The Magic Reindeer – Visual Style

Right from the beginning of her career in puppet animation, Katariina Lillqvist´s films are known for their extraordinary visual style. She always uses as much of natural materials and real-life objects as possible, and this style is going to continue also in this project.

The colour scale of the shaman tales is going to be very northern. The deep green shades of the taiga forest, the crystal-clear waters of the Lapland rivers and lakes , the ancient stones with their tribal illustrations - they are the basics for the palette of the set designer.

The backgrounds are mostly made from real stones, sand and wood; sometimes natural clay is used. The houses are mostly tents made from reindeer leather. The leather material is as well present in shaman drums and with the transparent characteristics of the material some elements of the shadow puppet theatre are going to be used.

Also the presence or absence of the light is very important visual element. In Lapland, there is the Polar Night from November until March – this means that the sun never shines. On the other hand, there are the White Nights of the midsummer with 24 hours sunlight per day! In autumn and winter there are special halo effects – aurora borealis - in the sky ; they are also called the fires of the foxes. These fires are very important in Lapland mythology and they are also part of the opening and closing titles of the single episodes.

Some northern tribes still use so called ritual puppets, this tradition is especially alive amongst the Nenetchi folk in Siberia. They have been a great inspiration not only for the director but for the whole team as well.