secure that it blocked everyone from adding comments. But now it’s fixed! Sorry for the mistake. I hope you can re-add your comment, if yours were blocked by the filter =)

FAQ

Posted on November 24, 2010

From the first time I uploaded a test-video of my camera to youtube many years ago, I have received a bunch of questions from people all around the world about film-making. They want to know what I think about the camera, what I edit with, what kind of tripod I use, what I think about the microphone I use and so on. The most hectic period was right after I made the test videos of my Canon 550D in February 2010. People went crazy when they saw how good video quality this camera produced, and they all attacked me with questions.

After trying to answer them all, I noticed that it took to much time of my life. If I had been paid for doing it, then maybe I would have continued, but I didn’t. Therefore, and to not disappoint all the upcoming indie filmmakers out there, I came up with the idea to gather all the questions on this site! Isn’t that genius? So! Here it is! The new FAQ site on my homesite! Hope you enjoy it. Click the FAQ button at the top of this site to check it out!

Ps. If you have a question that is not listed on the FAQ site, then comment on this post, and I will try to answer it at the FAQ site =)