If you’re viewing the website in a browser, and not on an RSS feed, then you’ll notice that things have changed. Pretty drastically. I have been working on this new layout for a very long time. It’s been something that I’ve been rolling around in my head for the better part of about 3 years now, and over the last couple of weeks I spent countless hours bringing my imagination to life.
One of my favorite websites is called “Woot.com” where they sell a single product each day. They have a spin-off site called Shirt.Woot that has a weekly derby. Each derby is based on a topic of their choosing, and the three highest voted designs are printed, one each day, Friday-Sunday.
This week’s topic is book-titles reinterpreted, and someone created a design for “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” The only way to vote for it, however, is if you have ever made a purchase from Woot.com (or shirt.woot) in the past. It might not win, but I like the design a lot.
A LOOK INTO THE CREATURES OF NARNIA
BY HOWARD BERGER
Makeup Effects and Creature Designer
Once in a lifetime, something so amazing happens and you are so grateful for it. But, to have it happen twice in a lifetime is unheard of. I am talking about the privilege of another journey into Narnia that the creative team at KNB EFX Group, Inc. gets to take for PRINCE CASPIAN.
The first film was a challenge, as we had never tackled a project so huge in scope and with so many creatures playing at once. It was important to bring all the Narnians to life and make it completely believable that they could believably live in this magical land. And here we are again, ready to meet up with the new Narnians that inhabit the land 1,500 years later.
The first step took partner Greg Nicotero and I back to the drawing board, as we wanted to mix things up a bit. We wanted to take another pass at what the Narnians would be like if they had become more wild in their appearance, seeing how they have been living in hiding within the forests all these centuries. What if they were all different age groups, sizes and races? We felt that the Narnians in the first film were all in their thirties, so we designed some study sculptures to demonstrate our concepts and approached director Andrew Adamson with the ideas. He liked our take and felt this could give Narnia an even more real existence.
In PRINCE CASPIAN, we have heavy set fauns, old age fauns, female dwarves, centaurs and their families. The minotaurs are now on the side of good. A new hag, a werewolf and the satyrs are back, but all newly redesigned to be more animal-like than the prior movie.
I think in every film there is one character you fall in love with. The first movie had Mr. Tumnus, played by the great James McAvoy. This time it is Peter Dinklage who plays Trumpkin the Dwarf. The character is so wonderfully written, and once you see Peter as Trumpkin, he becomes alive and real. We gave Trumpkin his look, but Peter gave him his heart, and the collaboration brings to life a new and interesting addition to this rich world.
A lot of the same crew from the first film have joined us, including my co-winner for the Best Makeup Oscar last year, Tami Lane (with key support from our third team member, Sarah Rubano). We are all excited and thrilled as there is an evolution that has occurred in Narnia and we are all privileged to be here to experience another wonderful adventure.
Read the rest at Narnia.com
WETA has e-mailed us to invite you to a forum blitz. Daniel Falconer, a member of the Narnia design team will be appearing on WETA’s Forums next Monday, 18 December 2006, to answer your questions and reply to your comments.
This is how it will work: simply log onto www.wetanz-forums.com and if you haven’t already, sign up as a user (this is simple, quick and, best of all, free). Then simply click on the applicable subject and enter your own question. He will scan the entire forum throughout the day and attempt to answer as many posts as he can.
Daniel is one of a group of designers who worked on The Lord of the Rings and has a deep knowledge of Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Since The Lord of the Rings, Daniel has contributed design work for various projects including King Kong, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Halo. In 2005 he collated and wrote for Weta’s first book, The World of Kong, A Natural History of Skull Island, showcasing the illustrative work of the entire design department.
If you have a question for Daniel, post it in the applicable forum (eg LOTR enquiries in the LOTR forum) and he will do his best to reply over these two dates. So have you got questions burning a hole in your pocket yet? Well get to it – at www.wetanz-forums.com for the blitz date.
Young people from Belfast and beyond are being urged to share in the fantasy world created by CS Lewis by helping to design costumes for a Narnia-themed parade.
Due to take place in east Belfast in December, street performers, characters from the magical world of Narnia and people carrying lanterns will be taking part in the event.
This year’s theme is based on the influence of author CS Lewis, who was born in the Dundela area of the city.
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