Welcome to the second edition of the Mailbag. It’s actually hitting the site on August 11, and I apologize for the delay. I have been working on a project that took priority over this. Anyway, here we are with far more letters than before! Read on, and then submit your own letters via our contact form.
Q: The teaser trailer (not theatrical) for LWW was fantastic. Does anyone know what music was used in it because the music is not the same as is in the also great soundtrack. Thanks!
-Roseminnie
A: The music featured in the teaser trailer is also found here on the site, but we’ll also post it here:
[The Beginning, when the children meet Mrs. Macready]
“Ginger Snaps” – Black Beauty (1994) – Danny Elfman[Lucy Discovers the Wardrobe]
“The Map” – Treasure Planet – James Newton Howard[Narnia Revealed, most of the trailer]
“Here Comes the King” – X-Ray Dog
“Here Comes the King” (Drums) – X-Ray Dog[The title displayed, end of trailer]
“The Black Legend (Non Choir)” – Immediate Music
This is a much asked question, and I hope that helps!
Q: I saw that you guys received e-mails from some of the actors that come out in Narnia. So, my question is that which actors sent you emails?
-TeenerCox
A: Shane Rangi and Patrick Kake are just two of the many that have sent us e-mails in the past. We’re hoping to follow up soon with an interview with the White Witch’s stunt double.
Q: Thanks for setting up the new Mailbag facility. There is one question that I really would like an answer to and wondered if you had the connections to find out the answer. There has been talk that Dawn Treader is being filmed back to back with Prince Caspian so that Skandar and Georgie don’t look too old. I’d be interested learn what the truth is. Hope you can help.-Anna
A: Funnily enough, we’ve just posted news that, yes, they are going to shoot Dawn Treader soon after Prince Caspian. The article, however, is fuzzy on the details. It says that Caspian is set for summer of 2008 with writer-director Andrew Adamson returning. It goes on to say that a year after that he and [producer Mark] Johnson will reteam to produce Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This could mean a few things. One: that the film will be released a year later, in the summer of 2009. Two: that they’ll be shooting the film a year after they finish shooting Prince Caspian. Three: that they’ll be shooting Dawn Treader a year after the release of Prince Caspian. Let’s hope that the film is released a year later, and that it is, in fact, going to be shot back to back. Otherwise, we could have a lot of waiting to do between films.
Q: hi. i am a massive fan of this website and of the narnia films. they made me want to read the book. i’m so mad about narina that my friends are sick of hearing me talk about it. i have nearly everything to do with narnia. thanks for the great website. i would like to know why it took so long to bring narnia from the casting to releasing it and the same with the future films.
-NarniaMad
A: To answer your question, we have to look at how films are made. After rights to the story are required, there’s pre-production. During this time, a script for the film is written based on the book. Contracts are signed, and a production team is assembled to work to bring the story to life in the best way possible. They go through the story and when they feel they’ve got everything they need, they storyboard the movie out, in drawings, to make sure that the film has a solid flow to it. Then, sometimes, animatics are created. These are animated storyboards that are glimpses at how a battle will look later on. During this time, casting happens, and the casting director has to choose the right actor from thousands of hopefuls. Film production takes a long time, as lighting and effects teams have to take measurements and do many other very large jobs. Shooting a movie can take a few weeks to a few months, depending on the schedule, as well as costuming and make-up. Post-production, there is a lot that needs to happen, from special effects work, to editing and music and sound effects. Sometimes there are scenes where the actor’s dialogue wasn’t picked up by the mics on the set, so the actors go into a recording studio to do something called “looping.” They record the same line over and over again until they get a few that might fit the scene. All of this can take a few weeks on smaller movies, but with a movie like Narnia, it can take a few years to create the few hours of entertainment that you get when you see the movie. The Lord of the Rings took seven years of hard work to create an 11-hour epic masterpiece, and was based on a book that took about 15 or so years to write. That’s approximately 22 years for only 11 hours of film. The actual filmmaking process takes much more than what I have covered here, but I hope that this helps.
Q: This website is great! I`m really enjoying reading off the forums and laughing my head off. I also love to read the interviews with the cast, and reading the stories off the fan section. I have only one question: are you going to do anymore interviews? Any interviews with Anna and Georgie? Also, do you have any new stories? I`m so glad you made this site. I`m always here, even though you don`t know it!
-From, Lucy, 11 years old, USA
A: Thanks for reading, Lucy! We all really appreciate it! We do have some new interviews planned for the future. We’re hoping that, one day, we will finally get those interviews with Anna and Georgie that we are missing.. we’ve already interviewed William and Skandar, afterall. We’re also hoping to interview the music composer sometime soon, but that’s still in the works. We have a few new stories on the site, and will have more fan fiction soon as well!
Q: Terrific site. It is, in my opinion, the best Narnia site that was ever put on the Web. I would also like to give a piece of news: Liam Neeson will return to play Aslan in Prince Caspian. Anyway, great site! Keep up the great work, and may God bless you.
-Alsan_Fan from Texas, USA
A: Thanks for the awesome compliments! And thanks for the news. We’re excited that Liam Neeson will be returning to the role of Aslan. His voice quality, I feel, was warm and caring enough for the character, however fleeting that his role was in the film.
Q: What is a dumbwaiter?
-Krystle
A: In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mrs. Macready tells the Pevensies not to play with the dumbwaiter. These are sometimes found in large buildings and houses, but are a rarity these days. A dumbwaiter is defined as a small elevator used to transport food or other items between floors of a building. They are sometimes the right size for a child like Lucy to be able to fit inside.
And that’s it for the second edition of the Mailbag!