Some Selected Projects
Here are some of the great creations from Qvisten’s 25 years of production!
Captain Sabertooth is our next feature-length movie, currently in the midst of Production.
The Premiere date is set to 27th of September 2019 (Norway).
Plotline: Two young pirates on the search for a lost brother, a vampire with heavy sunburns, a manipulative queen and a raging ape army – Captain Sabertooth will face plenty of challenges when he sets out to find a lost magic diamond.
Our second film about the amazing duo Knutsen and Ludvigsen will be finished in 2020.
Drama ensues when Knutsen and Ludvigsen discover that they may loose their tunnel. Only the legendary pirate Captain Knutsen can help! But where is he?
An amazing journey unfolds as Knutsen and Ludvigsen depart on a wild adventure to find Captain Knutsen and save their tunnel. But the salvation turns out to be even closer to home than anyone dared guess. It lives in the tunnel, has hundred of heads and at least fourteen legs…
Qvisten’s own love child
The film premiered on the 19th of October 2018 (Norway).
Klara is a little cow, who lives in the city with her mum and dreams of becoming a music star. One day she receives a letter from her father whom she has not seen for many years and travels to the countryside to meet him. There, she helps to save his farm from a greedy businessman, makes her first friend and understands that one can be a star in many more ways than she imagined.
Together with Rolf Løvland and Secret Garden, we’ve produced an animated music video for the first song on their album “Storyteller”.
The video was published on Secret Gardens SoMe on the 26th of April 2019.
Plotline: A belated seed hurries to catch up with it’s brethren, but instead creates it’s own unique journey towards fulfillment.
For now, this is the last of our trilogy of films, based in Kjell Aukrust’s Flåklypa-universe.
The movies are co-produced with Maipo film.
The film premiered on the 21st of September 2018 (Norway).
In the international race to the moon, the Norwegian mission is led by brilliant inventor Alfie from the village of Flaklypa. With Louis the Magpie as the brave astronaut, what could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit, actually – on the daring mission, secret passengers are discovered, hidden agendas are revealed, and nothing seems to work out the way it was planned. Louis and his friend Luca the Hedgehog are in for some surprises on their trip to the moon.
The stop-motion freature film Hakkebakkeskogen aka “In the Forest of Huckbucky” had its premiere the 25th of December 2016.
Based on Thorbjørn Egner’s beloved classic from 1952, the film features recompositions by the band Katzenjammer of the original songs by Egner & Hartmann. This is our 3rd puppet movie animated here in Norway, and we’ve already started working on our fourth. We are very proud of reinvigorating this amazing technique in Norway, and we’re so inspired by all the wonderful talent we’re accruing at our studio at Grini, Bærum, Norway.
This short is a mix of CG characters and classical hand-drawn animation. The truly cute and quirky characters and story, were first envisioned by Norwegian illustrator Lisa Aisato. Qvisten acted as the hub of the production, with Kristin Ulseth from Maipo film directing, and Sparkle Animation in Portugal supplying the 2D-animation.
Lisa took on drawing the backgrounds herself, only later did she discover the scale of her undertaking!
The movie is currently touring the festival-circuit (Stuttgart, Berlinale etc.), and won best animated short at the Tribeca film festival, curated by Whoopi Goldberg.
No consent, no happily-ever-after.
The info film was published by Amnesty International Norway on March 12th 2018.
What the f**k is the prince up to? A new law conscerning sexual consent in Norway, was coming up for a vote in the spring of 2018. Amnesty International wanted a animated campaign to illustrate the need to change the law and attitudes towards the issue.
A truly cute Norwegian video game, gets the Qvisten treatment.
The game was published on the Nintendo Switch on the 20th of March 2018
The game has won several awards, among them “Best Casual Game” at GCDA 2018.
Pode is the story of a little rock helping a fallen star find its way home. It’s a co-op puzzle exploration game, built around themes of friendship. It has a relaxing atmosphere and stunning environments. Qvisten helped Henchman & Goon bring their cinematics to the next level, with our feature-film experience.
Who says that commercials can’t have feature film quality? We put the team from Knutsen & Ludvigsen on the case, and the result is 6 charming spots that Gjensidige could use on various social media. We loved bringing back the iconic characters from the beloved film series of Olsenbanden, and we are pleased to see that the generel public approved.
See the full selection of films by clicking here.
Welcome to the fjords of Norway!
The film premiered the 6th of October 2017 (Norway).
After receiving an emergency call from Big Harbor during a fierce storm, Elias, a young rescue boat, pulls off a brave rescue mission and is hailed the hero of the hour. He is thrilled to be headhunted by the harbor and sets out to start his new life, leaving all his friends behind. However, life at Big Harbor is not all it’s cracked up to be and Elias soon discovers that a local gang is mining an illegal precious metal that has the power to alter the weather. Elias realizes that what he most needs to expose the mining operation is the help of his old friends.
Our 2nd feature about the famous trio from Flåklypa.
The last cheese race between Flåklypa and Slidre was a draw. When the traditional rivalry between them flares up again after years, two teams of three set out to defend their villages’ honour. Whichever team manages to tow a wheel of cheese to the finish line first wins. But for Solan the magpie, hedgehog Ludvig and Reodor, there’s more at stake – they’re competing to save house and home. And the race proceeds at an unexpectedly tearing pace. In this action-packed stop-motion animated feature by Rasmus A. Sivertsen, the figures whirling across the screen are not just cartoons, but downright loveable characters. Even the secondary characters are designed with great detail. The hedgehog who can’t deal with life, the wild great ape, the drowsy TV reporter – they’re characters that will stick with audiences, young and old. “The Big Cheese Race” is a children’s film that will appeal to adults as well.
The movie premiered in Oslo on the 25th of December 2015.
Amnesty works to prevent human rights violations. To illustrate such horrific actions, and distance the viewers enough, so they still will be able to take action. We chose to mix live-action footage of sets and add motion-captured actors on top. The CG-models are well integrated, so even though we are watching stick-figures, the action and message clearly translates.
Knutsen & Ludvigsen are two small guys who live in a tunnel, with a badger in the ceiling. They sing, play and argue the days away, until a young lady in peril, Amanda suddenly fall off the train – inside their tunnel! Amandas father has been kidnapped and our brave heroes, Knutsen and Ludvigsen valiantly offers to help.
The quest takes the trio through Norwegian landscape all the way to Bergen, where the battle for world domination will stand. It is a perilous and amazing journey where they encounter among others: an unfortunate pig, three fast-talking rats, and a ghost from the deep Norwegian woods.
Will they save the professor in time? Can you play on the piano tie? And what really happens when you flush a badger down the toilet?
The movie premiered 25th of September 2015.
Animation doesn’t have to be for Kids! And we surely proved this with our collaboration with artist and comic-book writer Christopher Nielsen. Based on a short comic by Nielsen, this short follows naked characters trapped in a an Escalator eternally travelling downwards, into the unknown Abyss.
No one knows what lies at the top, or the bottom, but surely it must be better at the top, not at the bottom with the losers.
If you want to watch the whole movie you can purchase it on vimeo by following this link:
https://vimeo.com/104870703
Showing off all terrains sports-chain XXL sells equipment for, we pressed them into a single stadium. This short clip was used in many combinations with tag-ons etc.
Production Company Monster wanted a new look for their intros/outros. The character designs they handled themselves, but when they wanted them to move they came to us. All 5 characters got their own “mini-movies” which we also merged together in different versions. The logo itself also got animated related to its differing designs, like the hairy and slime-versions.
The films about Twigson tells the story of Junior, a quick-witted boy who moved from the city to the country side and needed to make new friends. One day he finds the wooden twig “TWIGSON” and the imaginary, but very good friendship begins….Together they embark on small adventures.
Tough? Yes. Brave? Yes. A twig? Yes. Ordinary? Never! Because twigs like Twigson don’t grow on trees.
The task was to give McDonalds attention for their use of products from Norwegian farmers, but quite many producers are communicating the same thing… We decided to hand-make marionettes, and accompany them with music by Ronan Keating, to show the love between the norwegian farmes and McDonalds.
The famous blue cow represents the Norwegian classic chocolate “Stratos”. This time Qvisten and Nidar teamed up with the band Madcon, to create the music for this commercial and add the band members as their own characters.
Guri and Gursjan are two lonely punk rockers in the big city. They both try their best to be rebels, but that’s not easy when the world around them wants everyone to be the same. At the very least, it would be nice if they could meet and stop being lonely. But how?
Qvisten was tasked by NRK to create a new intro for “Barne-TV” in 2002.
After several incarnations, Fantorangen was one of the creatures which emerged from this process, and he has later become a staple of NRKSuper.
Since his inception, Qvisten has done some changes, like chopping down his trunk and making his universe more tactile.
Qvisten is proud of having created Fantorangen, and that he has become an icon for all the nation’s children, and is one of our most well-known entertainment-products.
“The Monarchy” – This satire web-series from 2011, depicts the daily dealings of the Norwegian Royal family. Where is the scissors the King uses to cut ropes at openings?
The series ran for one season – 10 episodes – on NRKs streaming-services (public broadcasting).
2015’s campaign-film for Operation Day’s Work (ODW) is based on illustrations by Magnus Voll Mathiassen. Qvisten has developed the look into a motion-graphics film.
This year’s campaign was for the benefit of Amnesty Norway’s work for sexual and reproductive rights in Chile, Peru and Argentina. The Campaign was named #medlikrett (#withequalrights), and the goal of the film was to awaken youth’s curiosity and play on feelings that are mutual for most, independent of nationality.
In many regards this was the first “greatly successful” web-series in Norway, and animated at that. It even won the audience choice award at the Norwegian Comedy Awards.
The show ran for two seasons on VG’s website in 2009, and a collection-DVD was produced later, containing an extra episode. The web-show garnered approx. 1 million views per episode, quite unheard of in a country of 5 million people. Many also rated the show 1-6, and wrote short reviews of the show. Often with polarized results. Jan-Thomas, the real-life basis for the main character, has commented that he greatly appreciated the parody on a couple of occasions.
Plotline: A famous hair-dresser regularly turns spandex-clad super-hero, to fight his, often personal, enemies.
We have made two features about Ploddy the Police Car.
“Ploddy the Police Car on the case” won the Amanda for Best Children’s Film in 2012.
When the beautiful nature reserve Eagle Park is opened, keeping its precious eagles safe becomes Ploddy the Police Car’s number one job. After the eagle and many other animals go missing, Ploddy needs the help of his funny otter friend, Doris, to track the disappearances. With a newly hatched baby eagle riding along under his hood, Ploddy and Doris investigate some mysterious campers in the park and crack the case!
“Ploddy the Police Car makes a splash” is a 3d animated film.
A powerful autumn storm cuts the power lines providing the small Norwegian town of Bodø with electricity. Ploddy the Police Car heroically pulls a new cable across the mountain and against the wind so the town can have light and heating back again. After finishing the job, Ploddy accidentally touches a live electric cable and is jolted by a powerful shock. Everyone in Bodø fears that the strain was too much for little Ploddy, but something wonderful happens and Ploddy returns better than ever as an electric car. Full of pure energy, Ploddy investigates the town’s missing water supply and the attempt by the Badger brothers to get rich selling bottled water during the crisis.
A Qvisten Classic
The film premiered the 31st of October 2008 (Norway).
One day Kurt discovers that society basically does not respect forklift operators very much. His wife is an ambitious architect. His neighbor is a medical doctor. Not even Kurt’s own kids seem to be very happy about their father’s occupation. Even if Kurt is popular among his colleagues and likes to drive a forklift, he quits his job, and starts climbing the social ladder. He wants to become a doctor, he wants to get rich, and he wants to be somebody. In the end, he even wants to become Prime Minister. But he does not have much success in any of his projects, and as time goes by, Kurt turns – vicious.
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We constantly have great people working with us on particular projects, often for a long time. So here’s a big thank you, you all know who you are!
Ove Heiborg
Producer/Owner
Rasmus A. Sivertsen
Director/Owner
Fredrik Kiøsterud
General Manager
Georg Barlindhaug Ellingsen
Studio Manager
Elisabeth Opdal
Producer
Heidi Sandberg
Producer
Eirik Smidesang Slåen
Producer
Anne Vollstad
CFO & Administration
