Visit our Filming Locations

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 23:32:25 GMT

Sometimes we are roaming the multiverse. But do you know where on planet Earth we have been shooting our films? Many locations are very nice, and well worth a visit if you get the chance. Have a look...

The Haga Park is a part of the Swedish Royal National City Park - the first ever national park in a city. The Haga park, established around 1780-1790, was the brainchild of the Swedish king Gustav III. It's famous for many things, including three "Copper Tents" painted in the Swedish colors.

Drottningholm Slott outside Stockholm is the current private residence of the Swedish King. In the surrounding park, you can find the Chinese Pavilion, a unique "pleasure palace". Built in the 1760's, it's blending European rococo and traditional Chinese building style, making it one of a kind. It's now a listed UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This is Copenhagen's "sea world" with aquariums and water tanks for various fishes and sea creatures. It's currently the largest aquarium in Northern Europe. Focusing on public education, it is animal friendly. After we filmed there, it almost had to close due to economic losses from the pandemic, but thankfully a lot of kind people came to the rescue!

The van Gogh Museum was the first place Moonlin visited after arriving to Amsterdam. After all, van Gogh really did manage to make his art come alive. Funny fact: The scene with Vincent van Gogh's painting "Wheat Field with Crows" was inspired by an episode in Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams".

Moonl in also explored the Royal Palace, or Paleis Amsterdam. Still today, this is the official reception palace of the Dutch king. In the Citizen's Hall, you'll find the famous statue of Atlas, carrying the world on his shoulders. The late scientist Carl Sagan - who our director knew - had been here as well, filming the original Cosmos TV-series some 40 years before.

These spots are located in beautiful Vienna, the home of Strauss waltzes and the Donau river. Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence of the Habsburg emperors, while the Gloriette is a monumental pavilion in the surrounding palace garden. It's here, Moonlin has her awakening moment! Unfortunately, the pandemic outbreak prevented us to go there as planned, and we had to settle for stock videos. But you should go there for real!

After soaring through the universe and walking through the forests, the little boy in "Cosmosaga" comes to a big city with tall buildings. Do you know which city? Chicago in Illinois! As the third biggest city in the United States, Chicago was the perfect backdrop for his meeting with the world of Humans. A meeting which sadly didn't end well.

Southern Sweden and Denmark is separated by the Öresund Strait. If you take a cruising ship to the Baltic Sea, chances are you'll be passing here! As it often was our base, we have saved both time and money by filming here. Like the forest the little boy wanders through in "Cosmosaga". Or the scene wiith the whisky-loving man in "On the Rocks". We actually had a comet falling down in our garden... sort of.

Our new adventure movie "Spacetime Blues" (working title) this film will take you to many places around the world. Famous historical places, but also exciting places of great future importance! Can you guess which places? Stay tuned for updates!

Filming with Family

Wed, 06 Jul 2022 23:32:21 GMT

Here at Starlife, filming with family doesn't mean making family films.
And filming on your holidays doesn't mean making holiday films...

We Starlifes are storytellers. Whether it's based on fiction or facts, storytelling can be a great inspiration. But around us, the art of storytelling is fading away. Hollywood just focus on special effects, while YouTubers and TikTokers keep uploading ever shorter clips. Both lacking deeper narratives.

We went the other direction. We wanted to inspire everyone to become storytellers, regardless of skills and budgets. Being an international family, we Starlifes travel near and far. Both on holidays, business trips, or to meet friends and family. Often a bit of all.

So we decided to use these occasions to film. But NOT holiday or family films. We wanted to make real fiction, action and mystery films! A kind of family-friendly underground films. Kids and parents interchanging as cast and crew, sometimes with a little help from friends and locals in the places we visit. But no paid actors or crew.

We also opted to use only low-budget equipment. If you google the smallest budget you'll need to make a short film, you will probably get a 5-digit number of euros, pounds or dollars. It's not true. We have nearly no budget, using whatever we already got. Good smartphones or small camcorders are just fine.

Naturally, this approach will influence the technical quality. So will our lack of expertise in some areas, like editing & special effects. But again, we like to focus on the story. If you can enjoy reading a book without any pictures at all, or an old black & white Chaplin film, this will certainly work as well!

If you have kids, they are probably already creative. Making real movies in exciting locations will help them grow further. They will become used to make plans, carry out different tasks, organizing their thoughts and taking responsibility. In the end, they will be very proud of themselves.

- Just remember to have fun, laugh at the bloopers and take lots of ice cream breaks!

We would also like to give you some advices:

If you are filming in the public, please don't film individual strangers closeup. A square with more distant people is Ok. Also, some locations (like museums and palaces) don't really allow random filming. This can be a bit of a challenge. We don't encourage anyone to break the rules. However, if you are a bit sensitive and discreet, you'll probably find a solution here as well. Use your common sense!

Also, remember that when you film in high resolution, both smartphones and camcorders will run out of power faster than you think. Don't forget the chargers or extra battery power! For smartphones, also clean your lenses now and then. Some greasy fingers after a lunch break could ruin your day!

That's it! Filming in this way during your family trips creates many benefits. It helps connecting the world in a more real physical sense than the Web does. You learn more about the places you visit. You connect more with the locals, and sometimes they help you out. You and your kids may get friends for life!

That is our Starlife Stories. Wherever we go, we hope to inspire a new generation of low-budget storytellers to create longer and smarter content. Stories that make you think and feel something. Stories you remember. And at the same time, we have a lot of fun.

- Why not give it a try? If you have any ideas, don't hesitate to email us. Good luck!

Starlife Zone Blog

Visit our Filming Locations

Sometimes we are roaming the multiverse. But do you know where on planet Earth we have been shooting our films? Many locations are very nice, and well worth a visit if you get the chance. Have a look...

Filming with Family

Here at Starlife, filming with family doesn't mean making family films. And filming on your holidays doesn't mean making holiday films...

Here at Starlife, filming with family doesn't mean making family films.
And filming on your holidays doesn't mean making holiday films...