-
The film is the first time a Nordic-style film has been integrated into Chinese film creation.
-
The film is adapted from the highly mythical and lyrical Finnish national epic "Kalevala", which has been translated into 54 languages and spread to many countries around the world. "Kalevala" means "heroic country", that is, the territory where the heroes live. Compared with other epics, the male protagonists in "Kalevala" are very unique. They are true warriors and hopeless lovers who, despite their bravery and fighting skills, will never get the woman they love.
-
The film was shot in Finland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Zhejiang, China between 2005 and 2006.
-
With the cooperation of local investor Villila Film Studio, the film officially started shooting in Pori on August 1, 2005. The Villila studio was originally the shipyard of Technip Offshore, where all the interior scenes of Kay's blacksmith shop were filmed. At this time, the film crew already included Finns, Estonians, Swedes and Chinese, and the mosttime on the set was using 6 languages at the same time.
-
The film's production designer, Juka Ustalo, and his crew spent months building a huge octahedral blacksmith shop in this tall shipyard, where the crew spent four weeks shooting. The location allowed the use of an open flame, and a running tractor engine was chained to the scene to intensify the fire and keep the film's protagonist Kai's wrought-iron furnace ablaze. The shots of the blacksmith shop were shot in sequence, starting with Kai's sword-making shot at the beginning of the film, and ending with the fight between Kai and Bozhi. It took a total of 6 shooting days.
-
Filming in Estonia began in Vihterpalu, where a swamp was built on a site that was once flattened by forest fires. The ground here is very dry and hard, making it a lot easier for the crew to work on than real swamps, but the mosquito population and Pori's dust concentration are almost comparable. In that dreamy scene of a fight on the grass, where Pertola's character Hiroyashi guides Aeon's character, is very rude, and the scene was filmed in a forest near Vihterpalu's home. There were few mosquitoes, but lice instead, 17 of which were found on Tommy Iron's body and clothes after a night of shooting the fight.
-
In the grass fight scene, the wire-fighting skills that Ion worked so hard on during his fight training come in handy. Over the course of three nights of filming, Ion and a thrilling action actor wandered through a forest covered in soft moss. In Anila's memory, the fight on the grass was the most successful, both sensually and technically.
-
After filming in Vihterpalu, the crew moved to Tallinn to shoot the interior and secret rooms of the Sanfu store and the exterior of the modern Finnish city. The secret room scene was filmed in a room in the basement of the old Tallinn University, where heinous crimes were committed during World War II. The university administrator refused to go to the room in the basement used for the filming, which he said had seen through surveillance cameras a shivering elderly woman that was supposed to be empty. Now the film crew can work without any interruptions, and the ghosts only appear when the scene is set. The experience of that time still makes the film crew feel chills when they think about it.
-
The first shot filmed in China was a scene in a tavern, where extras, played by people from the filming location, packed the filming location, and after the initial chaos and difficulties, the filming went smoothly, just like the previous filming. Just as smoothly. Although only two of the 85 Chinese on the crew could speak English and there was only one translator on the crew, the filming went very smoothly. The photographer said that his cooperation with the local lighting engineer was able to communicate very smoothly only by hand gestures in the later stage.
-
The most anticipated part of the film's production was Tommy Iron's first Chinese dialogue in front of the local film crew, the main cast and the crowd. The director issued a warning through the assistant director that no matter what came out of the protagonist's mouth, no one was allowed to laugh, because his dialogue would be dubbed later in the future. Ion has been practicing Chinese dialogues for a long time, often into the middle of the night, so it is quite rewarding. His first dialogues are very authentic. However, Ion, who has always been strict with himself, continued his intensive language practice while filming in China.
-
The post-production of the film was done in collaboration with editor Ika Hesse. From the beginning of 2006 until May, the underground editing room in Helsinki became their second home. Work on digital effects also started during that time.
-
The film is the film with the most digital effects in Finnish cinema. Stunt supervisors Timo Pecu Neminin and Russe Kilpya and their crew created a very good digital effect in a situation where time was always tight. Thousands of monk warriors, flying sparks, wasps and leaves, mountain vistas, and a swirling starry sky were added to the live-action scene, while the hanging wires and production equipment that entered the frame during filming were trimmed .
Jadesoturi behind the scenes gags
2022-02-28 08:01
Extended Reading
-
[subtitled version]
Kai: Did you just put a sword in my stomach?
Berg: Yep, yep.
-
Berg: I want a piece of your hair.
Kai: You want what?