So What?

     I always thought I was fairly well-versed in movies, and I was, to an extent. But, being in this class has opened up a whole new door in the way that I perceive, watch, and understand a movie and its making. I had taken film & tv production classes in high school, as well as plenty of theater, but, I've learned more in one Semester of this class than in the four years of those.
     First of all, my understanding of Film Production has been broadened immensely. I already loved watching all the special "making of" features on DVD's, but, watching them in class with a better insight and guidance, hearing personal stories, as well as having to research and write papers on how it's all done, made me love and appreciate the art of filmmaking even more than I already do. I now understand a lot better all of the hard work that goes into making a movie. For some reason, when I got into this, I had this idealistic view that it would alway be just easy and enjoyable, but, nothing comes without hard work, and for once, that makes me happy, because in the end, all of your hard work goes towards bringing entertainment and smiles and emotions to audiences and honestly, making their day by creating something that they enjoy watching.
     This class has also changed my views on how I watch a film and process it as I sit in the theater or in front of my tv or laptop. I already tended to pick apart the acting, some of the camera angles, small things, and go on and on about how great (or not so great) it was in the film, which my family always found to be slightly annoying but were too nice to say anything. Now I don't think they'll ever want to go see a movie with me again. Having learned more about the audio, special effects, art and production design, cameras, and lighting, I'll have ten times more things to talk about. Even just recently, my roommates and I watched The Social Network, and I wanted to go on and on once it was over about the acting, the lighting, and the camera angles, but my roommates thought the film was completely boring and stupid. I tried to explain what made it so great, but, they wouldn't have it, so I was left to mull it over to my own frustrated self. Now that it's summer and so many new films are coming out, you better believe my family will be hearing nonstop talking from me.
     This class has shown me that being in this industry takes a lot of hard work, but the rewards are well worth it. That every aspect of the film is important, that each job holds a special and crucial place in production and should be appreciated, that film is honestly an underrated field of work, and should be honored and treated with such respect for all of the effort and time and love that it takes to create that two hour experience of sitting in a theater and letting your imagination run free.

The world of Directing: Chris Columbus' adventures of turning Greek Mythology into modern day Film

     Directing is a field that has always fascinated me. Having the opportunity to take a story you love and being able to pull it out of your imagination and create it visually in front of your eyes to entertain others just seems like such a wonderful thing to experience and be a part of. So, I decided to delve into that realm of production even further by exploring the work of one of my favorite directors in one of my favorite, guilty pleasure movies.
     Most, non film-versed people will undoubtedly think of the explorer who stumbled upon America in 1492 when they hear the name Chris (or Christopher) Columbus. Now, for me, when I hear that name, the director of Mrs. Doubtfire, Home Alone, Rent, and the first two Harry Potter films come to mind. Not to mention having produced numerous other movies such as The Help, both Night At The Museums, and both Fantastic Four films as well. Oh, and did I mention he wrote The Goonies? But, one of my personal favorite films he directed isn't as big. Honestly, it only did so-so in theaters.
     Being able to adapt a book into a film is a feat that I applaud any director for. It's difficult to interpret it as your own, as well as try to reach the expectations the fans of the book have. And, although Chris Columbus' adaptation of the New York Times bestselling novel "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief" wasn't as ground-breakingly popular as his work on the Harry Potter films, I still believe that he did a miraculous job directing, and turning the first installment of a beloved Young Adult series into an entertaining film.

     Whenever I go to see a film that is based off a book (more specifically, based off of a book I have read), I always tell myself that a book and a movie are two completely different art forms, and should be treated as such. And thus, when I went to go see Percy Jackson in theaters, the things I usually would be nit-picky about in relation to the consistency of the book I realized were actually just directorial decisions that Columbus had made. And as I further researched those decisions for my paper, and through the things I have learned in this class, I have realized--and now appreciate far more--why those decisions were made.
     The whole idea of the film is that the world of Ancient Greek Mythology is still alive and well today. That the gods and goddess' still exist and rule, and sometimes, they come down from Mount Olympus (now located over New York City instead of Greece) and have relationships with mortals. The children they produce from these relationships are half-human, half-god; A demigod. The story follows Percy Jackson, a troubled kid with multiple learning disabilities such as Dyslexia and ADHD, and his journey discovering that his father is in fact the Greek god of water, Poseidon. That, and the fact that Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and the blame is somehow being placed on Percy. We follow his adventures as he winds up at a camp created specifically for demigods, and his quest to find Zeus' bolt and bring it  back to clear his name.
     The story initially came to Chris Columbus through his daughter. He states in a featurette on the movie's dvd that, "My daughter Isabella was reading the books and she told me I should read them. So I read them and I realized that the hero of the book was dyslexic, just like my daughter. And it was a very emotional moment because I became very passionate about it...there are all these kids in America who suffer from dyslexia and I thought, wouldn't it be great to empower those kids with a story about a kid who has dyslexia who is essentially a bit of a superhero himself, the son of a god, a demigod". He also found the concept to be utterly fascinating and nothing like any film he'd seen before. "We've had like, 300 and Troy, movies that have dabbled in Greek mythology but there's never been an opportunity to create [For example] a living, breathing real-life Medusa with seventy five live snakes as her hair" (lovefilm.com).
     And so, he pitched the idea to a screenwriter friend of his, Craig Titley, who also coincidentally happened to be getting a Phd. in Mythology at the time, and thus, they started to work on the screenplay. He said it was one of the most enjoyable experiences he's had with a film and that, "He was a great director, who was also a competent writer who knew the movie he wanted to make, and it was jus a fun, fun world to play in" (FOX Movie Channel). Even the actual author of the books was excited for Columbus to be directing the film. "I could not have imagined anyone better suited to the job," author Rick Riordan states in the featurette of the dvd, "He's got such a great track record of family-friendly films that I think he's absolutely the perfect guy to take Percy Jackson from the page and onto the screen".
     Now came the hard part, trying to turn a book into a film. Obviously, there were things that needed to change. In the book, the lead characters are only eleven years old, and yet they go out and do all of these miraculous things. "I couldn't conceive of doing some of these scenes where they basically have to train to become warriors, with eleven year olds and wooden swords," Columbus said, "I thought, it's just gonna be a little cheesy. What do we do to give those scenes some guts, some depth, some real edge?" (Empire Magazine). And so, it was changed in the script that the lead characters were now going to be around sixteen or seventeen, rather than eleven. This not only made the film seem more realistic, but also opened channels up for the age level of the jokes, references, and extent of the romantic relationships within the movie, thus, making it more entertaining.

The finished Hydra scene from the film

     They also changed around a lot of the scenes from the book to make them more relatable to the audiences who would watch it. One main scene is when Percy and his friends must battle off a five-headed Hydra while in Nashville. Now, in the book, this scene takes place on the St. Louis Arch, and, instead of a Hydra, they are faced with a Chimera, which is a part dog, part goat, part serpent-like creature. "So, to make it more relatable to the kids watching this film, it was Chris' decision to change the Chimera to a Hydra." Titley says (FOX Movie Channel). This way, it was a monster audiences might have heard of, and could identify with more, either through bits of mythology they might've learned in school, or even from the Disney movie Hercules, in which he battles a Hydra as well.
     Now, another (and maybe one of the biggest) directorial decision Columbus was faced with was casting the parts of the three main leads, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. The entire five-book Percy Jackson series had been out for a while by this point in 2008/2009. They were beloved characters that tweens and teens and even adults identified with. They wanted to see their heroes come to life and be portrayed the way they were supposed to. But, yet again, directional changes overwhelmed the die-hard fans wants. The only one of the three main characters that stayed precisely to the books description was it's main hero, Percy Jackson. Now, to find these three actors, Columbus took a different approach rather than just letting the world know and having any actor try out. He came into the production with choices for actors based off of some of their previous work he had seen.

From L to R: Brandon T. Jackson, Chris Columbus,
Logan Lerman, and Alexandra Daddario

     His first choice for the film's main character was Logan Lerman, a still fairly unknown actor, whose supporting role in the film 3:10 to Yuma blew Columbus away. So, when Logan came in for a screentest, and nailed the character of Percy right on the head, Columbus knew he had found just the right guy. "I built the cast around him...trying to find people that had chemistry with him" Columbus stated (Empire Magazine). For Percy's best friend and sidekick, Grover, Columbus initially thought of Brandon T. Jackson, whose part in Tropic Thunder had him in hysterics. This was also a major change from the book. Originally, Grover is a scrawny, awkward caucasian boy. But for the film, he was cast as African American, and was much more gutsy and confident, providing a lot of the film's comic relief. Now, finding the female lead of Annabeth was a bit harder. Initially, Annabeth is a blonde-haired, cute and sassy New Yorker, but, for the movie she became a strong and confident, very self-assured young woman. There was no one specific Columbus had in mind for the role, and so went on to audition many young Hollywood starlets. But his problem fell with their appearance. "I thought, how in God's name am I going to create a [convincing] warrior who can fight [while she] looks like she hasn't had a cheeseburger in ten years?"(Empire Magazine). But eventually, the talent of Alexandra Daddario came to their graces, and when the three were put together for a screentest, "There was just a tremendous amount of chemistry." Columbus praised over the young actors (Empire Magazine).
     While the leads were all played by young and unknown actors, Columbus decided to throw all the big name actors in as secondary characters. Pierce Brosnan plays Chiron, a Centaur as well as Percy's mentor, and Uma Thurman plays Medusa, while Steve Coogan plays the god of death, Hades--just to name a few. I feel that this directorial decision was a good one on his part. Letting the the unknown actors shine as the leads, but have the big-name ones there to support and hold up the rest of the cast, as well as be a pull for the adult audience bringing their kids to the film to become more invested in it.
     Watching the movie again with these thoughts in mind made it a much more enjoyable experience. Knowing that so much thought and time and care went into his directing and his choices in creating the film, while still keeping the essence of it close to the beloved books, was a phenomenal feat that Chris Columbus handled with such grace. It was eye-opening to delve into the world of the director and see exactly how their brain works and how these things all fall together artistically. And, although they signed on a different director and only let Columbus be a producer of the sequel, The Sea of Monsters, that has just started filming in the past week or so, I know his influence on the first film will definitely reverberate into this one, and all of the others that may possibly come after it.

Roger Ford and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

     The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is a film based off a book written by C.S. Lewis with the same name. I'm sure you may have heard of it...it is up there in ranks with the Lord Of The Rings series after all. It tells the story of the four Pevensie siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, as they stumble upon a magic wardrobe that transports them to the land of Narnia. Once there, they must find the Great Lion, Aslan, and work to fight Narnia's evil ruler The White Witch, to restore the land back to Aslan, its rightful leader.

     The task of creating the magical land of Narnia, as well as re-creating World War II era England, was given to Roger Ford, a production designer that has worked on the 2003 film adaptation of Peter Pan, both of the Babe films, and as well as the popular British sci-fi show Doctor Who. As it is plain to see, Mr. Ford is no stranger to creating worlds of fantasy. So who better to do the job for the Disney and Walden Media film than him? I tried to come in contact with Mr. Ford and ask a few questions, but sadly, the only contact information I could attempt to find was in IMDBpro, which, unlike the regular IMDB website, in order to access it you need a paid subscription. Regardless, I own the special edition DVD of the film chocked full of almost ten hours of behind-the-scenes features, and found multiple interviews with Mr. Ford throughout the internet as well to serve as credible sources for my information.

Director Andrew Adamson (L) and Roger Ford (R)

     To be a successful Production Designer, from what I've learned, you have to be able to collaborate. Which, as we've said in class, is crucial to a good film. Luckily, in this film, collaboration wasn't very hard. Director Andrew Adamson already had an immense background with visual effects (having directed the first two Shrek films, and working as a visual effects supervisor in both Batman & Robin and Batman Forever), and before even starting the film came in with "a twenty-page, comprehensive set of director's notes. And it told you everything," States executive producer Perry Moore in a special featurette on Adamson's directing process, called "The Chronicles of a Director" found in the Special Edition DVD, "From character work to the color palletes of the movie, from the CGI effects...to the music. He had a vision and it was just perfect" (Disney, 2006), and was more than willing to gain input and insight from all aspects of his team, seeing as it was his first time directing a live-action movie. Tilda Swinton, who plays The White Witch in the film, states within the same featurette that it was, "Great...making a film of this size with someone with a beginner's mind, making his first feature, in a way. Though, he must be the most experienced first feature director, ever" (Disney, 2006). In an in-depth interview within the DVD's special features, Ford himself says that, "[In production design] you've got to enjoy working in a team of people...and work with directors enourmously. With every one of them, you have to be able to give totally to their film" (Disney, 2006).

     One noted work of collaboration between Ford and Adamson (found both in separate interviews and featurettes) was in the creation of the magic wardrobe itself. They had originally looked at pictures of C.S. Lewis' actual wardrobe that he used as the inspiration for the one he wrote about, but the director took it a step further. The old professor that owns the house containing the wardrobe is actually the main character in the first book of the Narnia series. He gets a magic apple from Narnia to give to his ill mother, then plants the seeds which grows into a beautiful tree. When this tree dies, the professor has it made into a wardrobe. So, Adamson and Ford decided to have somewhat of elegant storyboard panels, telling the story of how the wardrobe came to be, carved all over the wood, creating the mystifying and overwhelming effect it has in the film. "Making all of these details was very satisfying" says Ford to French magazine, L’Ecran Fantastique (L’Ecran Fantastique, 2005).
   
     The film ran on an estimated budget of around 180 million dollars (IMDB), and budgeting was one of the biggest issues Ford had run into in his creative process. He said that being a Production Designer you have to be "a bit of a Sociologist, in the way that you enjoy working out how people live their lives, what they surround themselves with. That's part of the business of Production Design" (Disney, 2006). Before the children even enter Narnia, there are a few scenes shot inside of the mysterious Professor's mansion of a house. The man comes off as a bit of the cooky sort, having a house full of knick-nacks and odd things consuming all of the mansion's walls. Ford said that in the conceptualization of this, he saw the Professor's house to be filled with furniture and things from all around the world, dating back all the way to the 1600's. Obviously, all of this would be extremely expensive to acquire, so Ford gave the producers an estimate and said their response was along the line of shock. "It was in our budget," Ford claims, "but they just thought it was too much...when it comes to  the crunch, I like to get what I want. So, they told me to come back to a meeting and 'give us some good news'. So, we went back to the meeting, and I sat down and I said I know you're looking fro good news, but what I'm saying to you is that I want to spend the money. And that was it" (Disney, 2006).

From L to R, Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Georgie Henley,
and Skandar Keynes as the four Pevensie children.

     Another task Mr. Ford had to coordinate and create was the snowy world the children first stumble into upon arrival in Narnia. The whole team went to Canada, the Czech Republic, and Poland to research snowy landscapes. Although it is supposed to be a fantasy world, the makers of the film all wanted Narnia to have a very realistic feel to it. That it wasn't just a made up fantasy land like The Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan, but a literal, in-ground, hidden world that exists. But working with such small children as their core actors, the crew couldn't put them in a negative temperature, snowing location and expect them to work for eight hours and give a good performance on top of it all. So, Ford's task was to make the studio, paper snow, along with the set, look as realistic as possible. "We undertook much research to get the snow right as well as create a bit of a magical look" (L’Ecran Fantastique, 2005). Since half of the film was shot for six months all the way in New Zealand, they needed to utilize their resources there. So, they turned an equestrian center into a sound stage in Auckland, building downwards instead of up, digging out the dirt floor to create the embankments and crevices within the landscape, then adding in the rest of the scenery and seemingly realistic snow, as seen in the picture above.

     "The design of the the film is a star of the film, if not the star of the film" says Swinton (Disney, 2006). And that statement couldn't be closer to the truth. I always thought the film was stunning, with all of its set design and highly advanced CGI (considering it was made in the early 2000's), as well as the amazing make-up for which it won an Oscar. But as I watch it again, and see all of these featurettes and interviews, I am now starting to pick up and appreciate all of the seemingly smaller details and all of the thought that must have gone into creating this world for the film. As I spent my time researching, I've come to learnt that the job of a production designer is a big and important one, though sadly, not as noticed as many other roles. And Roger Ford seemed to take on this role with incredible responsibility and passion, along with a very keen eye. The minor details he sought to bring to the screen, whether it be the design of the infamous lamppost, the little household items in the home of to talking beavers, or the design on the doors of the magical wardrobe. All these little pieces pull together like a puzzle to create the visually awing impact the film has to offer, which truthfully, just makes me love it even more.