Telenovelas
Is written by Mario Teixeira and has artistic direction by Leonardo Nogueira. The cast features a team of charismatic actors such as Edson Celulari (‘Edge of Desire’), Nicolas Prattes (‘Rock Story’), Christiane Torloni (‘Looks & Essence’), Cleo (‘Destiny River’), and Milton Gonçalves (‘Side by Side’), among others.
Crashing Into the Future
The Sabino Machado family, its slaves and aggregate family members spend years frozen at sea after a shipwreck in 1886. When they wake up in present day, they deal with issues such as culture shock as well as social revolution, technological innovations, and scientific achievements that established new values and behaviors acceptable to society.
Amid the disturbing reality, members of the “frozen” family encounter greedy people seeking to take advantage of the situation, in addition to unlikely friendships and love affairs. This is the main storyline of ‘Crashing Into the Future’, a witty and fast-paced telenovela released by Globo in Miami at the 2019 NATPE.
The unique and upbeat plot combined with its charming cast has been catching the attention of Brazilian viewers since its premiere, reaching over 40 million people and 46% share, the best result for a first episode in that time slot since 2013.
The culture difference and the love between Marocas Sabino (Juliana Paiva, ‘Total Dreamer’), a late 19th-century Republican who supported abolitionism, and young businessman and surfer Samuca (Nicolas Prattes, ‘Rock Story’), has been winning over the audience.
In Portugal, where it airs on Globo at 8 p.m., ‘Crashing Into the Future’ has taken the lead among pay-TV channels within its time slot, in addition to increasing the number of Globo’s viewers under the age of 25.
In order for the public to believe and be moved by the sinking of the ship and the arrival of the iceberg with the frozen family on the beach, Globo’s set design, visual effects and special effects teams joined forces for the production of these sequences. A complete 3D-model of the ship was created by the visual effects team, and sets like the ship’s dining hall, deck, cabins and engine room were used to shoot the scenes. The shipwreck sequence starts in the engine room, and to make the scene feel real, the set was built inside a 90k-liter water tank, which was flooded in just 20 seconds. The sequence was then finalized by the special effects team.
On the other hand, the simulation of the iceberg and its thawing were created by the visual effects team, who conducted a detailed study to replicate the block of ice that holds the “frozen family”. To shoot the scenes that show the characters arriving to the 20th century on the coast, a chroma key was placed at sea, supported by a 30-meter ferry to delimit the area where the block of ice would be inserted by computer graphics. In addition, some details were simulated virtually, such as the smoke from the ship, the crack in the hull caused by the iceberg, the sea, and the effects of the water hitting the ship, generating waves and foam.