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00:00 We'll just let a couple more people sit down and then we will begin.
00:06 I appreciate you all joining us today.
00:09 My name is Jesse Wittick.
00:11 I'm the international TV editor at Deadline.
00:14 We're very happy to be the media partners here at Syrian Camp.
00:19 So thank you all for attending what's going to be a great master class today.
00:24 I'll quickly introduce our panelists who are the creative minds behind Constellation, the
00:31 Apple TV+ series.
00:33 And then we will watch a quick trailer and then we'll get into some interesting talk
00:40 around how the show was made, developed and technically produced.
00:46 We will be taking some questions from the floor throughout the session.
00:49 I will give you a shout when we're doing that.
00:53 To my right, I have Oliver Hirschbrigel, who was the director of episodes 3, 4 and 5.
01:01 To his...
01:02 I said to my right, it's actually to my left.
01:05 To his left is Cornelia Ott, who was the supervising art director, made some incredible things
01:10 happen on screen.
01:12 To her left is Daniel Herzer, who was the series producer.
01:16 And to his right is his colleague, Jakob Neuhaser, who was the line producer.
01:20 Daniel and Jakob are from Turbine Studios, who were one of a number of co-producers who
01:27 were involved in the project.
01:29 So if we could run the trailer so everyone can get a flavor of the series, that would
01:34 be wonderful.
01:35 I miss you so much.
01:36 I miss you too, Mama.
01:37 Will you be careful out there?
01:38 Always.
01:38 I'm very happy to be back home. But things are different.
02:07 I have a piano in my house. And I don't play the piano.
02:16 Do you have hallucinations?
02:18 Mama?
02:19 Yeah.
02:20 Astronauts go through things they don't understand. That's when people come unstuck.
02:31 When I was up there, the only thing I could focus on was getting back to my daughter.
02:35 I miss you, Mummy. Will you be careful up there?
02:38 Mummy, who was that?
02:39 That was you and me right before the accident.
02:46 That was not me.
02:49 Mama?
02:50 Where is she?
02:53 Who?
02:56 You!
02:59 I invented a machine we took into space. And I saw something. But it seems like it
03:05 doesn't want to be seen.
03:09 People see things up there. And when they get back, they go crazy.
03:16 This isn't madness.
03:17 You need to help me.
03:18 I need to go back to her.
03:19 No!
03:29 Do I seem the same to you?
03:39 I just don't feel like you're my mum.
03:40 So it's fair to say there is a lot to discuss as to how what you've just seen reached the
04:03 screen. It's an incredibly expansive piece of work. And the best place to start, I think,
04:12 is from the start with the development. It's obviously an Apple TV project, which means
04:20 there's going to be big ambition behind it. Apple does seem to really like sci-fi, so
04:24 it fits in with their editorial model.
04:29 But I'm going to start with you, Jakob. In terms of the development, where did the initial
04:36 idea come from, and how did Apple become plugged into the story?
04:45 So the structure of the production is British, German, French. And actually, the French co-producers,
04:53 RĂ©cur TV, was at the nucleus of the project. And it was just one sentence. And it's a group
05:03 of astronauts returning from an accident on the ISS, just to find out that they returned
05:09 to a different reality. And that was the pitch. And our UK partners, primarily Tracy Schofield,
05:17 along with Caroline Benjot, they developed the project. They learned of that pitch, and
05:24 then they met accidentally and told each other about that pitch. And then they said, OK,
05:31 let's produce this together.
05:35 So that was the start. Maybe, Daniel, I'll hand over to you, because I think you can
05:41 provide some additional detail. Because when I joined the production in the first quarter
05:46 of '21, I was responsible for getting it done, physically producing it. But you've been involved
05:53 earlier, so you should--
05:56 From the sentence, the show started with that sentence. And Tracy and David then asked the
06:02 writer to write a script. And they sold it to Channel 4. And Channel 4 wanted to make
06:08 it. And then Channel 4 luckily didn't make it.
06:12 Would have been a very different show.
06:14 Yeah, it would have been.
06:15 Channel 4 is great.
06:16 Yeah, yeah. A very different show. And then there was Cannes Film Festival, and Ote Kua
06:23 had a booth at Cannes Film Festival. And Morgan Wandel, the head of international over at
06:28 Apple TV+, said to Caroline, do you have another project maybe? Is something sitting here? And
06:34 she's like, ah, yeah, we have this script here. It's called Cosmonauts. Look at it.
06:39 And he takes it home, and he reads it. And they discuss it internally at Apple. And they
06:45 have some directors under contract. And one of those directors is Michelle McLaren. And
06:50 her team reads the script. And Johan Lopez, who read the script, said to Michelle, you
06:56 want to do that? It's zero gravity. You can travel to Europe. It's going to be a lot of
07:00 fun. We don't really understand it, but it's cool.
07:04 And since Michelle had a deal with Apple, she said, I want to do it. And then Apple
07:08 said, OK, we'll do it. And they said to us, we buy a license from you, make it European
07:14 style, guys. We said, OK, we'll do it. And then they said to Michelle, make it epic.
07:19 And then the rest is history.
07:22 Yeah, absolutely. That's where the hard work began. That's where, obviously, there was
07:28 a lot of different people involved.
07:29 Yeah, that was back in, oh, when was it? 2000? It was in 20-- when did we produce Munich
07:34 with Christian Schwachel?
07:35 2020.
07:36 2020. So--
07:38 Until, say, January.
07:41 Someday in 2020, while producing Munich, Andrew Eaton, one of our partners, came into my office,
07:47 our office, and he put the script Cosmonauts on my desk and said, this might be the next
07:52 show that we're producing. And that was 2020. And then, yeah, by end of 2021, we closed
08:00 the deal with Apple. We started writing the scripts. And there was one writer, Peter Harness,
08:06 who, in the end of the day, created that show based on that one sentence. That was another
08:10 writer who had that sentence. He got paid really well for that sentence, I can tell
08:14 you.
08:15 It's a really popular sentence, isn't it?
08:16 Yeah, it is indeed. And yeah, but then in '21, we closed it. We started soft prep in
08:24 '22, early '22. Michelle came over. And then, yeah, Oliver came on board. Joseph Siddhar
08:34 came on board. Yeah, thank you. And I mean, this was a great experiment to have three
08:40 of these kind of epic directors directing your show with their visions and their skills.
08:46 And it was, I mean, and the DPs that then collaborated with our directors. Then the
08:51 production design, Cornelia Ott and Andy Nicholson, who did Gravity also, was Academy Award nominated
08:58 for that. So that was great luck that we were able to kind of win him for the project. Yeah,
09:03 and then in the end of the day, Jakob took over as the line producer and the physical
09:09 production. And then we had a total 150 main unit days, 30 to 40 second unit days. We double
09:16 banked a couple of weeks. That was also quite a challenge. We filmed in, we were here in
09:22 Cologne in the studios. We filmed in Berlin, in Babitzburg, on location in Berlin. We went
09:29 to Morocco, filmed in the desert, in the mountains. We went to Finland, the North Pole up there,
09:35 Lapland, for a couple of weeks at minus 30 Celsius to have these kind of snow security.
09:41 Went back to Berlin to the stage, did some digital stuff, but not a lot. We did everything
09:46 for real. So yeah. I mean, there's a lot of different moving parts here. And I'm going
09:53 to ask you guys to jump in in a second to talk about pre-prep for the tech side of things.
09:58 But if you're looking at all of these different partners and different shooting locations,
10:04 that's I guess both a challenge and an opportunity in the sense that you're able to access soft
10:10 money from those places, but you're also having to, I mean, your logistics book must have
10:16 been terrifying. Yeah, I mean, the thing is really, and that's maybe also the interesting
10:19 part of it, also the financing component to it. I mean, the project was initially designed
10:24 to be produced either in Eastern Europe or in the US or in the UK. And then Jakob and
10:30 I stood up and said, "Hey, I think we can do it. We think we can do it here in Germany."
10:34 And luckily the GMPF fund increased their maximum amount to 10 million euros. And the
10:42 good thing is we have the regional funds here as well. So we could, we were, since we just
10:46 sold the license to Apple, so it was not a work made for hire show. So we were at this,
10:52 we are the studio behind it, so we were able to tap into regional funds as well. So we
10:57 had, luckily, INAW bought backing us with a million euros. We have Berlin Brandenburg
11:03 backing us with some money, but we got Finnish soft monies with Moroccans, but they didn't
11:10 pay yet, but... Careful. It exists somewhere. We had Finnish soft money, French soft monies,
11:17 we've got British soft money. So the total budget is kind of around a hundred million
11:20 dollars of that show. And we brought in around 30% in soft monies to finance the show. And
11:27 that reserved us a seat at the table as a financing partner also.
11:31 That's a really fascinating way of going about the work with a big international streamer
11:37 on a big international show like this. And Cornelia, when you're thinking about your
11:44 early prep as you brought onto the project, something like this, without getting into
11:50 the technical side of things just yet, what are you initially thinking in terms of how
11:55 do we make this happen? Because obviously lots of zero gravity scenes and there's various
12:00 scenes that are going to need out of the box thinking.
12:03 Yes, as Daniel mentioned before, we were lucky to have Andy Nicholson on the show. He was
12:09 our production designer and he won the Oscar nomination for Gravity. So he was really experienced.
12:16 He was familiar with the subject and obviously the art department had to do a lot of research
12:21 to get into the design of the ISS because we basically tried to copy it. We built full
12:28 scale models and we worked closely with the stunt department, SFX, VFX department. And
12:36 MG Action developed a very unique grid system with winches, which covered an area of 1000
12:47 square meters. So we were able to basically wheel our sets underneath the system and the
12:53 actors were able to float even around the corners.
12:57 That's absolutely fascinating. And we'll come back to that. And Oliver, the same sort of
13:04 question you brought in is a big ambition to this show. There's clearly, I don't know
13:11 how many of you in the room have seen it, but there's the plot line is complicated and
13:16 it takes serious watching to understand what's happening. Lots of big ideas. What's your
13:22 initial thoughts when you're told, here we go?
13:25 I can't do it because I was working on my own show, Unwanted for Sky, but they wouldn't
13:33 let go until they convinced me to read the first episode. And this is what I'm shooting,
13:41 right? In Rome. And I'm reading that episode and I know it's impossible, but I have to
13:46 do it. I told them, okay, I'm in, but I cannot be part of the prep. I can only do this remote.
13:53 I can only come to shoot and direct and then I would have to go back and do the post and
13:58 on the other show. Is that good? Yeah, no problem. No problem. Yeah, we do it that way.
14:02 And we did it that way, surprisingly.
14:05 And they were successful actually with no problems.
14:08 Oh, there's always problems. But for me, it was an interesting experience to, I mean,
14:16 COVID kind of taught us a lesson, but as a director, you do not have to do all the leg
14:22 work yourself. If you have a DOP who covers your ass, it does it.
14:27 So I was sitting in Rome and he would send me the videos. I would always be in touch
14:33 with Michel and Joseph exchanging information. It was a bit scary to arrive at a set that
14:42 I'd never really physically seen before and just start shooting.
14:46 Just go, just go. That's really fascinating. And yeah, before we, we're going to play an
14:53 interesting little behind the scenes trailer in a second, but the other really important
14:58 to this whole jigsaw puzzle coming together is the casting. You've got some great actors
15:05 and actresses, but can you talk about how, and Daniel, might be a question for you, how
15:11 that really allowed things to come together?
15:13 Yeah, casting, we had, Apple takes a really strong position in casting. I mean, they lead
15:21 the casting in the end of the day. We had Simone Baird, unfortunately she passed away,
15:26 but she's one of the German casting director that can be responsible for such big shows.
15:33 And she did a fantastic job and she casted all the European roles. And you reach out
15:42 to the top and we had Jeff Bridges who wanted to play for a moment, then he fell out because
15:47 he got cancer. And then Michelle said, "I have this friend of mine, Jonathan Banks,
15:53 he would be perfect." And so Michelle brings in Jonathan and Nomi was, I think Nomi was
16:00 from day one on the list to be, to play that role because she has that background and she's
16:07 Swedish and our, Jo, our lead is Swedish and she's a fantastic actress. And yeah, but mainly
16:15 Apple casting led the casting process in collaboration with the producers and Michelle McLaren.
16:22 Awesome. At this stage, we've got a behind the scenes video that I mentioned, which would
16:29 be great to play. And then after that, we're going to open the room up to questions if
16:34 we have them before we get into the technical side of things. So if we can run the behind
16:39 the scenes VT.
16:46 I've done a lot of difficult scenes in different roles. This is by far the largest.
16:52 This is so good translation.
16:54 We shot in a number of different countries and locations. It was pretty epic.
17:00 Morocco, it is absolutely beautiful.
17:04 They had a military helicopter and a bunch of armored vehicles. It was a real feast.
17:10 Today we are shooting our capsule landing and it hits the ground and turns. I'm trying
17:15 to get dragged by the parachute.
17:17 The biggest challenge of the series was building and filming on the International Space Station.
17:23 The beauty of this whole project has been Scott Kelly. He's a real astronaut.
17:28 It was magical having him be a part of our team. This is our star.
17:32 He was very influential to give us a real life experience.
17:36 It's really an incredible job they did.
17:39 The scene behind it, the months it took to make it, it was really, because I really felt
17:45 the galaxy space.
17:47 We started the shoot with the interior of this cabin in a studio in Cologne and nine
17:53 months later we were out doing the exterior by the shores of a frozen lake in northern
17:57 Finland. It was an amazing experience.
18:01 We are further in the cabin.
18:03 Lumi and the other actors are working with real fire. They're doing all the real stuff.
18:07 It's been all the extremes. Being trapped in space was physically demanding.
18:13 Extreme heat, extreme cold.
18:17 It's breathtaking, it's spectacular. And it made the locations character.
18:21 That was really important because we're telling this international story.
18:25 Do you have a parachute?
18:27 I need to get back to my doorstep.
18:30 You need to help me.
18:32 This is a magnet.
18:36 So there's some insight from behind the scenes.
18:44 If we have any questions, please stick up your hand.
18:50 Particularly about the development or financing side of things.
18:55 We've got one just down here. I think there's a roving mic that will come over.
18:59 If you could just introduce yourself so the panelists know who you are.
19:03 Hello, my name is Dominik Hochwald. I'm a screenwriter.
19:07 I would obviously like to hear more about the very early writing process.
19:13 You said there was a sentence in the beginning and then there was the script.
19:17 But what happened in between and when was the switch to Peter Harnes made?
19:22 The sentence comes from another writer.
19:27 We commissioned him to write the first draft of the script.
19:32 Which did not resonate with the market.
19:36 But we believed so much in that project that we thought about who could be a great partner for it.
19:44 Tracy Schofield has this great relationship with Peter Harnes.
19:48 She brought in Peter.
19:50 In the end of the day it's a bit of a casting process.
19:53 You pitch them the idea and they go back.
19:56 They think about it and they come back with their take.
20:00 The take was very convincing and he got commissioned to write the pilot script.
20:05 Like Oliver said, you read it and you're like, "Okay, whatever."
20:10 "But I've got to do it to understand what it is and then to see it."
20:14 But that was, in terms of timing, it took a little longer than a year.
20:21 Do we have any other questions at this stage?
20:26 Ah, right, next door.
20:28 Just to make it easy.
20:30 My name is Dora Abraham. I'm also a screenwriter or aspiring to be.
20:35 My question is that when the script is in the development phase,
20:40 is it making it easier for production to implement more instruments to give specific location to the story?
20:51 Or is it just working as a cage for your production?
20:57 Just a quick question for you.
21:00 When we started the process, prepping the show, we had these eight...
21:05 Did we even have eight scripts? I don't even know.
21:08 No, unfortunately not.
21:10 Unfortunately not, exactly. The first five or six scripts.
21:13 But if you're in this, you never have enough budget.
21:16 That's whatever you do, it's not enough.
21:19 But then you have to change creative...
21:22 You can only change the budget in the end of the day creatively on the page.
21:26 And that's what you do.
21:28 And then like Jakob goes to the director, to the writer and says,
21:31 "This is what I have calculated, this is what it would cost, and we only have this much money."
21:35 We need a creative solution, right?
21:38 So I think the question you raised, it's yes and yes.
21:44 And it depends on the project, on the timeline, on the financing structure, the stakeholders,
21:49 whether you have commissioners who are really engaged and who apply a lot of control.
21:54 And most of the times, it's just happening.
21:59 And in parallel, you try to analyze this correctly,
22:03 and foreshadow how it will look like.
22:06 Because that's very important for the financiers, for the commissioners,
22:09 because they have to pay for it.
22:12 And in our case, there was no real control over it.
22:20 So it wasn't limited. It was just written.
22:23 But that's also, I think the scope was very much enhanced with Apple becoming a partner in the project.
22:31 So as said before, the show would have been very different if it would have been commissioned by Channel 4.
22:37 Not because Channel 4 wanted to be restrictive, or had no fantasy about it,
22:41 just because of the financial implications.
22:44 And the project was budgeted by a US colleague in the beginning,
22:52 who suggested how to produce it.
22:54 And that's a huge part where the physical producing is most of the times,
22:58 or in my opinion, when it's done right, is then synchronized with the creative end.
23:02 So that colleague did not do a really good job, in my opinion.
23:07 Because the approach, where to shoot things,
23:10 and how to translate that story into a real production was tremendously expensive.
23:16 And I think it was not enabling for the creative stakeholders.
23:22 And what we did is we pitched how to make it.
23:26 So we were able to make the case how to finance it when it's based out of Germany,
23:32 and how to break it in pieces.
23:34 And that process, actually it was half a year, or like nine months.
23:40 We got green-lit in August '21.
23:45 And the first budget, and the first...
23:48 Budget sounds like it's just a budget, but it's the production strategy, actually.
23:53 That was done in March '21.
23:57 We had that moment where we thought,
23:59 "Okay, we're going to do it out of Germany, we're going to produce it."
24:02 But until we reached the point where you could say,
24:06 "That's how it will happen," that took us, I don't know,
24:11 like into summer '22, when we were already shooting.
24:14 I mean, we had so many conversations, how to find the locations,
24:18 and also how to break apart the script, and allocate action to other countries.
24:25 That was a huge part of my work, to work with Peter Harnes,
24:28 to see how can we take the script and leave it as it is, creatively,
24:37 but bring it to life by shooting it somewhere else,
24:41 where you create spend, and you create financing through that spend.
24:45 So, it's very fluid, and unfortunately, it extended way into the production.
24:50 It wasn't done in an early stage.
24:53 - And as producers, our job is to create an environment
24:56 in which every creative collaborator is able to pull off his best game.
25:01 And as producers, we see us as the protectors of the creative vision,
25:06 not to destroy it and make it production-friendly.
25:10 We always try to reach the unreachable goal,
25:15 and try to help Cornelia and Oliver to pull off their best game.
25:20 And obviously, they did a good job at making it.
25:23 - They look pretty good. All right, it's a great point to bring Oliver back into the conversation.
25:28 So, you've come onto the set in this interesting way,
25:33 where you've been working on another show.
25:35 What were your initial thoughts, and how did you see...
25:41 What were the big challenges for you to realize the vision?
25:48 - Well, the challenge, in a positive way, was collaborating with Michel and Joseph.
25:57 At least, that's what I enjoyed most,
26:01 because the other stuff is what I've done for quite a while, obviously,
26:04 is directing and staging and all that.
26:07 Of course, I was part of some of the discussion.
26:10 If I may remind you about "Losing Locations",
26:14 which I fought for to get back in the script,
26:18 only not to be shown in Finland, but five miles out of Berlin.
26:21 So, sometimes these things work out for the better.
26:25 The challenge was to find common ground
26:31 in visualizing these two parallel realities,
26:37 and to make things even more complicated to liminal space,
26:44 which is when both kind of overlap.
26:48 And none of us really had a clear concept how to get that across.
26:53 Nor did Peter, really. He did write it in a brilliant way.
26:56 So, we were constantly exchanging thoughts,
27:00 and that went on while we were shooting.
27:02 On the shooting day, sometimes two, sometimes three directors
27:07 at the same locations.
27:10 And I tremendously enjoyed that,
27:14 because we are funny animals.
27:16 We all have these... like, directors are strange.
27:19 But when they're all in a room,
27:22 and we're just discussing the task at hand,
27:25 it sort of clicked. It worked really beautifully.
27:28 And then things happen that you never have anywhere else,
27:33 as well as the director.
27:35 It's like, you're talking to the other colleague,
27:39 and go, "Can you shoot me, like, two setups of X, Epsilon doing that?"
27:44 And it worked.
27:46 And I shot for other directors certain scenes,
27:49 or they asked me to just do one other shot
27:53 of one I had already done, only for their perspective.
27:57 I really enjoyed that.
28:00 It was a fun collaboration.
28:04 And the whole thing is unlocking the mystery, isn't it?
28:08 With the thing when you're playing with reality.
28:10 Yes, and why you are doing it.
28:12 We were not sitting in a room, planning it all out,
28:15 because the script was still evolving and changing
28:19 while we were shooting.
28:21 Because the story is so complex that even Peter
28:24 sometimes had to get his head around it again,
28:27 and said to us, "Listen, guys, I thought about this.
28:30 It has to be different."
28:32 And I'm like, "Fuck, I just figured this out.
28:35 Now he screws it all."
28:37 But that means filming and being alive.
28:42 And feeling alive is a very good experience, truly.
28:47 That's great.
28:49 Cornelia, the technical challenges and the set design challenges
28:54 on this show are beyond what you will see
28:58 in most TV shows, for sure.
29:00 Obviously, you have a film and a TV background,
29:03 so you've worked on some really big projects
29:05 and you know how to handle this sort of thing.
29:07 But from a television perspective, it's a real kind of...
29:12 And if we're looking at TV budgets as well,
29:14 it's a big challenge, right?
29:16 Because you're coming on to it.
29:18 There must be a huge amount of early planning.
29:21 That's right, yes.
29:23 I've actually prepared a short presentation
29:25 of the most challenging sets,
29:27 which are definitely the ISS sets, the modules.
29:30 And would you like me to start this presentation?
29:32 I think we... Let's do that.
29:34 So Cornelia's got some slides which she's going to take you through.
29:37 So this is the real kind of behind-the-scenes nitty-gritty stuff.
29:43 Yeah, so creating the ISS and shooting zero gravity
29:47 was a very complex task
29:49 and an incredible collaboration between all the departments.
29:53 The amazing construction team of Studio Babelsberg
29:56 built the full-size ISS modules on wheels
29:59 to create maximum flexibility.
30:02 Martin Goeres, the stunt coordinator and SFX supervisor,
30:06 built a unique motorized 3D track system,
30:10 which covered over 1,000 square meters.
30:13 I mentioned that before.
30:15 So the performer or the camera could float into all directions.
30:18 That was a very unique system he invented.
30:22 We have to say, I'm not going to interrupt you for a long time,
30:27 but it's actually a very important aspect to getting the show done.
30:31 Our approach with Apple regarding the zero gravity
30:35 was we're going to do it for one week,
30:37 like full-on wire rigging system for one week,
30:40 and all the rest is cheat.
30:42 Like, you know, you take an anguinastic bug,
30:45 I have no clue what the correct English term is.
30:48 So it's a blue sports ball made out of rubber
30:51 that you normally find in the gym or so,
30:54 and it has the right color to be keyed, you know,
30:57 so you can easily get rid of it.
30:59 But across the early prep of the project,
31:05 it evolved into six weeks of zero gravity.
31:08 And full-on, we want to be like doing everything
31:11 and getting shots that weren't done before, ever.
31:15 And we had to choose whether we're going to run two stages,
31:19 have one and a half crews,
31:21 and then build rigging towers, scaffolding towers,
31:24 which that's the way it was done forever.
31:27 And then you have one set up, you jump to the other stage,
31:30 enter a prep set up, and do this for weeks.
31:34 That would have cost us millions more,
31:37 and the show wouldn't look like it does
31:40 without the system that Martin Guerr is built.
31:43 We took the risk to let him build that prototype system,
31:47 ending up with saving millions,
31:49 enabling us to have what is now on the screen,
31:52 which is like a rare moment, I would say, in...
31:57 - Film history. - Film history, TV history.
32:00 It's really...
32:02 - It's a real step forward. - We did stuff that gravity didn't...
32:06 So we...
32:08 - Just saying. - You change gravity forever.
32:11 - Cornelia. - Yes.
32:13 So, on the screen you see now,
32:15 this is the so-called Marlene Dietrich stage at Studio Babelsberg,
32:19 which is approximately 31 by 51 meters large,
32:23 so that adds up to 1,580 square meters,
32:27 so it's a really large stage.
32:29 And here you can see the fixed spider rig built by MG Action,
32:34 and the pink rectangles are the defined zero-gravity areas.
32:39 We built various ISS modules,
32:42 which we could combine in different ways
32:44 to gain maximum production value.
32:47 Go back.
32:52 So this is the first stage layout of the interior ISS modules,
32:55 so the US and the Russian interiors.
32:58 On the right-hand side, there are the parked exterior modules.
33:02 They're waiting to be wheeled underneath the spider rig.
33:05 We had six weeks - Jakob, you mentioned that before -
33:08 six weeks of shooting for the interior modules,
33:11 and it took about three to four months to build them.
33:15 Before that, they had to be designed and drawn up, of course.
33:18 Next image.
33:22 So this is one of many layouts of the EVA spacewalk exterior ISS modules,
33:29 which we were able to set up within a very short period of time
33:32 due to the fact that even the largest modules
33:35 were built on rostrums with wheels.
33:38 The other modules were hidden behind black curtains while shooting,
33:41 and we shot the spacewalk within a time frame of only two days,
33:46 with two units, actually.
33:48 Next one.
33:51 This drawing shows the organization of the US modules.
33:55 The Destiny lab - that's the one in the middle -
33:58 is the lab module consisting of an addition of racks,
34:03 and there are nodes at both ends of a module.
34:06 The stunt rack and the winches enabled the actors to float
34:10 even around the corners, which is also a new addition.
34:15 - That's a very difficult new feature. - That's right.
34:20 So this is the elevation, and underneath the plan view.
34:24 There is almost no difference between the plan and the section
34:28 regarding the rack system, due to the fact that there is no floor or ceiling in space.
34:33 For the set construction, this meant that we had to cover the sensitive floor
34:37 with a catwalk to protect the set dressing, on one hand,
34:41 and to cover the slopes and voids in the floor.
34:44 They were actually quite dangerous for the crew.
34:47 The catwalk was taken off during shooting.
34:50 Now I'm adding some photographs.
34:56 This is a photograph of a situation which you normally don't get to see as a spectator.
35:01 The construction shelves, the exterior hulls of the interior sets.
35:06 So the photo reflects the layout of the US and the Russian modules on stage,
35:10 referring to the drawings you've just seen.
35:16 - You can see the rig also there. - That's right, exactly.
35:19 We built complete modules, 360 degrees, but we constructed them demountable,
35:28 so we could pull away parts where we needed to remove them.
35:32 For example, we took parts of the walls off to create access for the camera,
35:36 or we removed the ceilings to be able to let the access float on stunt wires,
35:40 supported from the stunt rig above, as you can see in this photo.
35:45 The ceiling is missing.
35:47 This is the US module Destiny, where the deadly accident takes place.
35:52 It is also the location of the Cal experiment,
35:55 but in this photo you see another experiment.
35:58 As you know, we had two different realities.
36:02 This is a view through the access of various US modules,
36:09 with the sleeping cabins in the foreground.
36:12 We worked with the astronaut advisor Scott Kelly, as Jakob mentioned before,
36:18 who has actually been in space, living on the ISS.
36:22 When he visited our ISS sets, he said, "This is like déjà vu."
36:27 For those who have seen the series, here's the surreal moment being pictured
36:36 when Joe sees the wardrobe in the back of the set,
36:39 and one of the nodes of the ISS.
36:42 This is a photograph of the Destiny module just before the deadly accident.
36:51 The wreck fell on the floor.
36:53 The Cal experiment is in the foreground.
36:56 Interesting is to know that we integrated almost all the lighting into the sets
37:01 to give the actors and the camera the possibility to move around freely.
37:07 This is a rehearsal with Paul and his prosthetic arm,
37:13 which gets trapped when the wreck shoots back in place.
37:17 A Joe floating vertically on stunt wires.
37:23 This is the drawing of the cupola.
37:30 The cupola is the module in space where the astronauts like to spend their spare time,
37:35 it offers a beautiful view of the Earth below.
37:39 We only built one set, a combination of interior and exterior cupola,
37:44 but created various setups.
37:46 One is the cupola mounted underneath and on the side of the Tranquility mode.
37:51 Pictures on top.
37:54 Then fixed to an exterior module, and also on a pivoting rig on its own.
38:04 Here the cupola is fixed to the interior Tranquility.
38:08 On this image you see the cupola fixed to the exterior module.
38:14 When Joe manages to leave the ISS in the repaired Soyuz,
38:18 she turns her head and looks back to the deserted ISS and the cupola in particular.
38:24 Then she notices a silhouette in the window of the cupola.
38:28 That's the scene we built this set.
38:33 For one moment.
38:36 Million dollar shot.
38:38 So in this drawing you can see the massive difference between the US and the Russian modules.
38:43 We built the Nauka module twice, for example, that's the one on the top.
38:48 There is a horizontal and a vertical version for the actors to float in different ways,
38:53 very important for the story.
38:55 We also built two transfer chambers, the Zvezda, Soyuz descent module,
39:00 the orbital and the Nauka set piece.
39:03 These last three elements could also be stacked to what we call the triple decker,
39:08 and also be wheeled underneath the Nauka tower to extend the shot.
39:12 So maximum flexibility.
39:15 In order to execute these modifications quickly during or after shooting,
39:20 we had up to 10 construction crew members stand by.
39:23 This required a thorough planning and scheduling.
39:28 This is a view into the model Zvezda,
39:35 where Joe works on the battery compartment.
39:38 It is one of the oldest modules of the ISS, actually.
39:42 I think it's about 25 years old, this module.
39:45 The next photo shows a view into the other direction of the Zvezda.
39:53 Here you can see what happened when we had to dismantle part of the set
39:57 to create an access for the Scorpio crane.
40:00 And here for the wire rig to let the actors float through the set.
40:06 He took the ceiling off to create an alley above the set for the wiring.
40:11 This is Joe in the background.
40:14 And also for the camera to float through the set.
40:20 So this is a photo of our interior vertical Nauka tower,
40:24 which I mentioned before.
40:26 So the Nauka tower gave us the chance to shoot vertical movements.
40:30 This is the interior of the Zoyuz descent module,
40:36 the very small capsule in which the maximum of three astronauts
40:40 can travel back to Earth.
40:46 And here the Zoyuz descent module is part of the so-called triple decker,
40:50 together with the Zoyuz orbital and the Nauka set piece.
40:53 Obviously photographed from outside to show you the proportions.
40:57 It's a very small module.
40:59 So now I would like to mention the EVA spacewalk as well.
41:05 The scenes we shot in only two days.
41:08 Joe's spacewalk was a very short one.
41:12 So we shot it in two days.
41:14 Joe's spacewalk is an important sequence in the series.
41:19 We built several exterior modules for the EVA spacewalk
41:24 reflected in this drawing.
41:26 First of all, the poisk with the practical hatch
41:29 through which Joe exits the ISS in the story.
41:33 The transfer chamber and the large zarya,
41:37 of which I've got a detailed drawing here.
41:40 Just as an example to demonstrate the degree of detailing
41:44 the set designers had to focus on.
41:46 They drew about 200 drawings, mostly in 3D.
41:51 We had an amazing team of very talented art directors, I must say.
41:55 How big was your team?
41:57 Well, the office team was like 25 people,
41:59 but then we had loads more like set dresses and people.
42:03 So in total how many people did work in your department?
42:06 On and off, I would have thought maybe 60.
42:08 And also 60 people were part of the construction team.
42:12 So in the end of the day, we're kind of 120 people involved in this.
42:16 That's right, yes.
42:17 You wanted that 120 number set, didn't you?
42:19 I just would like to mention our amazing team of very talented art directors,
42:26 assistant art directors and set designers,
42:30 coordinators as well.
42:32 So the next one is a photo of the zarya model.
42:36 You just saw the drawing off.
42:38 If you look at the crew on the right,
42:40 you could get an idea of the size of this massive set piece.
42:44 One last layout I would like to show you.
42:48 So the stage layout of the Zarya and Transfer Chamber PMU1,
42:52 the generic module.
42:54 This is the setup being shot with Jo in her space suit.
43:00 The generic module.
43:05 The poise with the practical hatch.
43:08 This is the truss where Jo has the encounter with the mummified astronaut.
43:16 There's another stage layout, sorry.
43:22 On the right hand side you can see the previous references for the sequence,
43:26 which might be interesting for you to look at as well.
43:31 So my last photograph of the EBA.
43:34 This is a stunt rehearsal at the truss.
43:37 The space suits, that was also quite a discussion.
43:43 Because Michel insisted on the real space suits,
43:47 and the real space suits weigh 300 kilograms,
43:49 so you cannot use them to overhead.
43:51 We had to build them.
43:53 There's a British guy who builds also kind of the Batman suit and so on.
43:57 He built these kind of space suits.
44:00 And one costs 250,000 dollars.
44:03 That's right.
44:05 Euros.
44:06 Euros, I'm sorry.
44:07 Even worse.
44:08 We had two.
44:11 And they're still pretty heavy.
44:15 They're still, yeah.
44:16 It was hard work for the actors to get in and then move about in these things.
44:23 Really exhausting.
44:25 And what I see, kind of the capsule here.
44:27 We intended to shoot in Kazakhstan, in Baikonur, on the original locations,
44:31 and then Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and the war started,
44:35 and we couldn't go to Kazakhstan to film there,
44:37 so we had to replace Kazakhstan as the location,
44:40 and then we ended up in Morocco.
44:42 So we had to bring this to Morocco.
44:45 So not only did you have all the challenges you have from making a TV show,
44:49 you had Putin against you as well.
44:51 Yeah, kind of.
44:52 We couldn't film in Star City, we wanted to film in Star City,
44:54 and you built Star City in Berlin.
44:57 Yeah, and it worked.
44:59 Yeah, we were in touch with a Russian producer
45:02 to set up a Russian leg of the schedule,
45:05 and we sent a two-person team to Kazakhstan to do research on the ground,
45:09 so we've been fully invested to do it this way.
45:12 We even had to change plans.
45:14 So things that you just can't plan for, isn't it?
45:21 Irgendwas ist immer.
45:23 That's right.
45:25 I would like to--oh, do you want to say something?
45:28 I think all the slides you've shown,
45:32 they point out the massive efforts that had to be put in
45:37 synchronizing the various departments.
45:40 So also finding the right approach to get the result that we desired.
45:46 Is it cheaper to do it in VFX, full CG,
45:50 or even if it's cheaper, it will not look right?
45:53 So finding the balance,
45:56 and finding the tone of the show and what needs to be done practically.
46:01 We had a discussion before to shoot it on a volume stage,
46:04 like 1899, to entirely shoot the show on a volume stage.
46:08 Then we wouldn't have built all that,
46:10 and then it wouldn't have looked that great, I have to say.
46:13 It is really, you building all the sets as you did it,
46:17 is kind of the character of the show.
46:20 For sure.
46:22 Awesome.
46:24 I just would like to end this presentation,
46:27 with showing you the landing version of the "Zoe's Descent" module,
46:31 the one we saw previously the interior of.
46:34 It was actually built in the workshops of Studio Babelsberg,
46:38 and shipped to Morocco, as you mentioned,
46:41 and shot there in the desert for Baikonur.
46:44 Thank you very much.
46:46 Thank you very much, Cornelia.
46:48 [Applause]
46:51 At this stage, there was obviously lots of incredible technical,
46:55 behind-the-scenes nuggets for you there.
46:59 Do we have any technical questions from the floor?
47:04 If not, I've got plenty I can ask.
47:08 Oh, we've got one over here.
47:13 Once again, if you can just introduce yourself,
47:16 so the panelists know who you are.
47:20 No, we can't.
47:24 Are you able to just shout out?
47:37 That works.
47:40 I'm very sorry, there was a technical issue.
47:44 It's not really a technical question, I was just wondering,
47:47 to build all these great sets, what happens to them?
47:50 That's a very good question.
47:53 You can buy them.
47:56 We actually put them into storage.
47:58 They are still there.
48:01 We've spent almost $3 million to build just these space sets.
48:07 So you don't throw this away.
48:10 We try to find a way to shoot something else in it.
48:15 The rent per month to store it is...
48:20 You'll need a fair amount of space.
48:23 It's 1,200 square meters just for the storage.
48:27 Sadly, the series was cancelled.
48:31 It wasn't cancelled, it didn't just get picked up for a second season.
48:34 It was decommissioned a couple of months ago.
48:39 But I suppose with that in mind, it gives you a chance for a new space show.
48:44 You've got all the materials ready.
48:47 We have the plan to make a Tartar in space.
48:53 Do we have any other questions?
48:56 This is the last chance.
48:58 Just down at the front here.
49:02 Absolutely, yes. We can talk afterwards.
49:06 To the point. Nice question.
49:09 We have a space station.
49:13 Just before we wrap up...
49:17 We do have another question. Sorry, I can't see.
49:20 Where are we? Over there?
49:23 My name is Thomas Knop.
49:25 I'm from a visual effects company out of Berlin, PFX.
49:29 I was wondering, since you mentioned a little bit of visual effects here and there,
49:33 and you were also saying you had a little bit of concern
49:36 how realistic it might look at a certain point.
49:40 When did you decide to involve visual effects to what degree
49:44 in that creation process that you just mentioned?
49:48 Dag Lamur, who did some other small shows like Terminator,
49:54 was the VFX supervisor, and he was there from day zero.
49:59 He was a vital part of the process of finding the conceptual approach to the show.
50:06 Whether you do it full CG, whether you do a combination of practical approaches and CG,
50:13 that's what we did in the end.
50:16 What I find really outstanding is how Dag worked.
50:24 It goes both ways, how the art department, how the design team, and Dag worked together,
50:30 and his team.
50:32 That was really a fully synchronized process, I would say.
50:38 I can't see you because it's...
50:41 He and his team were on set every day.
50:45 So that was a very close collaboration with the production design, with the director.
50:49 As well as us directors. It was a fantastic collaboration on all levels, I must say.
50:54 I've never had that before and ever after, really.
50:58 Yeah, so we started prepping or setting up the show in October '21,
51:07 and I think in November '21, Andy Nicholson joined the team, as well as Dag McLaren.
51:15 Not Dag McLaren, Dag Lemoore.
51:17 Dag McLaren is the brother of Michel McLaren.
51:21 So really from day one, we had the resources at hand to discuss with the designer,
51:29 to discuss with the VFX supervisor how to approach things,
51:32 and that was extremely important also to Michel as a director in that really early stage.
51:38 And it kept on being extremely important throughout the show for all of us.
51:42 Also for the DPs, I mean, that was a key element.
51:46 We are almost out of time, so I'm going to ask each of you very quickly,
51:51 something that when we had our comp call before this panel to talk about things,
51:57 I asked you, and it's a bit of one of those questions where maybe there is no answer to,
52:03 but had you known what you know now at the start of the production,
52:08 is there anything that you would have done differently,
52:11 or is there any particular learning that you have?
52:13 Jake, I'll start with you.
52:14 I have to start, yeah.
52:16 Yes, you do.
52:18 So the things I learned whilst making the show are really invaluable,
52:28 but it's a super hypothetical question because with the--
52:34 an example, the relationships you establish with the director,
52:39 with the designer, within the producing team.
52:43 So one of the key persons of the show, I will not give away who that was,
52:52 said on the very last day before getting on the plane,
52:55 "Now I know I could have trusted you."
53:00 And that says it all.
53:02 It's a people's business.
53:04 Everything we do is talking and thinking, nothing else.
53:06 So I sit around talking all day long, that's my job,
53:10 and try to convince people that I don't want to ruin their work,
53:15 not the opposite.
53:18 And the point where I'm at now, having established all these relationships,
53:23 would have been very fruitful for a second season.
53:25 Yes.
53:26 Because that would have been--
53:28 it's like the headline across every second season is,
53:30 "It's not season one."
53:33 So I can't really answer that question, you know,
53:36 like what would have--
53:38 I think you just did.
53:41 Daniel, yourself.
53:42 Yeah, when we started on that show, I said to Jakob,
53:44 "This will be the best paid internship of our career."
53:48 Which is true.
53:51 But, you know, filmmaking is--
53:53 we talked about it--
53:54 filmmaking is like--
53:55 you go to battle, it's a war that you're fighting.
53:58 And it's about the troops and the team that you're with,
54:01 and your brothers and sisters in arms.
54:04 And I think this is--
54:05 I wouldn't do anything different.
54:07 Because you cannot plan it anyway.
54:10 You can plan it, but, you know,
54:12 [speaking in German]
54:13 there's always something.
54:14 There's always something different.
54:16 And then you have to have the right people with you
54:18 to adapt and adopt and then make it work.
54:22 So we just jump back into it and do it again.
54:26 Awesome. Cornelia.
54:28 I mean, making movies or working on projects
54:31 is always a learning process.
54:33 But with the brief which we had for this series,
54:36 I think we wouldn't do it any differently.
54:38 Awesome. Awesome.
54:39 Schoenswig and Oliver, too.
54:42 Yeah, except for the fact that I was--
54:44 my time was limited in the prep phase.
54:49 I even enjoyed that, actually.
54:51 Less work for me, more work for my DOP.
54:55 No, I wouldn't do anything different, really.
54:57 No, no, no, no.
54:58 And as I agree with you, it's always learning.
55:03 It's always like catching up on new--
55:08 For me, it's always like starting again with zero.
55:11 So each thing is a new beginning.
55:15 Awesome.
55:16 Before the beginning, when we finish that show
55:20 and you come, you don't realize that,
55:22 you know, that you've done this--
55:24 you've been on this incredible journey
55:26 and you think, "Okay, we did something incredible
55:29 "and fantastic.
55:30 "People need to recognize this."
55:32 And then you recognize that you have to go back
55:35 to the starting block.
55:37 You're nothing, then, in the end.
55:40 By making it, you're somebody,
55:42 but once you've finished and did it,
55:44 you have to go back and start from scratch again.
55:46 So that's kind of the Sisyphus part of what we're doing.
55:50 It's always--you've got to go back
55:52 and begin from the very beginning.
55:54 And it's a good thing.
55:57 Well, we'll end with Sisyphus, then.
55:59 Guys, if you can give the panelists a round of applause
56:02 for the masterclass.
56:04 [applause]
56:05 Thank you.
56:06 [applause]
56:08 Thank you, guys.
56:09 [applause]
56:10 [APPLAUSE]