scale of the lord of the rings

..boggles the mind.

The films were seven years in the making – two years
of pre-production, two of main production and three of
post-production. The scale of the project is shown in
New Line Production’s number list:

100,000,000 - estimated number of people worldwide who
have read the trilogy.

40 - languages (at least) into which the books have
been translated.

12,500,000 --hand-linked rings used to create chain
mail by Weta workshop for the films.

3,000,000 - feet of film (at least) used to film the
trilogy.

250,000 - silk leaves applied by hand to a tree in
Hobbiton.

90,000 - still photographs shot on set.

48,000 - swords, scabbards, axes, shields made by Weta
workshop for the films.

20,602 - extras cast for the films.

15,000 - costumes made by costume department for the
films.

10,000 - members of crowd at New Zealand cricket game
recorded making Orc sounds.

5,000 - cubic meters of vegetables and flowers planted
in Hobbiton a year before filming started.

2,400 - crew members at height of production.

2,000 - illustrations drawn for production by
conceptual designer Alan Lee.

1,600 - pairs of prosthetic Hobbit feet used by
principal Hobbit cast.

1,460 - largest number of eggs served at breakfast for
crew.

800 - largest number of lunches served on set at once.

900 - suits of armor made by Weta workshop.

550 - hours of film (at least) shot on set for
behind-the-scenes footage.

350 - sets constructed for films.

300 - handmade, knotted wigs made for films.

274 - shooting days for trilogy.

250 - horses used in one scene.

200 - individually crafted Orc masks created by Weta
workshop.

180 - artists created computerized effects at Weta
digital.

114 - speaking roles.

100 - locations, at least.

100 - hand-forged, inlaid weapons crafted by Weta
workshop.

68 - miniature sets.

30 - actors trained by two dialect and creative
languages coaches.

13 - months the Fellowship travels on its journey in
the trilogy.

9 - the numeral, in Elvish script, tattooed on nine
members of the cast following the shoot.

8 - acres of farm land in Matamata, New Zealand, used
for set of Hobbiton.

7 - years of development of the film trilogy by
writer/producer/director Peter Jackson.

5 - shooting units : Unit 1, two second units,
blue-screen unit and miniature unit.


(source: www.lordoftherings.net)

LOTR won seventeen Oscars in total, including eleven
for The Return of the King

Intelligent Falling

THe onion.. these guys do it every time.. this time its Intelligent Falling

Shane Acker on "9"

Got this link from Jasons blog. Very nice article.
AnimationTrip.com News: "started going to school there in ’99 a"

Joe Ranft

Joe Ranft of Pixar has died in a car accident. He was a brilliant and extremly funny individual. I had the honour to meet him once. He was giving a guest lecture at one of the story boarding classes i was taking. Even though he came after a very long day at work he gave us a very inspiring lecture on story. The awesome thing was he seemed to get energized the more he talked. He was filled with passion and believed so much in what he had to say that. After class he spent time with us and looked over our work and gave us comments on it. It is a very sad time for pixar and the animation community in general.

Joe Ranft -- Pixar animation artist, voice of characters

Interview

cgTantra interviews moi..

Interview

On the web at cgTantra

work culture at pixar through the eys of Brad Bird

I have posted this before but still an interesting read.

Wired article

fresh off the farm

Just rendered some old work. Done before 2002.

Marlon Brando Dialogue

Waiting

Box lift

lamp interacting with a ball

Wow a blog on just rigging

Check it out.

Creature Rigging

MADAGASCAR releases in india.

It never is a good feeling when I can't get tickets to a movie I want to see. I hate having to wait to watch a movie. Then it follows that I must be very disspointed to not get tickets in not one but two cities in india for a movie. But no! I am very happy cause that movie happens to be madagascar.

With very little fanfare Madagascar released all over india on friday. I happened to be in mumbai and oh joy! was unable to get tickets because theaters were sold out. Today, I am in delhi and WOW no tickets here either. So i guess I will have to see it when i get back to my home town Bangalore tomorrow.

Try to post some pictures on people watching the movie and maybe some reactions from the audience.

I am hoping I wont be able to get tickets. :D

for those of us who did not go to siggraph....

Some really cool looking disney stuff. Thanks to Dan for the link

Disney stuff on aintitcool

Bunny suicides

interesting and very very wierd


Bunny suicides