I love this book! It gives a good sense of the feel of the making of the Lord of the Rings movies, with both the detail throughout the book and the introductory essays by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Alan Lee, and Barrie Osborne. It is a handy reference guide whenever at home wondering about exact locations of scenes, or travelling to them.
In fact, given that the places are usually very beautiful parts of the country, this book also serves as a useful general holiday guide for touring New Zealand. Ian Brodie has in fact added many more general travel notes and details about nearby points of interest and other things to see and do while in different places.
The pictures are nice, but small. However, this is because the book is a handy notebook size, which would be great for travelling with and checking those location-finding details.
I love this book. And now I want to go to so many of these new places!
Tigger
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Having played my small part in the epic saga, as anonymous as only the majority of a cast can be, this book drew my attention and impressed me with it's intimate accuracy. Accuracy only someone totally involved in the process can portray, coupled with GPS for the technically inclined.
Full of rich detail, images, comparitive scenes from the movies and maps, simply overflowing with information about the surrounding areas, giving the reader a sense of the culture they will encounter on their travels through Middle Earth New Zealand.
Kiwireviewer
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Airline To Middle-Earth’ Ambassador
Monday, 16 December 2002, 8:24 am
Press Release: Air New Zealand
New Zealand’s ‘Greatest’ Rings Fan Becomes ‘Airline To Middle-Earth’ Ambassador
Air New Zealand has appointed the man dubbed New Zealand’s greatest ‘Ring’s fan’, Ian Brodie, as its Lord of the Rings Ambassador.
He is the author of the official Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook – New Zealand’s number one best seller, which sold out within the first four days when it was published last month and is already in its third reprint.
And he knows more about the movie trilogy than possibly anyone other than the core production team.
As part of Air New Zealand’s global promotion of its role as “Airline to Middle-earth” in the vanguard of New Zealand tourism marketing, Ian will help carry the ‘Rings’ message. His expertise will be harnessed by the airline’s marketing teams, both here and offshore, and in media and public relations work.
He describes his role with Air New Zealand as “helping the airline in its drive to build New Zealand tourism.”
“As a Kiwi, I am very proud that Air New Zealand has had the vision to seize this opportunity in such a high profile way. It’s terrific for New Zealand tourism to see images from the film being flown around the major cities of the world, “ he added.
Passengers onboard tonight’s first ‘Frodo’ flight to Los Angeles will each be presented with a personally autographed copy of the guidebook.
For the next year, special onboard announcements of Air New Zealand’s “Airline to Middle-earth” status will be made onboard the ‘Frodo’ aircraft, a 13 minute video will be shown featuring locations used in the movie followed by a trailer for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and passengers will each receive a souvenir postcard showing the imagery used on the aircraft itself.
Ian’s regular job is the curator of the ‘Warbirds’ collection of World War II fighter planes in Wanaka, deep in the heart of New Zealand’s South Island – very close to a number of the most dramatic locations used in the movie.
He formerly worked for Air New Zealand for 11 years in a variety of sales and marketing roles and is a passionate aviation enthusiast.
Meticulously researched, Ian’s guidebook even includes global positioning satellite coordinates so that determined ‘Rings’ fans can pinpoint exactly where certain scenes were shot.
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The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie - A Review and Notes for the Traveller
Everyone’s saying to me, “We want to go to Wellington for the world premiere of Return of the King in 2003!" I’m pretty sure they’ll all be reading Ian Brodie's book, whether they make it down to Aotearoa or not. It's been on the bestseller lists, and is into its fourth reprinting, down here in New Zealand. The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie is a well-researched guide to where Lord of the Rings film scenes were filmed in New Zealand. It includes Global Positioning Information and relevant web sites wherever possible, packed into 96 color pages.
How well does this book work as a guide? I live in and have travelled around New Zealand, and I tried using this book when I was in Wellington, so here's my opinions and some related travel advice.
The book is certainly an entertaining and charming read, enriched with an introduction from Peter Jackson and comments from the film cast throughout. There are many pictures of movie locations; each location is described in one or two pages. Brodie is very clear about whether a location is accessible to the public or whether it requires a special tour or a stay at a private facility to get there. Obscure rural locations include small maps to help the reader find them, a useful touch. Another nice thing the book includes is establishments where the cast and crew enjoyed themselves in different locations.
This book tries to strike a balance between being a travel guide and being an LOTR-movie bagatelle. An armchair traveller reading this book and dreaming about a trip to Middle-Earth will be inspired. A New Zealander who wants to see the locations near them will be well able to get around using this guide and their own knowledge. A visitor to New Zealand who wants to see some of these locations needs a little more backup. This book should be used with a travel guide that includes maps and transportation information - Lonely Planet and Moon Travel's guides are both recommended. Local telephone books are also useful. Like any travel guide, changes in real life send it on a slow slide to partial obsolecence. For example, after this book went to press the Matamata location for Hobbiton was opened for tours.
For the central Wellington film locations, Brodie says, "All these locations can be reached by public transportation, although you will have to allow more time for this." Someone from a large city in Europe or North America might approach the New Zealand public transportation system with blithe confidence based on this - and find themselves bewildered by the fact that public transportation is slower, rarer, and more fragmented here in New Zealand. In Brodie's defense for this I've never seen a travel guide that really acknowledges this, even though it's a gripe amongst many expatriates living here. Brodie neglects to mention that it also requires a lot of walking to make up for public transportation gaps, and that you'll be lucky to hit two or three Wellington locations in a day via public transport. Serious LOTR tourists are advised to obtain a car, even to take a tour, in this area.
Another issue with this book is that it doesn't yet cover Return of the King locations. Either a lot of ROTK is filmed on sets, or some locations are remaining confidential at this time. There should be at least one or two seashore scenes, and none of these locations are named in the book. Let's hope that Ian Brodie puts out an expanded edition next year.
One last point is that travellers should be aware that the time of year they visit will affect how much the areas they visit "look like the sets." For example, I know Matamata, the area around Hobbiton, is green and lush from October through January. At the end of January it dries out and the brilliant green hills turn tawny, making it much less like the verdant Shire in the movie. Most woodlands in New Zealand are evergreen, even the beechwoods, which means a visit to a woodland location is guaranteed to be an evocative success at any time of the year. The best times to visit for a combination of decent weather, evocative scenery, and avoiding the tourist rush would be autumn (late March - early May) or spring (late October - early December).
So, the book is recommended. With Lonely Planet's latest stuffed into your backpack with The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, you'll have the information you need for a visit to New Zealand that includes LOTR location visits.
Full Text Information: The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, by Ian Brodie, Harper Collins Publishers, New Zealand, 2002, ISBN 1-86950-452-6
More about the author, Ian Brodie - An unusual note is that Ian retains copyright of the book, not Harper Collins. Good on you, mate. I believe he is arranging some sales of the book; this article has his contact information.
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A Journey Through New Zealand Film
Manawatu Standard
30/12/06
by Tina White
NZ made irresistable
If you love Kiwi films, and you want to know more about them and the places they were filmed, you'll love this book.
As Kiwi expats living in North America, my family and I always looked forward to the annual film festival - because there, we could get to see at least one New Zealand movie. It did't really matter what it was. It was a chance to glimpse familiar backgrounds and faces - and to wallow in those glorious twangy accents that our Canadian friends couldn't get enough of.
The Piano burst on to the scene in 1992; and in 1994, we were startled out of our socks by the power of Once Were Warriors and Heavenly Creatures.
It got even better: the first two Lord of the Rings movies and, oh, the pride of queuing in a line that stretched down the block outside the cinema showing Whale Rider in 2002.
We would have loved A Journey Through New Zealand Film in those days. Starting at the back of the book, there's a list of every New Zealand film made since 1939, from Rudall Hayward's iconic Rewi's Last Stand to 2005's Sione's Wedding. The list includes movies that were co-productions with other countries.
Then there's the list of every international award made to New Zealand feature films, and a comprehensive index on top of that.
Returning to the start of the book, there's a foreword by director Roger Donaldson, and brief stories of some of the classics - Sleeping Dogs, Goodbye Pork Pie, Utu, Bad Blood, Vigil and more.
Contributors include Gaylene Preston, Tim Sanders, John Toon and Russell Alexander. In revisiting many film locations, Ian Brodie provides a kind of running mini-travelogue as well - one good reason to send the book overseas as a gift (Another is that it's soft covered and a handy size for posting). So not only does a potential visitor have a handbook of movie sites, but a guide to the atmosphere, cuisine and attractions of several regions, with website addresses thrown in.
As for the many photographs - well, don't get me started. They are almost too beautiful to be true - except that, of course, they are. Think of Mt Taranaki (Egmont) standing in for Fujiyama (Last Samurai) with a foreground of blue water and green ferns; or the misty blues and greens of Glendhu Bay and Mt Aspiring, and that's just two.
Send this book to an expat family member or overseas pal. If these photos don;t make them want to fly to Aotearoa on the next plane, nothing will.
Or just get it for yourself - how about a "movie location" holiday this summer?
