The bright sun shines on the streets of Burbank, making people dizzy, perhaps the weather is a little abnormal this year, the greater Los Angeles area has entered the late autumn season, it is drier and hotter than usual, and the air that has not rained much since August seems to be able to burn in the lungs, and the feeling of heat spreads all over the body, making people unstoppable fire.

Holding aloft a sign protesting the film version of The Lord of the Rings, Brad? Under the blazing sun, Miller hoped that the media reporters across the street would photograph the group a few more times, so that the protest could be extended to all Lord of the Rings fans in the United States.

As a staunch proponent of fiction, Brad? Since the beginning of the filming, Miller has organized a large number of people with like-minded book friends to protest on the set in New Zealand, but the director of the film, Duke? Rosenberg never replied to the Lord of the Rings' protests, except for a few casual remarks in an interview that would please the Lord of the Rings.

Compared with the fear that the other party will destroy the near-perfect masterpiece in his heart, this feeling of being ignored makes Brad? Miller is even more annoyed, Duke? Rosenberg clearly doesn't care what their group of die-hard fans of fiction think!

He has produced some successful films, but if he can successfully make other films, he may not be able to successfully produce "The Lord of the Rings"!

In particular, "The Lord of the Rings" has been filmed for more than two months now, how many farces has this crew made? Angel Elf Show? Actors' farewell ceremony? And those gifts that were given out? What do they think of The Lord of the Rings? A hype show?

"The Lord of the Rings" should be deep, restrained, and understated, not so flamboyant.

"Hurry up! Pull up our protest slogans! ”

Under the bright sunlight, the book fans who were protesting around looked weak, and saw a reporter on the other side looking at this side, Brad? Miller hastened to remind his companions.

In contrast to the book lovers who stood at the door of Warner's studio in direct sunlight, reporters hid in the shade. Although the slogans and signs of the protest were extremely eye-catching, the camera in his hand did not mean to move.

If you watch too many protests, there is no novelty, and this is true for journalists, and even more so for the media's audience.

Look at the book fans who will pull a bunch of people to stand at the door of the set in protest every once in a while, even as a reporter for "World Newsweek". Kevin has no interest in shooting, he has been running this line since August, and the other party will appear every three or five times, which is really not new.

There would be no news to capture, and Kevin thought boredly that if he really wanted to protest, it would be a real protest to burn the Warner set along with the director and the film inside.

That way, he'll have a lot of news to write about.

Thinking of the news, Kevin couldn't help but look inside the set. Expect the Lord of the Rings press officer or something else to break the news.

Even Duke? Rosenberg's lace news is also good.

Since the paparazzi photographed him vacationing with Victoria's Secret Angels in August, the famous director seems to have turned into a workaholic, as in the past, basically maintaining the two points and lines from the Duke's Manor to Warner Studios every day, and there is no news to hype.

In fact, Kevin knows very well that every successful director has a workaholic side, and where in this world can there be success without hard work. Not to mention a director who requires a lot of effort and energy. It's these entertainment reporters who don't actively look for it. There will be no big news coming to the head either.

A black Bentley turned around from the intersection, and Kevin grabbed his camera and, along with other reporters, swarmed up. Although he can only shoot at the front and rear of the car, he refuses to lag behind, after all, Duke? Rosenberg's values. I don't know how many times more than those book lovers who protested.

Through the foil window, you can faintly see the flashing lights outside, Duke has no intention of stopping, drives into the parking lot, and changes to a battery car. Soon arrived at the Lord of the Rings in the office area.

From mid-August to now, the post-production of "The Lord of the Rings" has begun for more than two months, but there are too many special effects shots in the film, and the post-production is quite cumbersome, just "The Fellowship of the Ring", Duke has listed a timeline of up to half a year, and it is impossible for Duke to wait for the release results of the first part to come out before starting the post-production of the second part.

Although the later stages of the trilogy do have a sequence, and the work of "The Fellowship of the Ring" is ahead of "The Twin Towers" and "The Return of the King", the special effects of the latter two parts have begun to more or less begin.

For example, the Flying Beasts of the Tree Beard and the Ring Spirit, Weta Studio has already completed the modeling work, especially the former, and there is a team dedicated to rendering.

"Hey Mike, how's it going?"

Walking into the editing room, Duke saw Mike? Dawson had just finished looking at a footage, walked over and asked, "Did you cut out the clip of Aragorn leading the hobbits to the top of the storm?" ”

"It's finished."

Mike? Dawson pressed the replay button and played a passage he had just cut out, "It's a bit long, though." ”

Looking at the picture playing on the screen, Duke frowned slightly, he didn't use a parallel montage now, just the scene of Aragorn leading the four hublets out of the Prancing Horse Hotel and into the wilderness, this part seems a bit lengthy.

"Mike, cut out this paragraph."

Duke pressed the pause button, which was a shot of Aragorn hunting and singing about a certain elf who married a human after camping, "all of them were cut out, and the footage of them hurrying, only the two panoramic shots of the forty-fifth and seventy-first were kept, and the rest were all cut out." ”

"Isn't it a little short?"

As an editor, Mike? Dawson had to read the original, "It's a long journey in the book. ”

Hear Mike? Dawson's reminder, Duke thought for a moment, but said, "Cut it, we've spent enough footage and film time on Hobbiton, the journey in the book is too long, we can't do that, otherwise the pace of the film will be too slow." ”

Even if he subtracted some dispensable shots as much as possible, but the part that had been completed, Duke still felt that the pace was a little slow, but fortunately, the suspense of the Lord of the Rings and the Ring's chase has always been there, and the most prosaic Hobbiton scenes also have picturesque scenery to enjoy, which must also attract the audience to continue watching.

And Duke also prepared a big scene at the beginning of the film, and the time saved later was just for the opening battle.

Busy for most of the day, completing the main editing plan for the day, handing over the remaining bits and pieces to a few assistants, Duke and Mike? Dawson left the editing room together and walked into the CGI special effects room set up for Weta Studios opposite. Taylor nodded to the two of them and went on with his work.

Duke didn't bother him, and went straight to Mary, who was in charge of "The Fellowship of the Ring"? On Victoria's side, she leads a team that is currently working on the scene where the combined forces of humans and elves at the beginning of the trilogy fight the Mordor army.

Since this part was all shot in blue screen, the special effects artists had to cut out the background of each frame and replace it with a scene from the land of Mordor, while retouching the effects of the war, adding CGI-made scenes of a long-range battlefield in addition to the live-action footage shot with the camera.

Richard? Taylor didn't know when he came over, seeing that the special effects work had come to an end temporarily, he looked at the completed effects on the screen, and said confidently, "The opening battle of "Gladiator" released this year has been hotly discussed by many people, but compared to this paragraph, their war is simply a group of minors messing around. ”

The people sitting around here are all nodding their heads in agreement with Richard? Taylor's words.

Although Duke didn't say anything, he also agreed with his point of view, not to mention the difference between the two films, just the war scene, this opening battle that he deliberately strengthened, and the war scene of any cold weapon movie in the history of the film.

Of course, this is just the beginning, it won't be particularly long, and the role is to attract the audience to watch it.

The real large-scale war scene must be placed in the final work of the trilogy "The Return of the King", although each of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has a climactic scene, it will not vent the climax at one time, and the most sensational scene will naturally be saved to the end.

"Mary." Duke asked the group leader, "How long will it take to finish this opening scene?" ”

"Three to four weeks." Mary? Victoria gave a very conservative answer.

Duke thought about Warner Bros.' promotional schedule and said, "In early December, I'm going to see the opening scene. ”

"No problem." Mary? Victoria replied directly, "I promise to get it done." ”

According to Warner Bros.'s promotional plan, "The Fellowship of the Ring" will inevitably appear in the halftime commercial time of the Super Bowl, and the commercial will only be 30 seconds, which is too short for any movie, especially an epic masterpiece like "The Lord of the Rings", and it must impress them extremely well in a short period of time to make the audience remember.

As always, Duke's choice is simple, using the most eye-catching things to arouse the audience's interest.

The commercials he prepared, except for a few shots of the Lord of the Rings and Frodo, will be handed over to the epic battle at the beginning!

Immersed in mainstream commercial cinema for so many years, coupled with the experience of the past, Duke knows exactly what most audiences like to see.

The post-production of the film is not slow, nor is it fast, because CGI special effects cannot save time, the actual progress is slightly slower than Duke's plan, but not too slow, "The Fellowship of the Ring" will definitely be completed before the start of next summer.

Throughout November, Duke was busy in the late stages of The Fellowship of the Ring until December, when he was ready to travel to New York to sit on the board of directors of Marvel Comics and witness Ivanka's just-launched instant sharing site.

These are two important investments for him that will be relevant to his future. (To be continued......)

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