and Magma Films present

Cert: U, Running Time: 88 minutes

Images available from www.vervepics.com

If you would like further information or request an interview, please contactCaroline Henshaw, Rabbit Publicity

Tel: 020 7299 3680; Email: caroline@rabbitpublicity.com

SYNOPSIS

‘The Ugly Duckling And Me’

Based on the much loved fairytale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling and Me tells the story of Ratso, a wheeler dealer city rat, and Ugly, a baby duckling with a most striking appearance.

Ratso is a traveling scammer who longs to make it in the profitable world of show business, as he scrapes by a living as the theatrical agent of a hapless, eternally ungrateful worm named Wesley. But when Ratso ends up on a duck farm and becomes the caretaker of a large egg, he is about to find out the true meaning of friendship. As the egg cracks and an unsightly hatchling emerges, Ratso nicknames it "Ugly" and reluctantly finds himself assuming the role of the chick's de facto father.

But Ugly isn’t your average baby duckling – he’s an UGLY duckling. Dollar signs flash before Ratso's eyes as he sees Ugly as a potential source of income and he schemes to exploit his ugliness as an attraction at his cousin Ernie’s countryside carnival. Together, the unlikely pair escape the duck yard for the Big Time, embarking on an adventure-filled journey that sees Ugly discovering the truth about his own and Ratso’s identity. Along the way, even the heartless rodent comes to realise that there is much more to life than making a quick buck.

Filmmakers Michael Hegner and Karsten Kiilerich deliver top-notch 3D animation in this rollicking, lightning-paced story full of visual humour, witticism, and snappy dialogue that will delight the whole family.

The Ugly Duckling And Me – story outline

Our story begins somewhere down town with Ratso, a wannabe hit show guy with his latest act Wesley; 'The longest Worm in the World' After another flop, Wesley threatens to leave Ratso for a new manager. While Ratso tries to persuade him to hang on in there and join him on his quest to find success at the carnival, Ratso finds himself suddenly running for his life and away from a nasty gang of rats, Frank, Stan and Phyllis – the leader. There is a frantic a chase through the city streets and rooftops. After a series of close calls, he makes his dramatic escape, leaping on to a passing train from on high. It speeds him away from the immediate dangers of the city and into the countryside. Ratso couldn’t be happier. He has escaped with his life and has managed to bring Wes with him in his matchbox backpack. He's on his way. But Phyllis has not lost sight of him and vows," Your life belongs to me Ratso and I'm gonna find you whatever it takes!"

Things don't stay peaceful for Ratso for long however. Just when Ratso can see the carnival within his grasp, he is rudely ripped from the train roof by an unexpected tree branch and he and Wes end up landing in a nest with a rather lively un-hatched egg for company. As it jolts around, trying to hatch, Ratso takes the disturbance personally and starts fighting with the egg. Wesley, Ratso and the egg are soon snowballing at high speed through the air. Wesley, Ratso's last hope at success ends up getting trapped inside a smelly old bottle. Ratso and the egg finally come to a stop in the centre of an inhospitable duck yard, inhabited by all kinds of suspicious and rather intimidating poultry. Surrounded by angry ducks and chickens, Ratso is faced with the serious charge of stealing the egg. Thinking on his feet, he claims that not only is he not stealing the egg, but he actually fathered it. His story explains how his wife, herself a duck, died tragically leaving him alone with the egg. Her final wish was that her duckling would not be brought up in the city. She wanted him to grow up with the love she had known in this very duck yard.

Esmeralda, Mayor of the yard, isn’t buying a word of his story. But supported by the dizzy chickens, who are heart broken by Ratso’s tale, and Daphne, the one duck who takes pity on him, she agrees to let the egg and Ratso stay.

Ratso’s sigh of relief is short lived as the egg begins to hatch. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation, waiting for the first glimpse of the cute little duckling. But the egg cracks open and the crowd gasp in horror as ‘Ugly’ gets to his feet.The poor little duckling, hurt and intimidated by the cruel onlookers, runs to Ratso. He looks in his eyes and utters his first word: “Mama.” Ratso brushes Ugly off, telling him he’s home now and the ducks will look after him. Pleased that he’s managed to get himself out of another tight situation, Ratso is ready to leave the duck yard and duckling behind. But Esmeralda isn’t going to let him off that easy. If it’s true that the duckling's mother was a member of the duck yard then Ugly can stay. But Ratso’s going nowhere, he’s a father and with that comes responsibilities. He must stay and raise his child.

Ratso weighs up the options. He can’t go back to the city until things cool down. Those rats don’t give up easily and he could use a safe place to hide out for the summer. With his own best interests at heart, Ratso decides to stay, posing as Ugly’s father. How hard could it be? In the meantime he can tunnel his way out of the yard find Wesley and make it to his cousin Ernie's carnival where he will fulfil his dreams of success.

And so life in the duck yard together begins. Unaccustomed to dealing with infants, Ratso coldly lays down the law for Ugly, telling him to stay out of his way and everything will be fine.Unable to fight back the tears, Ugly begins to weep. And then wail. Terrified, Ratso does everything he can think of to stop him crying. All his attempts are in vain – what does this kid want from him?!“A father,” says Daphne as she calms Ugly down and gently breaks the news to Ratso that raising little ones on your own is not easy – and she should know. Ratso has no choice. He’s going to have to try to make go of this father thing.

Although the other ducks won’t accept him and he’s constantly reminded of his unsightly appearance, Ugly manages to salvage a few good times from the summer he spends at the duck yard, like when he would lie with Ratso sleeping or watching the majestic swans fly overhead by the pond.The summer has come to an end and autumn has crept in. Ratso has tunnelled to the edge of the duck yard and it's time for his great escape. But first, after promising the chickens a great "show"; a cover-up for his digging a large pile of dirt in the yard, he must put Ugly up on stage. The show begins and a very reluctant Ugly, who has been cajoled into thinking he's a star in the making, stands frozen on stage. With no time for goodbyes, Ratso makes a run for it as Ugly, lost, terrified and poked by the other nasty chicks from back stage, is bouncing around on stage to a delighted audience who think he looks..well ridiculous.

Unknown to Ratso the gang of rats has followed him and on hearing the mocking laughter from the duck yard Phyllis knows she has found him " It's one of Ratso's shows alright!" They chase him. Ratso realises he's in trouble again and after finding Wesley in the bottle he hides from Phyllis and her brothers. As he pauses quietly waiting for safety Ratso is spellbound at the sight of the show and Wesley soon joins in the uproarious laughter coming from the yard. Wesley says it all: "That must be the ugliest duckling in the world!!" All Ratso needs to know…Unceremoniously dumping Wesley, Ratso heads back for Ugly and gets on the road to the carnival with his brand new act, his, "little goldmine".

Life on the road is hard. Winter has set in and if Ugly wants to go on the run with Ratso he’ll have to toughen up. Pestered, by endless questions and a little scared Ugly, Ratso, who is feeling a bit spooked himself but feigning courage tells him that if he's scared out here in the woods he just has to quietly say "Help Me" and "Ratso the Ruthless" will comes to the rescue. He has to eat his words very soon when a fox, fresh from an attack on a flock of geese and carrying an injured girl goose between it's uncompromising jaws discovers the two of them, Ugly charges to the rescue after hearing the girl softly say "Help Me". The girl goose escapes as Ratso and Ugly provide a distraction leaving Ratso to beg the fox for his life explaining that "he's a mother now!" On seeing Ugly close up the fox is put off by his appearance and leaves, disgusted and without a meal.

Meanwhile Phyllis and her gang having literally squeezed the information out of Wesley are following Ratso's trail and they now know he has a little duck for company too.

Soon night falls and Ugly and Ratso take refuge in a old abandoned car in the snow. Realising his appearance and no act of courage was the real reason they escaped the fox, a downcast Ugly searches for a meaning of life as Ratso and he chat about beauty and about growing up.Ugly laments as he falls asleep "I can't wait til I'm grown up. "He doesn't have to. When Ratso wakes the following morning he's in for a shock. The little toddler he had reluctantly being playing surrogate father to has turned into a teenager and now

towers over him.

They set out over the frozen snow and on their way Ratso suddenly realises what's happened to Ugly. He is bemoaning his lot about having to put up with a moody lazy teenager when things take a turn for the worse as far as Ratso is concerned. Ugly first sets eyes on the beautiful Jesse; the injured girl goose he had rescued. It’s love at first sight. Ratso hates it. Jesse asks them can she hang around for a while, as she is not ready to fly yet with her injured wing. Despite Ugly’ s pleading expression, Ratso refuses point blank; everything’s fine the way it is. The last thing they need is Jesse upsetting things. But Ugly has come of age and now he has an ally too. Ratso is not going to find is so easy getting him to just do everything he asks him to - Jesse comes along "on a trial basis".

Soon they reach a frozen river. They have to cross it to get to the carnival but Ugly and Jesse refuse worried the ice will break. Jesse has another plan but pride gets in the way and Ratso, not wanting to accept Jesse as part of the team, heads off on to the ice on his own. He is almost immediately in trouble when he finds himself trapped on the ice with an enormous pike heading straight for him. He is terrified. Ugly dashes to his father's rescue and somehow they escape. Actually the pike is so totally disgusted at the sight of Ugly as her next meal that she spits them both out. Jesse who is lost in admiration for Ugly's courage likes Ugly even more. With nothing to do but amuse themselves Jesse and Ugly are having the time of their lives. They spend every waking moment together. She is positive and confident; everything Ugly could ever hope to be. And for some reason…she seems to like him.Ratso is feeling it. He's actually a bit jealous and even though his motivation is to bring Ugly to the carnival and put him on stage like a freak, he's missing the time when it was just the two of them. He tells Ugly he was getting used to the father thing and well…. Ugly is not even listening. He's sitting, laughing and talking by the campfire with Jesse. As they talk Jesse persuades Ugly to do this dance thing he's being going on about and show her this act they are bringing to the carnival, He shyly agrees and to Jesse's amusement does the most ridiculous goofy dance she has ever seen, She laughs loudly. Ugly is wounded. She has really upset him.

Next morning Ratso is whistlin' a happy tune. He knows Jesse has put her foot in it and she on the other hand is so furious with Ratso she decides to take him on. Out of earshot she accuses him of betrayal and of planning all along to use and humiliate Ugly. They argue. They fight. Ratso demands Ugly goes with him. Jesse tries to stop him. Ugly loses it runs off crying only to smack straight into a tall fence, He is flat out.

As he comes to he realises they've made it. They have finally reached the magical world of the carnival! It's a wondrous sight. Full of delights and childhood dreams, games, train rides, a hurdy gurdy, and filled with an array of eccentric seagulls who seem to be its only inhabitants.

Ratso inquires after his cousin Ernie and everything falls silent. Phyllis and her brothers are there already. There is no escape. Just then a large and fearsome cat appears directly behind Phyllis. Her brothers Stan and Frank try to warn her but she 's too busy enjoying the moment seeing Ratso squirm. A chase ensues. It's havoc. The cat chases all of the rats now including Ratso. It's life or death, it’s a roller coaster and literally a ghost train ride.Ugly yells out in desperation for his dad who is facing certain death just as he is swallowed by the huge cat. "Ratso!!" The cat stops "Ratso, cousin Ratso"!? Phyllis and company escape back to the duck yard She has other plans.

It's happy days. Ernie and his ventriloquist hand puppet psychotic other half William chat about the reunion and the big show they can plan with Ratso and his new act. Things have been going down hill at the carnival and this new act is going to be fantastic. What is the new act anyway? Jesse is still sore at Ratso. Ugly is still sore at Jesse. Ratso is guilty about the whole thing putting Ugly out on stage like a freak. He doesn't even want to say what the act is when Ugly pipes up "I'm the act!"There's now no going back and despite his original motives Ratso is really guilty now. He just needs to find a way to stop this train and find the words to explain to Ugly about everything but Ugly is so confident and even when Jesse makes an attempt to persuade him - what Ratso is up to it's no use. Having fallen out with Jesse, Ugly is having none of it and has all his faith in Ratso.

When the show collapses Ugly is broken and leaves the stage in tears to reunite with Jesse.Phyllis appears on board a captured seagull and kidnaps Ugly. If she can't get to Ratso with his crazy cat cousin for protection around, she'll get Ratso to come to her. She flies off to the duck yard with the captured Ugly. Ratso is alone with his bad conscious. He has really let Ugly down. There is only one thing to do.

At the duck yard all the poultry including Daphne are imprisoned. Phyllis has taken over and is preparing for Ratso' s demise once he shows up. There is lots of activity and now hundreds of other rats to be seen. Ugly is thrown into a coop He is tied up and feeling afraid but mostly bitter at his father's betrayal. He is all alone.

After an attempt at being the hero and the Dad Ugly needed, Ratso too is imprisoned by Phyllis and her gang. Ernie, William and Jesse also are all locked up and unable to help. Ratso spends his last night with Ugly. But the hardest thing he has to do is tell Ugly that he’s not his real father. He was just a stray egg that Ratso adopted to get out of another sticky situation. He asks Ugly if he can ever forgive him? Ugly’s reaction is unexpected. He really doesn’t care. In his own way, Ratso was always the one who was there for him when nobody else was. What more could you want from a father?

Next morning Phyllis is ready and waiting. Ratso is escorted through a line of rats to face his doom. He says goodbye to Ugly. More rats are arriving and a gallows is being constructed. Soon life as Ratso knows it will be over. Ratso is led, struggling in vain, to the newly constructed gallows. Ratso is lowered to his knees on the platform and the priest steps around in front of him and speaks: “We are gathered here today…”

As Ratso looks up all is revealed. He is kneeling beside Phyllis who now wears a veil and smiling wickedly: “Don't be nervous Ratso.” The "gallows" is actually a wooden altar for the couple to make their vows on. The other rats who arrived during the night were just wedding guests.

Ratso begs Phyllis to reconsider. She never loved him! Before they can go any further, the ceremony is interrupted when Ugly emerges from the chicken coop. Shocked gasps come from the crowd. No longer the awkward, unsightly ‘duckling’, Ugly has made the transformation to a swan. Jesse, Esmeralda and all the others, now freed since Ugly's transformation which blew the chicken coop apart, stand around stunned at the beautiful sight. Ugly rushes to save Ratso from what he thinks is his death and so reveals when he calls out "Dad!" that Ratso has a kid.

Not at all impressed Phyllis finally flips. It was all in vain. He was supposed to be" the last, no strings attached, single rat in the city!!" Phyllis spins him around: “You’ve got kids?!”Ratso smiles: "Yes and would you believe it, I have no idea who the mother is !"That’s the last straw for Phyllis; she punches Ratso full in the face knocking him out cold. But Ugly intervenes sending her flying face first in to the wedding cake she had always longed for.

When it seems like everything is falling into place and Ratso awakens to find Ugly and Daphne by his side, a flock of beautiful swans arrive. They tell Ugly it's time to be with his own kind. It is his destiny. They all say goodbye to Ugly by the water as he flies off and leaves behind all his friends, his father and Jesse. It's difficult but it feels like the right thing to do.

It doesn't last for long though. On his maiden flight with the swans Ugly finds them to be shallow and aloof and only interested in how they look, not in things like love and loyalty. He flies back.Ratso is delighted. As there was already a wedding paid for and romance is in the air for Jesse and Ugly and Ratso and Daphne it seems like a waste not to party!!

The End.

Ugly Duckling and Me Character Descriptions

RatsoThis guy thinks he’s in show biz - a wannabe hit-show manager. He feels he hasn’t quite made it yet in his life, he wants the big answer the big hit! He’s street wise – a city guy. We find him running away from a situation in his past. He gets landed with an egg and has to play surrogate father to an ugly duckling. Not very happy about that, he tries to wriggle out of life’s challenges. Ratso is funny – and he’s a coward at heart, he flirts like hell but that doesn’t stop us liking him. Ratso has a heart and though he acts selfishly he is the one in the film who goes through the biggest emotional arc as he finds a true bond with Ugly and thereby his most important gig ever - fatherhood.

Ugly BabyThe innocent voice of the film. He is always questioning and seeking approval from Ratso. Ugly Baby is of course like any small toddler in that he is also not just cute but spirited too. This is important – like when he objects to doing the show.Obviously Ugly Baby is very cute and appealing but he is determined too. He wants a dad in Ratso - needs a dad in Ratso, demands a dad in Ratso.

Adolescent uglyInnocent voice of discovery coping with the trials of growing up feels and acts awkwardly like most teenagers. He has mood swings. He wants to prove to Ratso he can make a success for them both but of course he feels betrayed by at one point by Ratso. With Jesse he feels the rush of young love but struggles mainly due to the belief that he is no use to anyone especially Ratso, because he is ugly. He is emotional and speaks the truth. He shows loyalty in the end recognising that family is more important than looking good or being something special even if with Ratso as a Dad!

Jesse Ugly’s first love. She has a youthful fearlessness, a bit of an attitude but not nasty at all just determined and possesses a real sense of what’s right and wrong. We see this in how she is the only one who really stands up to Ratso. She has a down to earth quality. She is attractive, confident and spirited. A big but beneficial contrast to Ugly Teenager.

Phyllis Phyllis a nasty piece of work - she wants it - she gets it. She wants Ratso. and bullies her brothers and Ratso . They are all afraid of her. She is spiteful. However she is not evil as we see in the end that her bad temper is all down to her neurosis and obsession to be married.

Ernie /William Ratso’s cousin, a cat, runs the show as a not so good stand up comedian/ventriloquist at the carnival. His glove puppet and alter ego is William. Ernie is a big, good guy, sincere and warm - he has a nice gentle soft approach to contrast with a manic shouting grumpy guy in William.

WesleyA worm - a dissatisfied actor /act who is the quintessential prima donna theatre actor who thinks he’s worth much more and never happy with his lot.He is annoying but funny too.

DaphneShe is sincere, strong, wise and honest, and brave. She has a good sense of playfulness though and sees through Ratso instantly. Ratsos love interest.

EsmereldaIntimidating - runs the duck yard - you don’t want to mess with this one. Nothing gets by her. She is huge and strong is an earthy country type.

Frank Brother to Phyllis, big strong, a brauny street wise city guy. Bullied by Phyllis .

Stan Phyllis’s younger brother, dumber than Frank, always asking the wrong questions and is usually just a second or two behind Frank - doesn’t know when Phyllis is about to lose it.

Peep Olga Irritating voice keeps putting her foot in things by saying too much and worsening things by trying to qualify what she says, you want to tell her to shut up.

OthersSeagulls - a bunch of lads - the type that do the same things everyday. They are seafaring types and happy in their own company. Fox (vixen seductive /dominatrix type 30’s 40’s scares the pants off Ratso )Swans (other worldly ethereal but snobby think they are elite)Priest ( a classic English vicar no nonsense type)Chickens (silly chattering crowd)Bully ducklings (mean kids threatening to ugly)Daphne’s girl and boy ducklings (cute, playful)Rats 1 A crowd that attend Ratso show at the start city guys booing the act want their money backRats 2 Phyllis extended rat family – the mob just there to do battle.

The Ugly Duckling and MeProduction Notes

THE BEGINNING

For years the people of Denmark had been pestering A.film to make a H.C. Andersen film. “He is the most famous storyteller in our country. You really should make an animation film about one of his fairytales”. For a long time however we held back, preferring to create original stories of our own.While sitting on an airplane on the way to Beijing Per Holst, a leading producer in the Danish film industry since 1965, a long time associate of A Film, and someone who had been pushing the H C Andersen idea for a long time, finally convinced, Director Karsten Kiilerich (Creative Director at A film) to seriously consider the idea.

H.C. Andersen’s parody of society is known and loved throughout the world. His work reflects his own struggle against intolerance, narrow-mindedness and the prejudice of the petit bourgeois. Everyone can identify with what it is like to be ridiculed by the mediocre and put down by those who lack the courage and insight to recognise our positive qualities. It is with this in mind we attempted the retelling of “The Ugly Duckling”… or rather the reinterpreting and the re inventing this tale for a modern audience.

There were so many unexplored questions H.C. Andersen had deliberately chosen to skip, we decided to extend the scope of the storyline to seek answers to those questions:

Where did the egg come from? Didn’t anyone else notice Ugly wasn’t all he seemed? Was there no resistance at all against the ruling throng of scoundrels, sceptics and bootlickers? Surely Ugly had just one friend or sweetheart?

The Ugly Duckling’s story was the first choice all along but more in the style of “Babe”. In those days CGI animation was not as advanced, and very expensive. At the time it seemed best to work in a style combining live action and puppets with the help of computers for mouth sync. In the beginning Karsten Kiilerich started out by studying swans, chickens, ducks etc. Little ducklings are certainly very cute and appealing, but they do not take to instructions well, plus they grow up to the double size within two weeks. But challenges are meant to be met, and A Film was prepared to follow the hatching of a swan egg, plus lying in a cold lake out in Hans Christian Andersen´s countryside, is supposed to be wonderful experience… isn’t it? It became clear that it was going to be difficult to get these “Actors” to work together with the humans - not to mention one another. To complicate matters even more A.Film got into some tricky discussions with professional birdwatchers, who claimed that it would be a crime against the audience to let the duckling grow up to become a mature swan over the winter. Don’t forget that it takes 4 years for a swan to grow up!

The fact that A Film was an animation studio and knew nothing what so ever about live action spurned Karsten Kiilerich to start outlining the story and adapting the tale from book to film. “ I really want to make this film. Even though I have to make harsh sacrifices - like going to Cannes at the Mediterranean sea in May “ ( Karsten Kiilerich)

At this stage A Film, with executive producer Anders Mastrup in the lead financing role, was becoming very convinced about the story concept and so set out to find suitable partners to co-produce the project with.

Pitching a project to the animation world is a very important first step when it comes to financing a film project. In doing that you need a strong story line and a catching and charming design, but one should not forget the personal touch of presenting the project.

“If you want to convince people to join a film project with a strong element of comedy, you had better present it with a least a touch of humour.”(Karsten Kiilerich)A Film already had a working relationship with Ralph Christians (Executive Producer at Magma Films) in Ireland and knew that it would be a good idea to put this amateur sit down comedian on stage.So after a very successful presentation in Wales, Clandudno of all places, the partnership was the completed when Philippe Delarue (Executive Producer at Futurikon) in France joined the team.“ I have to be part of this project. Not that I can´t find a better project back home. But it seems to be fun, being part of this team” ( Philippe Delarue )

“Maybe I’ll tell the audience about my childhood instead of pitching the story. It resembles the story of the Ugly Duckling, but it is more entertaining” ( Ralph Christians ).

Ralph Christians, Executive Producer at Magma Films says: To be a good producer you need to have passion for a story. My personal life story is reflected in this film only in

reverse. When I was young people said I looked like Shirley Temple, then I grew up - the rest is history...!

The presentation team learned that the theme of feeling ugly but still searching for your inner beauty is a universal one. The audience was thrilled by the idea. And the project was off to a fine start.

“The Ugly Duckling and Me” ended up with multiple backers, A Film ( Denmark), Magma Films (Ireland) and Futurikon ( France) and Ulysses ( Germany) and therefore more than one executive producer. Anders Mastrup from A Film, Ralph Christians from Magma and Philippe Delarue from Futirikon and Daina Sacco from Ulysess. The executive producers represent each of their territories and handle the business and legal issues. The producers at A Film Irene Sparre, together with Moe Honan from Magma and Gladys Morchoisne from Futurikon create the conditions for making an animated feature. Each producer coordinates, supervises and controls matters such as raising funding, hiring key personnel, and arranging distributors. The producers are usually involved throughout all phases of the filmmaking process from development of the content to completion of a project.

THE STORY CONCEPT & SCRIPT

Hans Christian Andersen’s original fairytale is basically a story of an unhappy duckling that is harassed by everyone throughout the story, and ends up transforming into a swan on the very last page. Several scriptwriters said “ You can’t make a film on this subject.”Which again provoked the filmmakers to continue. It turned out however, that it was necessary to change the story quite a bit. First of all the main character needs to have a friend. He can’t be all alone in the world. So he was given a friend called Ratso - a rat – the most double-crossing, selfish, nasty, lowest creature of them all, as said in the movie.Later he turned out to be a surrogate father to the little ugly duckling.

“ If you come from an egg, and you have a rat as a father. You must have certain questions to ask yourself “ (Anders Mastrup ) And by the end of the day Ratso actually took over the lead part of the movie for himself - well let’s just say he shares it begrudgingly with Ugly. The relationship between these two characters and those they meet throughout the story is the driving force of the film, which takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride of adventure and emotions.

At this stage director Michael Hegner from A Film came on board and some initial scripting began. “Being different is something we all can relate to ….A lot of energy that I have had with this project comes from that.” (Michael Hegner ) “Maybe we are not as different as we think we are. But at least we think we are.” (Karsten Kiilerich ) Actually the directors and scriptwriters wrote themselves into a serious problem, as they started to work in two different directions. Magma Films who were the producer leading the scripting work selected scriptwriter Mark Hodkinson who eventually wrote the movie script from Magma to work on the project and assigned a team in house to work on the content.

At one point the partners had two different stories going. It was a difficult situation. But in the end it was solved in quite an unconventional way by Ralph Christians , Executive Producer, Magma Films: “Why don’t we finish both scripts and then later decide which story is the best?! We could even have an external judge with a sharp eye on scripting taking part in the

decision making!”

After several attempts at finding the right angle and many hours and months of writing, meetings and phone calls everyone finally managed to agree on a story that would meet the demands and aspirations of this project. A heart warming family comedy that focuses in on the main characters, and takes some surprising turns when least expected. Finally we had a good script - and then the real hard work started.

“Of course it is strange that a rat, whose cousin is a cat, is the father of a duckling, who by the way turns out to be a swan. Its not our fault - it was Hans Christian Andersen who started it all.” (Ralph Christians)

STORYBOARD

When you create an animated film you need to have a solid storyboard. First of all you have to transform the scripts into drawn visual scenes. You have to search the script to find the entertaining angle of each scene. And you have to make the dialogue work with the action of the characters. On top of that you have to plan the cutting the timing and the composition of the pictures. All that is based in the storyboard. In the transformation from script to storyboard the whole story of the ugly duckling was actually changed again. Many things were clarified and structural disorder was straightened out. Many people with a special talent for storyboarding were working with this particular part of the production for almost a year. And many positive discussions about film production took place. “You don’t make a film in this way” (Michael Helmuth - Storyboard artist)

Another important issue is that the storyboard is a tool of information for the whole crew. A large number of creative people are working together to get the film on screen. And they all have to know what the story is about, so that they can contribute their input and ideas in the right way - without loosing the overall vision of the film. “Filmmaking is a very democratic process. Many people are contributing and you have to listen to other people. You can’t just cut them off. They might give you a golden input for the film” (Anders Mastrup – Executive producer )

As the storyboard was formed some elements of the script were cut, some things were gained and lost in the scripting and many changes were discussed and argued which impacted on both the board and the scripting. This process lasted many months and was a challenge in a multi cultural multi lingual co production.

Another interesting thing about a storyboard for an animated movie is that you time the film by editing a storyboard reel, and you do the cutting – so to say before you actually create the film. You record the voices before you animate the characters and you fit the voices to the character drawings in the storyboard reel.Which means you have a very rough edited final film but without movements and colours.

THE VOICES - A very important part of the animation.

Even though the audience do not see the actors, it is of utmost importance to cast the right voices and get a superb performance from the actors. The voice actors bring life and character to the story and need to express every nuance to give to the animators.Moe Honan who also works as a casting and voice director from Magma Films was in charge of this work, together with director Michael Hegner.The casting took place over many months trying out different actors with various parts. “We knew unlike the big Hollywood studios and with a small budget that we were not likely to be chasing stars for these parts and in a way that made us concentrate even more on getting the right actor and voices for our characters. It was a fun and difficult task as you have to hope people in other countries can hear the voices and the nuances in your language the way you hear it.People also like different things about voices in other countries; its not just a voice in that sense, it’s a whole spirit and persona and says different things to different cultures” (Moe

Honan) But after working together for a while the partners in charge of the creative sides of the project namely A Film and Magma got their cast and in this case as we were also co producing a 26 x 26 series we had the chance to really trial some of the actors we wanted for the film in advance.

Of course when we recorded the actors on various occasions throughout the production there was lots to organise too. Not only getting the right voice track together but also arranging for some of the actors to come to Ireland at the right time in order to get the voices ready for the animators. This can be a complicated job. Bearing in mind that some actors suddenly leave to go to the other side of the globe to study dolphins!

Finding a voice for the main character Ratso was somewhat of a challenge. The voice had to be high pitched, rough, rather hysterical and “funny”. An extra days work for any actor or voice director. What kind of accent should the characters have? Russian!? Italian !?Many discussions were had by the directors of the film and at the same time they had to bear in mind that the film is about to appeal to a wide audience all around the world. But of course this only applies for the English speaking territories. When the film is dubbed every language area will make their own decisions.

VISUAL STYLE

During the process of finalising the script another important decision was made regarding the Ugly Duckling style and universe. After having consulted different live action film DOP ‘s, it was decided that CGI would give the creators the freedom to form the visual universe exactly as they wished, and at the same time give the characters in the movie the ability to express their emotions in a way that could reach out to the audience.

It took a long time before the creators were happy about the design. But finally after many different attempts and late nights the directors and designers were happy with the design. The designs of the characters were shown around in order to get feedback from outsiders, and the positive response was a good indication that they were on the right track. The ugly duckling for example had to be very charming, and at the same time ugly enough for the audience to believe the story. Ratso needed to be a cool, cunning and clever guy.

“Filmmakers are always saying there are three things important for a film – Story, story and story. But you should add to that, especially when you do animated films. Add a funky, charming and appealing design “ (Karsten Kiilerich)

This project has gone through a process where you draw the characters on paper first and then build them in the computers, a bit like puppets that can be moved and animated on computer.The surroundings, sets and props are built more or less in the same way, conceived on paper first and built on computer. These surroundings need to give the audience a real feeling of being present in this advanced 3D location.

Normally when doing an animated feature you have a story and script that is more or less closed before going to the next stage of storyboarding. With the Ugly Duckling and Me these stages overlapped for a long time. This means that the story was developed while the story-boarders were drawing. As soon as a section of the film is finished all the drawings are filmed

and given the right timing, and the voices are matched up to the characters. This way the filmmakers have a very precise idea about how the movie is going to work. However that doesn’t mean they don’t change their minds along the way!

ANIMATION

The animation characters are given a skeleton that allows them to move, act and talk.Then the animators take over. The most tedious and time-consuming, but also the most important phase of the film can start. The animators’ work has a great influence on whether it is going to be an entertaining film or not. The animators must take a lifeless design and breathe life and emotions into it. “Jesse is just the ordinary, good, strong headed, stubborn, lovely, goose girl, as we all know them.” (Karsten Kiilerich) They only have the body not the soul of the characters. They have to add all the little personal ways of a character in order to give them a personality. When you cast Robert de Niro for a role in a live action film you know how he is going to react in different situations. He has his own personality as a starting point when he builds up a role. When the animator builds up Ratso´s role and personality he has to invent it all from the beginning. The animators’ tools are the character description and the voice of the character, done by the actor, and then his/her ability to animate.

“I believe that the important starting point for an animator is his “actors” skills, and ability to manoeuvre the design. The technique is less important” (Michael Hegner). When the animators today give life to the characters they base their work on the same principles as the Disney animators did in the thirties. The computer tool is new but the art form is the same.It is all about believability - the audience must feel that a character like Ratso has an inner life, thought process, doubts and ideas - exactly like other human beings. “Moving the characters is not the most important thing - moving the audience is” (Frank Thomas – Disney animator)

Normally the animation process is slow in the beginning. The animators must get to know the characters, how they move, what they feel, and how to give them the right attitudes and acting. But along the way the animators get under the skin of the characters and work much faster. Many animators work on the same film at the same time so it is important for the directors to keep track of the acting from scene to scene. The characters have to be consistent.

The animation for “The Ugly Duckling and ME” was done in Denmark, Germany and Francebetween A.Film – Animoto – Futurikon and Duran studios and demanded quite a lot of travelling and communication internally between the parties. But the modern computer world certainly makes life easier with respect to speed of communication - as we all know.

When animation and backgrounds are put together for the final picture the next step is lighting and textures. This is where everything starts to come together and take on the feel of the end result. “Setting light in a 3D movie is like painting pictures, it’s about the professional giving it his choices and taste. It’s about the person.” (Michael Hegner)

Of course the choice of colours is important too. When the “Ugly duckling and ME” was created a very important visual element was the changing of seasons and the change of light throughout the day. Morning, Evening, Night. Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer.It’s not only an inner journey for the characters but also a journey through different elements - Snow, fog, rain etc. All of these elements were applied to the atmosphere of the movie and gave it its own flavour.

Two types of lighting exist in the film- one for the characters and one for the surroundings. When these steps are finished and all the different elements are composed together there is a last opportunity to fine tune all the visual elements against each other. This is the last phase of the visual part before the film is transferred to film at the laboratory.

MUSIC

The composer for the film music was found early on as we had a very clear idea about the sound universe. Jakob Groth is one of Scandinavia’s most prominent film composers. He has written music for many large Scandinavian films and TV series, Including ”Island on Bird Street”, ”The Boys from St. Petri” and ”The Corsican Bishop”. Jakob Groth has also written music for the Danish TV series ”TAXI” and ”The Flying Squad”, two of Danish Television’s biggest and most prestigious productions up until now.

The aim of the score for ”The Ugly Duckling” is to introduce an entirely different set of tones than the traditional symphonic orchestration we know so well from classical animated feature films. It needed to be a score that touched on the same emotions as classical scores but then again just a bit different. In other words, no traditional orchestra and yet lots of great emotions in the music!

Jakob traveled at different stages through out the production to record the music Ireland and worked with various independent musicians there to get the blend everyone wanted for the film.“Jakob just rang up one day and we talked about what we would need to do he said “Moe, Do you think I will get a good dobra player in Galway? Oh and I need a good blues player and….and luckily there are many talented musicians on our doorstep in Galway. We lined up the best and Jakob came to audition them. It was great to hear it coming together with so many different styles of musician, rock, traditional Irish, country, and classical and it gave yet another layer of life to the film. Music is so important as it leads the audience in how they should be feeling” (Moe Honan)

POST PRODUCTION

The postproduction for this project was done in co-operation with Magma Films and Pictorion in Germany. The sound was done in Ruhr Sound studios in Dortmund by sound designer Guido Zettier and mixed by Stefan Korte together with Michael Hegner.

“ One of my favorite lines in the movie is - Ugly people actually have the most fun. Beautiful people waste their time on early nights and hand cream.”(Anders Mastrup)

THE CREW

Director: Michael Hegner

Born 1964, Denmark Michael started his career as an Assistant animator on the TV-series "Quark" (1987-1988). He then went on to make commercials for Lego, Fazer, Carlsberg, Coca Cola and Tuborg. Michael was the director of the TV spot "Organ Donation", which won the Grand Global Award in the category Best Healthcare Communications Worldwide.

His first feature animation was co-directed with Stefan Fjeldmark "Hjælp! Jeg er en fisk"/"Help! I'm a Fish" (2000). It was a domestic box office and festival hit, and winner at Chicago. He most recently directed "The Ugly Duckling and Me" which is due for release across Europe in the coming months.

Director: Karsten Kiilerich_______________________________________________________________

Karsten Kiilerich Born in 1955 in Denmark was working as a schoolteacher when in 1983 He decided to follow his life long dream and started working as an animator on the Danish feature film “Valhalla”. In 1988 together with 4 others from the Valhalla project Karsten started an animation studio known today as A. Film. Karsten’s position at A Film is as creative director, both on feature projects and TV series with storytelling and character building as his main drive.

From 1983-1993, Karsten Kiilerich worked as animator and directing animator on numerous animated Feature Films such as “Fern Gully” and “Thumbelina”, plus TV series such as “The Pink Panther Show” and “Mumfie”. Besides working as screenwriter on the animated Feature Film “Help! I’m A Fish”, Karsten Kiilerich has worked as director since 1993. In 1999 he was nominated for an Oscar® by The Academy Awards for the animated short “When Life Departs” produced by A. Film.

Producer: Irene Sparre

Producer: Moe Honan

Moe Honan has been working since 1998 with Magma Films in the areas of content, casting, directing and producing various projects mostly in Magma’s animation department. Before joining Magma she worked in radio as a news and arts journalist and as an assisitant director on documentary programmes such as Battle of the Somme and the series Battlefields (RTE Ireland and The History Channel)

From 2000 she began supervising and directing Magma projects in post production. In the last four years in conjunction with many international partners, Denmark, Germany, France and and broadcasters such as BBC she has co produced and voice directed many animation series such as the recent Zombie Hotel currently broadcast on BBC 1 in the UK. Most recently she has worked as Creative Producer and Voice Director on The Ugly Duckling And Me TV series and as Casting and Voice Director and Producer on the feature film.

Executive Producer : Anders Mastrup_____________________________________________________________

Senior Vice President of Financing & Business Development

Since A.Film’s founding in 1988 Anders Mastrup has produced animated Feature Films such as “Jungle Jack”, “Amazon Jack” and latest “Help! I’m a Fish”. As well as TV series like “Troll Tales” and “H.C. Andersen”,both of which are currently in production. In 2000, Anders Mastrup was appointed Senior Vice President of Financing & Business Development at A.Film.

Executive Producer: Ralph Christians Ralph Christians was born in 1950 in West Germany. He studied Social Science and journalism and worked as editor for the nationwide, satirical magazine "Pardon" in Frankfurt and editor-in-chief for a daily newspaper in North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He joined the film industry in 1980 as a journalist working for news and political magazine programmes, and produced his first films, mostly investigative documentaries, for public broadcasters of the ARD channel in Germany.In 1984, Ralph set up MAGMA in Germany and Iceland, and worked exclusively as a producer, writer and reporter. In 1994 he set up Magma Ireland, which became the headquarters of all of Magma activities two years later.

The Company is acknowledged for its ability to create humorous quirky ideas with global exploitation potential. Magma produces long running series in animation and live action, feature films, TV movies and light entertainment. In animation the company has become one of the major players in Europe.Magma owns the Film and TV Production company Ulysses in Hamburg Germany, and Ulysses Films Northern Ireland in Belfast.UGLY DUCKLING & ME (Executive Producer) A Film & TV2, Denmark/ Futurikon, France and Ulysses, Germany

SCRIPT: MARK B. HODKINSON

Mark Hodkinson is the writer of “The Ugly Duckling and Me”

Composer: Jacob Groth

Jacob Groth is one of the most well known composers for film in Scandinavia and in 2006 received an Emmy® award for both “The Eagle” and “Young Andersen”. He has composed the music for several major Scandinavian Films and Television series including “Island on Bird Street”, “The Boys from St. Petri” and “The Corsican Bishop” all of which were directed by Søren Jakobsen. Jacob Groth has also written the music for several Danish TV series such as “TAXI’ and “The Flying Squad”, both of which have achieved the highest audience ratings in Denmark.

A-FILM A/SAnimation studio /Production Company

A Film is Scandinavians largest animation company. It was founded in 1988 by Anders Mastrup, Karsten Kiilerich, Stefan Fjeldmark, Jørgen Lerdam and Hans Perk, and now has a permanent staff of 40 professionals. A subsidiary company in Tallinn, A Film Eesti Ltd was established in 1994 and A. Film Latvia Ltd in Riga, Latvia in 2001 with additional 35 employees. A Film has just opened a subsidiary company in Los Angeles, A Film L.A. Since 1995 A. Film has been 50% owned by the Egmont Group and is organised under their film division, Nordisk Film.

A Film is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company produces classical and CGI animation for feature films, TV series, shorts, educational series, and commercials offering an extensive range of styles.

A Film has produced well-known feature films such as “Jungle Jack” (aka “Jungo I”), “Amazon Jack” (aka “Jungo II”) and "Help - I'm a Fish!". TV series such as "Troll Tales", "Benjamin Blümchen", “Bibi Blocksbjerg” as well as a TV series based on Hans Christian Andersen’s world famous fairy tales “The Fairytaler”. In 2004 we produced our first full CGI feature film - “Terkel in Trouble“(The most selling Danish film in 2004) and have just completed “Asterix and the Vikings” a 2D animated feature film for M6 in France as well as “Pettson & Findus – the Tomte machine” a 2D animated feature film. 2006 sees the finish of the production of “The Ugly Duckling and ME!” – A CGI- feature film and TV series of 26 episodes.

Apart from working on our own productions, A Film has subcontracted for companies such as Warner Bros. Feature Animation, Don Bluth Studios, MGM Animation, Colombia Pictures as well as Kiddinx and Egmont Imagination.

Within the last years A Film has won several prizes, including Grand Prix of the international ITVA in 1998 and 2000, The Unicef Award 1997 and 2000, and the First Prize for Best Animation produced for Educational purposes at The World Animation Celebration in February 1998, as well as a nomination for an Oscar® by the Academy Awards for Best Animated Short in 1999.

In 2001 A. Film was awarded The Cartoon Movie Tribute as “the Company with the Strongest European Focus” for the marketing strategy of “Help – I’m A Fish! “ at the Movie Cartoon in Berlin. A. Film was again awarded The Cartoon Movie Tribute in 2004 for “its wide European collaboration in the production of European Feature Films”.The company has also produced more than 300 commercials for major companies like Fazer, Carlsberg, Lego, Philips, Coca Cola and Kellogg’s.

MAGMA FILMS

Magma Films is an independent production company developing and producing live-action T.V. movies, feature films, documentaries, comedy dramas, entertainment programming and animation series/features for an extensive range of broadcasters worldwide.

In both live-action and animation, Magma occupies a strong niche position in the marketplace for the creation of high concept programmes. The Company is acknowledged for its ability to generate humorous, quirky ideas that rise above cultural sensibilities to appeal to international audiences. Magma also has a solid track record in delivering high quality programming on time and within budget.

Magma Films was set up in Ireland in 1994 by Ralph Christians, an established German producer who worked for German broadcasters before starting Magma Films in 1984 in Germany and Iceland. Magma now centres most of its activity in Galway, but also owns the Film and TV production company Ulysses in Munich and Hamburg. Magma has since produced many feature films, popular TV features, animation series, and documentaries for European and American broadcasters.

One of Magma’s success stories is the animation series Loggerheads that has proven popular in 42 countries worldwide. Another hit, Norman Normal has been climbing the ratings charts in Germany, and France at a staggering pace and looks set for even more success internationally with a second series just completed. Pigs Next Door, a Magma/Fox Family/Saban production features the voices of Jamie Lee Curtis and John Goodman and more recently Derrick, the animation feature, a ZDF/ndF co-production, which was released in Germany in 2004.

Magma has also produced a variety of international films and series, among them: Maigret – the Harbourmaster, a co-production with Dune for French broadcaster, FRANCE 2; Alice on the Run, an Irish/German/Italian co-production for broadcasters SAT 1, Germany and RAI, Italy; and the acclaimed melodrama Meine Gruene Freiheit (2 x 90’) for German broadcaster RTL. Is Glas Iad na Cnoic, a 26’ documentary for the ‘Cogar’ series; Thar an Tairseach, a 13-part life-style series; Kaislean Klaus and Boghaisíní, two 6-part comedy series; Bernie Beo, a 13-episode live chat show; and Siar is Aniar, a 2 x 60’ lifestyle show were all produced for the Irish language broadcaster TG4. GIMME 3, a daily children’s programme, which ran for 18 consecutive months, was also produced for the Irish broadcaster TV3. In 2004, Magma shot Foreign Exchange (26 X 26’) a children’s series co-produced with RTE, Ireland and Southern Star, Australia and in 2005, the successful format Paisean Faisean (26 x 25’) and vetinary drama Adharca Fada for TG4.

Magma has a very strong creative team including in house writers: Marteinn Thorisson, Mark B. Hodkinson and Armin Prediger. Magma Films has become the centre of an international network of strong creative talent from different cultures, including scriptwriters, designers, script editors, producers, storyboarders and voice talent.

In 2005 Magma Films won the Cartoon Movie Tribute for dedication to the cause of European storytelling in animation and in 2003 the World Media Festival Hamburg awarded

the intermedia--globe Gold award to Magma Films for The Fairytaler.

with the support of BORD SCANNÁN NA HÉIREANN/ THE IRISH FILM BOARD

Directors MICHAEL HEGNER, KARSTEN KIILERICHWriter MARK HODKINSONStory developed by KARSTEN KIILERICH & MICHAEL HEGNERBased on an original story by HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENProducers IRENE SPARRE HJORHØJ, MOE HONAN,GLADYS MORCHOISNEExecutive Producers ANDERS MASTRUP, RALPH CHRISTIANS,PHILIPPE DELARUE, DIANA SACCOMusic JACOB GROTH