I posted the video to our Facebook page and the comments keep rolling in. It’s amazing how everyone seems to have an opinion about Uwe Boll. Hell hath no fury like a gamer scorned, even though it’s actually been quite a while since Uwe has made a truly bad film.

What, you don’t believe that previous sentence? Check the reviews for “Rampage” on iMDB and prepare to shit bricks.

A rare picture of Emperor Pirk on holiday at the 2007 Finncon in Jyväskylä.

Finncon 2010 starts next Friday in Jyväskylä. Finncon is the Finnish national science fiction convention. For a long time it has been arranged together with Animecon, but this year it’s all about science fiction – the reason being, that the combined event had grown to over 10,000 visitors and grown out of almost all viable venues in Finland! This had become quite a challenge for a free convention organized by fan for fans.

Wreckamovie Festival

A far smaller but quite interesting companion for the convention is that one of the venues at University of Jyväskylä’s campus, Ilokivi, is reserved for Wreckamovie festival. It showcases Wreckamovie productions from all over the world, with film screenings running daily.

There are some interesting films you should check out, like the (still) excellent What Became of Us and Snowblind, a feature length post-apocalyptic western produced on Wreckamovie. There’s also a chance to see a little known short film called Tokyo Baby, in which the plot involves the main character running away from home to attend Animecon. It’s produced by Blind Spot, but while you might guess otherwise Blind Spot’s geek squad had nothing to do with the film, it’s just that anime as a hobby has exploded in Finland as well and become very much a part of mainstream.

Iron Sky

I’ll be talking about Iron Sky’s use of social media on Saturday. Including the latest news about where we’re at with the production. I’ll be also hanging around at the Wreckamovie festival along with the makers of the Star Wreck 2pi fan film and other interesting people.

As always Finncon is free and very much worth booking a flight to Finland. I’m planning on checking out the lecture about fantasy in Don Rosa’s Donald Duck stories – if I can fit into the auditorium. The Donald Duck panels tend to be epic.

p.s. Samuli will also try and make it to Jyväskylä to talk about the next Star Wreck. Okay so Samuli probably won’t make it, since he has to work on Iron Sky. But he’ll try.

Most of the pictures on our Flickr account are now under a Creative Commons NonCommercial-Attribution-ShareAlike license. That means that from copyright viewpoint you can copy, remix & re-distribute the photos as long as it’s not for commercial purposes. They can for example used to illustrate blog posts or Wikipedia articles. Just remember that if pictures have recognisable people you should respect their privacy.

The few pics that have all rights reserved are usually pics where the photographer has given us the right to use the images, but we haven’t yet asked them if it’s okay to let people remix the images.

Why? Why not. If Peter from Northampton needs a picture of a Koala for his school presentation of animals that fail in natural selection then why not let him use the one Janos took? It’s not like we’re loosing anything. But maybe koalas win if Peter’s presentation is a bit more convincing and gets Mary to study to be a vet whose research saves those cute, fuzzy bears from extiction. Probably not though.

Have fun.

In any case, we spent the second half of our Australian trip in Sydney doing some casting, having more meetings and attending the Supanova Pop Culture Expo. This time we were staying right in middle of Sydney downtown, in Meriton Serviced Apartments, where Timo and I got a nice two bedroom apartment in the 45th floor. The view was great and it was a definite luxury to be able to start the day with a sauna and a dip in a pool before heading off to work.

The first major thing we did was to do some casting for one of the main roles of the movie. We had a nice and productive casting session which we topped off with a nice sushi lunch. We have some really strong candidates for several roles now, which is a damn good thing – we are again that much closer to the shootings.

Supanova Expo

Timo, Tarja, Tero and others had again plenty of meetings about the budget and logistics, but most of my time went to getting ready for the Supanova weekend. We were a relatively late addition to the lineup, so getting our booth and stuff together wasn’t trivial. Luckily I didn’t have to do it alone, since my local contacts in Australia or left lane driving skills aren’t anything to write home about.

(Check out more photos in our Flickr-photoset!)

Getting Supanova going was a job for me and Jessica, a super effective production assistant from our Australian partner New Holland Pictures. We ended up driving around Sydney, picking up bits and pieces, such as our large Iron Sky banner that was sent via air mail, and a TV which one of our Wreckers was kind enough to lend us (thanks again Jeremy, you are a lifesaver!). We had a couple of interesting detours, thanks to the crappiest Garmin GPS I’ve encountered so far, but managed to make it on time to Sydney Olympic Park, the venue for Supanova. Setting up the booth was a breeze, although someone had forgotten to provide us with electricity, but that got corrected in time for the morning.

Timo and Jessica setting up the booth.

The two days in Supanova was a blast. Our booth was in a prime location, right next to the celebrity signing area. We had our Iron Sky teasers and Star Wreck trailer on repeat on the TV, which drew in satisfying crowds of people. We managed to sell most of my merchandise, which was a blessing. Because of a technicality, we were able to fly it in rather cheap, but flying it back to Finland would have been insanely expensive: we were literally in a situation where we had to sell everything we have in order to make it back home. We more or less managed to do that, but even flying the practically empty case home would have cost us 750 euros…

The Iron Sky booth before the event began. Just add customers.

The booth was manned by mainly me, Timo and Jessica, but we took short pauses to go and enjoy the expo atmosphere and get our geek in. I did some geeky T-shirt shopping, went to listen to Dichen Lachman tell how to blow soap bubbles from under your arm, and steal a glimpse of Eliza Dushku and Summer Glau on the signature booths. Later Timo and I almost barged into Eliza and Michael Winslow of Police Academy fame when we were hurrying out of the backstage. Timo bought a huge amount of Star Trek stuff, so I guess that Trekathon-stuff is working. Timo also had two presentations about Iron Sky and collaborative movie making, both on Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday evening we had a fan/investor meeting, where people who are interested in Iron Sky and investing in the movie got to meet us face to face. The meeting took place in Steel Bar & Grill, that really isn’t what you’d expect by just the name alone. It’s a stylish brasserie in downtown Sydney, definitely an upscale place. A big part of the crew and some of the fans ended up being out in the city ’till the morning hours, having fun.

Stormtroopers came to pay homage to their Moon Nazi counterparts.

Dr. Kroenen dropped by to say 'hi'.

Suddenly: Lordi and Amen.

The Conclusion

All in all the whole trip was extremely productive for us. This is a good thing, since the next time we’ll come to Australia en masse will probably be in November when we start shooting in there.

In the end we had a huge amount of people drop by our Supanova booth to check out the teasers, buy some stuff or just to exchange a few words about Iron Sky. Thanks to each one of you, and thank you for the massive amount of Twitter love, blog posts and other attention you’ve given us after the expo!

See you this November – or maybe a bit earlier, if certain things work out!

Facebook kaivaa jälleen kerran omaa kuoppaansa. Ilmeisesti suomalaiset sivut hassuine suomenkielisine sanoineen ovat punainen vaate Facebookin sensuuritiimille. MoonTV:n sivun poistosta on ehtinyt kulua vasta pari viikkoa, kun Facebook on iskenyt kauhansa entistä syvemmälle lietteeseen. Tällä kertaa vasaran alle joutui Suomen suurin kesäilmiö, eli Jukka Mutanen joka Facebookista lähteneen vedon johdosta ajaa parhaillaan minikaivurilla Hangosta Kuusamoon. Iltapäivälehdet huutavat Facebookin sulkeneen Mutasen sivut.

Tämä on Facebookin poistoista ehkä käsittämättömin. Minikaivurit eivät tietääkseni ole laittomia, loukkaa uskonnollisia ryhmiä tai uhkaa sukupuolisiveyttä millään lailla. Sen sijaan kyseessä oli Suomen suurin Facebook-ilmiö, suorastaan palvelun kultapoika – siellä aloitettu vitsi voi paisua näin valtavaksi mediatapahtumaksi.

Facebookin yrityskäytön kannalta Mutasen sivun poisto lienee tähänastisista vahingollisin. Paitsi, että tästä kuulevat muutkin kuin netin aktiivikäyttäjät, kertoo tämä hyvin vahvaa kieltään siitä kuinka mielivaltaisia Facebookin päätökset ovat. Tämä tuskin kannustaaa yhtäkään pienyritystä käyttämään vähiä rahojaan Facebook-markkinointiin. “Jos Mutasen sivut poistettiin, niin eikö ne voi poistaa meidänkin sivut?”, tulee varmasti olemaan yleinen kysymys sosiaalisen median markkinoijille.

Oma arvaukseni on, että sivusta on tehty piloillaan valituksia ja nämä valitukset on käsitellyt suomea ymmärtämätön työntekijä. Tämä ei ole voinut millään tietää palvataanko sivulla saatanaa, vai jutellaanko minikaivurilla köröttelystä. Koska valitukset on tehty niin vaikeiksi, Mutasen fanien ainoa toivo lienee se, että uutinen sivun poistosta leviää mediassa niin laajalle, että sana siitä kiirii myös Facebookin markkinointiosastolle. Jos näin ei käy, sivut jäänevät palauttamatta ja suomalaiset sosiaalisen median palvelut saavat yllättävän kilpailuedun taisteluun kotimaisista mainosmarkoista.

I wanted to take a moment and tell you about an interesting experiment I’ve embarked on with my girlfriend Essi. It’s called Trekathon, and the its basic idea is to find out what happens to two film nerds who decide to consume the full franchise of Star Trek in just one year time.

Yesterday was the 100th day of Trekathon, and I wanted to share our results with you, the Iron Sky and Star Wreck people. As some of you might know, I’ve directed a small film called Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning some years ago. As the name would suggest, it’s a Star Trek film.

Now the funny thing was that when working on the film, I hadn’t seen practically any episodes of Star Trek. Ever.

Finally this year, I decided to fix this. I even lured my filmnerd-of-a-girlfriend Essi to join me – make her give up her obsession on films and focus completely on Star Trek for the next 365 days.
So that’s what we’ve been doing for the last 100 days. Watching Star Trek.

And to make things even more interesting, I decided to combine my long-time dream to run a marathon. So, in addition to watching all of the Star Trek movies and episodes in the next year, I’ve promised to buy a Star Trek fan shirt and wear it proudly when crossing the finishing line of Helsinki City Marathon in 2010.

Here’s where we’re standing now with Trekathon:

So far, we’ve seen 194 episodes of Star Trek, starting from the unaired pilot (“The Cage”), then moving on to The Original Series, The Animated Series and we’re just about to finish the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In addition to that, we’ve seen five Star Trek movies.

To finish our great undertaking, we have 530 episodes and 6 movies left – and 265 days to go. This means we need to watch approximately 2 episodes every day for the next 265 days.

So, what do we like Star Trek so far?

It’s awesome.

It’s better than we had ever expected.

It’s even better than that.

It’s … Grand. (Yes, I did say that in Patrick Stewart’s voice.)

We’ve set up a blog that follows our progress daily – check it out here. In addition to that, you can follow us on Twitter, and even wear a Twibbon to show your support.

Alright, friends – Live Long and Prosper!

Timo.

THE MOON NAZI INVASION REACHES AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY 17 June 2010 — Iron Sky, a science fiction black comedy about Nazis from the dark side of the Moon, is making its Australian debut at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo in Sydney this weekend. Iron Sky will be a Finnish-German-Australian co-production with a budget of 6.5 million euros. The movie will be shot mostly in English and it’s the second project from the creators of Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning, an internet hit that has gathered over eight million fans around the globe.

What makes Iron Sky special is the high degree of audience participation in creating the movie, both on the creative and financial sides. The fans and followers of the project have been able to take part in creating the movie through a collaborative movie making platform called Wreckamovie, which gives the filmmakers the chance to receive ideas and material from their internet community. The Iron Sky team is very active on the net, reaching over 60.000 fans weekly around the world with updates about the project.

Not only are fans are able to help to fund the film by purchasing limited edition merchandise, but just over a month ago, the Iron Sky team opened an investment window for their followers. The aim of the crew is to close the final 900.000 euro gap with fan investments that take the form of equity investment packages starting from 1000 euros and upwards. All of these packages contain fan perks, such as a guaranteed ticket to the premiere, a chance to arrange a private screener, getting to visit the set and meet the cast and the crew, and so on.

So far over 250 people have expressed their interest in investing in Iron Sky. The total sum of these initial offers is over half a million euros, half of which is confirmed.

“When we were making Star Wreck, we realised that the internet is full of creative genius and talented people, who are aching to take part in a movie project”, said Timo Vuorensola, the Director of Iron Sky. “Wreckamovie is a great tool for structuring this audience participation. The filmmakers can ask for help in very concrete tasks, be it either coming up with a character name in an exotic language, or designing a 3D model of a spaceship.”

According to the Finnish Producer Tero Kaukomaa extending the collaboration to funding the movie was a logical next step. “Many fans are happy to buy our merchandise and support us like that, but by investing in the movie they get the chance to actually earn some money if and when the movie makes profit. This is also a way for us to involve the audience in the whole movie making process, get them engaged and enthusiastic about the movie. So far this looks like it will be a huge success.”

Australian Producer Cathy Overett agrees: “We really feel we are breaking new ground here in Australia. To our knowledge, Iron Sky represents the most extensive opportunity for movie-fans to get involved in a high profile feature film. Best of all, Iron Sky is hilarious and is destined to be a cult classic with true break-out potential,” she adds.

Iron Sky is the second Nordic project for New Holland Pictures’ Cathy Overett following the company’s co-production of the Danish/German/Australian feature film At World’s End in 2009/2010.

Iron Sky is due to start filming in Germany in October 2010, with filming in Australia to follow in November.

For more information contact:

Cathy Overett
Co-Producer
New Holland Pictures
+61 7 3348 8799
Cathy@newhollandpictures.com.au

IRON SKY PRESS MATERIALS

For press materials, such as photos and video, head over to http://www.ironsky.net/press/

IRON SKY IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Web: http://www.ironsky.net/
Blog: http://blog.ironsky.net/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/energia, http://twitter.com/ironskyfilm
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ironsky
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/ironskyfilm
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/energiaproductions
Wreckamovie: http://www.wreckamovie.com/iron-sky/
Store: http://store.ironsky.net/

BEHIND THE IRON SKY

Iron Sky is a scifi movie that takes place in the year 2018, when the Nazis, who fled the Earth to the dark side of the Moon in 1945, return to claim the Earth. The film is a Finnish-German-Australian co-production, filmed mainly in English, with a budget of 6.5 million euros. It’s directed by Timo Vuorensola and produced by Tero Kaukomaa (Blind Spot Pictures), Samuli Torssonen (Energia Productions), Oliver Damian (27 Films Production), Cathy & Mark Overett (New Holland Pictures) and San Fu Maltha (New Holland Pictures), with a screenplay written by the acclaimed sci-fi writer Johanna Sinisalo (Nebula Award nominee 2009, Finlandia 2000) and Michael Kalesniko (Private Parts). The cast includes Julia Dietze (1½ Ritter), Götz Otto (Schindler’s List, The Downfall), Tilo Prückner (The Neverending Story, Die Fälscher) and Udo Kier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark). The film will be released in 2011 and world sales are handled by Stealth Media Group.

Information, photos and videos: http://www.ironsky.net/, http://www.ironsky.net/press

Vuorensola and Torssonen’s first film was Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning – a fan-made sci-fi parody, which was published both as a free download and a commercial DVD. The film has reached over eight million viewers all around the world and gathered a strong international fan base.

Information and photos: http://www.starwreck.com/

The Star Wreck project gave birth to a collaborative filmmaking platform called Wreckamovie, which offers film creators a direct connection with their audience, and offers the fans a never-before-seen chance to interact with movie projects.

Information: http://www.wreckamovie.com/

First, we go over to Frankfurt for about four weeks, and shoot almost all of the location scenes. That means that we’ll double Frankfurt as New York (that’s where part of the story happens), for both exteriors and interiors. It’s quite a good place for that, being the banking city with a high-rise skyline and nice indoor locations all over.

Then, we move to Brisbane, Australia, and shoot another four weeks. Altogether that adds up to 40 shooting days, give or take few. Here we will go to Warner Roadshow studios in Gold Coast, and shoot all of the studio sets – mostly the Nazi Fortress interiors and spaceship bridges and so on. There are some locations to shoot in here too, and one part of our trip to here was to go check them out.

Our Monday was spent doing auditions for one major and several smaller roles in the movie. Basically we had people coming in from ten in the morning to six in the evening and doing their lines in front of the camera. We had some really talented and hilarious people show up, and fittingly for the project, the last audition was interrupted by a smallish grease fire and a curious opossum.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we did a bit of recceing around Brisbane to see some of the locations we found extremely hard to come by in Frankfurt. One very complicated one has been a farmhouse – Frankfurt is not a huge farming area, and most of the farms are very “European” style. So we thought about it and gave it a kick over here in Brisbane.

"Maybe a little bit too dilapidated?" "Yeah, maybe a little bit."

And boy did we find an awesome farm! An old, shabby nice farm, exactly the kind we had been looking for, with all kind of old rusty cars and scrap metal all over the yard, just screaming our name!

After a good day of recceing, we went back to Brisie for a mini-fan-meeting. We met a couple of local Iron Sky fans, all great people. We flashed them a bit of some exclusive never-before-seen material and had a few beers with ‘em – if you’re reading this, very nice to meet you, hope to get to possibly even work with you, and definitely to catch up with you when we come back here.

We stumbled into old movie sets - this one was used for Scooby Doo.

Next up, there’s only a bit of recceing left to be done, and then we’re off to Sydney and start preparing for Supanova. But before that – and of this I’m extremely excited about – we’re going to meet a strong contestant to be one of our main actors.

But more on that later.

Try not to hurt yourself, and to all of you Sydneysiders out there, check out our Sydney come over and say “hi” to us in Supanova where we have our booth right next to the entrance to the signing area! Also, there’s a fan / investor meeting on Saturday at 7:30pm in Steel Bar & Grill, a stylish brasserie in downtown Sydney.

Oh – and we’re about to explore a bit through the city, so if there’s any cool shite to do over in Sydney – or, even better, any cool parties we should attend to – just give us a holler.

The electricity addicts are littering the corners of the airports, scrounging for juice for their disgusting habit for mobile computing.