LÉON · Surround Me Concept, treatment, direction, editing & VFX
Editing since 2008Film instructor 2014 to 2023Native Icelandic · Fluent English
01 / Writing you can read
From pitch to picture.
Two original treatments, written as Helgi & Hörður, and a screenplay opening written by me. A look at the ideas before they reach the screen.
LÉON
Surround Me · Treatment & finished film
A simple premise. A complicated trick.
A performance that switches from forward to reverse, while Léon keeps singing the words correctly. The treatment explains the hook, builds the sequence around the song and makes the technical method understandable.
“A one shot performance video that goes both forwards and backwards in time.”Original treatment · Introduction, page 2
My role
Concept, treatment & direction with Hörður Sveinsson; editing & VFX.
A fictional space agency prepares astronauts to dance in orbit. The pitch turns that premise into a story: a childhood ambition, a demanding instructor, absurd training exercises and a launch.
It’s a sample of concept writing, humour and structuring a visual narrative. Presented here as a treatment; no finished film is included.
Two astronauts stumble through a lunar landscape. We pull back to reveal a film crew and Stanley Kubrick calling the shots. Then the sheep arrive.
Written for Sagafilm as part of an anthology series.
Writing credit
Helgi Jóhannsson Screenplay opening · English translation Original draft: 9 January 2023
Read the opening page English translation ↓
THE LITTLE COMMUNIST Written by Helgi Jóhannsson Opening page · Translated from Icelandic
EXT. ICELANDIC HIGHLANDS · NAUTAGIL, NEAR ASKJA · NIGHT
Two ASTRONAUTS in full spacesuits walk across the barren
highland terrain. But, judging by the landscape, we could
just as easily be on the MOON itself.
It is the middle of the night. A pitch black sky. All we
can see are the astronauts and a LUNAR MODULE behind them.
One astronaut falls flat on his face. Astronaut 1 goes
over to Astronaut 2 and offers him a hand. Then he falls too.
Astronaut 1 takes off his helmet and sighs. This is
NEIL ARMSTRONG.
We now see what is in front of him and the lunar module:
a FILM CAMERA, LIGHTING EQUIPMENT and a sizeable film crew.
In the director's chair sits STANLEY KUBRICK, with his
famous beard and glasses. He speaks through a megaphone:
STANLEY KUBRICK
Cut!
BLACK SCREEN. Onscreen text:
"In 1967, Neil Armstrong came to Iceland with a group
of astronauts. They carried out research and training
in the highlands to prepare for the upcoming missions
to the Moon."
EXT. NAUTAGIL, NEAR ASKJA · FILM SET
A man holds a clapperboard in front of the camera.
On the board:
Lunar landing, Slate 3, take 110.
The man snaps the clapperboard shut. Neil Armstrong
emerges from the lunar module in his spacesuit. He
climbs down the ladder and steps onto the surface
of the "Moon."
NEIL ARMSTRONG
A small step for man, a huge leap
for mankind...
Two SHEEP wander onto the set.
STANLEY KUBRICK
Cut! Cut! Cut!
BLACK SCREEN. Onscreen text:
"Or so we have always been told."
02 / Work that found an audience
Beyond the upload.
A story that travelled through fans, and an editing credit on a video seen hundreds of millions of times.
A darkly comic collision between a cheerful pop song and a deeply wrong response to a car crash. I wrote the script with Atli Viðar Þorsteinsson, directed and edited the video.
The Reykjavík Grapevine documented its resurgence years later after Dross featured it, bringing new fans and thousands of comments in Spanish from Latin America.
A longer form of storytelling: spending time with people, following their work and finding the story in what happens.
Moses Hightower
Moses í mynd · Documentary
Inside the making of an album.
A documentary following Moses Hightower as they record Lyftutónlist. Through the recording sessions, the film explores the people behind the band, how songs take shape and life as a musician in Iceland.
My role
Director & producer Produced with Ólafur Páll Torfason · Production: Snark
Read how we planned the effect · Page 8 ↗
