Introduction
GROUND CONTROL is an experimental Austrian independent feature film that uses a mixture of real film and animated sequences to explore the life of a psychotic and narcissistic filmmaker, offering insights into a cosmos of thoughts marked by trauma and fear of loss.
At its core, the film is thus also an examination of toxic masculinity and male self-aggrandizement and attempts to portray these in an exaggerated, partly satirical way. The film was completed with a budget less than € 12,000 and after more than 3.5 years of work. Ground Control is screened in various cinemas in Austria and won several international film awards.
Testimonial
“Vladimir Savic was an integral part of the whole production process. Although he was mainly working as an animation director, his artistic handwriting can also be explored in other departments of the production.
In the preproduction process, Savic helped me develop a visual language with our director of photography Moritz Uthe. At that time he drew hundreds of storyboard images. His creative way of framing images and his communication skills made it easy for the other departments to transport our ideas into real-life footage.
Savic’s creative work can also be found in the real-film footage. One of Ground Control’s main themes is the fear of becoming someone else, something horrific beyond the designated social role. As a symbol for that fear, Vladimir created a specific prop, an iconic, devilish mask. Moreover, he also created experimental overlays as well as all the paintings that can be seen in the movie.
As Ground Control is partly an animated movie, Vladimir was responsible for all the animated scenes. His creative impetus and passion made all that possible. Although the movie’s concept never had the intention to include 15 minutes of animated scenes, Vladimir’s ideas inspired the authorial team to develop a subplot that ought to support the movies vision. He developed a specific “childish” look in order to serve the childlike narration in these sequences. Nearly all frames within these sequences are hand-drawn which makes it even more stunning considering that he was the only person working on this scenes. There are thousands of hand-drawn frames in Ground Control.
Trailer
A storyboard overlay-ed on a movie footage.
It was the first time for me to work together with Vladimir Savic but I feel honored saying that it won’t be the last time. Vladimir Savic worked against all odds and although the production conditions were rather precarious and a lot of people would have given up, Savic still had the ability to perform under a highly professional level. When seeing GROUND CONTROL one can’t unsee Vladimir’s artistic ideas all over the movie.
Besides his creative handwriting it was also absolutely joyful to work with him as he is a very humble, interested person that has a true passion for artistic work and tries to explore new boundaries and new art forms. That makes him an inspiring artist to me.”
Helmut Karner
Director and Writer
A few live-action shots.
