OUT OF THE BUBBLE

TitleOUT OF THE BUBBLE
BrandNORWEGIAN INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC HEALTH
Product/ServiceCORONAVIRUS VACCINE
Category A04. Production Design / Art Direction
Entrant POL Oslo, NORWAY
Idea Creation POL Oslo, NORWAY
Production EINAR FILM & FORTELLINGER Oslo, NORWAY
Post Production STORM STUDIOS Oslo, NORWAY
Post Production 2 NORDISK FILM SHORTCUT Oslo, NORWAY
Credits
Name Company Position
Marius Eriksen POL Oslo Account Director
Ina Egelandsdal POL Oslo Account Manager
Erlend Løfald POL Oslo Creative / Art Director
Sindre Holmedal Johnstad POL Oslo Creative / Copywriter
Andrea Engum POL Oslo Designer
Kristine Eikenes Try Råd Account Manager
Andreas Kleiberg Einar Film Director
Johan Fredrik Bødtker Einar Film Photographer
Rut Solli Einar Film Executive Producer
Madicken Langvad Einar Film Post Producer
Nicoline Helgø Einar Film Production Lead
Steffi Van den Branden Einar Film Production Lead
Ivar Rystad Storm Studios VFX Supervisor
Morten Jacobsen Storm Studios VFX Producer
Håvard Munkejord Storm Studios CG Lead
Magnus Evensen Shortcut Oslo Editor
Johannes Dekko Shortcut Oslo Sound
Ghislain Rio Shortcut Oslo Grade
Christian Vaardal Shortcut Oslo Online
Ida Fiskerud Shortcut Oslo Post Producer
Simon Samdal Shortcut Oslo Post Production Coordinator
Mette Holm Nielsen Folk og Film Casting

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

In an empty space, an indefinable contour can be seen in the foreground. It’s bubbles. Inside, people live their lives, just like in the pandemic. Isolated, lonely and bored. We see grand parents, home offices, bored teens, and many more lives life these. The camera travels through and past all these different lives, while a voice is telling us the current situation about coronavirus vaccines. We are told who is prioritised, old people, sick people and health care workers. At the end of our journey through this vast empty space of lives, we land on two final bubbles. Two families of multiple generations, separated. But when their hands pull the bubbles closer – and by the power of the vaccines – they melt together. They don’t burst, because at this time in the pandemic we still had to wait, but it's a big step towards a life of freedom.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

The coronavirus vaccines were perhaps the most anticipated event of our time, and in late 2019, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health launched the coronavirus immunisation programme. To reach the population with information about who would be prioritized, why they would recieve it, and why the rest of us had to wait a little longer – we imitated a common feeling throughout the population – living in a bubble. The bubbles are a visual metaphor for how life has been during this pandemic, and how it’s shaped the conversations at work and around the dinner table. With approved coronavirus vaccines, the message was that the journey out of the bubble and back to everyday life could finally begin. This gave people the necessary information they needed to hang in there for a little longer, acknowledge the fact that others may need the vaccine first, and create hope for the future.

Tell the jury about the production design / art direction. You may wish to comment on choices, challenges or effects.

The people needed some kind of hope to hold onto. So in order to reach the audience, we had utilise an unusual creative concept. The perfect solution: pandemic-life in bubbles. The bubbles were created heavy, slightly dirty and burdensome, to mirror peoples feelings. We also wanted to show people that they weren't alone by simulating many bubbles. The bubbles were put in a utopian universe, not defining space and time. By adding a giant glowing sun at the end of our journey, we could symbolise how we were getting closer to the light at the end of the tunnel. Not just emotionally, but also physically. The camera is pushing on through the story of the pandemic. From the beginning, with the Prime Minister shutting the country down at a press conference, to the two families merging together in one bubble at the end.