King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries ----> Dec. 13th 2005
10-27-05, 09:43 AM
#51
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It looks amazing and if the price is right (around 20-28) and if that book actually has artwork inside and not just pictures from the movie and the new slim Jackson, Im in.
But ill be kicking myself in the ass if they release this stuff with the movie later.
This is a tough one.
But ill be kicking myself in the ass if they release this stuff with the movie later.
This is a tough one.
10-27-05, 10:47 AM
#52
DVD Talk Godfather
Wow. This looks great at $20 to $25 max. You see the movies in the theatre and get to see the special features immediately. They should just say what will be part of the eventual DVD release.
10-27-05, 01:23 PM
#53
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This won't be with the movie. There's a separate crew chronicling the production for the film's DVD release. The Production Diaries are just that, diaries - short vignettes that are often not very serious or in-depth. But they are fun and show the day-to-day life of the cast and crew, and this is the closest many of us will come to being part of a Hollywood production.
10-27-05, 04:41 PM
#54
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"It's no secret that Universal's biggest bet of the year is "King Kong," but less than two months before its Dec. 14 release, the studio has doubled down, agreeing to release Peter Jackson's three-hour cut, which will push the budget to $207 million..."
They need revenue quick... that's why they're releasing it now. Plus it's an instant advertisement for the upcoming movie.
They need revenue quick... that's why they're releasing it now. Plus it's an instant advertisement for the upcoming movie.
10-27-05, 09:20 PM
#55
Originally Posted by TomOpus
What exactly will the repercussions be? I think the list of directors that can pull this off would be very very small.
11-01-05, 07:39 AM
#56
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from darkhorizons.com
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/051101h.php
King Kong: Rumor out of Showeast has Kong slated as a 3-D DLP release in March 2006, using newer technology than that in which Disney is using for "Chicken Little". There's also a featurette up at Apple.com which looks closer at the film.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/051101h.php
King Kong: Rumor out of Showeast has Kong slated as a 3-D DLP release in March 2006, using newer technology than that in which Disney is using for "Chicken Little". There's also a featurette up at Apple.com which looks closer at the film.
11-01-05, 07:43 AM
#57
DVD Talk Reviewer
You know they're going to eventually release King Kong as like a two disc set, and then later on come out with this super special edition set that will include everything from the production diaries as well. I won't bite for now.
11-03-05, 10:02 PM
#58
DVD Talk Legend
DVD producer saddled with 'Kong'-size task By Anne Thompson
Fri Oct 28, 2:15 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There has been no rest for the weary on the Wellywood set of "King Kong."
Award-winning DVD producer Michael Pellerin and his team have been running as fast as they can to keep up with Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" producer-writer-director Peter Jackson. Somehow, while Jackson was in the throes of creating his three-hour, $207 million epic remake of his favorite childhood classic, the tireless filmmaker also was supplying commentary not only for the eventual "King Kong" DVD but also for a video set diary posted twice-weekly on the Internet, as well as a documentary for the long-awaited DVD of the 1933 "King Kong."
On scattered soundstages in Wellington, New Zealand, selected members of the "King Kong" crew participated not only in setting daunting new standards in digital effects for the new movie but also in painstaking recreations of six minutes of lost footage from the 1933 film, using the archaic special effects methods of that period.
Pellerin, a veteran laserdisc producer of many Walt Disney Co. deluxe multidiscs ("Snow White," "The Lion King," "Toy Story"), moved in the '90s to producing such DVDs as "A Bug's Life" and "Fantasia" before taking on Jackson's award-winning "Rings" series. Joining the Jackson team allowed Pellerin to indulge in producing the most elaborate, award-winning DVD content in his field. But, says Pellerin, nothing prepared him for his experience on "King Kong."
His long work jag started in late 2003, during preproduction of "King Kong," and continued through production and postproduction. In fact, Pellerin still isn't done: He will continue interviewing the "Kong" crew for several months after the film opens in order to "get perspective," he says.
After the end of filming "Return of the King," says Pellerin, Jackson was wondering how they were going to up the ante with the "King Kong" DVD. So the director came up with the idea of "using the camera as a diary or confessional therapist." During preproduction on "Kong," after every production, casting or script meeting, Pellerin went to Jackson with his camera and asked him for an update.
Then, in September 2004, on the first day of filming Universal Pictures' "King Kong," after Jackson spoke to the camera, Pellerin recalls, "he said, 'Let's put this up on the Internet."'
According to Pellerin, Jackson has always maintained a close relationship with his fans. But this ongoing set diary set a new standard of interactivity. Jackson arranged with the people behind his favorite "LOTR" fan site, http://www.Onering.net, to throw up the "Kong" set diaries twice a week on the new "Kong" sequel site, http://www.Kongisking.net.
They posted 90 in total over six months. "Truth is, it was guerrilla filmmaking," Pellerin says. "Universal was never involved, not one marketing person. We made it up out of whole cloth. It was raw. Every couple of days, we'd gather what we had. It was like doing the 6 p.m.ews. We were moving so fast, with no plan."
Pellerin's crew was housed right next to the "King Kong" production offices so that they were "right at the center of the hurricane," he says. "Peter was so busy making the movie that we were laying tracks just ahead of the train. The early ones were crude; they got more sophisticated."
Jackson helped Pellerin to come up with ideas and cajole the cast and crew into cooperating. "At first they were saying, 'What's going on?"' Pellerin recalls. "Then they started making up their own pieces. Jack Black did a piece on his height. Andy did a piece on his revenge on the DVD team. The cast used to hang out at our editing facility to see what we were doing."
Needing more ideas, Jackson asked the fans to tell him what stories they would like to see. Pellerin combed through the hundreds of submissions and picked out the best ones, including a tutorial on how an Aero 434 movie camera works. "Jackson wanted people to know what each of the buttons do," Pellerin says. "It's a direct feed from the filmmakers to the audience, a communication patch with no filters."
What the fans really wanted to see was a day in the life of Peter Jackson. "He kept putting it off," Pellerin says. Suddenly, in the middle of the night on day 99, Jackson sent word to Pellerin that the day in the life would be day 100. Pellerin's crew hung close to Jackson on one of the film's most grueling long hauls. The director was shooting on a night schedule from noon to midnight, plus meetings, dailies and stints in the cutting room; he was getting about three hours of sleep a night. Pellerin wasn't sure if the filmmaker would want to reveal footage of him so exhausted that he nodded off in a meeting. But Jackson wanted people to see how tough directing really is.
While Pellerin continued to do his day job collecting footage for the "King Kong" DVD, Jackson told him the day before the 2004 Academy Awards that he also wanted Pellerin to produce with him the DVD of the classic 1933 "King Kong." "Otherwise, he said it would just be another disc of a classic film," Pellerin recalls.
Because there was little behind-the-scenes material left from the original, producing this two-hour, 40-minute documentary would be a challenge. Director Merian C. Cooper and his FX crew "didn't want anyone to know how they did the effects," Pellerin says. "We had some stills, blueprints and articles. But everybody's dead, even Fay Wray. How could we do this documentary with so little material?"
Jackson's solution was to stage a dramatic recreation of the legendary lost spider pit scene from "King Kong," using the same techniques the filmmakers employed in 1933, including stop-motion cameras in miniature environments, rear-screen projection and glass matte paintings. "We would show how it was done," Pellerin says.
Luckily, Jackson had some experience with emulating silent footage. His infamous 1995 mockumentary "Forgotten Silver," about the great silent New Zealand filmmakers, fooled many viewers in New Zealand. In fact, Jackson supplied some of the necessary period equipment for the 1933 documentary from his own personal collection, including a rear-screen projector from another gorilla classic, "Mighty Joe Young."
In the missing "Kong" sequence, a huge dinosaur chases the men onto a log, whereupon Kong throws them into a pit, where they are attacked by giant crabs and spiders. To help figure out how to piece together the scenes and seamlessly work them into the existing film, Jackson brought in writer-director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") and makeup master Rick Baker (who worked on the 1976 "King Kong" and the 1998 "Mighty Joe Young"). Jackson also roped in key crew members from "King Kong" 2005.
They storyboarded the scenes, which Jackson directed and edited into six minutes that were inserted into the existing film with careful weaving of music, effects and just the right black-and-white film grain.
Fans who want to know more about the original "King Kong" will be able to rent or buy the 1933 classic DVD on November 22 (from Warner Home Video); the set diary DVD, which spans the first 54 entries, comes out December 13 (from Universal Home Video), the day before the new "King Kong" opens. And the ultra-deluxe "King Kong" 2005 two-disc DVD will go on sale in April.
Pellerin insists that they've saved plenty of goodies for the "ultimate DVD," he says. "In the 'Kong' 2005 set diaries, we couldn't show the cool stuff. We were banking 70% of all the original material for the later story, yet to be seen."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Fri Oct 28, 2:15 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There has been no rest for the weary on the Wellywood set of "King Kong."
Award-winning DVD producer Michael Pellerin and his team have been running as fast as they can to keep up with Oscar-winning "Lord of the Rings" producer-writer-director Peter Jackson. Somehow, while Jackson was in the throes of creating his three-hour, $207 million epic remake of his favorite childhood classic, the tireless filmmaker also was supplying commentary not only for the eventual "King Kong" DVD but also for a video set diary posted twice-weekly on the Internet, as well as a documentary for the long-awaited DVD of the 1933 "King Kong."
On scattered soundstages in Wellington, New Zealand, selected members of the "King Kong" crew participated not only in setting daunting new standards in digital effects for the new movie but also in painstaking recreations of six minutes of lost footage from the 1933 film, using the archaic special effects methods of that period.
Pellerin, a veteran laserdisc producer of many Walt Disney Co. deluxe multidiscs ("Snow White," "The Lion King," "Toy Story"), moved in the '90s to producing such DVDs as "A Bug's Life" and "Fantasia" before taking on Jackson's award-winning "Rings" series. Joining the Jackson team allowed Pellerin to indulge in producing the most elaborate, award-winning DVD content in his field. But, says Pellerin, nothing prepared him for his experience on "King Kong."
His long work jag started in late 2003, during preproduction of "King Kong," and continued through production and postproduction. In fact, Pellerin still isn't done: He will continue interviewing the "Kong" crew for several months after the film opens in order to "get perspective," he says.
After the end of filming "Return of the King," says Pellerin, Jackson was wondering how they were going to up the ante with the "King Kong" DVD. So the director came up with the idea of "using the camera as a diary or confessional therapist." During preproduction on "Kong," after every production, casting or script meeting, Pellerin went to Jackson with his camera and asked him for an update.
Then, in September 2004, on the first day of filming Universal Pictures' "King Kong," after Jackson spoke to the camera, Pellerin recalls, "he said, 'Let's put this up on the Internet."'
According to Pellerin, Jackson has always maintained a close relationship with his fans. But this ongoing set diary set a new standard of interactivity. Jackson arranged with the people behind his favorite "LOTR" fan site, http://www.Onering.net, to throw up the "Kong" set diaries twice a week on the new "Kong" sequel site, http://www.Kongisking.net.
They posted 90 in total over six months. "Truth is, it was guerrilla filmmaking," Pellerin says. "Universal was never involved, not one marketing person. We made it up out of whole cloth. It was raw. Every couple of days, we'd gather what we had. It was like doing the 6 p.m.ews. We were moving so fast, with no plan."
Pellerin's crew was housed right next to the "King Kong" production offices so that they were "right at the center of the hurricane," he says. "Peter was so busy making the movie that we were laying tracks just ahead of the train. The early ones were crude; they got more sophisticated."
Jackson helped Pellerin to come up with ideas and cajole the cast and crew into cooperating. "At first they were saying, 'What's going on?"' Pellerin recalls. "Then they started making up their own pieces. Jack Black did a piece on his height. Andy did a piece on his revenge on the DVD team. The cast used to hang out at our editing facility to see what we were doing."
Needing more ideas, Jackson asked the fans to tell him what stories they would like to see. Pellerin combed through the hundreds of submissions and picked out the best ones, including a tutorial on how an Aero 434 movie camera works. "Jackson wanted people to know what each of the buttons do," Pellerin says. "It's a direct feed from the filmmakers to the audience, a communication patch with no filters."
What the fans really wanted to see was a day in the life of Peter Jackson. "He kept putting it off," Pellerin says. Suddenly, in the middle of the night on day 99, Jackson sent word to Pellerin that the day in the life would be day 100. Pellerin's crew hung close to Jackson on one of the film's most grueling long hauls. The director was shooting on a night schedule from noon to midnight, plus meetings, dailies and stints in the cutting room; he was getting about three hours of sleep a night. Pellerin wasn't sure if the filmmaker would want to reveal footage of him so exhausted that he nodded off in a meeting. But Jackson wanted people to see how tough directing really is.
While Pellerin continued to do his day job collecting footage for the "King Kong" DVD, Jackson told him the day before the 2004 Academy Awards that he also wanted Pellerin to produce with him the DVD of the classic 1933 "King Kong." "Otherwise, he said it would just be another disc of a classic film," Pellerin recalls.
Because there was little behind-the-scenes material left from the original, producing this two-hour, 40-minute documentary would be a challenge. Director Merian C. Cooper and his FX crew "didn't want anyone to know how they did the effects," Pellerin says. "We had some stills, blueprints and articles. But everybody's dead, even Fay Wray. How could we do this documentary with so little material?"
Jackson's solution was to stage a dramatic recreation of the legendary lost spider pit scene from "King Kong," using the same techniques the filmmakers employed in 1933, including stop-motion cameras in miniature environments, rear-screen projection and glass matte paintings. "We would show how it was done," Pellerin says.
Luckily, Jackson had some experience with emulating silent footage. His infamous 1995 mockumentary "Forgotten Silver," about the great silent New Zealand filmmakers, fooled many viewers in New Zealand. In fact, Jackson supplied some of the necessary period equipment for the 1933 documentary from his own personal collection, including a rear-screen projector from another gorilla classic, "Mighty Joe Young."
In the missing "Kong" sequence, a huge dinosaur chases the men onto a log, whereupon Kong throws them into a pit, where they are attacked by giant crabs and spiders. To help figure out how to piece together the scenes and seamlessly work them into the existing film, Jackson brought in writer-director Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption") and makeup master Rick Baker (who worked on the 1976 "King Kong" and the 1998 "Mighty Joe Young"). Jackson also roped in key crew members from "King Kong" 2005.
They storyboarded the scenes, which Jackson directed and edited into six minutes that were inserted into the existing film with careful weaving of music, effects and just the right black-and-white film grain.
Fans who want to know more about the original "King Kong" will be able to rent or buy the 1933 classic DVD on November 22 (from Warner Home Video); the set diary DVD, which spans the first 54 entries, comes out December 13 (from Universal Home Video), the day before the new "King Kong" opens. And the ultra-deluxe "King Kong" 2005 two-disc DVD will go on sale in April.
Pellerin insists that they've saved plenty of goodies for the "ultimate DVD," he says. "In the 'Kong' 2005 set diaries, we couldn't show the cool stuff. We were banking 70% of all the original material for the later story, yet to be seen."
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
11-22-05, 02:59 AM
#62
Originally Posted by Cameron
No way I'm glad they are doing this. They are doing this in other regions and it makes sense to me. There is a different film crew shooting docs just for the dvd. This will make a good compliment to the Special Edition Disc.
Send me your duplicates.
11-22-05, 07:57 AM
#65
DVD Talk Gold Edition
The web docs from the Lord of the Rings theatrical DVDs weren't on the extended editions, so I'm assuming these docs won't appear on any future special edition.
11-22-05, 10:33 AM
#67
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The diaries will not be released together with any King Kong film DVD. As was said before, there is a wholly separate crew documenting the making of the film for the King Kong DVD.
11-22-05, 07:12 PM
#68
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by MrVette99
This is going to be a fun film. I'll pass on Peter Jackson's production scraps, but I hope he makes a ton of money off his fans.
11-23-05, 09:44 AM
#70
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
I've seen all the production diaries and post-production diaries to date from the www.kongisking.net website, and they are far from "scraps." The diaries go into the minutia of certain aspects of filmmaking that aren't normally touched upon in a making-of, things that never appeared in any of the docs for LOTR.
The price point is insane.
11-23-05, 11:53 AM
#71
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But they should have been included in a DVD set, not put in their own DVD and sold, especially considering you can see them for free.
11-23-05, 11:44 PM
#72
DVD Talk Legend
Originally Posted by Terrell
But they should have been included in a DVD set, not put in their own DVD and sold,
If the diaries were made part of the KING KONG 2005 set, that would mean:
1) The set would be 4 discs, 3 of which being making-of material. This likely wouldn't be the main DVD release for the film, and would cost a premium at any rate.
2) The diaries wouldn't be released now, but much later.
3) Would require anyone wanting these diaries to also purchase KONG. Granted, most people probably would want to anyway, but the diaries are valuable in and of themselves, and how successful KONG is as a film is still up in the air.
So basically, tying it in with the film DVD release would cause a delay in its release with no guarantee of a lower price and less options for the consumer.
especially considering you can see them for free.
I can't imagine the outcry if Lucas did this, probably something akin to "that greedy bastard."
In any case, I don't see what the "Lucas as victim" angle has to do with this release.
Last edited by Jay G.; 11-23-05 at 11:47 PM.
12-10-05, 09:16 AM
#74
DVD Talk Legend
Does anyone know if this will come with a free movie ticket for King Kong?