Narnia Fans » Walden Media

An Interview with Micheal Flaherty

Paul Martin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:03:41 +0000

Last spring Micheal Flaherty, President of Walden Media, visited Asbury College as part of its Engaging Culture weekend. As those who have met him know, he is a truly great man–full of wisdom, enthusiasm, real joy, and deep compassion.

While he was on campus, Devin Brown had the opportunity to ask him about Walden’s mission, where its name came from, and even what his favorite scene is. His response to these and other questions can be viewed in “An Interview with Micheal Flaherty” which has been posted at: Asbury.edu

There’s also a question and answer session about The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

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Walden Media uses Digital Vision on Dawn Treader

Paul Martin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:31:27 +0000

For those interested in the technology that is in use on the production of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, we now have some information on the process that they’re going through to create movie magic. This article is highly technical, intended to inform those interested in filmmaking, and the tools of the trade.

Digital Vision, manufacturers of image enhancement and mastering systems for film and television post-production, has announced that Hollywood mini-studio Anschutz Film Group/Walden Media has taken delivery of Digital Vision’s Nucoda HD system. Digital Vision has worked closely with Walden to create a streamlined color pipeline from dailies to final delivery for their international productions. The two grading and one conform systems for Walden form the cornerstone of a complete production and post production workflow on “The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” one of the industry’s first 100% digitally acquired, file-based feature projects. The Nucoda HD systems capture and utilize the American Society of Cinematographer’s CDL (color decision list) metadata, and maintain it as a basis for grading throughout the project with Digital Vision’s comprehensive toolset.

Walden Media has produced several box office blockbusters. “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Bridge to Terabithia,” and “The Water Horse,” are a few high-profile theatrical titles in the AFG/Walden Media library.

Earlier this year, Doug Jones, Walden’s EVP of Physical Production, Sean Santiago, VP Visual Effects and Jonas Thaler, VP Post Production designed a workflow for the third chapter in the Narnia series. The Director of Photography and On-Set Colorist create a look for each scene, which is expressed and documented as ten-digit ASC CDL value. In the Walden plan, the CDL grades follow the project from set to dailies to VFX and final DI color timing.

When the Walden team was ready to discuss hardware and software solutions with which to implement the new ”Dawn Treader” workflow, they met with Simon Cuff, President and COO of Digital Vision. Digital Vision responded to the challenge and is currently developing an on-set grading solution based on the research and development that the two companies have done together. For Dawn Treader’s Australia shoot, Digital Vision provided a modified Nucoda HD System that takes in and manages color choices from the set and keeps the salient metadata available to the colorist and visual effects through final DI color grading. Walden will use systems in Australia, UK and the US on upcoming features.

Doug Jones of Walden commented that, “We and our filmmakers strive to make successful films with powerful and memorable visual content. Directors and cinematographers do their best work if they are given instant access to high resolution images and precise color and density control from day one through final delivery. After meeting in Los Angeles and London and getting to know Digital Vision’s international development group and product line, we could see that the Nucoda HD system fit the bill. The efficiency of the ASC CDL color value system and the power and depth of Digital Vision’s tools are the essence of our workflow. Our partnership with Digital Vision has evolved to the point where we’d like to keep this going on future projects.”

Simon Cuff, President and COO of Digital Vision, commented, “Walden Media has a history of telling high quality stories with beautiful imagery created by top filmmakers. To work so closely with this team and this caliber of entertainment is exciting, and we are looking forward to Nucoda being part of that creative process, from the camera to the cinema screen. Walden’s push forward in production, VFX and post production workflow has allowed us to accelerate the development and refine the functionality of our on-set and dailies solutions – ensuring this will become an essential part of the movie-making process.”

Walden Media News: Go see ‘Bandslam’

Paul Martin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 01:46:56 +0000

I know that this is a strange departure from the usual Narnia news, and believe me when I say: more Narnia news is coming, and you’re going to love it. I just wanted to take the time to tell you all about a film from the studio that is bringing us The Chronicles of Narnia movies. It’s called Bandslam and it’s a film that I went into expecting to enjoy it, but not much more than that. I found myself really having a great time with it, and wondering where the marketing department missed the boat.

I thought they might have seen the wrong movie, by the way it was being promoted, and came out of the theater having experienced a wonderful little film whose characters captured me and captivated me as they went on their journey through the film. It’s not really about a battle of the bands competition, though that is part of it. It’s really about the character of Will, who has problems just like anyone else. In fact, everyone in the movie is more than meets the eye, and every character is brought in with a purpose. I can’t recommend this movie highly enough.

It says a lot about this film, that on rottentomatoes.com, it has a rating of 80% positive reviews. Not to mention that the cream of the crop, the major film critics, are sitting with 90% positive reviews. I recommend that you go into this film simply expecting to walk away having had a good time for a couple of hours. You should find yourself entertained by it, if not blown away by how good the movie is. The dialog, capably written by Josh Cagan, is realistic, and reminiscent of John Hughes. In fact, the movie reminds me of a current generation John Hughes, though his films have aged rather well, for the most part.

The main character in the film is played by newcomer Gaelan Connell, and he sure does carry the film well. In fact, I won’t be surprised if this film gets him into more films very quickly. The acting in the film is really top notch by him and the rest of the cast.

This is a film that all involved should be, and are, proud to be a part of, regardless of the movie’s box office returns. It’s definitely worth the trip to the theatre. It’s the perfect film to end the summer, before the start of the school year.

Bug and Omar, two of the cast members, said to me via twitter that they’d be willing to play some LIVE shows, in their words: “cheers for the support! personally, we would love to play some live shows. ONLY if the supporters ask for it, that is-bug & omar.”

Alyson Michalka, of Aly and AJ fame (now 78violet) has been attending screenings, and announcing it via Twitter as well, to watch the film with the audience. She’s very supportive of the movie, and is showing it with awesome interaction with the fans.

This movie is much closer to School of Rock in style, than it is to High School Musical. It’s a movie with a lot of heart, and has some great character moments. Personally, I can’t wait to see it again.

Do not judge this movie based on the trailers or the poster. It exceeds both entirely. Vanessa Hudgens plays a role that is nothing like her character in High School Musical and shows her ability to play multiple character types very well. Her character doesn’t even reflect who she appears to be in the trailer. This is a movie that deserves to be cheered for, and has had many audiences of press cheering across the country. It could be one of those movies that just falls to the wayside, but that would be unfortunate.

If you’ve seen it, and enjoyed it, please comment below.

More Information: WaldenFans.com (Bandslam News) – Bandslam Official Website

Walden Media’s Website Redesigned

Paul Martin — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:56:09 +0000

Walden Media has redesigned their website with great style. Not only that, but it confirms the Dawn Treader logo that was posted in really low quality a few months ago (though on a black background, the rest is the same).

Walden.com has been designed with usability in mind, as well as ease of use for community involvement. It’s a great site, that is definitely easier to navigate than ever before, and even includes social networking links at the bottom, as well as easier to locate teaching tools.

Walden Media has always had education in mind when creating their website, and this is no different. With a blog section, as well as educator guides to each of their films and books, Walden has gone the distance to create classroom materials that teachers can use, and they’ve done a fantastic job of bringing in some amazing new features. Go exploring at Walden.com

Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes to Gold Coast, Confirmed again

Paul Martin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:33:50 +0000

Many many people have written us to let us know that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is definitely, confirmed again, to be filming on the Gold Coast in Australia. Thanks, in particular, to Brendan and Elika for the particular announcement.

QUEENSLAND has attracted one of the biggest-budget films to be shot in Australia. The multi-million dollar Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be filmed on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane this year, Premier Anna Bligh told state Parliament today. Ms Bligh says the Walden Media/Twentieth Century Fox feature film will employ about 2000 Queenslanders during production.

“This means more jobs for extras, wardrobe assistants, make-up artists, drivers, production staff, set designers, set builders who will gain work and valuable experience during the production,” Ms Bligh said. ”This will possibly be the highest-budget feature film ever shot in Queensland.”

It is set to rival the previous record breaker, Peter Pan, in 2002-03. Locations include Doug Jennings Park on The Spit at the Gold Coast and Cleveland Point in Brisbane’s bayside. Ms Bligh said more Gold Coast locations were being negotiated. ”We faced some very stiff competition for this production from NSW and New Zealand,” she said.

Producer Mark Johnson Talks Narnia

Mike — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:43:16 +0000

Mark Johnson, producer on “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” “Prince Caspian,” and “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is featured in a brief entertainment news piece in the Calgary Sun.

Regarding the first two Narnia films, Johnson said, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe worked phenomenally well and Prince Caspian worked very well. It’s funny it’s seen in a different light (but it still made) just under half a billion dollars.”

Johnson also comments that he looks forward to working on “Dawn Treader,” due in theaters in December 2010. The full article is available at the Calgary Sun’s website. Scroll down to the heading that reads “Third Time Lucky?”

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Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Logo Surfaces

Mike — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:39:43 +0000

A low-quality picture of the “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” logo is posted in an entry on the Jim Hill Media blog.

Check out the entry here. The VDT logo appears about half way down the page. It’s very similar to the original logos for both The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, which is great considering the change in production studio.

According to Jim Hill’s blog, 20th Century Fox is trying to get companies and t-shirt makers excited about Dawn Treader. This picture comes from the Licensing International Expo 2009.

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NarniaFans Mailbag #37: Academy Awards, Publicity and Casting

Paul Martin — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:26:55 +0000

This week’s mailbag is a little bit late, and I apologize for that. I had some stuff to get done this week, and I’ve started doing a new project. Not to mention that I have been a little sick, so I’ve gotten a lot of extra sleep lately. Not that it has anything to do with this. Anyway, let’s get to it, some interesting letters came in this week.

Q: When the list of eligible songs for the “Best Original Song” Academy Award was released, “The Call” was there but “This is Home” and the others weren’t. Can you explain this?

-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal

Paul: Good question. I’m not sure the rules on this, and even the official site for the Oscars doesn’t have the rules for eligibility posted in this category. There must have been a reason, but I just can’t find it. Can anyone else?

Q: I want to say something about the most recent mailbag; Skulbaka had a question about Fox’s handling of Narnia, and mentioned that Eragon was a poor film compared to the book. While I haven’t read Eragon and haven’t seen the film, so I don’t know anything about it, I do know that Fox has handled STar Wars quite well (which I believe you mentioned). HOWEVER, Fox will not be responsible for what’s in the script, am I right? Michael Apted and the screenwriter(s) are responsible for what goes into the script; the studios (Walden and Fox) will handle the distribution, marketing and publicity.

I also wanted to ask a question: since Disney has bailed on the films, do you think there will be better publicity for Voyage of the Dawn treader, like there was for Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?

-Aravis Kenobi

Paul: Good additional points about the Dawn Treader script, and you are correct about that. I think that there’s a good chance for better publicity than Prince Caspian had. 20th Century Fox wants to make this a franchise and they don’t want to do one Narnia only to see it fail. Expect to see a lot in the way of publicity, this time around.

Q: Am I the only one who noticed the Narnia flag (rampant lion) on the opening shot of the Disney castle in the movie theater version of Prince Caspian? I was rather disappointed when it didn’t make the DVD.

Kelley

Paul: Now that you mention it, I sort of remember seeing it. Anyone have verification on this? I’m not sure I can find it. It is interesting if it really isn’t on the DVD. If I wasn’t watching the Ocean’s trilogy at the moment, I’d check the Blu-ray.

Q: Any idea on when we’ll hear casting announcements?
Do you think/know if TCF/Walden will market VDT to faith groups?

Mike

Paul: Casting announcements, if filming indeed starts in late July, some time this month. Keep your eyes on NarniaFans.com for these! I think that that Walden will market VDT to faith groups again, and hopefully with as much stress as they did LWW. The biggest problem is that the rest of the Narnia films don’t have as public a symbolic reference to Christ. Nor the name recognition. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe could have been released under that name alone. Calling it The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was pure marketing so that when future films in the series were released, people could see the name Narnia and remember the last film on the weight of that name alone.

And that’s it for this week’s mailbag. Keep sending us e-mails, and we’ll keep answering. If you have any answers, feel free to comment below, or send us an e-mail and we’ll post it in future mailbags.

NarniaFans Mailbag #36: The Fourth Narnia, Narnia Exhibition, Ben Barnes and Fox

Paul Martin — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:00:47 +0000

Here we are with this week’s mailbag! It’s been pretty exciting to see the response that we’ve gotten so far, and I’ve had a great time writing them. Hopefully the e-mails keep coming in each week so that I can continue.

The first question is a short one that I somehow missed a couple of weeks ago.

Q: What is the 4th Narnia?

-Matthew

Paul: This simple question has a bit of a complex answer. It depends on what you’re talking about, first and foremost: The books or the films.

If it’s the films, then it’s The Silver Chair.

The book version is a little more complex. But I’ll give you the original answer first: The Silver Chair. It was the fourth book published in the series. Later on, in the 1970s, the books were published in the chronological order of the story, based on the Narnia timeline. This put The Silver Chair in the sixth position in the series. Oddly enough, it also puts Prince Caspian as the fourth. However, this is something that I find rather odd, personally. Especially so because of the movies out so far.

Q: Hi! Love the Mailbag! Okay, so obviously as of May 22nd, the Narnia Exhibition rides into Union Station. (My friend thanks you for this info – she lives near there!) But is there, as of yet, any knowledge that the exhibition will continue AFTER Kansas City? I know this is a silly question, but so far this hasn’t come within quite a few miles of my area, and I might as well go to Kansas if it isn’t coming near me. Thankies! Oh and by the way, isn’t there a new movie that Ben Barnes plays in that is coming out soon?

-April G.

Paul: From what I was told in New York City a year ago, the Exhibition is meant to continue for a few years, traveling all over the country and changing after each film comes out. I just don’t know where. Perhaps someone involved in the Exhibition knows. I should have done some homework, but I haven’t had time in the last week.

Also, Ben Barnes is, in fact, in a couple of movies at the moment. Easy Virtue is currently playing in a limited release in the United States, and has been opening in many foreign territories since September 2008. It will continue to open in many foreign territories through August of this year.

Dorian Gray is the other film, and it doesn’t currently have a release date set in the United States, but it is scheduled to open in the UK on September 18 as well as Finland on December 25, 2009. It could be out any time in the fall, however, but there is no word on the scope of the release.

Q: What are your opinions about Fox taking over the Narnia series? Personally, I’m all for it; the only worry I have is they also adapted “Eragon”, which frankly was poor compared with the book. Anyway, thanks.

-Skulblaka_Shur’tugal

Paul: This is a difficult question to answer. It’s kind of a double edged sword. It really depends on how the film (series?) is handled by the studio. Their handling of the X-Men franchise is the only one that has me slightly worried. Apparently, there is a producer there that wanted to kill the franchise from the start, not really understanding why it’s a franchise worth doing well. (If it is true, then that producer should be removed from any type of control over the future of the series.)

Eragon isn’t worth getting concerned over. There is a different creative team than that which worked on Eragon. In fact, it is still pretty much the same team that worked on the first two films, save for the screenwriters, director and composer. It should feel like a Narnia film.

If there is one thing Fox has done really well, it’s letting outside creative teams have complete control of their franchises, such as George Lucas with Star Wars. Those were the terms of his contract with them, and I’m willing to bet that the Lewis Estate made it a big part of their contract with Fox as well.

All in all, I trust 20th Century Fox with the future of the franchise, and I think they’ll do a great job with it. Remember: Walden Media is still very much a part of this.

Alrighty, this is a little shorter than usual, but it’s all I have time for this week. Keep the e-mail coming!

Prince Caspian DVD Sales Update

Mike — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:44:24 +0000

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” while not appearing in the top 30 weekly DVD sales since January, is nearing 5 million units sold.

According to The Numbers, PC has sold 4,798,916 copies through April 12, 2009. This figure does not include Blu-ray disc sales, and Amazon.com’s Blu-ray bundle (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian) is probably not included, either. While specific data is hard to come by, it is reasonable to assume PC has moved a total of five million discs between the two formats in the United States alone. International sales would move that figure even higher.

For those keeping tally, PC has generated over half a billion dollars in revenue from ticket sales ($419.6 million), DVD sales ($76.2 million in the United States), and television broadcasting rights (reportedly $15 million). Adding in revenue from iTunes downloads, international DVD sales, soundtrack sales, and other merchandise would move that figure higher also.

Narnia Fans » Walden Media

An Interview with Micheal Flaherty

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Walden Media uses Digital Vision on Dawn Treader

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Voyage of the Dawn Treader comes to Gold Coast, Confirmed again

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Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Logo Surfaces

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NarniaFans Mailbag #37: Academy Awards, Publicity and Casting

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NarniaFans Mailbag #36: The Fourth Narnia, Narnia Exhibition, Ben Barnes and Fox

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