When a new stepfather moves in, Penelope escapes to a treehouse above the clouds.
Penelope in The Threehouse is a film that reaches out to our childhood’s furthest imaginations, while sharing a rather real dilemma that many children are faced with in their young ages; having to deal with new step parents. In Jonathan Langager’s tale, Penelope decides to take action when an annoying new stepfather moves in. Unwilling to share her house with Eric – or his bratty kids – she feeds magic plant food to the tree holding her treehouse. There she stays, happily above the clouds and far away from her troubles….until she realizes there’s no way down.
Treehouses are iconic symbols of childhood. In Penelope in the Treehouse, I exaggerated this symbol to a fantastic degree in order to explore a universal emotional truth about growing up. I was adamant about using miniatures and in-camera effects in order to create a stylized classic-Hollywood feel.
Emphasizing on the magical feel, Jonathan brought back some original techniques like miniatures and in-camera tricks to give the nostalgic cinematic feeling we remember as kids.