Narnia Fans » Narnia Music

Narnia Vocalist Lisbeth Scott Releases Innovative Photo Campaign “Hope is a Thing,” to Benefit Children’s Charity “Education Through Music”

Paul Martin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:55:39 +0000

One of my favorite parts of going to movies is the soundtrack that accompanies the film. I’m a huge fan of music that not only compliments a movie, but enhances the film so much that, without it, the film would not be as effective. When it comes to the Narnia films so far, Lisbeth Scott’s vocals have been an ever present part of the experience, as the Pevensies enter Narnia, or on the journey to the Professor’s. She has a new album coming out, with a campaign to support a children’s charity. She also collaborated with composer Harry Gregson-Williams, whose music was present in the first two Narnia films.

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Lisbeth Scott’s new album, “Hope is a Thing,” will be released late November. The new album will be available for sale on iTunes, Amazon.com and in select stores nationwide. The disc features collaborations with well-known composers (Harry Gregson-Williams, Nathan Barr) as well as two stirring new covers (Imagine, Hallelujah). Distributed by BFM Digital, Inc., “Hope is a Thing” features two new music videos for the title track “Hope is a Thing” and “Good to Me” (originally from the 2008 film “Shutter”).

During this challenging economic time, Scott wanted to create a musical and visual collection that would remind people of the importance of hanging on to hopes and dreams and the simple, non-material things that open our hearts and bring us joy. Thus the music and video of “Hope Is a Thing” was born. Lisbeth also feels these concepts are often best demonstrated through innocent eyes, so along-side the album release comes the launch of an innovative web-based world-wide campaign featuring children of all backgrounds and ethnicities who express what it is they hope for in today’s world via the simple image of holding up a hand-created sign. The first phase of the campaign can be seen at www.hopeisathing.com, in the “Gallery” section. Over time, children and schools from all over are encouraged to upload their own photos to help boost the awareness of the campaign. A portion of proceeds will benefit the organization, Education Through Music.

Scott will be promoting her new album at several upcoming appearances: 10/17 at Yogaglo in Santa Monica, 10/19 for a concert in New York City for the premiere of Joe Pantoliano’s film, “No Kidding, Me Too!”, 11/7 and 11/8 for the official CD release parties in LA at the Edgemar Theater in Santa Monica. The 11/8 show is all ages and children are encouraged to bring their own “Hope” signs. 11/20 finds Scott in Northern California with a performance at Berkeley’s Rudramandir – a center for spirituality and healing.

For more information on Lisbeth Scott and to hear samples of her music, visit her official website www.lisbethscott.com. For interview requests and publicity materials, please contact Chandler Poling at chandler@cw3pr.com or 818-605-2237.

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Dawn Treader Composer David Arnold appearing at Music Show

Paul Martin — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:37:46 +0000

Award-winning composer David Arnold has been added to the line-up for the Music Show, which is RDS-bound on October 3 and 4.

Arnold has scored five consecutive James Bond movies starting with 1999’s The World Is Not Enough; won a ‘Best Instrumental Composition Written For A Motion Picture’ Grammy for Independence Day; collaborated with the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Massive Attack, Chris Cornell, Shirley Manson, Pulp and Bjork; and is currently working on 2010’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.

He also happens to be Damien Rice’s second cousin, giving Damo copious amounts of equipment and advice whilst he was assembling his O album.

Add in his involvement with Little Britain and ambassadorial role for the CARE International aid agency, and there’ll be plenty to talk to David about!

The Music Show, presented by Hot Press in association with RTE 2FM, The Irish Independent & The Sunday Independent, runs from October 3-4th in The RDS, Dublin. Saturday 3rd October 10 am – 6.30 pm, Sunday 4th October 11 am – 6 pm.

Tickets available on Ticketmaster

Hear Imogen Heap’s Prince Caspian Soundtrack Submission ‘2-1′

Paul Martin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 22:32:30 +0000

Karine twittered us about Imogen Heap’s new album, which is releasing August 24th or 25th depending on what part of the world you live in, called Ellipse. It includes a song called 2-1, which she wrote for Prince Caspian, but was decidedly too dark for the soundtrack, according to the music producers on the film. She decided, rather than letting good music go, to include it in her new album, which she finished a few months ago. If you would like to hear the song, or even the full album, we currently have the official music player here. The song is track #8, and it is 4 minutes and 42 seconds in length.

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NarniaFans Mailbag #44: Filming Order, Regina Spektor and Invisible Army

Paul Martin — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:35:44 +0000

This week has been flying by. I just remembered that it was Thursday, and that I hadn’t written this week’s mailbag. So I’m spending lunch time writing this week’s installment. I spent Tuesday riding roller coasters at Cedar Point, and around that day there were some really huge things happening in the world of Narnia. The third film started shooting, and we’ve gotten some great photos of the Dawn Treader nearing completion. I’ve got a couple of e-mails to answer this week, but before I do, I just wanted to give a status update on the secret project. I’m currently working on speed issues on it, but it’s moving forward. I have guests up from Florida so it’s going to take me a little longer than I had initially anticipated, but I hope that it’s worth the wait.

And a quick update on Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man that just came in from a woman named Barbara: “C.S. Lewis’s appreciation for Chesterton’s The Everlasting Man in correspondence is well known. Tolkien borrowed the idea for Ents from Chesterton’s The Trees of Pride! I hope these facts were brought to your attention.” Thanks Barbara!

Q: Currently, the Chronicles of Narnia are being filmed in the order that corresponds to their publication order. However, Douglas Gresham has expressed interest in filming “The Magician’s Nephew” before “The Horse and His Boy“, instead of vice-versa. What is your opinion on this?

-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal

Paul: This is a great question! I am of the opinion that, when you first read the Chronicles, you always read them in the original publication order. As far as the filming goes, however, wherever they end up shooting The Horse and His Boy, it is the one story that doesn’t really seem to matter when they shoot it. It takes place during the reign of the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They could easily shoot it prior to The Magician’s Nephew, but shooting it after could afford them some story things that carry over, giving it more weight in the Narnia film series. This series is made up of books that all take place in the same world, but they are very different from one another in substance. The filmmakers are likely to, as we have seen, invent things that provide more continuity for the sake of the audience. If they did, in fact, shoot them in that order, it would give them an opportunity to introduce something in The Magician’s Nephew that has great weight in The Last Battle and, perhaps, have the Pevensie’s part in the story during The Horse and His Boy revolve around that particular thing, in some way. It would help to make that more of a trilogy, in some ways, and when the films would eventually be viewed in chronological order by super fans like us, we might notice some through lines to the overarching story of Narnia.

But who knows, this is all conjecture that I’m thinking about only seconds before I’m typing it. A stream of consciousness about Narnia filming, I suppose. It’s really quite intriguing to think about the possibilities.

Q: Hi! Somewhere I heard that The Call was nominated for an award. When will we find out if it won it – or do we already know??? Thanks.

-Dyanthius

Paul: I could not find information about this. Does anybody know if The Call by Regina Spektor was nominated for an award? I deserved to be. It was one of the best songs on the soundtrack, if not the best. If you know more information about this, please comment below!

Q: Hey, I was just wondering if you could give me a quick rundown or if you knew any links for a brief overview of what the Invisible Army is about? I’m doing extras work on it and I’d love to know what to expect in August.

-Dee

Paul: Wow, Dee! That’s fantastic that you’re doing some extras work on the film! It’s one of my dreams that you’re fulfilling. Best of luck to you on the film, and I hope that it goes well for you. If you would like to get a great look at what Invisible Army is all about, pick up the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader or a copy of the audio book. I believe that the audio version is about 3 hours in length. The book itself is not that long and can be read fairly quickly. I will tell you, though: it’s an epic adventure on the high seas, with many locations and troubles along the way. I don’t want to say too much about it, though you can likely find plot synopses all over the web, and you can find chapter summaries here on NarniaFans.com if you look in the book section of the site.

And that’s it for this week’s mailbag! Be sure to send in your questions by using the contact form listed on the menu.

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NarniaFans Mailbag #42: Harry Gregson Williams’ Complete Narnia Scores, and Harry Potter 6

Paul Martin — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:29:50 +0000

Welcome to the mailbag, where we answer fanmail that you send in, over the course of the week. For those that don’t know, we’ll take your questions, and if we don’t know the answers, we’ll try to get the answers from people that would know. We might even make something up! I have a very broad sense of humor, on top of a vast knowledge of film, music and comics with a wide range in taste and a great memory that serves to bring great comparisons or answers to your questions.

This afternoon, I saw the latest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I have to say, having never read any of the books but the seventh, it connected the rest of the movies to the seventh book very well. However, I do have a question, which I posed on my facebook status today, getting a string of hilarious responses. If you’ve not seen the movie, avoid this paragraph:

“When Harry and Gandalf go to the Mines of Moria, why couldn’t Harry use the the Patronus on the Dead Marsh creatures, when Dumbledore was all Odysseus. Instead, he had to cast a Balrog to fight them, when the Balrog is made of light, just like the patronus.”

The point of this paragraph was two-fold. First, it was to point out just how much J.K. Rowling ‘borrowed’ from The Lord of the Rings and repackaged into her own work. However, she also borrowed from some Greek / Roman mythology having them cross over what I instantly thought was a representation of the river Styx, followed by a spell that replicated a scene in The Odyssey. It was set in the Mines of Moria from The Fellowship of the Ring, though, as well as in the Dead Marshes, where Frodo falls in among the dead and Gollum swims in after him in The Two Towers. And then, Dumbledore looks exactly like Gandalf when he’s fighting the Balrog on the Bridge of Khazad Dûm. And with the fire behind him, it looks like he’s summoned a Balrog to fight.

This brings us to the second part of the question: could Harry have used his Patronus on the Dead Marsh things? Arguably it is a light based magic, like fire, and does work on creatures of darkness other than just Dementors. I think that Harry just needs to be in trouble now, so the patronas has been limited.

Anyone have some insight for me other than “read the book?” I don’t plan on reading those books. Too many great books to read.

Let’s get started with this week’s mailbag:

Q: When I bought the Prince Caspian Soundtrack I was looking forward to hearing Reepicheep’s theme. Instead I only got a few seconds of it in The Door in the Air. Are they planning to come out with a more complete soundtrack?

-Collin Layman

Paul: Unfortunately a complete recording of Harry Gregson-Williams’ score for either The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or Prince Caspian is very unlikely. Perhaps someday there will be a limited print run of a thousand or two copies of the complete recordings. Perhaps this letter will help to generate some more interest in owning all of the score from either film.

Who’s up for complete recordings of the Chronicles of Narnia scores by Harry Gregson-Williams? I sure am!

And this was a light week, with only the one letter. Better one than none, I say.

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NarniaFans Mailbag #35: Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter vs. Narnia

Paul Martin — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:55:40 +0000

We now present to you, this week’s mailbag. I’m losing track of the days of the week these days. It’s been one crazy week, that’s for sure! Look out for Kansas City’s Union Station launch of The Narnia Exhibition, opening tomorrow! A press release will be available shortly. Just to give you the heads up on other stories that I’m working on: both involve Narnia art. Look for those as well, this evening. Let’s get to the letter answering!

Q: Hi! First, I wanted to tell you that I think the Mailbag is a really cool feature! Now, on to my question. Recently, someone asked what William and Anna were doing lately. What have Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley have been up to? Thanks a lot!

-Tarwe, the Narnian Elf

Paul: Thanks, Tarwe. I think it’s a really cool feature as well! As for Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley… well… they’ve not been sitting around doing nothing. No. They’ve been sitting around doing school. Yes, friends, they are normal human beings just like the rest of us. At the time of the Prince Caspian press week in New York last year, Skandar was studying for a huge test that all British children have to take. It’s a test that determines a lot about your future schooling, kind of like the SAT or ACT here in the United States. Georgie has also been attending school, while both have been waiting for the start of filming on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Part of what is keeping both young actors grounded in reality is not doing too many film projects, and keeping focused on education. Another thing that Skandar has been doing is helping out with a wildlife / environmental conservation effort, called connect2earth.

Now it’s time to answer another old e-mail… maybe a few… we’ll see how this goes.

Q: I’ve noticed that the mailbag hasn’t been up lately…I’ve missed it. Anyway, I’m really excited by how far the Narnia team is coming along in Prince Caspian…do you think there could be a possible trailer release in November or December of this year? And do you think the release of Indiana Jones 4 will hurt PC’s box office earnings any?

-Stephanie

Paul: We missed it too! But here we are again. As you can tell this question is really old! Anyway, yeah… the trailer came out in December of 2007 (the year the e-mail was written)! As for what happened with the box office… Indiana Jones 4 did hurt Prince Caspian’s overall box office take, as did Iron Man. Indiana Jones was released a mere 6 days after Prince Caspian giving it a day less than usual to make some extra cash. It might have only been a few million dollars more, but that’s the kind of thing that could have created a domino effect. If the right audience sees a film, and spreads the word, then a movie can go on to make more. That extra day could have brought in a group of people that may have otherwise missed the film. They may have really enjoyed it, and seen it again. I think that both Prince Caspian and Indiana Jones catered to the same audience, with similar styles of action.

Of course, this is a lot of what-ifs, and things we’ll never know the answer to. But based on word-of-mouth and box office histories, you can piece things together pretty easily sometimes. It may have done better with that extra day… but it’s unlikely it would have been more than a few million better.

Q: Hello! Your site is absolutely amazing. But I have a question for you and other Narnia fans on this site. What is your opinion of the Harry Potter films in comparison to the Narnia films? I’m personally a fan of both movies but I like Harry Potter better. But I just wanted to know you guys’ opinion on this topic. Thanks so much, and I hope you have the time to reply!

-Matt Clipp

Paul: Good question, Matt! Harry Potter vs. Narnia. That’s sure to bring in some debate, but I’m going to venture a guess and say that the debate will be informed mostly by the readers of the books, and book-to-film comparisons, rather than the films taken on their own merits. I’m going to write based on the films, and not the books.

Let’s get this out of the way, right away: I’ve never read a Harry Potter book. The most exposure I’ve had to Rowling’s writing has been when I flipped through Order of the Phoenix to learn who died (didn’t see what the fuss was about) and listening to the audio version of Deathly Hallows because I knew it would probably be spoiled before the movie came out.

Now that you know where I’m coming from, it helps put things into perspective for how I have felt about the movies thus far. There are some Harry Potter fans that feel I have no business in judging the films, having not read the books, but to them I say “you have no business judging the films, having your own bias on what the outcome should be.” Controversial? Yes, but no more controversial than telling one that loves film as I that he has no business judging a film on its’ own merits.

I’m going to go through each film in the series one by one:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Philosopher’s Stone) – Not a fan… I thought it was rather dry and not very magical a story… and the cinematography was rather lacking. The only thing it really had going for it was the score by John Williams. Chris Columbus does a great job of Christmas themed elements in movies, but that was the only thing that stood out in this film… because it was reminiscent of his Home Alone films. Home Alone 1 and 2 each apart had more magic than this and the next Harry Potter film combined.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Is it strange that I don’t remember this one? Nor the threat to Harry’s life? I only really remember thinking that Dobby sounded a lot like Jar Jar Binks and I wondered why I was the only person that felt that way. I wondered why nobody felt betrayed by that, as they are geared toward the same audience. Then I remembered that Star Wars is an institution that had no Jar Jar prior to Episode I, but Dobby was an established and well-liked character… apparently. I couldn’t see why, and I dread his return to the films. That’s about all I remember, though.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – This is the first truly great film in the series. It’s the first one that I bought, and it was the first time that the films had managed to capture magic on celluloid. The addition of Gary Oldman to the cast gave the film added weight, and the story was fun and entertaining to follow. Not to mention the fact that Dumbledore, for the first time, was the Dumbledore that I had heard he was from a friend a few years earlier. Until this point, Dumbledore was portrayed so meek that it made me wonder what made him so powerful. He wasn’t like the Yoda of Attack of the Clones, but rather closer to the Yoda of Return of the Jedi. The Dumbledore of this film, however, brought life to the character. Could it be that this, the one adventure so far without Voldemort, is proof that Voldemort was a villain that did not capture my interest? Could it have been the obvious Ringwraith rip-offs, the Death Eaters that made this film so good? I didn’t know, and the next film wouldn’t do much to answer those questions. The new director on this film breathed life into it that Columbus hadn’t.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – This had dragons and adventure… why wouldn’t it be great? Well, it seemed to be a Cliff Notes version of the book without explanation. This is the one time in the series so far that I think had I read the books I might have gotten more out of the motion picture version. There was a lot of stuff happening and a lot of flash and pizazz and not a lot of substance. What’s more, Voldemort appears and does little else than talk too much again. Granted, if a villain ever did anything to the hero of the story toward his goals without meandering on pointless diatribes of what could be done, it would be The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Narnia. In each of these films, the villain is bent on his goals and will either send the hero to his death, or, should the hero prove worthy, offer a position to the hero to join the villain (as is the case in Star Wars as well as Narnia).

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Finally, it seems that Voldemort has finished his verbal presentation, and sees fit to break Harry down. This one, thankfully, has a new director and a simplified story that was easier to follow. The dark story was closer to the themes of the third film, and I did end up purchasing this one as well. The direction on this one kept things moving toward a satisfying finish, and made me happy that the same director would work on the following three films.

So for me, so far the series is two for three, with only two good films and three bad films. It’s headed in the right direction, though, based on the trailers for Half-Blood Prince. However, it’s going to be tough to look at Dumbledore this time around and not see him as the Gandalf rip-off that he appears to be.

As for the Narnia films: you could read my reviews of each film to get my thoughts, but in quick summary, I loved both, and cannot even watch the BBC versions of the stories any more. I felt they did a great job of telling the stories, and the both hold their own as films apart from the books. Thus far, you can understand what is going on in each of the films very easily, and they both have magical elements to them, and manage to capture my imagination right from the title screens. In the first film, it was the scene at the train station that drew me into the adventure, and in the second it was Caspian’s ride across the fields. In both, the music soared to great heights, both unique scores for fantasy films, thanks to the efforts of Harry Gregson-Williams.

To this end, I find the Narnia films both much more satisfying than the Harry Potter films that I like, and infinitely more-so than those I do not. Granted, this question was asked about nine months prior to the release of Prince Caspian, so the answer may have been a little different then, but not very.

NarniaFans Mailbag #32: More Dawn Treader Art, and old letters surface

Paul Martin — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:24:28 +0000

For this week’s Mailbag, I looked in my inbox and realized a couple of things: first, there was only one e-mail for this week’s mailbag. I could take this to mean that it’s not a good feature to bring back, but that would be ridiculous. I enjoy the chance to answer e-mails and also to put my own voice into the site just a little bit.

On a related note, I share Andrew Adamson’s birthday. Who knew? Andrew, if you’re reading this, that must be the reason we have similar creative minds.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

Q: Is there more VDT concept art than meets the eye during the “Pre-visualizing Prince Caspian” DVD feature? Look to the upper left at the 2:20 mark. Is that red creature a dragon of some kind? It has a similar shape to whatever is shown flying over water at around the 9:58 mark. (This image appears again at 9:18 and 9:31.) Also, look to the right at 9:31. These images do not look familiar from PC and the colors are very different; could they be from VDT?

Mike

Paul: This question really speaks to me for more reasons than just being directed toward me. And I think he knows what I’m talking about. More than Meets the Eye. Transformers. Yes, I am a child of the 80s, and Transformers was a shot that I rarely missed.

Anyway, yes, that art is from the concept art for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. However, the thing about concept art that we have to remember is that not all of it makes it beyond the concept art stage. One case that speaks to this is the Star Wars prequels. I can’t tell you how much concept art I’ve seen that never made the cut. Perhaps the most famous bit of concept art for a Star Wars film was painted by Ralph McQuarrie.

As he describes it: Luke is fighting Darth Vader in what was to have been a scuffle aboard the Rebel Blockade Runner soon after Vader’s Imerial captured the Rebel ship. Luke is wearing a king of breathing mask because Vader’s troopers apparently cut through a panel to get in, allowing the air supply to escape.

The Darth Vader costume – a grotesque breath mask and all sorts of other lifesupporting systems, computer readout, black cape and armor – was partly inspired by the impressive image of a Samurai warrior. George Lucas, in keeping with the idea that Vader’s whole being was to be mysterious, wanted the character to be entirely in black.

Now that the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is back in the early stages of Pre-production, new art will most likely be created to match new portions of the screenplay, while some art will be dropped from the slate as cuts are made. While the prospect is great that the artwork seen might be a glimpse at what we’ll see in the future, and it is likely… it’s not something that I would work myself up about too much.

Now, let’s get going with the old letters. These letters are at least 2 years old, and at most 1 year old.

Q: I heard that Anna wrote a book about being on the set of LWW or something like that, where can I find this book? I’d really like to know. Thanks!

-Ben Burton

Paul: I believe you’re referring to the journal she kept while on the set of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It was published after the film’s release, but I don’t know if it has ever been released publicly. If anyone knows more about this, please contact us!

Q: Why did they decide to skip ‘The Horse and His Boy’and are they ever going to film it?

-Smith

Paul: This is a question that I used to get every day or so when Prince Caspian began filming. Prior to that, you could have replaced The Horse and His Boy with The Magician’s Nephew. The answer to this question is the same as the answer to that one. They haven’t really skipped anything. If you look at the original publication dates of the books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian were the first two books in the series. Prince Caspian also carries the sub-title The Return to Narnia.

Are they going to film it, though? There are a number of things that need to happen. First, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has to be a mega-hit for 20th Century Fox. Second, The Silver Chair has to also do very well. If those films to well, then we can almost certainly count on the rest of the series being filmed. Third, a script will have to be written that takes creative liberties with the characters based on some of the problems that it poses, with the portrayal of different cultures. It simply may not fly, as written.

Q: I was just wondering what you guys were going to do when the main characters like Peter and Susan get to old to play their part. Are you guys to get other people to play their parts? If you did that would be horrible.

-Softballgirl

Paul: The cool thing about the Narnia books is the cycle of characters. There shouldn’t be a time when an actor is too old to return to the role he or she originated, if or when the time arrises that they need to reprise that role. If you read the entire series, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. I’ll leave it at that.

Q: *spoilers* So, if not all of the original four siblings are in all the books, do you think the films will include them (such as Peter and Susan in VDT) in the films to please fans??? This would be awesome!!! But I’m just curious as to how they will handle this.

-Marie

Paul: This is a great question, and one that many are still wondering about today! When it comes down to it, movies have a way of changing things to include cameos. These appearances are fun for movie fans, and can be used to serve a few purposes. First, it can establish why a character isn’t a major part of the story, such as Peter leaving for the Professor’s, or Susan leaving for America. Second, it can also give fans a little treat. Third, in a series such as this, it gives the actors a chance to reconnect with the cast that they’ve come to know as a surrogate family.

Personally, I would count on seeing both Peter and Susan for even a brief moment, though they aren’t going to tell us anything about that, and most of us will have to wait until the film’s release on December 10, 2010!

Q: What order are the books being made into movies?

-Nikki

Paul: It appears they’re doing it in the original publication order of the books. If they can complete it, The Last Battle will be EPIC!

Q: Why did it take you so long to start filming the second movie, Prince Caspian; but work is already started on the third, Voyage of the Dawn Treader?

-Togciadc64

Paul: This question was posed on June 2, 2007. At that time, Disney expected Prince Caspian to do at least as well as LWW. As we all know, now, it didn’t. We Narnia fans could have told them that. Prince Caspian isn’t a very well known, or even very popular, Narnia book. They decided to start early on Dawn Treader, because they planned on created what was then called The Caspian Trilogy. It would be composed of the three films that comprised Caspian’s story. But why did it take so long after LWW? Because they were waiting to get the Box Office receipts for it. They wanted to be sure it was successful.

Q: According to the book “The Magician’s Nephew” two trees – a gold and silver tree – were planted by Andrew Kirke near the lamp-post. But in the movie, when Lucy arrives on the first night, and also after many years before returning to England, they pass the lamp-post but the gold and silver trees are not seen. Why is it so?

-Manasi Lad

Paul: There are a few possibilities. First, it had been many many years since the planting, so the landscape might have changed by then. Second, they weren’t mentioned in the book, which may have been a result of Lewis having not planned on writing seven books. Third, the book doesn’t actually specify how close the trees are to the lamp-post.

Q: In “Evacuating London” from the LWW soundtrack there is someone singing in some parts of the song. I can’t distinguish the lyrics… do you know what they are or where I can find them?? Thanks!! Love the site as always

-Marie (same one as a few letters above)

Paul: I had the same question, so I went straight to the source, Lisbeth Scott herself! She responded with the lyrics, which you can find here: Evacuating London.

That’s all of the letters I had time for this week. Stay tuned next week, as I dive into the archives again for more of the letters from 2007, as well as more letters from all of you, over the course of the week!

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Harry Gregson-Williams talks about Narnia Concert as Career Highlight

Paul Martin — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:37:08 +0000

Variety.com asked Harry Gregson-Williams, who served as composer for both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian. What he said about Narnia really shows the humility of the man. I hope to one day get a proper interview with him.

Here, he recounts a memorable moment in his life as a composer:

“The hush as I picked up my baton before the first note of the concert I did with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (a suite from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’). That was totally thrilling and also incredibly alarming. What in heaven’s name am I doing here? I’m a film composer, not a concert composer. It was fantastic.”

And in another article, Andrew Adamson comments on what it was like working with Gregson-Williams:

Describing his friend’s work ethic as “intense,” Adamson often jokes with Gregson-Williams about taking some well-earned time off from movies. “After the first ‘Narnia,’ he said he was going to buy an RV, set it up as a studio and just drive around and write music for a while,” Adamson says. “But he has a hard time saying no — and as a director, I’ve been happy to exploit that.”

Fans of Harry Gregson-Williams can read more of the series of articles here:
Williams selects career highlights
Game scoring liberating for Williams
Williams rises to top of scoring world
Filmmakers talk of Williams’ talent
Williams scores for animated fare
And you can also view his Variety Profile here.

Thanks to Mark Sommer for the inspiration!

Prince Caspian Score, Narnia Songwriters Win Dove Awards

Paul Martin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:36:29 +0000

The Dove Awards are currently happening, and I’m going to be updating this as the awards are given to Narnia related music artists.

The score for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian wins the award for Instrumental Project of the Year! Congratulations, Harry Gregson-Williams, Lisbeth Scott & Company!

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
A Treasury of Hymns; LaDonna; Eric Wyse; Martingale Music
Always There; Harold Rayford; Antoine Chamber; Tyscot Records
Born to Play; Barry D.; Barry D.; Taqa Records
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; Various; Harry Gregson-Williams; Walt Disney Records
Love Beyond All Measure; Stephen Petrunak; Stephen Petrunak; GIA Publications
The Breath of Life; Angella Christie; Angella Christie, Kevin Griffen; ACSM

However, none of the Disney people were on hand to accept the award.

The award for Long Form Music Video was given to Narnia artist tobyMac for Alive and Transported.

LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO
Alive and Transported; tobyMac; Eric Welch; Tameron Hedge, Dan Pitts; Broken Poet Productions; Forefront Records
Comatose Comes Alive; Skillet; Carl Diebold; Carl Diebold, Paul Kerby, Zachary Kelm; Atlantic, Lava , Ardent, INO Records
Country Bluegrass Homecoming Volume One; Bill & Gloria Gaither; Doug Stuckey; Bill Gaither; Gaither Television Productions; Gaither Music Group
O Holy Night; David Phelps; David Phelps, Jimmy Abegg; David Phelps, Jim Chaffee, Jimmy Abegg, Ben Pearson; MG&A; Word Records
The Altar and the Door Live; Casting Crowns; Cary Goin; John Erwin, Andy Erwin; Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures; Beach Street

I was going for Skillet on this one, but I haven’t seen all of the videos. I’m just a huge Skillet fan and have the video.

Steven Curtis Chapman wins songwriter of the year! Congrats, Steven! He had some great competition this year, too.

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman
Natalie Grant
Brandon Heath
Jason Ingram
Tony Wood

Artist of the Year goes to Steven Curtis Chapman! Congrats again Steven! He got a standing ovation after performing his smash hit song Cinderella, a song that is destined to be on the radio forever.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns
Steven Curtis Chapman
Fireflight
Marvin Sapp
Third Day
tobyMac
Chris Tomlin

Dove Award Nominations include “This is Home,” Soundtrack, Related Artists

Paul Martin — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:25:08 +0000

Wow! As I was reading through the list of Dove Award Nominations, I couldn’t help but notice the number of artists that have been inspired by C.S. Lewis and/or The Chronicles of Narnia! Starting with Switchfoot’s Prince Caspian Soundtrack entry This is Home being nominated for Pop/Contemporary Song of the Year, as well as the Prince Caspian soundtrack being nominated for Instrumental Album.

I’m going to list all of the categories that a related artist has been nominated in below. Brace yourself!

2009 Dove Award Nominees

SONG OF THE YEAR
Dove Award given to the songwriter and publisher.
song title; writer; publisher
“Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)”; Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, Traditional; sixsteps music (ASCAP), worshiptogether.com Songs (ASCAP)
“Cinderella”; Steven Curtis Chapman; Sparrow Songs (BMI)
“Empty Me”; Chris Sligh, Clint Lagerberg, Tony Wood; Foolish Tool Music (ASCAP), Word Music LLC (ASCAP), Kindacrazy Music (BMI), Row J Seat 9 Songs (ASCAP), New Spring Publishing (ASCAP), Bridge Building Music (BMI)
“Give Me Your Eyes”; Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram; Sitka 6 Music (ASCAP), Peertunes Ltd. (SESAC), Grange Hill Music (SESAC), Windsor Way (SESAC)
“I Will Not Be Moved”; Natalie Grant; Nat in the Hat (ASCAP)
“I’m Letting Go”; Francesca Battistelli, Tony Wood, Ian Eskelin; Designer Music (SESAC), Word Music LLC (ASCAP), Honest & Popular Songs (SESAC), Row J Seat 9 Songs (ASCAP), New Spring Publishing Inc. (ASCAP)
“Mighty to Save”; Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan; Hillsong Publishing (ASCAP)
“Never Going Back to OK”; Matt Fuqua, Josh Havens, Brad Wigg, Dan Muckala; Smells Like Music (ASCAP), Screaming Mimes Music (ASCAP)
“Reason Enough”; Ernie Haase, Wayne Haun, Joel Lindsey; Bridge Building Music (BMI), Psalmsinger Music (BMI), Ernie Sig Sound Music (BMI), Hefton Hill Music (BMI)
“You Reign”; Bart Millard, Barry Graul, Steven Curtis Chapman; Simpleville Music (ASCAP), Wet As A Fish Music (ASCAP), Sparrow Songs (BMI)

SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Steven Curtis Chapman
Natalie Grant
Brandon Heath
Jason Ingram
Tony Wood

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Jeremy Camp
Jon Foreman
Ernie Haase
Brandon Heath
David Phelps
Marvin Sapp
Chris Tomlin

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Francesca Battistelli
Karen Peck Gooch
Natalie Grant
Brooke Fraser Ligertwood
Mandisa
Sandi Patty
Laura Story

GROUP OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns
David Crowder*Band
Ernie Haase & Signature Sound
Mary Mary
MercyMe
Skillet
Third Day

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Casting Crowns
Steven Curtis Chapman
Fireflight
Marvin Sapp
Third Day
tobyMac
Chris Tomlin

POP/CONTEMPORARY RECORDED SONG
“Cinderella”; This Moment – Cinderella Edition; Steven Curtis Chapman; Sparrow Records
“Give Me Your Eyes”; What If We; Brandon Heath, Jason Ingram; Reunion Records
“I Will Not Be Moved”; Relentless; Natalie Grant; Curb Records
“I’m Letting Go”; My Paper Heart; Francesca Battistelli, Ian Eskelin, Tony Wood; Fervent Records
“This Is Home”; Chronicles Of Narnia:Prince Caspian; Switchfoot; Jonathan Foreman, Andy Dodd, Adam Watts; Walt Disney Records

WORSHIP SONG
Dove Award in the Worship Song category given to the songwriter and publisher.
song; writer; publisher
“A New Hallelujah”; Michael W. Smith, Debbie Smith, Paul Baloche; Word Music LLC, Smittyfly Music, This Is Your Time Music, Integrity’s Hosanna! Music, Leadworship Songs
“Breathe On Me”; Natalie Grant; Nat In The Hat Music
“Jesus Messiah”; Chris Tomlin, Daniel Carson, Jesse Reeves, Ed Cash; worshiptogether.com Songs, Alletrop Music, sixsteps Music
“Mighty To Save”; Ben Fielding, Reuben Morgan; Hillsong Publishing
“You’re Not Alone”; Meredith Andrews; Word Music LLC

ROCK ALBUM
Comatose Comes Alive; Skillet; Carl Diebold, Paul Kerby, Zachary Kelm; Ardent Records, INO Records
For The Love Of The Game; Pillar; Travis Wyrick; Essential Records
Satisfied; DecembeRadio; Scotty Wilbanks; Slanted Records
Southern Hospitality; Disciple; Travis Wyrick; INO Records
To Know That You’re Alive; Kutless; Peter Kipley; BEC

ROCK/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Daylight Is Coming; Remedy Drive; Ian Eskelin; Word Records
Expect The Impossible; Stellar Kart; Ian Eskelin; Word Records
Hello; After Edmund; Scotty Wilbanks; Slanted Records
Never Going Back To OK; The Afters; Dan Muckala; INO Records
Unbreakable; Fireflight; Rob Hawkins; Flicker Records

POP/CONTEMPORARY ALBUM
Bebo Norman; Bebo Norman, Jason Ingram, Rusty Varenkamp; BEC
Fall And Winter; Jon Foreman; Credential Recordings, lowercase people records
My Paper Heart; Francesca Battistelli; Ian Eskelin; Fervent Records
Relentless; Natalie Grant; Bernie Herms, Shaun Shankel; Curb Records
Revelation; Third Day; Howard Benson; Essential Records

INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM
A Treasury of Hymns; LaDonna; Eric Wyse; Martingale Music
Always There; Harold Rayford; Antoine Chamber; Tyscot Records
Born to Play; Barry D.; Barry D.; Taqa Records
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; Various; Harry Gregson-Williams; Walt Disney Records
Love Beyond All Measure; Stephen Petrunak; Stephen Petrunak; GIA Publications
The Breath of Life; Angella Christie; Angella Christie, Kevin Griffen; ACSM

PRAISE & WORSHIP ALBUM
A New Hallelujah; Michael W. Smith; Michael W. Smith; Reunion Records
Great God Who Saves; Laura Story; Ed Cash; INO Records
Hello Love; Chris Tomlin; Ed Cash; Sparrow Records; sixsteps Records
Opposite Way; Leeland; Matt Bronleewe; Essential Records
The Invitation; Meredith Andrews; Jason Ingram, Rusty Varenkamp; Word Records

LONG FORM MUSIC VIDEO
Alive and Transported; tobyMac; Eric Welch; Tameron Hedge, Dan Pitts; Broken Poet Productions; Forefront Records
Comatose Comes Alive; Skillet; Carl Diebold; Carl Diebold, Paul Kerby, Zachary Kelm; Atlantic, Lava , Ardent, INO Records
Country Bluegrass Homecoming Volume One; Bill & Gloria Gaither; Doug Stuckey; Bill Gaither; Gaither Television Productions; Gaither Music Group
O Holy Night; David Phelps; David Phelps, Jimmy Abegg; David Phelps, Jim Chaffee, Jimmy Abegg, Ben Pearson; MG&A; Word Records
The Altar and the Door Live; Casting Crowns; Cary Goin; John Erwin, Andy Erwin; Erwin Brothers Motion Pictures; Beach Street

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