TROLL WITH IT
Fifteen years in the making, Discworld’s Cohen the Barbarian rides forth in Troll Bridge
After 15 years in development production has finally wrapped on 40-minute Discworld short Troll Bridge. Based on the very short story by the late Sir Terry Pratchett, Troll Bridge follows Cohen the Barbarian (an octogenarian parody of Conan) as he sets out to prove himself a hero by besting a bridge troll in a battle of one-onone combat, but ends up reminiscing about the good old days instead.
“We wanted to adapt a Discworld story and so we looked for something short and easy to manage, and Troll Bridge was it,” director Daniel Knight tells Red Alert with mock anguish. “When we started 15 years ago we were doing it more as a filmmaking learning experience. We knew there was a wider audience out there but we were just trying to make a little $5,000 (AUD) film.”
Over the years some sections of the film have had to be rewritten – which can turn out to be a blessing in disguise as Knight explains: “Terry Pratchett saw our original prologue and said he wished we’d asked him to do the dialogue... A couple of years down the line we found ourselves in the position where we had to reshoot the prologue. We got back in touch saying, now’s your chance, please. And he did!”
Troll Bridge wouldn’t be possible without the help of the 300 volunteer crew, artists, armies worth of re-enactors who have helped bring the characters to life. “Post-production is the bane of my existence but we were fortunate to have Shotgun Software as a sponsor. Shotgun is like Facebook for post-production where artists can see what frames are needed and can check out scenes and assets.”
With $158,590 raised over 15 years, Troll Bridge is a far cry from the backyard fan film it was originally going to be. AB
Look out for Troll Bridge on the film festival circuit. www.trollbridge.film