Gustav Bondeson's curveballs and beautiful chaos

Have you always wanted to be a director? What has your directing journey looked like so far?

I was eight when I picked up my parents' DV camera, and since then I haven’t stopped making films, really. As a kid, I made my own versions of scenes from the Bourne trilogy while using YouTube as my film school. Always bringing my family and friends along for the journey.

Having that trust is worth so much when you do a project like this. A project that really reinvented itself in many ways through prep, production and post.

Later on, I got the opportunity to work in the music industry, shooting, editing and directing tour videos, music videos and concert films for Swedish artists and festivals. This taught me so much about filmmaking and eventually became my way into the commercial industry, leading to collaborators I still work with to this day.

Today I divide my time as a director between short films, music videos and commercial projects. I love that mix. The common thread throughout it all has really been the joy of working with friends. People I admire and genuinely love being around.

What does it mean to you to win a YDA?

It means everything! You make films because you want people to see them. So being able to showcase your work to the audience that YDA can reach is just amazing. And being able to meet people from the industry and around the world down in Cannes was a blast. It's something that is already starting to create new and exciting opportunities.

The hardest thing on the shoot was something I thought would be so much easier, and that was creating a natural chaos of kids on the field.

How did the concept for this film evolve, and what was the collaboration process with RF-SISU like? How much creative freedom did you have?

I received a creative brief from their agency, Pool, that had the initial concept. The moment I read it, I knew this was something unique. From there on, I had a lot of creative freedom and trust from both Pool and RF-SISU. They really let me do my thing, and I developed the script further into what it became. Having that trust is worth so much when you do a project like this. A project that really reinvented itself in many ways through prep, production and post.

Can you walk us through the technical details of the shoot? Did any unexpected challenges arise?

The hardest thing on the shoot was something I thought would be so much easier, and that was creating a natural chaos of kids on the field. What I learned is that people don’t naturally end up in a beautiful chaos, but rather in lines and smaller groups. So on the day, we had to quickly come up with ideas to stage chaos. Easier said than done. 

Directing around 50 kids of different ages (and on skates) in complicated VFX shots was just mayhem. Probably the trickiest thing I’ve done.

All of these curveballs, and there were many when you work with kids, were just what made this shoot so incredibly fun. Everyone on our team, and especially our DP Simon Bendroth, took this challenge with excitement and created stunning images out of the chaos.

What was the casting process like, and how difficult was it to direct so many young people?

We worked with actual kids' teams. RF-SISU used their network of hockey, figure skating, football and basketball teams to gather as many excited kids as they could. 

Sometimes the best thing you can do is throw away the storyboards and just embrace the chaos.

Directing around 50 kids of different ages (and on skates) in complicated VFX shots was just mayhem. Probably the trickiest thing I’ve done. Yelling through a megaphone, trying to create that beautiful chaos within specific areas for our wonderful VFX wizard Jonathan Wendt to stitch together later, was not an easy task... We couldn’t have done it without the great help of the team coaches and a fantastic production team.