Writer-director Christian Schilling headed a team of commercial film students from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, Germany, to make this branded spec short for Duracell. Schilling is an alum of SHOOT’s 2018 New Directors Showcase.
Titled Revived, this piece introduces us to Carl who was born with a cord on his back, on which you have to tug, serving to wind him up like a music box. As a young soldier he awakes on a rubber boat in the middle of a rapid river. Suddenly they are attacked and his friend Henry floats lifeless in the water. A race against time begins, while fragments of his childhood shoot through his mind.
In the end for our main character with his wind-up cord, the power of friendship and the power of the battery is the salvation. The power of friendship charges the main character like a Duracell battery.
The film–which went toward earning diplomas for its creators–was made over the past couple of years with two shooting blocks–during mid-2019 and then at the end of that year. Approximately 80 crew members and just over 100 extras were involved in the making of the film. Just a few weeks ago, visual effects were wrapped on the project and it was released.
Credits
Production/Creative Christian Schilling, writer-director; Simon Drescher, David I. Dincer, DPs; Christian Arnold, Daniel Kottirsch, executive producers; Jan Scheurer, production design; Laura Schaffler, costume designer. Editorial Ernst Lattik, editor Music Alexander Wolf David (wolfsrudelmusic), Peter Sainio, composers; Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, orchestra; Meike Katrin Stein, orchestration. Sound Design hyve.audio Robin Harff, Floyd Fürstenau, sound designers; Johanna Roth, Foley artist; Max Hartstang, Foley recordist. Audio Mix Robin Harff, mixer. Postproduction Slaughterhouse Philipp Breidthardt, post producer. Color Grading acht.studio Maximilian Baule, colorist. Crew Austria/River David I. Dincer, underwater cam operator; Justin Braun, on-set VFX supervisor; Jeannine Bieri, makeup artist; Vanessa Kilchenmann, costume design assistant. Crew Germany/Village Michael Hessenbruch, production coordinator; Boris Katrev, additional VFX; Coline Cisar, costume design assistant; Paolo Celano, Jeannine Bieri, makeup artists/prosthetic. Casting Kastwork Ltd. Cast Agencies BCCreative Ltd, Katie Threlfall Associates. Cast Alex Hope, Angus Dunican, Oskar Netzel, Anton Krymskiy, Natascha Kuch, Gesine Hannemann, Anna Maleika
After losing part of his right leg due to cancer, Terry Fox campaigned to raise national awareness and funding for cancer research by running his Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada 42-km daily run, on his prosthetic leg. Fox, who died in 1981, is a national hero. His image will be on Canada’s new $5 bill.
In this two-minute video titled “Finish It,” the Marathon of Hope is recreated. It’s all done in one take, and it features an actor/marathon runner who uses a prosthesis on the same leg as Fox. CGI was deployed to make him look more like Fox. To further ensure the actor represented Fox accurately, not only did the actor and team watch and study many videos of Terry, but Terry’s brothers, Fred and Darrel, coached the actor on Terry’s running style and mannerisms. They also created a copy of Terry’s prosthesis for the actor to use for the shoot.
The message is clear. As the Marathon of Hope now marks its 45th anniversary, we now have the opportunity to “Finish It” for Fox, raising money and awareness to get a cure for cancer over the finish line, completing the work that Fox started. The public service film starts with Fox on the marathon run, eventually joined by a crowd of other dedicated runners from all walks of life who take over the race.
Mark Zibert directed via production company Scouts Honour for Toronto agency Diamond. The video features a never-before-heard version of the song “Courage” from Canadian band The Tragically Hip.
“We wanted to create a campaign that captures the magnitude of Terry Fox’s legacy while driving meaningful action,” said Peter Ignazi, chief creative officer at Diamond. “By revisiting the Marathon of Hope with such care and reverence, we aimed to reignite Terry’s mission and... Read More
