March 13, 2003 - March 22, 2003

3-22-03 Latest News

Film: Lady of the Rings
Tehanu @ 3:30 pm EST

Greylin sent us this article from the UK Sunday Times. It's not new, but we overlooked it at the time it came out and it's worth a read for Eowyn/Otto fans.

As the sword-wielding Eowyn, saviour of Rohan, Miranda Otto might just become famous. That could be a problem, she tells Garth Pearce

In the battle for the Christmas box office these days, you need maximum firepower. Just like last year, Harry Potter is first into the field. Now Peter Jackson's second Lord of the Rings instalment, The Two Towers, is readying itself for combat. Last time out, the wizard won - just. Harry Potter took $1,029.2m (Ł651.4m) worldwide; Lord of the Rings, $920.7m (Ł582.7m). What can Jackson do this time round? In part one, he put an army of orcs and a terrifying Balrog into the field. For part two, though, he's got what he calls "my secret weapon".

Her name is Miranda Otto. She's Australian, not at all well known and happy for things to be that way. She's had the occasional famous moment, such as playing the murdered girlfriend who haunted Harrison Ford in What Lies Beneath, but mostly she's appeared in minor-league films. Jackson, though, considers her a major element in The Two Towers, and just as vital for the success of the final instalment, The Return of the King, due in December 2003.

Otto plays Eowyn, niece of the beleaguered King Théoden (Bernard Hill), who swaps her long flowing gowns for armour and sword in the fight against evil. She dominates scene after scene as the lone woman among a legion of men. It's the kind of role many actresses would swing a sword just to win. Indeed, Otto was up against a small army of them, including many well-known American twentysomethings used to getting their own way. But she still won through, with the ringing endorsement of Jackson. "Part of me wants to rejoice about it all," she says. "Another part of me thinks: 'Do I need problems?' I have become used to a life in which I can enjoy a successful career without worrying about the paparazzi or intrusions into my private affairs. I can still shop where I want and sit and observe people without becoming the centre of attention. It could be a lot to give up."

It is easy to see why Otto is so cautious. She is blonde, blue-eyed and has a natural sexiness that would turn heads whether or not she was well known. She has lived comfortably for years in a Sydney apartment, she's queen of the local indie movie scene and has a low-key relationship with the theatre actor Peter O'Brien. And even though she looks like she's in her late twenties, she will turn 35 - ancient, by Hollywood standards - during the week of the The Two Towers' worldwide release.

Her age is her armour, allowing her to confront the craziness of an actor's life from a mature perspective. She's seen what has happened to her fellow Australian Nicole Kidman, who, at 34, has had her success soured with the exposure of her private life, both during and after her marriage to Tom Cruise. "Yet when I split up with an actor boyfriend, Richard Roxburgh (the Duke of Monroth in Moulin Rouge), it took a year and a half for the papers to realise we were no longer together," says Otto, with an ironic smile. "On the age thing, I should have lied about it years ago. I have always played younger, so I could have got away with it. Even at 28 I was playing 18. The only thing that worries me is that my age might limit me, in the eyes of directors, from doing things I know I can do. But there's no denying I now know more about life. I was more easily pushed around in my twenties, and I would not want to go back to that."

Otto does her own pushing these days. As Eowyn, she's the saviour of Rohan - a proud race of humans on Middle Earth - after the king has been corrupted by his adviser, Wormtongue (Brad Dourif), who is in the power of Saruman (Christopher Lee). A desperate last stand in the Rohan fortress of Helm's Deep is one of the most memor-able sets and scenes in the film. The Riders of Rohan are under attack by 10,000 Uruk-hai, who are determined to kill every man, woman and child in the citadel.

"Eowyn is the only real human heroine in The Lord of the Rings," observes Otto. "And, although there are very few women in the books, Tolkien did make them strong characters. Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) and Arwen (Liv Tyler) were in the first film, as Elves, but this second film is more dominated by humans, with all their strengths and weaknesses. My character has to act as a prop for the king, who is confused and losing his power. I can't think of any other myth or legend in which the woman actually saves the men. So this very much fits the idea of the new woman who makes her own decisions and fights. In the third film, it's even more extreme - I dress up as a man, go to war and kill the king of the witches. It suited me fine, because, despite appearances, I am not too much of a girlie girl."

It's just as well. Otto, who was needed to work on the filming marathon in New Zealand from March to December 2000, was given nonstop training in riding and sword-fighting. "I was told they were after a fair-haired, fair-skinned look for my part - and someone with the strength to act tough in some sections and very feminine in others," she says. "Fortunately, I did not quite appreciate the sheer scale of the project, which had a crew of 2,400 and about 20,000 extras. Otherwise, I could have messed up the audition, and I could have imagined them saying: 'She appears so desperate.'"

Otto seems far from desperate or needy or even hungrily ambitious. The result is that she can talk freely, without guile or restrictions, and does not have to measure what she says against causing the slightest offence to anyone in Hollywood. She has been in only a handful of American films, including The Thin Red Line in 1998 - again she played the lone woman, Marty Bell - and her contact with star actors has been limited to film sets. "The first time I met Harrison Ford, I thought he was one of the carpenters," she says. "The producer introduced me to this guy who was so low- key, with denim shirt, jeans and a cap, and I did not really see who he was because he kept his head down. He mumbled just one word, 'Harrison'. I just said 'Hi'. Then he was off. When it came to the scene, we just did it and that was that.

"But people vary, don't they? When I arrived on the Two Towers set, on a night shoot, I saw Liv Tyler in the distance, looking radiantly gorgeous at 4am, even though she was wearing elves' ears. I thought: 'Oh, that is Liv, she is really famous.' She came over and gave me a huge hug and said: 'My God, there is another woman here at last. We can hang out and do things.' Unfortunately, we only had a couple of weeks when our work overlapped, so I was back to being the only girl in the cast."

She also witnessed the fanaticism of Viggo Mortensen, who plays the warrior Aragorn. He took to walking around with bare feet and even turned up, partly dressed in costume, when he wasn't needed. And when he broke a tooth in a fight scene and filming was held up, he was prepared to resort to extreme measures. "He wanted to use Superglue to put the tooth back in so everyone could carry on. Fortunately, they insisted he went to a dentist. But that's the kind of guy he is.

And that summed up the attitude of those who made these films."

Otto's own attitude has been honed over the years as the daughter of the Australian actor Barry Otto - he played Doug Hastings, the hen-pecked father in Strictly Ballroom - and by being around actors from childhood. Her parents separated when she was young, and her life was split between Sydney and her mother's new home in the industrial town of Newcastle. "I had girlfriends who were the children of other actors in Sydney," she says. "On the other hand, I went to a pretty normal school, nothing arty-farty. So I never became awestruck about actors or the business of acting."

It is difficult to imagine Otto becoming awestruck about much at all. After attending the National Institute of Dramatic Art ("Cate Blanchett was there, too, a couple of years younger than me"), she quickly established herself as a lead in a succession of Aussie films including The Girl Who Came Late and Love Serenade. Such was her profile - she's now a veteran of 22 movies - The Australian newspaper was prompted to observe: "The irony for Miranda's career is that she's become a big name among film financiers before she's had a big hit." Otto has already fought her way out of that corner, with a co-starring role opposite the ER actor Goran Visnjic in a ghost thriller, Doctor Sleep. And having been pipped to the post by Cameron Diaz for the female lead in Being John Malkovich, she landed a star part in a French-American co-production, Human Nature, that had the same screenwriter. In Human Nature, she plays a lab assistant who seduces a scientist (Tim Robbins) away from his wife (Patricia Arquette), only to become frustrated that he seems to devote so much time to a wild-man friend, played by Rhys Ifans.

But it will be The Lord of the Rings that will promote her, however reluctantly, to a place among the famous. "Everyone is very keen to tell me my life will change," says Otto. "But I'm keeping in mind that I will still have to clean the bathroom."

3-20-03 Latest News

Billy Boyd Reports
Xoanon @ 2:04 pm EST

Prarie11 & Erendira sends in these reports from their time with Billy Boyd up here in the Great White North. Take a look!

Prarie11:

"I arrived around 5 pm; the show was to start at 7:30 pm. It's a small movie theatre in an odd location - near several light industrial companies, rather than in a shopping district. I had "will call" tix reserved, thanks to the wonderful Joe of the Oakville Arts Council, which sponsored this showing of Scottish Shorts as part of the Toronto Film Festival (thank you all!). By this time there were about 6 cars there - all obviously fangirls, including one elf (nice costume!). I had hoped we'd wait as long as possible to climb out of our cars and get in line, but after about 15 minutes the first pair got out and went to the door, so I followed.

It was a bit cold, but we lasted fairly well. We were worried there'd be no tickets (the girls from North Dakota who had been at Trent U the night before had none, and neither did the two Canadians we met), but a kind older gentleman who went in as part of the Arts Council said as he passed "there's only a hundred tickets left; the other two hundred are sold out" - which left us rather ecstatic. There was a bit of a group there by the time we went in (50? more?), but I'm guessing that anybody who was there when the theatre opened at 6 pm got tickets.

At 7:30, Billy came in from the side door (exit) of the theatre, with (a publicist for the Scottish Shorts, I assume). He was dressed in a black shirt, with dark blue jeans, a jean jacket and his leather jacket over it. The crowd (probably made up of about half fans) went crazy, of course, but stayed in their seats and were well-behaved. He did a quick introduction, which, of course, I don't remember, and on to the shorts.

Sniper 470 was first. To be honest, I was worried about the reaction, being afraid that some would laugh at the more "uncomfortable scenes", or talk throughout the movie, but the audience was great. There was some laughter at the toilet scene, and some uncomfortable sounds during the "virtual sex" scene, but otherwise, quiet and appreciative. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this on film on the large screen. For those of you who haven't seen it, it's an excellent 25 minute film that takes place in the future, about a gunner on an asteroid whose job is to shoot and destroy enemy ships passing through the asteroid belt. It focuses on the loneliness and isolation of his situation, the extreme lack of human contact, and the terror he has to face as a sitting target, and the terrible reality of killing. Very timely, and an excellent showcase for acting without the use of dialogue (and very little monologue). Much applause from the audience.

The other shorts were wonderful, because each was very different from the other - in subject, in how they were filmed, in tone, and so on, even though all were performed by Scottish actors, in Scotland..

Tears for Bobo was next, and also the next best, in my opinion - a very funny tongue-in-cheek movie about clowns in society, with clowns married to other clowns and having little clown children. They prefer not to be called clowns - rather they are "costumed entertainers". It uses terrible funny lines - "send in the clowns" for a police lineup of clowns; a policeman saying "don't try anything funny" to a clown suspect, etc. The policeman are stereotypical, even to the extreme of acting like Keystone Kops at time. It also makes fun of other movies very well: a clown trapped in an alley cries out: "I am not an animal!!! I am a costumed entertainer!!!" ala The Elephant Man.

Next was a story of a girl and her father (either divorced or a widower), centered around the father getting ready to be the best man at the wedding (called The Best Man) - and showing how he really is not being the best man in her life, as she works, without appreciation or notice, to take care of him, rather than the other way around.

Then, a story around a quote from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities - about how one of the amazing things about life is how we are constitutionally mysteries to one another. Just a scene in a train station where a young girl with her mother watches the various people waiting for a train, and observes how they react in various ways to an ongoing delay in the arrival of the train. Very stylized, and interesting, in black and white.

A cute short cartoon called Night Windows showing people in apartments as viewed through their windows at night, from outside - going from one window to another to show what they're doing... ending by showing, from the back, a man shuffling around his apartment in nothing but bunny slippers...*g*.

Finally, a short called Poached - about a family in Scotland, with an older boy at odds with his father and his younger brother. The brothers bond while catching a whopper of a salmon (illegally, of course), and it brings them closer to their father as well.

As I mentioned above, all were done in Scotland, by Scottish actors. In fact, Billy mentioned with a laugh that when they did Sniper 470, they were told that a science fiction movie had never been made in Scotland - which, of course, was an excellent reason to do it! *L*! And, again, the audience stayed in their seats the whole time, and applauded every short. I was very impressed.

Then - Q&A! Billy came in again, this time without the leather jacket. They only had 15 minutes, so he only took a few questions. He was asked about New Zealand and said he'd be there in May and June doing shooting. He was asked about his tattoo, and he gave the same answer as at Trent U - he explained what it was and where he got it - his ankle - without showing it, and commented that, in retrospect, it wasn't the smartest decision he made, since when they did it, he still had two weeks of acting in hobbit feet left, and glue over a raw wound is not a pleasant experience!

He was asked about the screenplay with Dom, and of course he teased and said how TERRIBLE Dom was to work with in writing it, it was just TORTURE, but the script was so good that it was worth it. Was asked about The Ballad of Crazy Paola (the gentleman acting as his publicist, or publicist for the Scottish Shorts mangled the name, so I guess he's not familiar with Billy's stage work - *g*) by a girl who's doing a scene from it (Scene 4) in acting class. He noted that the playwright wanted to call the scenes "Round 1", "Round 2", etc. because it's really a fight between two people, and that that scene should be played as one where the woman has the upper hand, because in that scene she knows more about the person connecting them (who is her dead lover and his dead brother). Billy then left; unfortunately, he was unable to stay and give autographs and had to keep his appearance at the end of the show short.

Again, a wonderful experience, a funny, thoughtful and gracious man. Thank you, Billy Boyd. "

Erendira:

I just thought you would like to hear about Billy Boyd's appearance in Burlington, Ont. tonight--one of many stops he is making in Canada as he tours with his festival of independent films. I just got back from the cinema at Harvester Road, in Burlington, and I am still in awe of this talented actor. A sold-out audience filed into the small, intimate theatre and we were treated to a short speech by Billy himself before the films were shown, with the promise of more to come when the films were done.

From a writer's perspective, I thought the films were very inventive, with kudos going to Billy's project, Sniper 427, (I hope I'm getting that right!). There is a quiet intensity permeating the entire scope of the movie and I found myself rooted to my seat for the duration. The tension is palpable and I'm glad to see Billy finally get a chance to stretch his abilities to the extent that he does in this film, something he really hasn't had the opportunity to do yet in the LOTR's trilogy. The isolation of being alone in space, as well as being under the constant threat of loneliness and retaliation from enemy intruders seems to slowly break his character down, so much that we can even see it in his eyes. There are times when his pupils are so dilated from fear and an overactive imagination that I wondered if he didn't put some kind of drops in them to create the effect? All in all, the performance was inspiring. He takes chances with this character and pulls it off with conviction and courage.

Briefly, the next film was about clowns. There was something truly brilliant in the way this film shifts our perspective about disparaging hopelessness of relationships and life and turns it into a humorous, slapstick joke. There is only one inevitable conclusion for poor Bo Bo and we see it coming a mile away, but the punchline is delivered straight from the heart and I found myself recalling that old scene from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, when Chuckie The Clown is laid to rest, and in spite of the painful reality of death, he still manages to have the last laugh.

The third film was presented as "Best Man". The message I got from this film was that it focuses on a desperate, middle-aged man, who was more concerned with the fruitless banality of his life to realise his young daughter was aching for his love and attention. His own search for validation was a tangible agony, all wrapped up in a speech he was writing to give at a friend's wedding reception. In his effort to create the perfect anecdote, he had forsaken his own daughter, who was growing up right in front of him, and by the time he realised what was important in his life, it was too late.

The next film was a short, animated feature that used rustic movement and simplistic figures seen through moving windows, each of them giving us a glimpse into the narrow world of its occupants. When they say "a picture is worth a thousand words", this short film embodies the very essence of that.

The next offering was a bit more difficult to pin down. Titled, "Station", this film presented us with a black-and-white view of the mystery of human beings, as seen through a young girl's eyes. The focus seemed to shift briefly in the middle of the film from a montage of faces and emotions and personalities of a crowd of people waiting on a train platform, to the nakedness of our need for acceptance. Personally, I thought the film could have stood on its own just by staying focused on the conflicts and understated quirks of everyone on this platform, but I can understand what the writer was trying to do. We are all afraid of being judged, especially when our souls are bared and we are at our most vulnerable.

The final film was slightly weaker in its appeal, although still thought-provoking and bleak in its own way. The quality of the actual film seemed to be suffering from multiple showings so it was a bit distracting to watch, but the characters were well-developed and multi-layered. You got a sense that there was very little holding this family together. Again, the main theme was acceptance and understanding and forgiveness; you know these people are going to be okay in the end. No, "life's a b**tch and then you die," which would have been the easier road to take.

Perhaps other people may have gotten a different perspective of these films--this is just my opinion and food for thought. My one quip would be that I would have really loved to have had some prior information concerning the history and inspirations of the writers and directors of these films, perhaps on a handout or bit of text before each movie? One has a sense that there is more to come from these talented filmmakers and I would like to keep an eye out for other projects.

After the screenings, Billy came back out, much to the delight of the fans, and answered a few questions from the audience, one of which having been directed at him from yours truly!!! I was shaking like a mallorn leaf but I think I hid it well and tried not to trip up on my tongue while I asked him to give his opinion on the difference between the independent film and the mass marketed blockbuster. Graciously, he spoke right to me and offered an insightful answer, most of which I can't remember because I was awe-struck and trying not to blush to the roots of my hair! There were other questions from the floor, and he answered each one with a charming smile and any excuse for a laugh. By the way, I found out that his Elvish "Fellowship" tattoo is on his ankle. The question period lasted only minutes before his publicist whisked him out the side door and no one got an autograph, which was really too bad because I think everyone, (and I do mean everyone!) brought something Billy-ish for him to sign! I did manage to get some wonderful pictures though, only by inching my way closer and closer to him, (and stepping on a few toes, I might add), and I hope at least one of them turns out!

It was a wonderful evening. One that I'll talk about for many days to come.

3-19-03 Latest News

Raffle Prizes Galore!
Quickbeam @ 8:04 pm EST

All you happy Party Guests can count on a really fantastic raffle during our Oscar Party event. Just one little ticket and you might walk away with a HUGE prize package. This time the prizes will not be given out piecemeal; but are collected into *big raffle packages.* Each package is different, and each contains a variety of items. There are approximately 10 raffle prize packages to be given away (maybe more).

Here is a sample of one complete raffle prize package:

A) Official TORN t-shirt for the "Two Towers One Party" event
B) Games Workshop Two Towers battle games, including "Heroes of Helm's Deep" and "Uruk-Hai Paint Set" miniatures
C) Serious USA box of CD-Rom Cardz featuring The Two Towers
D) Sideshow/WETA Collectibles Saruman polystone statue
E) American Flyer luggage 3-piece set: Duffle Bag, Travel Tote and Beauty Case

With raffle tickets at only $2.00 apiece, you can't go wrong!

We will have raffle tickets on sale throughout the evening, and all Party-goers will enjoy the thrill of a live announcement of the winners immediately after the Awards Ceremony.

Hall Of Fire Chats This Weekend
Demosthenes @ 1:27 pm EST

"Rohan cannot come." Gondor is under seige and cut off from its allies as the forces of Sauron swarm Minas Tirith. Can the city hold?

Return of the King - Book V, Chapter 4: Siege of Gondor

Through the eyes of Pippin, we see the dissension between Gondor's leaders , the distrust between Denethor and Gandalf, and the rift between Denethor and his son, Faramir. We witness the growing despair that sweeps the Tower of the Guard as Sauron's hordes sweep across the river and lay seige to Minas Tirith.

Whether you want to talk about objects such as Grond and the Great Gate of Minas Tirith, Tolkien's vivid descriptions of war, or the growing mental disintegration of Denethor the Steward, this chapter is sure to provide great discussion material.

Join us this weekend at hall of fire!

Upcoming Discussions:

March 28-29:
What would you like to see included or dis-included in RoTK? Why? What needs to be cut, and what must stay? How would you avoid creating a critical/popular disaster? Chance for everyone to play scriptwriter/director.

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net's chat room Barliman's and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Times:
Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]

Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe

Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net. And don't forget that you can check out previous chats here.

Silent Auction Items Available at Two Towers - One Party
Calisuri @ 2:33 am EST

So you have your reservations and you ready to attend the largest fan-run Lord of the Rings celebration ever. Besides the live entertainment and various activities taking place throughout the night, you might ask, "What else can I expect?" How about the opportunity to bid on some of the most sought after collectibles available!

Here is a list of the items that will be available during a silent auction:

Giant TTT Banner - 50ft x 20ft Official 'The Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers.' Generously donated by a local theater chain.

2002 Official Academy Awards Poster signed by 'The One Party to Rule them All' VIP attendees - This piece is professionally framed and includes the signatures of Peter Jackson, Ian McKellen, Richard Taylor, and others.

The Watcher in the Water Statue - Pre-Production Piece. Retail value of $250. (Regular version is yet to be released) [Standard Watcher Info]

The Balrog Statue - Pre-Production/Clear Resin. Unique piece. The standard version is sold out and had a retail value of $300. [Standard Balrog Info]

Moria Orc Swordsman Statue Signed by WETA Workshop crew at Comic Con 2002 - Retail value of $125 previous to signing. Signatures include Richard Taylor, Daniel Falconer, Gino Acevedo, Warren Mahy and others. This piece is also signed by Sala Baker(Sauron) and Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz). A Houghton Mifflin display stand is included in this auction. [Statue Info]

Bronzed 'No Admittance' Bookends w/ Houghton Mifflin Display Stand - The popular 'No Admittance except on Party Business' Bookends retail at $60. These are the exact same sculpt, yet in a gorgeous bronzed format. [Original Bookends Info]

The Alan Lee Lithograph and Filmstrip Collectible - Hand signed by Peter Jackson, Alan Lee and Richard Taylor. Retail value of $599. [More Info]

Orthanc Environment - Pre-Production piece. The yet to be released environment from Sideshow/Weta Collectibles. Retail value of $95. [Orthanc Info]

Other items will be available and we hope to announce previous to the party.

Silent auctions will last until approximately 10pm-10:30pm on party night. We will be accepting Visa, Mastercard, and Discover for bids. Winners will be able to immediately take their prize with them, or choose to have TheOneRing.net ship it. Shipping however will be charged to the winning bidder.

3-18-03 Latest News

The Lord of the Rings RPG: In the Beginning...
Lao_of_Gondor @ 8:25 pm EST

Lord of the Rings RPG 101:

Fantasy gaming has been taken to a whole new level, spearheaded by Decipher's OFFICIAL Lord of the Rings Role Playing Game - or RPG. In my humble opinion: the RPG experience is still one of the most rewarding over and above most other gaming platforms available. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE playing all types of all games - especially when it comes to Lord of the Rings. Yet, in pleasant contrast to TCG's, video games, table-top miniatures and board games, in an RPG there are no set patterns, no rare powerful cards, no cheat codes, no rare figures, foils or holograms, no pre-programmed interactivity and best of all - no reset button. The only components you will ever need to fully enjoy the wonders of the Role Playing game system are a few books, a few friends and the one element no amount of money in the world can ever buy - your imagination!

The Lord of the Rings Role Playing system is quite simply the very best in RPG entertainment to date. The Decipher RPG Studio, led by Christian Moore, has created a simplified, yet engrossing system of play which embraces the very nature of The Lord of the Rings in the most profound way. Utilizing the breathtaking design and imagery from Peter Jackson's extraordinary films in concert with the literary support and detail from Tolkien's epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings RPG is the pinnacle product of the industry; unparalleled and unmatched in its level of inspiration, production quality and artistic detail.

Honestly, I could write several pages praising the design achievements that the LOTR RPG Design Team has achieved, because every single support piece I have seen has been worthy of such accolades and more! However, I must address the details of this gaming system in later chapters of LOTR RPG 101. For now, just trust in the fact that this is the era we RPG fans have been waiting for. I am very proud and excited to embark upon what will be a very fulfilling and educational look at The Lord of the Rings and its impact upon the modern world of Role Playing and Fantasy Gaming.

But first...a little history:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Fantasy

It is a foregone conclusion that many people share a very misunderstood and ill-conceived perspective about people who are engaged in the world of role-playing games. Society perceives these "gamers" as congregations who shy away from "normal" society in order to bask in the realm of fantasy worlds filled with faeries, dragons, wizards, heroes and villains. Due to this misconception, normal society brands these people as deviants; those who choose to embrace the abnormal rather than fall in line with 'decent' society. How very uninformed and completely wrong society as a whole truly is.

Fantasy gaming has also traditionally been perceived as a past-time for the high-school outsider, the socially unskilled or the reclusive introvert. Would you be surprised to learn that RPG communities are frequented by doctor's, lawyers, engineers, artists, writers, actors and scientists? Society's perception of the Role-Playing Gamer has dissuaded many people from participating in what is probably one of the last, true forms of communication and entertainment our culture has ever known: the Oral Tradition.

Oral Tradition? What is that you may ask? In the pre-literary ancient days, and even in many pre-industrial societies today, the verbal passing of tales and legends preserved much of the lore we today call myth or fantasy. The Lord of the Rings itself is a manifestation of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien's passion to preserve and encapsulate the grand testimony of his ideals regarding his interpretation of the Anglo-Saxon pre-history in a way that can be passed on; inherited from generation to generation.

So what does all of this have to even remotely do with role playing and fantasy gaming? Well, the core of any role playing game community is the Storyteller - or Game Master. In comparison, the preservation and passing of stories through the oral tradition is testimony to the skill of the storyteller - the original "Game Master". From the telling of tales in ancient kingdoms to the ghost stories spun around frontier campfires - the storyteller transported audiences into far off places; distant lands full of wonder, of light, of darkness, of heroes, of great battles, of heroic sacrifices, of love, of fellowship, of pain and of joy. For a point in time, the listener could close his or her eyes and through awe-inspired imagination, become closer to a world far more interesting than the present. This was the first true form of escapist entertainment - now preserved in the form of the RPG; a more modernized form, yet no less impactful.

In the early 1970's, this style of fantasy and escapist entertainment broke monumental ground as it took the form of one of the most influential RPG systems of all time: TSR's (Tactical Studies Rules) Dungeons and Dragons. With its foundation firmly rooted in the modern fantasy masterpiece that is The Lord of the Rings, this bold and exciting RPG combined a new system of integrated and interactive play. D & D, as it was affectionately referred to, allowed individuals to congregate and embellish upon the very foundation of Frodo's journey. Each member of the gaming group created a character, who in turn joined the quest as a member of a fellowship of companions in order to protect the hero and fulfill the journey - which of course was to eradicate evil and restore light in the land.

For the last 30 years, Dungeons and Dragons, and fantasy gaming 'en masse' has taken great strides in the continuation of the oral tradition. This success through perseverance has undeniably succeeded thanks to the Lord of the Rings - the ONE TRUE SOURCE of which all modern fantasy gaming is based upon. This is due to the single fact that Tolkien's unwavering preservation over his own, personal oral tradition - the pre-history of the Anglo-Saxon people - is so compelling and engrossing, that it is nearly unavoidable to use this material as a resource to perpetuate new stories with such fully realized races, cultures, maps, languages and mythologies - as Tolkien presented in his own works of Middle-Earth. However, as close as these realms were to Tolkien's world - they were only BASED upon The Lord of the Rings which undeniably left the adventure longing for the next level; the ability to adventure IN MIDDLE EARTH ITSELF!

Now, we as role playing game fans, enthusiasts and fanatics alike have the unique opportunity to finally create our adventures within the context of The Lord of the Rings in a way never before attempted. The Lord of the Rings Role Playing game system in the most fully realized, detailed and structured system which has ever been offered in this industry. It has broken conformity with the standard D20 - 20 sided dice - rules systems in favor of a more engaging style of play - the Coda System; favoring greater character flexibility over the calculations of dice-induced fate. Yet I digress...and such details like this will be addressed in later chapters - so stay tuned!

If you are interested in delving into the LOTR RPG, there are several products that you may purchase right now to begin your journey.

1. The CORE Book - without a doubt, the single most important resource in the RPG library thus far. It is a beautifully designed, informational source-book full of almost every detail regarding the Third Age and more.

2. Maps of Middle Earth - Daniel Reeve, the master illustrator and map-designer who brought us many of the maps and scrolls used in Peter Jackson's films - now has brought us 6 beautifully rendered and detailed maps - including close-ups of Gondor, Rohan, Mordor and the Shire.

3. The Mines of Moria: Adventure Game - Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to stand atop the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, defending your companions against the Balrog of Moria. What would you do? What choices would you have made? This mini-adventure is the perfect ENTRY POINT for beginners who want to try the RPG system in an adventure that is all too familiar.

4. The Two Towers: Adventure Game - The Battle of Helm's Deep: Take command in the role of Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas and assist King Theoden in defending Helm's Deep against the onslaught of 10,000 Uruk-Hai, bent on the destruction of men. Experience the battle which made men heroes and made heroes legends! Yet another great ENTRY POINT for beginners and fans.

5. The Narrator's Screen - all good storytellers need help every once and a while and the Narrator's Screen is it. It is a self-contained reference which helps speed along many of the common actions necessary in the course of a game in an easy to read format. The cover which faces the audience is beautifully printed with a panoramic scene of Minas Tirith.

6. The Fellowship of the Ring Source Book - the second installment of the major RPG texts is a 128 page resource book, just as incredibly detailed and illustrated as its CORE BOOK counterpart. However, this sourcebook presents more of an overview regarding the characters, places, events and timelines within the context of the Fellowship of the Ring.

To take a closer look at these products, please visit Decipher's online store HERE

For more information on the Role Playing Game, its creators and what is on the horizon, please visit Decipher's LOTR RPG arena HERE

And of course continue to visit Gaming Havens here on TheOneRing.net for more continuing coverage of The Lord of the Rings RPG.

Be sure to tune it to the next installment of LOTR RPG 101: Breaking all the Rules!

Until then, the world of Middle Earth belongs to YOU!

More to come...

Lao of Gondor

The Lord of the Rings RPG: In the Beginning...
Lao_of_Gondor @ 8:24 pm EST

Lord of the Rings RPG 101:

But first...a little history:

Chapter 1: Introduction to Fantasy

For the last 30 years, Dungeons and Dragons, and fantasy gaming 'en masse' has taken great strides in the continuation of the oral tradition. This success through perseverance has undeniably succeeded thanks to the Lord of the Rings - the ONE TRU SOURCE of which all modern fantasy gaming is based upon. This is due to the single fact that Tolkien's unwavering preservation over his own, personal oral tradition - the pre-history of the Anglo-Saxon people - is so compelling and engrossing, that it is nearly unavoidable to use this material as a resource to perpetuate new stories with such fully realized races, cultures, maps, languages and mythologies - as Tolkien presented in his own works of Middle-Earth. However, as close as these realms were to Tolkien's world - they were only BASED upon The Lord of the Rings which undeniably left the adventure longing for the next level; the ability to adventure IN MIDDLE EARTH ITSELF!

If you are interested in delving into the LOTR RPG, there are several products that you may purchase right now to begin your journey.

2. Maps of Middle Earth - Daniel Reeve, the master illustrator and map-designer who brought us many of the maps and scrolls used in Peter Jackson's films - now has brought us 8 beautifully rendered and detailed maps - including close-ups of Gondor, Rohan, Mordor and the Shire.

3. The Mines of Moria: Adventure Game - Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to stand atop the Bridge of Khazad-Dum, defending your companions against the Balrog of Moria. What would you do? What choices would you have made? This mini-adventure is the perfect ENTRY-POINT for beginners who want to try the RPG system in an adventure that is all too familiar.

To take a closer look at these products, please visit Decipher's online store HERE

For more information on the Role Playing Game, its creators and what is on the horizon, please visit Decipher's LOTR RPG arena HERE

And of course continue to visit Gaming Havens here on TheOneRing.net for more continuing coverage of The Lord of the Rings Role Playing game.

Be sure to tune it to the next installment of LOTR RPG 101: Breaking all the Rules!

Until then, the world of Middle Earth belongs to YOU!

More to come...

Lao of Gondor

Plan 9 Talks 'Cultural Music' CD
Xoanon @ 11:36 am EST

From mana.com.au:

[Plan 9] now start work on the music edit for the long form DVD to Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers which will include a Plan 9 song “Eowyn’s Lament” with vocal by Miranda Otto.

Plan 9 and David Long worked on 'Cultural music' for the trilogy, they also did several of the new songs in the FotR EE DVD, including (and most notably) the 'Elvish Lament' aka 'A Elbereth Gilthoniel' during the Passing of the Elves scene. The authorship of that song was confirmed via private corresponence, which has been posted at 'The White Council' ezboard forum. Additionally, there are discussions to publish all of the 'Cultural Music' on CD at some point, but there was not much information provided concerning that.

3-15-03 Latest News

Hall of Fire Chats This Weekend
Demosthenes @ 9:04 am EST

This weekend, Hall of Fire shifts back to the Return of the King to discuss "The Muster of Rohan". Of all the fellowship, Merry alone remains with Theoden to witness the mustering of the Rohirrim and the arrival of the Red Arrow.

Theoden is determined that Merry should remain safe in Rohan, but "where will wants not, a way opens" and a mysterious rider sneaks him into the host.

Join us this weekend as we discuss the muster of rohan, Denethor's seemingly over-late plea for assistance from his ancient allies and examine the mysteries of the Pukel men and the legend of the paths of the dead.

Upcoming discussions:
March 21-22:
RoTK Book Five, Chapter 4: The Siege of Gondor.

March 28-29:
What would you like to see included or dis-included in Peter Jackson's Return of the King? Why? What needs to be cut, and what must stay? How would you avoid creating a critical and/or popular disaster?

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net's chat room Barliman's and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Times:
Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]

Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA's East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe

Do you have a possible topic for Hall of Fire? Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net. And don't forget that you can check out the transcripts of previous chats at the Hall of Fire page.

Also, if you'd like to keep up to date with forthcoming Hall of Fire topics and announcements, subscribe to our mailing list here.

3-14-03 Latest News

Boyd oh Boyd
Xoanon @ 5:15 pm EST

Cheryl writes: The Calgary Sun printed an article on Billy Boyd's brief visit to the city's airport yesterday. He says some tantalizing stuff about The Return of the King.

Not even a minute passes before someone recognizes Billy Boyd.

A young boy whispers excitedly to his equally thrilled friends, who in turn run off to tell their classmates. And before you can say "Treebeard," the Lord of the Rings actor is ambushed by more than a dozen pen-wielding pre-teens.

It's become a common occurrence for the 34-year-old Scot - who plays the fun-loving hobbit Pippin - since the blockbuster success of the first two Lord of the Rings movies, The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, directed by New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson.

"The Lord of the Rings has become such a part of popular culture," says Boyd, after taking care of his young fans' photo and autograph requests.

"People love the movies and they just get excited when they see someone from them, no matter who it is. It's always positive."

Boyd was in town briefly yesterday and had the chance to check out the Calgary International Airport's Spaceport science center, where he met his idolizing school group.

The actor is in Alberta to promote Sniper 470, a 20-minute short film in which he appears as an astronaut dealing with the loneliness and solitude of space.

The piece was screened last night at the Medicine Hat Film Festival and will be shown Saturday as part of an evening of Scottish short film at the Edmonton Film Festival.

The Glasgow-based actor hasn't had much downtime lately and in May, he and the rest of the LOTR cast will head back to New Zealand to film pick-up shots for the trilogy's last installment, The Return of the King.

Boyd has seen part of a rough cut of Return and says the new film is by far the best.

"I don't think people have any idea - it's incredible," says Boyd, who still keeps in touch with his co-stars, including Sean Astin, Orlando Bloom and John Rhys-Davies.

"We've started with the best source material and then the script they wrote is probably the best screenplay I've ever read."

"I was nearly in tears just reading the screenplay. It was so emotional.

On top of that, people already know the character and have been on journeys with all these guys. This is sort of the end of all those stories. It's just got so much going for it before (Jackson) adds the special touches."

Boyd was disappointed that Jackson was snubbed in the best director category at this year's Academy Awards and says it would be a "travesty" if he is overlooked next year.

"What he has done, no director has ever done," Boyd says emphatically.

"No one has made a trilogy like this. And not only that, to make it so successful critically and with the public. It's a beautiful piece of art and I really do think it would be a travesty if he didn't win an Oscar for it, as well as every other award going."

While Boyd admits most people are only familiar with his furry-footed LOTR character, he says the film epic has opened doors in his career.

He will be seen next in director Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russell Crowe in November.

As well, he and LOTR co-star Dominic Monaghan (Merry) have written a screenplay that has received some interest.

"I've had offers."

3-13-03 Latest News

Elvish Lesson #5 Transcript Posted
Jincey @ 11:58 pm EST

Here's the latest in our continuing series "How to Write a Sindarin Sentence" lessons. This week's subject was soft mutation and lenition.

*** Log file opened: 3/12/2003 6:54:18 PM

[Elostrion] Let's begin.
[jincey] please remember HOF rules
[jincey] try to limit your nick changes and joins/parts
[Elostrion] We're not going to moderate tonight, so please remain quiet until the end.
[jincey] no bugging barli
[jincey] he has to pay attn to log
[jincey] poor guy
[Elostrion] I will take questions following the lesson.
[jincey] lets start : )
[Elostrion] Tonight we will be covering Soft Mutation!
[Elostrion] Let me first clarify what this means.
[Elostrion] The Consonant Mutation are an occurance Tolkien added in an attempt to maintain the fluidity of the language.
[Elostrion] These are designed to take away all the harsh sounds.
[Elostrion] You will begin to recognize patterns.
[Elostrion] Tonight you will need two materials.
[Elostrion] You will find both of these here:
[Elostrion] http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/elvish
[Elostrion] Sindarin Consonant Mutation
[Elostrion] Consonant Mutation Chart
[Elostrion] These are both available for download as well.
[Elostrion] The nature of Soft Mutation (Lenition):
[Elostrion] Lenition is carried out on the first consonant in the word following certain prepositions, etc.
[Elostrion] Sindarin Consonant Mutations lists the words/particles that Lenition follows.
[Elostrion] Consonant Mutation Chart explains what happens to the beginning consonant.
[Elostrion] Let's do an example.
[Elostrion] "Dark wood"
[Elostrion] If you will remember from Lesson 1, adjectives follow their nouns.
[Elostrion] "Wood dark"
[Elostrion] Sindarin Consonant Mutation says that adjectives immediately following their nouns are lenited.
[Elostrion] "Wood" = "Eryn"
[Elostrion] "dark" = "doll"
[Elostrion] We must lenit "dark".
[Elostrion] So we have:
[Elostrion] "Eryn dholl"
[Elostrion] Let's do another.
[Elostrion] "The elf"
[Elostrion] If you will remember from Lesson 2, a singular "the" is "i".
[Elostrion] "I edhel"
[Elostrion] Because there is no consonant following the "i", we do not need to lenit anything.
[Elostrion] Summing up...
[Elostrion] Lenition is caused by certain words.
[Elostrion] These words cause lenition on the first consonant of the following word.
[Elostrion] Adjectives are lenited.
[Elostrion] (Immediately following their nouns)
[Elostrion] Nouns that are objects of verbs are lenited.
[Elostrion] Before I take questions there is one more thing we must cover.
[Elostrion] The second elements of compouns is lenited as well.
[Elostrion] Here is an example:
[Elostrion] "Starlight"
[Elostrion] "Star" = "el"
[Elostrion] "light" = "calad"
[Elostrion] "Starlight" = "Elgalad"
[Elostrion] There you have it.
[Elostrion] I am ready to take questions. Please, take turns.
[Elostrion] Are there any?
coca_coola] how do you know which consonant to leniate with
[Elostrion] Consonant Mutation chart tells you how you carry out lenition.
[Elostrion] You can find it here:
[coca_coola] like in starlight you used g but withdark wood you did h
[Elostrion] http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/elvish
[coca_coola] I have the chart but it is complicated ;-s
[Elostrion] Ok...
[Not_Maedhros] Elostrion, what is the difference between "el" and "gil"?
[Elostrion] You simply find the consonant that needs to be lenited, and carry out the action the chart says.
[Elostrion] They are derived from different Old Sindarin roots.
[Not_Maedhros] Hmm?
[Eowyn] why is there an 'i' in front of the letters on the charts?
[Elostrion] ńgile
[Elostrion] and
[Elostrion] That "i" is an example of the most common occurance of lenition, following the Sindarin article "i".
[Eowyn] oh ok
[Elostrion] "elen" Not_Maedhros
[coca_coola] so lenition is a way to make the words flow more smoothly right?
[Elostrion] Exactly coca_coola
[coca_coola] so will someone understand you if you don't use lenition or is it necessary
[Eowyn] could you give an example of mutation with an object of a verb?
[Not_Maedhros] Elostrion, what exactly is the difference between the two? As far as I can tell, both of them are "star".
[ILookLikeLuthien] oh my goodness, I missed the whole thing.
[Elostrion] It is absolutely necessary!
[Elostrion] Please e-mail me Eowyn
[ILookLikeLuthien] my friend sent something that messed with my computer...I am so angry that I can't even express it enough.
[Eowyn] alright
[Elostrion] "el" is considered archaic
[Elostrion] "gil" can mean a bright spark/light as well as a star
[Not_Maedhros] Ah.
[coca_coola] perfect sense
[coca_coola] elostrion are you fluent in sindarin?
[ILookLikeLuthien] well, I can't ask any questions, as I wasn't present for most of this...
[Elostrion] No coca_coola
[Elostrion] I am getting there, though.
[Elostrion] You will be able to read the transcript shortly ILookLikeLuthien
[coca_coola] do you understand it though? Like if i talked to you
[Elostrion] You may e-mail me if you have any questions.
[coca_coola] (in elvish)
[ILookLikeLuthien] so I shall go after one question: where can I find all of the sindarin vocab?
[Elostrion] I would catch about every other word.
[Elostrion] Let me get you a link ILookLikeLuthien...
[ILookLikeLuthien] thank you Elostrion
[Not_Maedhros] Elostrion, is there a negative verb tense in Quenya?
[Not_Maedhros] That is completely unlreated to Sindarin, though.
[Not_Maedhros] :p
[Elostrion] http://www.jrrvf.com/~hisweloke/sindar/
[ILookLikeLuthien] thank you, Elostrion.
[Elostrion] Please e-mail me for a full answer Not_Maedhros.
[Elostrion] You're welcome ILookLikeLuthien
[Bullmaiden] Was this lesson just on soft mutation, or all of the mutations (nasal etc.)?
[ILookLikeLuthien] well, my friend succeeded in ruining my night :( but oh well, I'll see if I can follow the Qs anyway...
[Elostrion] Just Soft(Lenition)
[Bullmaiden] what's the difference between lenition and mutation?
[Elostrion] Let me explain the problem with memorizing Sindarin vocabulary...
[Elostrion] Soft Mutation is also referred to as Lenition
[coca_coola] oh no you can't do that? I"m in the midst of memorizing
[Elostrion] Sindarin is a lot like Ancient Hebrew in this mattter.
[Elostrion] There are very few words; however, each word has many multiple meanings.
[ILookLikeLuthien] hmm, maybe I'll ask my friend who speaks Hebrew...
[Elostrion] Here is an example:
[ILookLikeLuthien] oh...they're called...I forget the word for a word w/ multiple meanings.
[Elostrion] In Hebrew (and Sindarin) there is one word for both snow and white.
[Bullmaiden] gloss?
[Elostrion] You have to memorize each meaning for over 800 words.
[coca_coola] ah, im screwed now aren't i cuz i just wasted my time memorizing and learning
[ILookLikeLuthien] whee.
[Eowyn] lovely....lol
[ILookLikeLuthien] memorization is....fun...sometimes...not...that's the only thing that I don't have so much fun with in French.
[Elostrion] The mutations complicate things when listening, you have to have them thoroughly memorizing them.
[ILookLikeLuthien] but I'll try!!
[Elostrion] Grammar, ahh!
[ILookLikeLuthien] yeah, French is hard to understand in speaking sometimes too, I'm used to that complication
[Eowyn] definitely
[Elostrion] The mutations complicate things when listening, you have to have them thoroughly memorized to be able to understand.***
[ILookLikeLuthien] yes
[ILookLikeLuthien] well, a bunch of the French words sound alike.
[coca_coola] I'm fluent in french and i feel your pain i love luthien........i live in montreal!
[ILookLikeLuthien] cool
[Elostrion] -a
[ariannaxis] me too
[Eowyn] well I suppose if you were an elf and had been living for thousands of yrs. , you'd have the time to memorise all that!
[Elostrion] It would be completely different as a birth language.
[coca_coola] i guess its not really memorizing is it elostrion but understanding and learning
[Elostrion] Mostly
[ILookLikeLuthien] yes
[Eowyn] yeah
[Elostrion] There is an aweful lot of memorizing, however.
[Elostrion] There are so many forms of words, that's the problem.
[Not_Maedhros] Most vocabulary.
[coca_coola] everyday i tryy to learn atleast 4 new sindarin words but it is so hard to improve because i have no one to practice and share my knowledge with to improve
[ILookLikeLuthien] oh...forms...eep
[ILookLikeLuthien] I'm good w/ conjugation.
[coca_coola] lol
[ILookLikeLuthien] and pronunciation...in French anyway...
[Elostrion] Are you really ILookLikeLuthien??
[Elostrion] oh, LoL
[ILookLikeLuthien] yes I am
[Not_Maedhros] Conjuagation and pronounciation is eaqsy.
[Eowyn] yeah being able to practice with someone is the best way to get a grip on the language
[ILookLikeLuthien] conjugation makes sense to me
[Not_Maedhros] I can pronounce anything for anyone
[Not_Maedhros] :p
[Elostrion] I would be happy to help you learn coca_coola
[ILookLikeLuthien] oh, shush Not.
[ILookLikeLuthien] lol
[Not_Maedhros] Believe me.
[coca_coola] really? cause i'd love some help
[Not_Maedhros] I can pronounce EVERY SINGLE SOUND on the IPA
[Not_Maedhros grins
[Elostrion] e-mail me coca_coola
[coca_coola] im only 14 so i guess i have a while to learn but i still am very eager to learn now
jincey is waiting for her nick to be translated ; )
[Strakul] Not_Maedhros: how about you make recordings of the words (especially those with y) to help us pronounce them?
[ILookLikeLuthien] I pick up well on pronunciation, i.e. I speak English, am learning French, and am learning 2 Italian songs right now, and their pronunciation is coming to me also.
[Not_Maedhros] I'll think about it.
[ILookLikeLuthien] yeah Not!
[Not_Maedhros] It all depends on whether or not I can get my brother to let me use his microphone and computer
[Strakul] I don't know how to pronounce "y" :(
[Not_Maedhros] :p
[coca_coola] I am fluent in french and english and am now learning sindarin and i know some quenya
[Not_Maedhros] He has a GOOD microphone and recording program.
[ILookLikeLuthien] I don't know how to pronounce...anything...
[Not_Maedhros] Strakul, make your lips as if you were going to say "oo
[ILookLikeLuthien] well, I know the dh/th thing
[coca_coola] elostrion which address would i e-mail u to?
[Elostrion] elostrion@hotmail.com
[Not_Maedhros] Say "ee" but keep your lips the same
[coca_coola] ok
[Bullmaiden] LoL
[coca_coola] i am fine with pronunciation, it comes sorta quick for me like french
[ILookLikeLuthien] uh...
[Strakul] ... sounds like an "i" to me
[ILookLikeLuthien] yeah, I am too, I just need to be able to learn Sindarin prons. when noone is home...
[Elostrion] Oh dear coca_coola
[ILookLikeLuthien] because...
[[ILookLikeLuthien] the cpu is in the living room
[ILookLikeLuthien] so I can't start saying "ee" through an "oo" face...
[coca_coola] lol
[Strakul] doesn't work, i think i have an accent
[coca_coola] if someone had a web camera i'd think it'd be the funniest thing to watch everyone trying to see ee through an ooo face
[ILookLikeLuthien] I know...
[coca_coola] lmao
[ILookLikeLuthien] that would be hilarity in the extreme...
[Strakul makes sure he's alone
[Not_Maedhros will say it
[Not_Maedhros] I will record it too
[Not_Maedhros] It will sound fine.
[Not_Maedhros] And look okay.
[Not_Maedhros] ILookLikeLuthien, you are learning French, no?
[ILookLikeLuthien] yes
[ILookLikeLuthien] I can record too...but I don't know how to pronounce :P
[Not_Maedhros] The "u" sound in "du", and "lune" is Sindarin "y"
[coca_coola] i can help anyone in french......that im good at
[ILookLikeLuthien] oh really??
[coca_coola] yeah well i hope i am cuz i live in montreal!
[ILookLikeLuthien] eu...sort of...
[ILookLikeLuthien] uu
[Not_Maedhros] coca_coola, it's "u" as in "du" and "lune"
[ILookLikeLuthien] it's an indescribable sound, ahhh
[coca_coola] and go 2 a billingual school
[coca_coola] ah
[Strakul] hmm, i only know english and spanish :(
[Not_Maedhros] Elostrion, is there a front rounded vowel in Spanish?
[[Bullmaiden] Bye peps, I have geometry
[[ILookLikeLuthien] well, I'm not fluent in French yet...only in French 3
[ILookLikeLuthien] bye Bullmaiden!
[Elostrion] So long Bullmaiden
[Bullmaiden] Thanks for the lesson!
[Elostrion] It is my pleasure
[Not_Maedhros] Thanks for the lesson Elostrion
[Elostrion] Absolutely!
[ILookLikeLuthien] next week, I'll ignore all my ims and not open any other pages but the charts, so ppl can't mess up my online!
[Not_Maedhros] coca_coola, you do speak French, right?
[Elostrion] I'm gonna go now, if there are no objections.
[Elostrion] I have work to do.
[Not_Maedhros] Okay
[jincey] thanks elostrion!
[Not_Maedhros] Bye, Elostrion
[Elostrion] Navaer!
[coca_coola] elostrion will you be checking your e-mail in the next 2 weeks because i'll be online cause im on break
[coca_coola] yeah i speak fluent french not maedhros
[Elostrion] You're very welcome!
ILookLikeLuthien] Navaer, Elostrion!
Elostrion] LoL, yes coca_coola
Elostrion has left #thehalloffire

Tales from the Two Towers: Victoria U Report
Xoanon @ 2:14 pm EST

Arowin writes: I was recently privileged enough to view a lecture by Milton Ngan. As far as IT stuff goes, Milton has a pretty good job. You see, he is the Digital Operations Manager at Weta Digital. He is basically the architect for all the technical side of things at Weta.

Last night he came and gave a 1 hour lecture at Victoria University outlining the hurdles and obstacles that needed to be overcome to produce the stunning 3D graphics lying in each of the Lord of the Rings movies. The lecture itself was full of lots of facts about Weta, the IT side of things and it also included some very cool behind the scenes shots of The Two Towers.

Weta

Well as you probably already know Weta is the Wellington based company in charge of bringing the Lord of the Rings special effects to life. It is composed of two companies – Weta Workshop and Weta Digital. Weta Workshop deal specifically with the models, props and miniatures – all the physical things. Weta Digital on the other hand, work with the virtual - all the 3D characters, Motion Capture and Special effects.

A lot of information about Weta Digitals IT structure was thrown at us some of which includes:

All the film first comes to WD and is scanned into the computer system through the use of one of two Imagica Film Scanners. These scanners can scan at 3.2 mega pixels at an amazing 64 billion colours. The speed of this is about 4.5 frames/second

The data is then fed to the storage facility along a 4 gigabit Ethernet.

From the reels alone Weta stores about ˝ a petabyte of data. By the end of film three this amount is expected to reach 1 petabyte.

The workstation structure at Weta is astronomical. They have:

-125 SGI Octane systems
-220 Linux systems
-35 NT systems
-15 Mac systems

Then there’s the rendering system…. The renderer alone is run 24 hours a day rendering out the 1000 odd shots that were required for TTT. It consists of 192 Dual Pentium 1 GHz and 448 Dual 2.2 GHz processors. A total of 1280 processors running at approximately 2,355 GHz…. Mmmmm…..

Creatures

The creatures are first sketched out on paper and then modelled with modelling clays. After Peter Jackson’s approval, these models are then scanned with a mobile hand held 3D scanner (developed in Christchurch, NZ) which scan into the computers every single bump and feature of the model. In fact so much data is scanned in that it would be next to impossible to use it all so the mesh is then converted to a NURBS model, which smoothes most of it out. The detail that was lost is still kept and the difference between the NURBS model and the original scan is uses as a displacement map (A texture that applies bumps based on a greyscale image).

Once the models have been put into the system and textured, it is up to the animators to animate the creatures. A great deal of the animation was done automatically. For example, when Gollum walks, the system automatically splays his toes as he steps down, this allows the animators to focus more on the artistic side rather than the mechanical. A good example of this was shown with a simple mock up of Gandalf standing still with Gollum jumping up onto his back and ripping off his head. Most of the actions were done by the computer.

Each animation must go through a rigorous development process. Most of the actions where Gollum is by himself can be taken from Motion Capture with Andy Serkis, but for other scenes (In particular the first scene of Gollum when he jumps on Sam and bites him) Andy wasn’t right for the situation (“He looked too much like WWF). So the animators made a few animations including Gollum ferociously attacking Sam to Gollum coming up and licking him.

The motion capture uses about 20 different cameras and can support multiple actors at the same time. Andy was used for almost all of the actions and most of the animations were done using him as the actor. A blooper that was shown was Gollum playing an electric guitar. Also a few shots were shown with Kermit the frog instead of Gollum. Even after the motion capture is done. The animators will still need to go in and clean up a few details. A few shots were shown with Gollum with his hair dyed pink and standing on end, another with his eyes floating out away from his eyes.

Andy Serkis as we know was also the basis for the facial animation of Gollum. The animators based Gollum’s actions on Andy. Side by side shots were shown with Andy and Gollum (In the split personality scene) showing exactly the same facial expressions and speech expressions.

To composite Gollum into the scene is quite a rigorous process.

1) Firstly, Andy acts out the scenes with the other actors.

2) The scene is then shot without the actors using exactly the same camera movements.

3) The Computer camera is then matched to make sure the angles will still be right

4) The lighting in the Computer environment is then matched to the camera footage

5) The compositing is done. Andy is literally painted out of the scene and Gollum placed in.

6) More painters come in and now have the arduous task of painting all the areas where Gollum is behind something or in front of.

Massive

Massive was described to us as “AI on steroids” and by all accounts it is. I’m talking about the computer software that was developed on site to do all that large battle scenes that rage in both FotR and TTT. It is a system that creates hundreds and thousands of ‘agents’ – individual 3D creatures that think for themselves and battle it out on the field. They can react, fight and make logical decisions based on inputted given data. The program is so details that agents can get dirtier as the battle progresses.

For example, in the battle of helms deep, thousands of computer generated orcs fought against the stronghold of men and elves. Each orc would react and think as an individual. A top down render was shown when the wall exploded and ripples were sent through the agents. Now, traditionally this would have been done with particle effects and a wave effect but this was made simply by the reactions of each agent.

Each agent is given a complex tree ‘brain structure’ whereby data is inputted to the agent and based on the tree an output is given. If two outputs come through then the result is mixed together. An example of this was an agent that was set so it doesn’t walk off a cliff. It walked around by staying on the flattest surface. As soon as it was ‘allowed’ to walk off the edge, its arms flew around in a very lifelike manner. Each hit against the cliff gave different results and those results were added together to form the movement of the fall.

Each agent is also given certain characteristics according to its race. Each race has its own unique fighting style (which was motion captured originally). Each individual agent is given random variables to make them shorter, taller, a larger walk almost everything. Massive then calculated every single movement based on the agent – A shorter agent will have to walk faster to keep up with all the others.

When Massive was first tested two armies were pitted against each other to fight it out. Once the scene was rendered, a bug in the program was found. Agents were actually seen running away from the battle field! This simple bug was resolved by adding the rule “If you can’t see an enemy, turn around”.

With The Return of the King, Massive is apparently being stretched to its limits. Peter Jackson is saying that the great battle must be several times larger than that of Helm’s Deep. This is not only stretching Massive to it’s limits but also the Intel 32bit processor architecture as well and Weta is looking at replacing the processors with 64bit ones. Whatever they do, RoTK is set to be pretty spectacular.

Other Random Stuff

- When Peter was working in London and the animators needed his approval on certain shots a conference was set up from New Zealand to London through a private 10 Megabit connection. Each day for 3 months, these conferences would go over about 10GB of data that was rendered during the night.

- Gollum alone has about 20GB of textures

- Gollum was completely redesigned from the ground up for TTT

- The room at Weta that stores the servers started out at about 40m2. For TTT this was made larger by about 60%. Now, it is about 4 times as big as it was at the start and work is under way to increase the size again

- Weta Digital has only now finished the extra footage for TTT DVD that will be released later this year and is now starting work for RoTK

- In TTT there were approximately 800 Computer Graphics shots. They are expecting in excess of 1000 for the third film.

- Thousands of different programs were used in the development of the special effects. Most prominently Maya was used for the modelling and animation, Pixars Renderman was used for the rendering and finally Apple’s Shake was used for compositing the film.

- The developer of Massive is under talks at the moment to release Massive commercially.

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