Kevin's Watch

One thing I can see Hollywood doing, is shortening the Gap between LFB and TIW to about 25 years. Reason being, it would make Elena about the same age, or a little younger than Covenant, plus Hollywood thinks that 50 years old is over the hill, so Triock, Lena, and Quaan cannot be in their 70's-80's by the time TPTP comes out.

aTOMiC wrote:I'm also worried about how Covenant's inner dialog will be handled. A voice over? Do we add conversational dialog to get the TC character to explain his thoughts out loud? What?

Perhaps a "Film Noir" technique? He could say "Dame" alot!

drew wrote:One thing I can see Hollywood doing, is shortening the Gap between LFB and TIW to about 25 years. Reason being, it would make Elena about the same age, or a little younger than Covenant, plus Hollywood thinks that 50 years old is over the hill, so Triock, Lena, and Quaan cannot be in their 70's-80's by the time TPTP comes out.

Now see - this is the kind of sacriledge that I'm afraid of. Something like this would completely piss me off.

The main problem with modern cinema - at least Hollywood - is that what drives movie profits are teenagers. Their wallets decide what film does well. A simple matter of fact is that the financers will take the teenage audience into account when they provide money to make the chronicles. Ergo, they will dictate what is included, what is removed, and what needs to be changed. I have to admit that the film will be made for adults, but the financers will want profit from the teenagers. So, there will be some sad changes. I guarantee that covenant will be toned down.

If anything like this were to truly happen, I'd be happier seeing this as more of a mini-series thing on Cable TV, somewhat akin to "Kingdom Hospital" (only better) or the ill-fated "Taken" on the Sci-Fi channel. Trying to squeeze everything into a 2-3 hour movie would be to risky, since just about every single event in all the books causes other equally important events. Cutting would have to be done, and in the end, the story would suffer and not come across as intended.

Whereas if it were a mini-series of some kind, maybe even a full fledged series a la "Lost", they would have the space and the time to make sure all the important bits were left in.

I'm just scared that if the chrons are made into a movie, too much will be lost in the editing process and the story will be sacrificed. They got lucky with LOTR, as far as I'm concerned.

James

If you think about it, the entire series lends itself quite well to a 1-hour format. Start off with a 2 hour premier where we meet Covenant and he gets whisked away to the Land. Then one hour after that for Mithil Stonedown/rape, trip with Atiaran/Wraith slaughter, meet Saltheart/arrive at Revelstone, etc.

All of the books can be broken up into one hour segments fairly easily I think. Then you have the ability to fully explore all the subtleties in the story without being rushed into a miniseries or long movie format.

I doubt it will ever be done well, but we can always hope

I just hope the people making this movie read this board

Please, please, please no voice-overs! Why not just let him mutter to himself all the time? He lives alone, after all...and it would lend to his general weirdness, and why the townsfolk don't like him much. I don't mean absolute crazy, just the occasional mutter.

I think that the only way they are going to get a good movie, is to change that story line. Because the whole story is not going to fit into one movie, it would be stupid to try. So they are just going to have to choose some main points and concentrate on them. They won't have time to explore every detail, so they will just have to use the main ones.
I hope they try and stick to the characters as much as they can though. They had better not give the Haruchai weapons, or there will be some serious b****-slapping coming their way.

Bannor of the Bloodguard says "This is my Boomstick!"

(cringe)

I know I was so excited when I heard a movie is in the works. To have LOTR, followed by Chronicles of Narnia, and then Covenant, should all the movies be done well, would be amazing. LOTR has set the bar high though, it will be hard not to compare either of the other series w/it. But I do think whoever is in charge would check out message boards for input, we know Jackson did for his movies.

I was wondering about Steve Buscemi for Covenant. I'm thinking of him in Con-Air, he kinda had the look. And I think he's a great actor.

I agree w/Giants not being CGI, this shouldn't be a problem, and would be cheaper too.

Let's face it though, many non TCTC fans will think its a LOTR knockoff, its a fantasy series, that has a ring of power. But, by the time the movie actually gets released, it will be far from LOTR's doorsteps, so that may help.

I just had a thought. Barad keeps talking about how his namesake is one of the least remembered characters in the Chrons - what if they cut Baradakas out of a film version? He's not entirely necessary, since Llaura is more important to the Soaring Woodhelven story - they could choose to expand her character at the expense of Barad. I'm not sure I'd like that - Baradakas was a good character.

Considering alot would have to be cut out, I think Baradakas is a good candidate to be removed. You have to make hard decisions.

Matrixman wrote:Which would bring up another question: is TC a Windows person or a Mac person? Hmmm...

Linux person.

Matrixman wrote:Maybe by the time they get to doing the Second Chronicles, technology will have advanced enough that computers could render a totally realistic Giant. But it would still have to act, and I don't see how any conceivable CG creation could duplicate all the subtleties and nuances of a living, flesh-and-blood human being. This is one area where it's good to copy the LOTR films: use the same kind of perspective tricks that allowed Jackson to portray the Hobbits without resorting to gimmicky CGI.

well, as far as cgi, they did a real good job with Gollum, and andy serkis was still able to act as gollum...and as far as using real people...they were able to pull it off with Gandalf compared to the hobbits, and in Harry Potter Hagrid was a sort of giant, but he didnt come off as huge as the books would lead you to believe...

i think they did a pretty good job with the Hulk...id prefer CGI giants

IVB wrote:
Linux person.

Hells yeah!

Also I must say: I DON"T WANNA MOVIE! I just don't. I don't think it can possibly be good. Or rather...it can be good but not in the way TCTC is. Too much of the chrons is internal and...based on the feeling it inspires, that is utterly nameless...that can't be replicated in a movie.

Hey, wait a stinkin' minute! I've been away for a while, so I need to ask one question: Is there really a movie in the making or is all this just fun speculation?

BTW, I think a really good location for filming the Land would be the Pacific North-West, in the United States. Anyone?

Grimm

Some genuine fans have purchased film rights to the first two Chronicles, but they don't (yet) have a studio behind them. These are evidently genuine filmmakers as well as fans of the books, having even met and discussing things with SRD himself.

fightingmyinstincts wrote:Also I must say: I DON"T WANNA MOVIE!

Yes. And the inevitable "the movie will ruin the book" people will start shouting soon. Then comes a big purists vs. adaptationists war. Oh joy, here we go again ...

I have been working in the CGI industry now for about 12 years . . . . using a parallel software to those that created Golem and all the effects for LOTR. I am a firm believer that if you can shoot a sequence in camera then you should do it . . . and if not then CGI should be used. I think to attempt the Giants as CGI is impossible . . . . they have to be real actors with cosmetics. After all if Foamfollower is CGI . . then we have to have the Search as CGI . . and the Dromond etc etc etc, it just escalates out of all dimensions!!!. This will just be nigh impossible . . even with the stunning effects on Golem we have to bear in mind that there were several dozen people working on JUST Golem alone, nothing else, for several years for each film . . . and still in my opinion the animation on him is not good enough. There is so very much secondary animation on a humans face that an animator could go on forever trying to replicate every twitch of muscle, and shrink of the pupil. Multiply this up by a ship full of giants and it becomes impossible . . and it will never look as good as somebody taking on the roles as the various characters of the Giants . . such a very important role in the whole of the Chronicles. We can see from LOTR that multipass techniques with different scaled sets and careful camera work makes it possible to have hobbits and elves in the same shot, and this will work in the same way for Giants and Covenant etc etc etc.
Also a mini series will never get the funding to create such stunning effects like those seen in LOTR . . . . . It takes hundreds of millions of dollars. Budgets as far as i am aware never reach these heights for mini series and to do it on a smaller scale than the LOTR would be a waste of time.
The movie needs to be as awe inspiring and grand as LOTR ... in every aspect.
I believe that the films do not need to destroy the books . . . although they will have to be adapted for sure, there would just not be enough time to convey everything within the Chronicles on film!!!! No matter how die hard the fan i don't reckon you could get anyone to sit through 8 hours per book?!?!?!?!??!
Although some of those here on KW will disagree i am sure .......
more in a minute.

I have thought often about the possibilities of making the Chronicles as films ever since i was a boy . . . and until the release of LOTR i have thought this impossible . . . . how to create giants, Urviles etc etc etc. I have been a fan of all the old Ray Harryhausen movie effects, like Clash of the Titans etc etc etc . . but to use stop motion for the effects would be ridiculous. I also remember that awful first rendition of LOTR where live action was coloured to make a kind of weird animation of the first book . . needless to say the other books of LOTR were never made . . thank heavens . . . !!! . . . .
Now however Peter Jackson and his team at Weta Digital (those responsible for the effects) have broken the mould and created a master piece . . which i reckon he will never be able to better. All things are now possible . . . . restricted only by the bounds of the Director/producers imagination . . so bring it on. I shall keep an eye out to see what happens and how the film progresses.
I remember when production for LOTR began a few years ago and they were advertising for VFX guys in the press to set it all up and come and work for them . . . this was about 5 years ago or so . . . i had many a deliberation over joining the team, but i had just started a family and did not want to relocate to New Zealand where it was all happening . . . . so i stayed in London.
One thing that intrigues me about creating Covenant as a character for film is how they will solve his maimed hand . . a key part of the whole books . . . . think about it . . . maimed hand . . key character . . . in EVERY shot . . . . !!!!!! . . . . oh ho ho ho this will be interesting to see the work around. They could of course get the actor playing covenant to have the fingers on his hand removed ..... hmmmmmmm ... maybe NOT?!?!?!
Or maybe he could keep his hand in his pocket as much as possible?

... more to follow ... i have a lot to say about this but don't want to post in one HUGE long piece!!!!