Film Locations
In Search of Rivendell
Last week I was visited by an American writer, Ethan Gilsdorf. He is travelling New Zealand looking at Lord of the Rings Locations and the placement of New Zealand as Middle-earth.
He has a great sense of humour and is very easy to talk to.
Most of his travels around New Zealand seem to be with a video camera glued to his eye as he captures special moments. These have then been posted onto the blog of his hometown newspaper The Boston Globe.
I found this clip on his blog of yesterday as he searches for Rivendell at Kaitoke Regional Park near Wellington.
This location is featured extensively in The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook. It is also great to see an interview with Wellington Rover Tours who undertake Lord of the Rings sightseeing tours of many Wellington film locations.
What doubled my pleasure in watching this video is the very thumbed copy of my Location Guide being used by the tour guide as a reference.
Excellent!
He has a great sense of humour and is very easy to talk to.
Most of his travels around New Zealand seem to be with a video camera glued to his eye as he captures special moments. These have then been posted onto the blog of his hometown newspaper The Boston Globe.
I found this clip on his blog of yesterday as he searches for Rivendell at Kaitoke Regional Park near Wellington.
This location is featured extensively in The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook. It is also great to see an interview with Wellington Rover Tours who undertake Lord of the Rings sightseeing tours of many Wellington film locations.
What doubled my pleasure in watching this video is the very thumbed copy of my Location Guide being used by the tour guide as a reference.
Excellent!
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Sea of Galilee coming to Otago
The Otago Daily Times this morning has a front page heading “Sea of Galilee coming to Otago”.
The article continues “A sea of Galilee fishing village and harbour is coming to the shores of Lake Benmore courtesy of a feature film about the life of Christ”.
A quick search shows a film entitled Kingdom Come is currently in pre-production with filming to commence at various locations around New Zealand in 2009. Director / Producer is Dean Wright, well known to us all as Visual Effects Supervisor for Prince Caspian and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe as well as his mammoth efforts as Visual Effects Producer for The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Other crew (at this very early stage) are listed as Tim Coddington (co-producer), Barrie Osborne (consulting producer), Liz Mullane (Casting Director), Dan Hennah (Production Designer) and Ngila Dickson (Costume Designer).
This veritable cream of New Zealand film production bodes very well for both an exciting film and a location rich production that will again showcase Kiwi talent and locations.
The full ODT article is here.
Image courtesy of Otago Daily Times.
The article continues “A sea of Galilee fishing village and harbour is coming to the shores of Lake Benmore courtesy of a feature film about the life of Christ”.
A quick search shows a film entitled Kingdom Come is currently in pre-production with filming to commence at various locations around New Zealand in 2009. Director / Producer is Dean Wright, well known to us all as Visual Effects Supervisor for Prince Caspian and The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe as well as his mammoth efforts as Visual Effects Producer for The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Other crew (at this very early stage) are listed as Tim Coddington (co-producer), Barrie Osborne (consulting producer), Liz Mullane (Casting Director), Dan Hennah (Production Designer) and Ngila Dickson (Costume Designer).
This veritable cream of New Zealand film production bodes very well for both an exciting film and a location rich production that will again showcase Kiwi talent and locations.
The full ODT article is here.
Image courtesy of Otago Daily Times.
The Water Horse: Film Locations
The Water Horse - Legend of the Deep was released in the USA on Christmas Day 2007.
In this multi part Blog I will identify the locations used in Scotland and New Zealand and then follow up with a look at the similarities between the two countries both in mythology and culture.
As the synopsis explains, the film follows Angus, a young Scottish boy, who finds an enchanted egg. Taking it home, he soon finds himself face-to-face with an amazing creature: the mythical "water horse" of Scottish lore. Angus begins a journey of discovery, facing his greatest fears and risking his life to protect a secret that would give birth to a legend.
The film is based on the book by Dick King-Smith, an English author who also penned another well-loved book Babe, The Gallant Pig. Babe was the basis of another very successful film (of the same name) which was released in 1995. Shot entirely in Australia, Babe had a number of connections with blockbusters made here in New Zealand. Hugo Weaving (Elrond in The Lord of the Rings) voiced Rex the Male Sheepdog, Andrew Lesnie (DoP The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) filmed and Roger Ford (Production Designer The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian) headed Production Design.
The Water Horse story takes place entirely in the Scottish Highlands, but the film adaptation had locations split between Scotland and the “Highlands” of the South Island of New Zealand.
The resultant location mix comes together seamlessly showing the scenery similarities of the two countries and also because of the fantastic work of Joe Letteri and his hard working team at Weta Digital in Wellington.
Locations use in The Water Horse were;
New Zealand
Mt Nicholas Station
1. Main Base Camp
2. Gun Emplacements
3. Military Encampment
3. Roads around the Loch
Note the departure point for boats travelling across to Mt Nicholas with cast and crew was Twelve Mile Delta which was a location in The Lord of the Rings (notably where Sam cooked the coneys).
Stone St Studios (Wellington)
1. Interior shots
2. Water shots
General
1. Coastal Scenery
Click on the TomTom button below to download the Queenstown locations to your TomTom GPS.
Scotland
Ardkinglas Estate
1. Killin Lodge
2. Military Encampment
Drumnadrochit
1. Loch Ness Visitor Centre
Click on the TomTom button below to download the Scottish locations to your TomTom GPS.
Tours are available in Scotland showcasing the locations there as well as (obviously) visiting Loch Ness. In New Zealand, Mt Nicholas Station is not able to be visited but as you drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy it is possible to look across the lake to the station.
Scottish Tours
Ardkinglas Estate
The Trail of the Water Horse
Family Travel Scotland
Dooley Vacations Water Horse Tour
The Water Horse Locations in Google Earth
View of Lake Wakatipu from Mt Nicholas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
The Scottish Crofters hut built by Dan Hennah and his team at Mt Nicholas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
Gun Emplacement (Mt Nicholas). (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
Filming at Ardkinglas Estate
The military encampment at Ardkinglas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
In this multi part Blog I will identify the locations used in Scotland and New Zealand and then follow up with a look at the similarities between the two countries both in mythology and culture.
As the synopsis explains, the film follows Angus, a young Scottish boy, who finds an enchanted egg. Taking it home, he soon finds himself face-to-face with an amazing creature: the mythical "water horse" of Scottish lore. Angus begins a journey of discovery, facing his greatest fears and risking his life to protect a secret that would give birth to a legend.
The film is based on the book by Dick King-Smith, an English author who also penned another well-loved book Babe, The Gallant Pig. Babe was the basis of another very successful film (of the same name) which was released in 1995. Shot entirely in Australia, Babe had a number of connections with blockbusters made here in New Zealand. Hugo Weaving (Elrond in The Lord of the Rings) voiced Rex the Male Sheepdog, Andrew Lesnie (DoP The Lord of the Rings, King Kong) filmed and Roger Ford (Production Designer The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian) headed Production Design.
The Water Horse story takes place entirely in the Scottish Highlands, but the film adaptation had locations split between Scotland and the “Highlands” of the South Island of New Zealand.
The resultant location mix comes together seamlessly showing the scenery similarities of the two countries and also because of the fantastic work of Joe Letteri and his hard working team at Weta Digital in Wellington.
Locations use in The Water Horse were;
New Zealand
Mt Nicholas Station
1. Main Base Camp
2. Gun Emplacements
3. Military Encampment
3. Roads around the Loch
Note the departure point for boats travelling across to Mt Nicholas with cast and crew was Twelve Mile Delta which was a location in The Lord of the Rings (notably where Sam cooked the coneys).
Stone St Studios (Wellington)
1. Interior shots
2. Water shots
General
1. Coastal Scenery
Click on the TomTom button below to download the Queenstown locations to your TomTom GPS.
Scotland
Ardkinglas Estate
1. Killin Lodge
2. Military Encampment
Drumnadrochit
1. Loch Ness Visitor Centre
Click on the TomTom button below to download the Scottish locations to your TomTom GPS.
Tours are available in Scotland showcasing the locations there as well as (obviously) visiting Loch Ness. In New Zealand, Mt Nicholas Station is not able to be visited but as you drive from Queenstown to Glenorchy it is possible to look across the lake to the station.
Scottish Tours
Ardkinglas Estate
The Trail of the Water Horse
Family Travel Scotland
Dooley Vacations Water Horse Tour
The Water Horse Locations in Google Earth
View of Lake Wakatipu from Mt Nicholas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
The Scottish Crofters hut built by Dan Hennah and his team at Mt Nicholas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
Gun Emplacement (Mt Nicholas). (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.
Filming at Ardkinglas Estate
The military encampment at Ardkinglas. (C) Ian Brodie All Rights Reserved.