DVDs and Extras

Above is a drawing of a slightly scuzzy artist type, leading a glamourous Pre-Raphaelite babe somewhere. Above, ghosts of bearded guys from the extras for the extended edition of The Fellowship of the Ring DVD set.

I actually did work on a "Lord of the Rings"-related project. Look at the IMDB if you don't believe me. This was packaged in the deluxe edition of "The Return of the King." I was brought in late to work on the project when they wanted a more elaborate documentary element to the concert DVD, rather than the five minutes of rehearsal clips that was originally going to come after the live concert show.

The end product was neither fish nor foul (I think the documentary inserts that interrupted the concert would have been better as "hidden tracks" you could jump to when a symbol popped up, the way it worked in the Matrix DVDs, but that would have cost money). You'll actually have to watch the DVD to understand what I'm talking about here).

Still, even though the parties in different parts of the world were picky and hard to please (I dealt with simultaneous conference calls linking Montreal, Los Angeles, Auckland New Zealand, and New York), I seemed to come though on my end, writing an "editing script" that used the scant footage we had in a plausible way (though Howard Shore came in at great expense to record some more comments). So it was a nice launch for me on what's proven to be an interesting and profitable career.

At least I'm better off than I was struggling doing little art and journalism gigs, and being a film extra, as below...



That's me, egging on a few children and other villagers around me, as we execute an accused witch/husband killer (and romantic lead) in the Quebec film Nouvelle-France.

Actually, I ended up doing some interesting and not so interesting things in different films (some embarassing things, too), and meeting interesting and crazy people. Some of these stories I might post up here, but I now think they'll make an entertaining article for some magazine.

Tomorrow: comics sage Scott McCloud is coming to Montreal, and I'll try to be there.