THESE UPDATES (RUNNING TOP TO BOTTOM - NEWEST TO OLDEST)
PRESENT MUCH INFORMATION THAT IS OUT OF DATE OR CONTRADICTORY.
THAT SAID, MUCH MAY BE FOUND BELOW WHICH GIVES INSIGHT INTO THE JOURNEY THAT WAS THIS MOVIE'S PRE-PRODUCTION PROCESS. FOR A CHRONOLOGICAL OVERVIEW, IT IS SUGGESTED YOU WORK YOUR WAY UP FROM THE BOTTOM.
1/9/06 - I've decided that I really hate everything about this website: the design, the setup, the updating process... it's all sub-par. And it's not at all the image I want to put forth. Fifteen-year-olds can make better websites than this. While it's true I don't have the time to learn, I am getting fairly good with Photoshop. So I think I'll design a new site on that and then look for someone willing to turn that into a usable webpage design. I've been talking about a server switch since mid-2004, after all. So while as I stated last time I will only be updating this column and you should should take everything else with a large grain of salt, I will be working on a new website that will launch with a better layout and up-to-date info and photos.
In the meantime, enjoy Bruce and I hamming it up as Shagrat and Gorbag in this video from last week's cast party.
UPDATE: One other thing. I have been taking some things down off of the MTCKE and Parody sites, but they won't be gone forever. Also, I went through and tagged little notes onto pages with pertinent information. (Namely, the "Six Questions" at the top-left of the page.)
1/5/06 - So, after almost a four month silence, and a seven month hiatus, I think I finally know what we're doing. The Parody is back on. We've lost two or three cast members, but the general consensus seems to be for trying again. And so we shall. I've been doing small re-writes and storyboarding the past week or so, and the more I work on it the more I want to. I'm rededicating my resources to making sure that this time come summer we will be ready to shoot. Mostly it's just an issue of making sure we have all the props and costume bits.
I did some calculations which lead me to believe that we actually could finish pricipal photography this year, and tackling this thing's not as crazy as it sounds. The script runs about 315 pages or so. Since a page is usually about equal to a minute on average, and factoring in other aspects such as battles, that gives us roughly 360 minutes (or 6 hours) of movie. (This to be spread across 20 15-minute and 2 30-minute online episodes.) If you figure on roughly twenty minutes of shooting for every one minute of footage, that gives you 120 hours of shooting. Break that down to about 4 hours a day, and you have 30 shooting days. Put that way, 30 days out of a whole year doesn't seem that intimidating, does it?
In regards to this website, I don't have the time nor the inclination to go through and do a thorough updating. Because of that, take everything that's not in the current update page to be of questionable reliability. I'm thinking specifically of dates and cast here, but there are probably other things that apply. It's long been my intention to launch a new non-geocities webpage, and that'll probably happen sometime this year.
In the meanwhile, know that the Parody is not dead. We even have a Cast Party tomorrow.
9/18/05 - I've gone well over a month without updating this site, and for that I apologize. I'm sure lots of people are wondering just what is going on with the Parody. I... I wish I knew just now. We came to a near stand-still over the summer, and it was my fault. Mostly due to some personal problems. Once I get my stuff sorted out, I will do my best to restart the project. That is, if people are still interested.
So, the project isn't dead, not quite yet. Just in limbo.
Parody members, I will be sending you a lengthy e-mail some point this month. Until then, best wishes.
7/17/05 - More birthday wishes! This time, to Katelyn (Eowyn), for whom I have no embarassing video clip... (yet!)
7/10/05 - If I'm not mistaken, birthday wishes are due to Justin (Legolas). Happy Birthday, man. Here's hoping it's full of laughter and cheer.
7/1/05 - Greetings everyone. First off, I hope no one minds this new change in the main page; there was so much text that updating was taking about ten times longer than it should have. So all updates from 11/03 to the most recent month can now be found on the archive page at the bottom of these posts. In movie news, I'm really moving on getting ready to film now. If I can keep up this intensity, hopefully I can inspire others to get re-enthused as well. One small picture update today: your first little glimpse of the Gollum make-up, which you'll find here.
6/20/05 - Four picture updates today, all costume stuff. The first two are older (December) and slightly... off as far as color is concerned. The next two are brand new. Also, with all luck, today is the day the sound equipment arrives. Booyah.
6/14/05 - It's been well over a month now, and I apologize for the lack of updates. So here's the deal. We had a mini-Cast Party last month, but didn't accomplish much more than reading through some of RotK. Filming is still not underway, do to an unfortunate mishap with the camera. I'm looking into repairs. In the meantime, I'm sorry to say not much has been accomplished other than some costuming. I planned to jump back into things last week, but I became quite sick, and I'm still recovering. Nevertheless, I plan to get on top of things starting today. I still hope to begin filming before the end of the month.
Let's see... in other news, good and bad... Ah, we found out we still have a Pippin, which is good, as that was a recast I was not looking forward to. However, on the flipside, we lost our Arwen. Unfortunate, but sadly unavoidable. We all wish Bethany the best of luck in her future!
I have several new pictures that need to go up, mostly costume stuff. I'll get those online as soon as they're developed. You may have noticed that the Behind the Scenes videos are no longer online. I can't say when they'll be back. It all depends on when I can get the new website up and running. Unfortunately, I haven't had much luck with my few meager attempts at the new design. Until I can find the time or energy to devote to it, it's a rather low priority. Well, that's all I can think of for now. Hopefully when I post again I'll have better news to report!
5/6/05 - Thomas has begun his webcomic now: The True True Life Adventures of Matt and Thomas. Check it out.
4/29/05 - It is done. After nineteen months worth of work, I have finally finished the script for The Parody. 311 pages. It is complete. And now the real work begins. We start filming in May. This is it.
4/4/05 - The mirror now is up for BTS3. Many thanks to 2ManShows and Pro Show Studios for hosting these for us!
4/2/05 - The third Behind the Scenes video is now online. Check it out.
3/27/05 - The mirror is now up for BTS2, so that'll ease up the stress on the first one. Also, Eric has now started his own webcomic, The Not-So-Ordinary Adventures of Erc and Friends. Go check it out.
3/26/05 - The second Behind the Scenes video is now online. Go check it out! It's much more interesting than the first one, I promise.
3/25/05 - Check out the Weapons site for updates and a first glimpse at Thomas's upcoming project. Also, BTS2 goes up tomorrow.
3/20/05 - Time for some of good old-fashioned Good News / Bad News. Bad News: Due to circumstances beyond my control (namely, a funeral that required leaving the state) I was unable to get any work done that I had planned. Upon my return to school, I became very, very sick and am only now recovering a week later. Because of this I'm behind in the redesign of the site. I'll try to work on that in the next few weeks.
Good News: I've found some people kind enough to host the long, long-awaited behind the scenes videos until such time as I am able to do so myself. I figure we'll do 2-3 weeks per video. The first one is up now, go here to find it. Also, there is a new picture up.
3/5/05 - I'm going on Spring Break now. That means there probably won't be any updates for a week or so. Things I Intend To Get Done: further location scouting (also, obtaining permits and such), give the weapons and costume construction a jump start, film more Behind The Scenes footage, try to secure casting for the remaining leads, get set construction under way. So we'll see how that goes.
Okay, after my pathetic plea for help (below) I've managed to get a basic game plan going for the future of this site. I'll know for sure in a week or so. The good news is, several other filmmakers have been gracious enough to offer hosting in the meanwhile, so you may just get to see those BTS videos yet! I completely re-edited #2; it's a lot less boring now, and gives you a quick introdcution to most of the cast.
Finally, today marks the beginning of the second decade of life for Eric (Gimli). So everyone wish him Happy Birthday. You can be sure he's having a good time.
3/2/05 - Happy Birthday to Katie of MTCKE, who's officially a teenager today!
2/22/05 - Okay, I didn't want to resort to this, but... I'm hopeless when it comes to webdesign (as you can probably tell from this rather amateurish layout) and I'm having no luck at all designing the new site. So I'm putting out a call. I don't really expect it to be answered, but I figure it's worth a try. Interested in helping us design our site (or parts of it, or whatever)? Contact us. If nothing comes up (and I highly doubt it will) I'll turn to some other source. But I figure I might as well have this up here advertising my need rather than just let it sit and let people wonder why the heck we haven't switched servers yet. Which is a pity, as I have a lot of great content (mostly video) to put up.
2/13/05 - Here's something neat for today. A Nazgul Screech. I had a really cool source sound for this one, and I just had to play with it.
2/9/05 - Nothing much to report today. I've been steadily working on the RotK script, planning and managing pre-production efforts (my Spring Break is looking soo crowded), and I started up on storyboards again. I know I said I wanted to have the new site up by the end of January, but I've hit a slight snag. Although I've found a good host, I have no clue how to actually go about making a webpage, and lately I've been too busy to learn. I will try to get it done as soon as possible, though. (Especially now that Geocities has gone back to their very annoying side-bar ad...) Also, a belated Happy Birthday to Suzanna (Galadriel)!
1/27/05 - New little movie today. I threw together a quick test to check out the "magic ring" effect using masks (instead of dissolves or bluescreen as had been planned pre-AE). Check it out here. Props of course go to Joseph Blanchette for inspiration (or possibly just the outright theft of his joke).
1/18/05 - Unfortunately, the file seems to be corrupt. I'll put the link back up if and when I can get a working version.
1/16/05 - After some playing around with video tweaking, I've come up with this: a better version of that Practice Scene. Comparing the two shows marked improvement.
UPDATE: I've done a second tweak of the video, correcting some hue and saturation problems from the first.
1/13/05 - What makes me happy? Things like this.
1/11/05 - Two quick items today. Thomas has updated the weapons site, and Eric has opened up a new section. Check it out: Armor by Erc.
1/10/05 - Just a few quick updates today. Since last time we've had our fifth cast party, I've completed the Two Towers script, and I'm back at school after a semester long hiatus. I've uploaded a set of pictures we took at Cast Party IV into the miscellaneous section. These were retakes of photos lost with the Aragorn pics. They were Halloween pics at first. They are based off of Brian Clevinger's 8 Bit Theater, and can be found starting here.
On another note, now that I've got hi-speed back, I'm currently looking into the long-awaited server switch. Expect that to happen before the month is out.
12/19/04 - I'd like to start out by thanking everyone who came to the cast party for making it a success. It seemed a little hectic at times but we got a lot of good work done. Now on to updates. We have four new cast pictures up for you. (John, I forgot to get yours before you left!) They are: Matt G, Bethany, Greg, and Matt L. I'm also proud to present to you the very first character photos, these for Aragorn. Check out the cast page for more information.
Next up we have a few other new pics, including a costume pic, a miscellaneous pic, and six new weapons pics starting here. You may also notice that the weapons pics have now been indexed in the photo albulm.
Last up I have a very special treat. A video file of a quick "practice scene" we filmed. This was done mainly to get the actors use to the shooting process, and thus it is not a indicator of final Parody movie quality. Dammy, you should find this one particularly of interest as it's one of yours. You can watch it here (click "save as"). (It's under 4MB, and is .wmv format. Quicktime will have to wait for January.) If I'm forgetting anything, it'll have to wait until next time. For now, thanks again everyone!
12/12/04 - Few quick updates today. First off, only six more days until Cast Party IV. It's looking to be a little smaller than usual, but hopefully we'll still be able to get some things done. Continuing the trend, here's another over-due cast picture: Thomas (aka, Gollum). And his website has a new picture that you can see here. It's the completed Rohan stunt sword.
12/8/04 - Good news bad news time. Good news, we're ten days away from our next cast party, which is looking to be our biggest and most productive yet. Bad news, Thomas just recently injured his finger, proving once again that human flesh and electric hedge clippers don't mix. He'll be out of prop-making commision for a while, but there should be no lasting damage. Oh, and other bad news, it seems the photo place has completely lost my pictures. So there go those great photos I had wanted to put up. Ah well, we'll try to re-do some at the cast party.
11/28/04 - Another small update today in the form of a new cast pic, Matt W of MTCKE (Eomer).
11/23/04 - As impossible as it is for me to believe, today marks the one year anniversary of this website. I've been working on the Parody for over a year now. For this noteworthy occasion I have an important announcement. For all of his hard work and dedication (and money), Bruce, Aragorn himself, is hereby promoted to producer status. Thanks a lot, man!
I think it might be prudent just to do a quick update on where we are right now. There are 201 pages of script completed, 27 actors filling 38 parts (out of 50), one complete costume with several others coming along, many weapons completed and in production, and three behind the scenes videos ready to be put up in January. So great work guys!
11/11/04 - We're having problems with those character photos. I need to take them back and get reprints, or at least better scanned pictures. No one should pay ten bucks for a photo disc that looks like crap. There is a new photo today, a cast photo (of me, don't know why I never did it before...) You probably won't notice, but the cast photos have been completely re-numbered, thus making it a lot easier for me to add new ones. The weapons indexing will have to wait. I'll be losing the computer for a few days because it'll hopefully be in the shop getting a new hard drive and a dual layer DVD burner (now that I know my software can use it). I'll be away as well, as Bruce and I shall be visiting Eric and Chirs B at school. It is very possible that some Parody work might get done... Oh, and I really hate this new side-banner system Geocities has! It's very annoying.
10/31/04 - Happy Halloween! That character picture along with many great miscellaneous ones should hopefully be up by next weekend. Speaking of pictures, the photo album has been re-vamped. It now has an index, so you don't have to waste any more time and bandwidth searching through the pages. Next up I'll link Thomas's weapon's site through the index and that should save you some time as well. (Hint: new weapons pics coming too.) Finally, there's a new pic today. Check out misc #6 for some off-beat stuff.
Some people (read: everyone but me) have had problems with the Sting video which was put up last time. If when you click on it you get sent to a yahoo page then it is most likely that it's having bandwidth problems. Try again in an hour or so. If you download it and can't play the file after unzipping it then I don't know what the problem is. It works fine for me... Anyways, hopefully these problems are temporary and will disappear once we switch servers.
10/24/04 - A new video is now online. To see our test of Sting, sword of Frodo, click here. (Fun Fact: no special effects were used in this video!) Also, we should have some new photo updates soon, including the first "Character" shot.
10/20/04 - Weapons updates and new pictures are up at Thomas's website. (Link to the left, MTCKE Workshop.)
10/8/04 - So it's been a month, but we're starting back up with the pre-production. I'm working on the script again. (In fact, I've done 20 pages in the past three days.) And Bruce is making serious progress with costumes and props. For just a peek, check out the latest item here. And the misc. section holds a surprise as well.
9/8/04 - A few things to say today. First off, to announce that Matt and Emily have each had birthdays (apologies for not getting this up here sooner). Matt is now 17 and Emily, 13.
The second tidbit involves a parody scene. This giant moth flew into our house one night and I decided to use it. So we now have the shot of a hand holding the moth and then it flying away. We'll insert that into the Orthanc material later on, and it should look pretty cool. You can see the moth here.
8/22/04 - Time for the big updates. On August 19th we held a third cast party, going over the Two Towers script. First-time attendees included Ian (Denethor), Brain T (Merry), and Matt W (Eomer). Several people were unable to attend, which led to us assigning some double roles for the read-through, but the party went relatively well nonetheless. No pictures this time, but I did shoot video which will be included in an internet featurette.
Speaking of those featurettes, I have two completed (Meet MTCKE and A Day of Pre-Production) with a third one on the way (Weapons of the Parody). However, they're rather big files and we'll have to wait 'till we switch severes before we can put them up. And that won't happen until I get high-speed internet access again. In other words, January. My apologies for making you wait. Believe me, I would have things otherwise.
Now, what everyone wants to know - when the heck are we going to start filming?!? Well, good news / bad news time. The bad news is, not until Summer 2005. Due to situations beyond our control, Pre-Production this summer was delayed and wasn't finished in time. The good news is that even with the delay we're still pushing ahead and come summer we'll be ready to shoot right away (as opposed to trying to cram it into one summer). I've updated the "WHEN" sub-section to properly reflect this, and you'll find more precise info there.
I shall continue to direct the Pre-Production efforts. Hopefully, with these extra months of preparation, things will be even better than ever we could have hoped to do had we shot this year.
8/21/04 - Well, it's been over a month and I apologize for the delays. Since last time, we've had a third cast party, and have decided many things. I'll go into much more detail tomorrow. For now, however, I've updated the cast pictures to include Ian and Brain T (Denethor and Merry). I've hotlinked their names for easy access. Anyways, more tomorrow.
7/16/04 - The new weapons pictures are now online and working, and Thomas has done his update.
7/15/04 - As promised, for once, I have the new picures up. First off are pictures from the second cast party. Then we have new location scouting pictures. A new section for costumes has been opened as well. There's another misc. picture and finally, we have the cast picture up for Katelyn (Eowyn). You can find the cast list (and picture links) here as always. The rest are under the photo album.
There are also new pictures up at Thomas's site (MTCKE Workshop link on the left). You can go here to see the new ones directly. I'll try to get him to do an actual update soon.
And now, what everyone wants to know: when do we start filming? Well the answer is, as soon as costumes are done. The leather is taking some time, as finding wigs and beards is proving to be surprisingly difficult. But rest assured, we will start soon.
The first behind the scenes video is complete, but it won't fit on this site, so look for more info on that tomorrow.
7/14/04 - Alright, update time. It's been forever, but here we go. I have a camera now. Plus a widescreen lens. Costumes are nearing completion, as are the weapons. Principle photography has been extended into next summer, and it will probably push back the release somewhat, but hopefully not by much.
New pictures coming tomorrow, and those new behind the scenes videos will be up within the week (now in Quicktime format). Also, MTCKE may be switching servers soon, so stay tuned.
6/19/04 - Okay, I'm really behind in updates. Since last time, both my brother and myself have had birthdays, we've had another cast party, and we're getting really close to the first real day of shooting.
The cast party went fairly well. Our Frodo, Sam, and Eowyn were there this time, in addition to everyone from the last one in January (but minus our Narrator). Thomas grilled for everyone, and after eating we finished going over the Fellowship script.
We've also decided that principle photography will continue into December (with a three month hiatus) and pick-ups will be delayed until Summer 2005. This will push post-production back a bit, so the release will probably be delayed from Fall '05 to Winter '05.
Costumes are coming along nicely, as is the chainmail. Gimli's chianmail is pretty much completed, and the others are progressing. Expect more in the coming week, including more costume information, new pictures, the re-vamped Behind the Scenes video (or maybe several shorter ones, depending), and information about the start of filming. Until then.
6/4/04 - So I found out why that video didn't work... the file was corrupt. I'll have a new one in a bit, and I'll include some new stuff, as I've been busy this week.
We shot the first scene of the Parody on Wednesday, which was the shots of the pit orchestra playing an arrangement of LotR music. It wasn't great, but it was something.
We also did a heap of pre-production stuff. Bruce, Eric, Chris B and I went shopping for lots of raw materiel for Thomas to make more weapons, and after Chris went home we spent well over an hour in a fabric shop (an odd experience for us three guys) examining costume materiel and talking with a lady there who had lots of experience with costuming. Since there's a sale coming soon (25% off) we'll probably be buying then. Also, the cast list has been updated. (Finally got Eowyn confirmed.) We're trying to set the date for the next cast party before main filming starts.
There might have been more, but it's slipped my mind.
5/29/04 - We finally got that video we did working. And now I have for you all the very first Behind the Scenes video for LotR: The Parody. Just right click "save as" here. It's not much, but hey, it's something.
Oh, and if all goes well, we shoot our first scene this Wednesday. (The shots of the pit orchestra.)
5/20/04 - The weapons site is now activated. Go check it out.
5/19/04 - Weapons site has been delayed by one day. Apologies.
5/18/04 - So, those promised pictures are up. We have cast pictures for Jamie (Frodo) and Peter (Sam), and Drew (the Narrator). Check 'em out here. I apologize that Jamie and Pete's pic came out so blurry, but it's all I have for now. Under the Photo Album you'll find a new section called "Miscellaneous". It has two new pics in it. We have the rest of the pics here on my PC and Thomas says, and I quote, "peppermints hurt when they go up your nose." Which I'm pretty sure means he's gonna open up his weapons page tomorrow. That little pic that says "MTCKE WORKSHOP" will be the link.
5/17/04 - Okay, so that Photo update didn't exactly happen as planned, but you can rest assured that it will happen before the end of this week. The pictures are coming back tomorrow. And we'll also be opening a new sectoin of the site, Thomas's weapons-oriented site. I'll be getting back on the script this Thursday. In the meantime, the only new thing I have for you is that pic of the four producers that I mentioned back in March. It didn't come out that great (Thomas has his eyes crossed...) but it's up under the "Who" section all the same.
5/5/04 - Happy Birthday to Drew, our narrator! Also, Photo Album expanse coming soon, hopefully by the end of the week.
5/2/04 - Thomas is planning on opening up his own section of the website devoted to the weapons. We started our first behind the scenes video, but due to technical difficulties, we were unable to capture it onto the computer. So hopefully we'll have that for you in a week or so.
UPDATE: Also, we've been taking more pictures, and we hope to have them up on the site sometime in the coming week. I was able to get together with Jamie and Peter (Frodo and Sam) to discuss things for the first time, and that went well. We went over script stuff and started basic weapons training. I hope to have a meeting with the four hobbits sometime in the coming month.
4/19/04 - I've decided I might end up doing some CG location shots after all. They'll mostly be for the helicopter shots I wouldn't have had anyways. Here's an example pic.
4/3/04 - Yes! The FOTR portion of the Parody is done! It clocks in at a whopping 105 pages. A lot longer than I thought it'd be. I'm about 27 pages into TTT...
3/29/04 - First off, two things trailer-related. I fixed the widescreen version of the teaser trailer. For whatever reason, it wasn't working before. It does now. Second, there is now a second teaser trailer. It's not much, just something to kill time. On a seperate note, I didn't finish the FOTR part as I had hoped. I'm just slightly stuck again. As soon as I get past this I'll be able to finish it. I just need an idea now.....
3/24/04 - New logo! Also, We're up to 78 pages of script now that I'm working on it again, and hopefully I'll be done with FOTR by the end of the the week.
3/22/04 - One tiny update, and that is that the Parody Teaser Trailer has been revamped and is now available in the 16:9 aspect ratio that the Parody itself will be shot and presented in.
3/14/04 - I'm back from spring break now, so here are those big updates I promised. You'll notice a new link to the left in big bold letters. That's the Photo Album, in case you couldn't figure it out. Currently there are three sections: the long awaited Cast Party pictures, a few cast pictures taken that same day, and location scouting pictures I took last Monday. On a completely seperate note, Happy Belated Birthday to Chris B, who didn't tell me 'till today.
On with the updates. We're pretty much in Phase II, and things will start happening much faster now. Eric, who's on break, is starting up creature production, Treebeard in particular. Hopefully we'll have something pretty cool for him. I'm currently looking into buying some cheap swords for the four Hobbits. Costume hunting is going relatively well. We're still having some trouble tracking down everyone we want to participate, but I'm sure we'll do fine.
Well, that's pretty much it for now. Enjoy those pictures. We took more yesterday, including a shot of the four Producers, but didn't use up the roll, so you probably won't be seeing those until April. Anyways, enjoy.
3/5/04 - Well, I'm off for spring break. Expect big Parody updates when I get back, including those much-anticipated cast pictures. If all goes well we'll be moving into phase II of pre-production. Also, Happy Birthday to co-producer Eric!
3/1/04 - YAY! ROTK Oscar sweep! 11/11 baby!
2/25/04 - Seems my family is one step ahead of me. The pictures have been developed, which means they'll be up as soon as I get the CD.
2/23/04 - Well, I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but very little has been going on recently. The ROTK parody has reached the end, so that's good. My spring break's coming up in two weeks, and with that we'll move into Phase 2 of pre-production, where stuff will actually (gasp) get done! Hopefully during location scouting I'll be able to use up the roll of film that has the cast party pictures on it so I can finally get them up on this site...
2/12/04 - I've been busy with other things, so not much new in the world of the Parody. However, I have been trying to work on the FOTR portion of the script and I've finally finished Lothlorien. Now comes the hardest part: letting the play go to hell and setting it back on track. Also to be noted, the ROTK thread is nearing completion. We've got some terrific stuff there... If any of you guys are reading this I just wanna say, great job!
1/28/04 - Let it be noted that the ROTK portion of The Parody is now open for contribution over on the IMDb Two Towers board.
1/24/04 - Thanks to Matt, all archived files have now been relocated to a new account, freeing up much-needed space on this one. Because of that, the Gollum Test is now available once more.
1/23/04 - I took a clip from my 1995 production of The Hobbit (though I only did a bit of chapter 5) and added some special effects to test out making Sting glow blue. You can see the finished clip here.
1/21/04 - Since I'm waiting on a bit for FOTR, I started the TTT script the other day. I'm about 30 pages into it.
1/15/04 - Slightly updated cast list now. We've now filled 27 for sure, with 6 potentials. So that's potentially 33 roles cast. Once again, you can check it out here.
UPDATE: Make that 28 (and 34).
1/10/04 - Due to file allocation space on this server, I'm unfortunately forced to remove a few files, and the first to go is the Gollum Test. If you didn't get to hear it, e-mail me and I'll send it to you.
1/4/04 - Sorry it's been so long. Didn't get to update nearly as much as I'd have liked. First off, a belated Happy New Year. I hope everyone's holidays were pleasant. Now, on to the updates. Two members of the cast have now been confirmed (for Pippin and Theoden) which makes for 24 confirmed, one unconfirmed, and half of the characters cast. The script is still on 65 pages, but more will be coming. The shards of Narsil have been cut out and await only a hilt and pommel.
The cast party was held last Friday (pictures coming soon). In attendence were the actors for the Narrator, Legolas, Gimli, Gollum, Aragorn, Gandalf, Galadriel, and Boromir. Unfortunately none of the Hobbits were able to make it, but the party was quite nice nonetheless. Before the last three showed up we spent some time playing with the weapons and props. Bruce (Aragorn) purchased a sword (Glamdring) which will probably serve as the 'hero sword' for close-ups. He and Thomas (Gollum) discussed making actual chain mail for the movie. After a bit we moved inside, where Thomas screened Harder to Breathe while we waited for the last few people to arrive. We then read through all 65 pages of the script. Judging from how hard people were laughing, I'd say it was a huge success, and I think it strengthened people's resolve to get this done. We didn't get to the brainstorming meeting, as it was late, but we did toss around a few ideas. Also, we took pictures of the actors (also coming soon.)
Finally, at the last minute, Thomas recorded a Gollum Test, which you can download here. (Click "Save Target As") I'm sure there was more that I'll remember later. 'Till then.
12/17/03 - Just got back from Trilogy Tuesday... Return of the King is amazing, awesome, really, really good. If you haven't seen it yet, do so.
12/12/03 - I've written 65 pages now. I've stopped at Lothlorien, as I'm still trying to figure out if "Lothlorien: The Musical" would work or not. Update Regarding Boromir's Shield: All is done save for the dome thingy in the middle. Also, as I'm leaving for Winter Break, that means that we're moving into the Pre-Production phase. I'd hoped to have more of the screenplay done by now, but oh well.
UPDATE: I've expanded this site somewhat, and the Six Questions now yield more information. As always, more coming soon.
12/11/03 - I've now put up my concepts for the DVD label art, using art by Tolkien. You can find them here.
12/10/03 - Make that 57 pages. More on the way; I'm breezing through.
12/09/03 - Thanks to Mad Dog McLagen's addition, the screenplay is now back on track. Also, a minor tragedy as the parody script has been taken off of IMDb. I retain a copy (thanks to sinaes, Mad Dog, and legolas_of_mirkwood). So there are now 37 pages of screenplay done. More will be coming as finals' week nears its end.
UPDATE: Make that 41 pages.
11/29/03 - Boromir's Shield is almost complete. Thomas will most likely have it finished in the next two weeks. Pictures coming soon.
11/23/03 - Okay, so this page is finally active. I guess I should start out by saying where we are now. Right now, 24 pages of screenplay have been written. I'm awaiting new material from the writers to continue, but after that I should get back on track. Casting has also slowed, as Eric and I have brought on everyone we can directly contact. Click here to see the current cast list (I'll keep it updated.) At this point we have 25/50 parts cast, with three of those "under consideration" (meaning we haven't contacted them yet.)
That's pretty much it for now. As new information arises, I'll try to post it here first. Talks are always going on between the production team and the writers, so new information can come about at any time. Stay tuned! ~ Chris