Ivo Caprino
Encyclopedia
Ivo Caprino was a Norwegian
film director
and writer
, best known for his puppet
films. His most famous film is Flåklypa Grand Prix
("Pinchcliffe Grand Prix"), made in 1975.
of two little trolls, representing Caries
and Bacterium
, living in a boy's teeth. Ingeborg Gude made the puppets for these films as well, as she would continue to do up until her death in the mid sixties.
When making Tim og Tøffe, Caprino invented an ingenious method for controlling the puppet's movements in real time. The technique can be described as a primitive, mechanical version of animatronics
.
Caprino's films received rave reviews, and he quickly became a celebrity in Norway. In particular, the public were fascinated with the secret technology used to make his films. When he switched to traditional stop motion
, Caprino tried to maintain the impression that he was still using some kind of "magic" technology to make the puppets move, even though all his later films were made with traditional stop motion techniques.
In addition to the short films, Caprino produced dozens of advertising films with puppets. In 1959, he directed a live action feature film, Ugler i Mosen, which also contained stop motion sequences. He then embarked on his most ambitious project, a feature film about Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
, who travelled around Norway in the 19th century collecting traditional folk tales. The plan was to use live action for the sequences showing Asbjørnsen, and then to realise the folk tales using stop motion. Unfortunately, Caprino was unable to secure funding for the project, so he ended up making the planned folk tale sequences as separate 16 minute puppet films, bookended by live action sequences showing Asbjørnsen.
, it featured a group of eccentric characters all living in the small village of Pinchcliffe. The TV special was a collection of sketches based on Aukrust's books, with no real story line. After 1.5 years of work, it was decided that it didn't really work as a whole, so production on the TV special was stopped (with the exception of some very short clips, no material from it has ever been seen by the public), and Caprino and Aukrust instead wrote a screenplay for a feature film using the characters and environments that had already been built.
The result was The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, which stars Theodore Rimspoke (No
. Reodor Felgen) and his two assistants, Sonny Duckworth (No
. Solan Gundersen), a cheerful and optimistic bird, and Lambert (No
. Ludvig), a nervous, pessimistic and melancholic hedgehog. Theodore works as a bicycle repairman, though he spends most of his time inventing weird Rube Goldberg
-like contraptions. One day, the trio discover that one of Theodore's former assistants, Rudolph Gore-Slimey , has stolen his design for a race car engine, and has become a world champion Formula One
driver.
Sonny secures funding from an Arab oil sheik who happens to be vacationing in Pinchcliffe, and the trio then build a gigantic racing car, Il Tempo Gigante – a fabulous construction with two engines, radar and its own blood bank. Theodore then enters a race, and ends up winning, beating Gore-Slimey despite his attempts at sabotage.
The film was made in 3.5 years by a team of approximately 5 people. Caprino directed and animated, Bjarne Sandemose (Caprino's principal collaborator throughout his career) built the sets and the cars, and was in charge of the technical side, Ingeborg Riiser modeled the puppets and Gerd Alfsen made the costumes and props.
When it came out in 1975, The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix was an enormous success in Norway, selling 1 million tickets in its first year of release. It remains the biggest box office hit of all time in Norway (Caprino Studios claim it has sold 5.5 million tickets to date) and was also released in many other countries.
To help promote the film abroad, Caprino and Sandemose built a full scale replica of Il Tempo Gigante that is legal for public roads, but is usually exposited at Hunderfossen Familiepark
.
based on his folk tale movies, and making tourist films using a custom built multi camera setup of his own design that shoots 280 degrees panorama
movies.
. Although he was born and died in Oslo
, but lived all of his life at Snarøya
in Bærum
. He died in 2001 from cancer
. Since Caprino's death, his son Remo has had great success developing a computer game based on Flåklypa Grand Prix
.
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, best known for his puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....
films. His most famous film is Flåklypa Grand Prix
Flåklypa Grand Prix
Flåklypa Grand Prix is a Norwegian stop motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust...
("Pinchcliffe Grand Prix"), made in 1975.
Early career
In the mid 1940s, Caprino helped his mother design puppets for a puppet theatre, which inspired him to try making a film using his mother's designs. The result of their collaboration was Tim og Tøffe, an 8 minute film released in 1949 . Several films followed in the next couple of years, including two 15 minute shorts that are still shown regularly in Norway today, Veslefrikk med Fela (Little Freddy and his Fiddle), based on a Norwegian folk tale, and Karius og Baktus, a story by Thorbjørn EgnerThorbjørn Egner
Thorbjørn Egner was a Norwegian playwright, songwriter and illustrator known for his books, plays and musicals for children.-Career:...
of two little trolls, representing Caries
Dental caries
Dental caries, also known as tooth decay or a cavity, is an irreversible infection usually bacterial in origin that causes demineralization of the hard tissues and destruction of the organic matter of the tooth, usually by production of acid by hydrolysis of the food debris accumulated on the...
and Bacterium
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
, living in a boy's teeth. Ingeborg Gude made the puppets for these films as well, as she would continue to do up until her death in the mid sixties.
When making Tim og Tøffe, Caprino invented an ingenious method for controlling the puppet's movements in real time. The technique can be described as a primitive, mechanical version of animatronics
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...
.
Caprino's films received rave reviews, and he quickly became a celebrity in Norway. In particular, the public were fascinated with the secret technology used to make his films. When he switched to traditional stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
, Caprino tried to maintain the impression that he was still using some kind of "magic" technology to make the puppets move, even though all his later films were made with traditional stop motion techniques.
In addition to the short films, Caprino produced dozens of advertising films with puppets. In 1959, he directed a live action feature film, Ugler i Mosen, which also contained stop motion sequences. He then embarked on his most ambitious project, a feature film about Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen
Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was a Norwegian writer and scholar. He and Jørgen Engebretsen Moe were collectors of Norwegian folklore...
, who travelled around Norway in the 19th century collecting traditional folk tales. The plan was to use live action for the sequences showing Asbjørnsen, and then to realise the folk tales using stop motion. Unfortunately, Caprino was unable to secure funding for the project, so he ended up making the planned folk tale sequences as separate 16 minute puppet films, bookended by live action sequences showing Asbjørnsen.
The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix
In 1970, Caprino and his small team of collaborators, started work on a 25 minutes TV special, which would eventually become The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix. Based on a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell AukrustKjell Aukrust
Kjell Aukrust was a Norwegian author, poet and artist. He was the nephew of Olav Aukrust. He is most famous for his memoirs of his childhood in Alvdal in the books Simen, Bonden and Bror Min, and his creation of the fictional Norwegian village of Flåklypa and its cast of idiosyncratic characters...
, it featured a group of eccentric characters all living in the small village of Pinchcliffe. The TV special was a collection of sketches based on Aukrust's books, with no real story line. After 1.5 years of work, it was decided that it didn't really work as a whole, so production on the TV special was stopped (with the exception of some very short clips, no material from it has ever been seen by the public), and Caprino and Aukrust instead wrote a screenplay for a feature film using the characters and environments that had already been built.
The result was The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix, which stars Theodore Rimspoke (No
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. Reodor Felgen) and his two assistants, Sonny Duckworth (No
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. Solan Gundersen), a cheerful and optimistic bird, and Lambert (No
Norwegian language
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
. Ludvig), a nervous, pessimistic and melancholic hedgehog. Theodore works as a bicycle repairman, though he spends most of his time inventing weird Rube Goldberg
Rube Goldberg
Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor.He is best known for a series of popular cartoons depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. These devices, now known as Rube Goldberg machines, are similar to...
-like contraptions. One day, the trio discover that one of Theodore's former assistants, Rudolph Gore-Slimey , has stolen his design for a race car engine, and has become a world champion Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
driver.
Sonny secures funding from an Arab oil sheik who happens to be vacationing in Pinchcliffe, and the trio then build a gigantic racing car, Il Tempo Gigante – a fabulous construction with two engines, radar and its own blood bank. Theodore then enters a race, and ends up winning, beating Gore-Slimey despite his attempts at sabotage.
The film was made in 3.5 years by a team of approximately 5 people. Caprino directed and animated, Bjarne Sandemose (Caprino's principal collaborator throughout his career) built the sets and the cars, and was in charge of the technical side, Ingeborg Riiser modeled the puppets and Gerd Alfsen made the costumes and props.
When it came out in 1975, The Pinchcliffe Grand Prix was an enormous success in Norway, selling 1 million tickets in its first year of release. It remains the biggest box office hit of all time in Norway (Caprino Studios claim it has sold 5.5 million tickets to date) and was also released in many other countries.
To help promote the film abroad, Caprino and Sandemose built a full scale replica of Il Tempo Gigante that is legal for public roads, but is usually exposited at Hunderfossen Familiepark
Hunderfossen Familiepark
Hunderfossen Familiepark is an amusement park north of Lillehammer in the province of Oppland in Norway.The park is one of Norway's biggest tourist attractions, with over 250,000 visitors each summer. The park was founded in 1984. The park currently has more than 50 attractions. The park also has...
.
Later career
Except for some TV work in the late seventies, Caprino made no more puppet films, focusing instead on creating attractions for the Hunderfossen theme park outside LillehammerLillehammer
is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...
based on his folk tale movies, and making tourist films using a custom built multi camera setup of his own design that shoots 280 degrees panorama
Panorama
A panorama is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film/video, or a three-dimensional model....
movies.
Personal life
Caprino was the son of furniture designer Mario Caprino and the artist Ingeborg Gude, who was a granddaughter of the painter Hans GudeHans Gude
Hans Fredrik Gude was a Norwegian romanticist painter and is considered along with Johan Christian Dahl to be one of Norway's foremost landscape painters...
. Although he was born and died in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, but lived all of his life at Snarøya
Snarøya
Snarøya is a populated peninsula in the inner Oslofjord in Norway. A suburb of Oslo, administratively and geographically it belongs to Bærum municipality in Akershus county. It is located south of the districts Lysaker, Lagåsen and Fornebu, and has 2,940 inhabitants.-History:Its name is derived...
in Bærum
Bærum
is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Sandvika. Bærum was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838. A suburb of Oslo, Bærum is located on the west coast of the city....
. He died in 2001 from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. Since Caprino's death, his son Remo has had great success developing a computer game based on Flåklypa Grand Prix
Flåklypa Grand Prix
Flåklypa Grand Prix is a Norwegian stop motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust...
.
Filmography
- 1975 – Flåklypa Grand PrixFlåklypa Grand PrixFlåklypa Grand Prix is a Norwegian stop motion-animated feature film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was released in 1975 and is based on characters from a series of books by Norwegian cartoonist and author Kjell Aukrust...
- 1967 – Gutten som kappåt med trollet
- 1966 – Sjuende far i huset
- 1963 – Papirdragen
- 1962 – Reveenka
- 1961 – Askeladden og de gode hjelperne
- 1959 – Ugler i mosen
- 1958 – Et hundeliv med meg
- 1955 – Den standhaftige tinnsoldat
- 1955 – Klatremus i knipe
- 1954 – Karius og Baktus
- 1952 – Veslefrikk med fela
- 1950 – Musikk på loftet/En dukkedrømA Doll's DreamA Doll's Dream is a 1950 Norwegian animation film directed by Ivo Caprino. It was the first 35mm colour film made in Norway.The film is about Lars and Lotte, two children whose father owns a music shop. The father wants them to learn to play, but instead of playing the instruments they destroy them...
- 1949 – Tim og Tøffe