Presentation Script

The Works of Peter Jackson

Presenter: Specializing in science fiction and fantasy films, such as Brain Dead, Peter Jackson has been renowned for turning books and adaptations on their heads, to create the story told and mixing with his own unique vision. I think the main theme of Peter Jackson’s adaptations is that there is always a journey.

Whether it’s a desire for order.

[Video clip: The Lovely Bones trailer-item 9]

Or a desire for justice.

[Video clip: The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring trailer-item 10]

Or a desire for morality or validation

[Video clip: King Kong trailer-item 11]

Presenter: New Zealand born Peter Jackson became interested in film-making at a very young age. Growing up on Ray Harryhausen films as well as finding inspiration from within Thunderbirds and Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He had always been interested in the story of King Kong and enjoyed the works of J R R Tolkein.

Presenter: Today, I am going to show you how Peter Jackson’s inspiration has changed, as well as his use of micro-elements. My focus film is The Lovely Bones, as this is the most recent and the most dramatic change from the types of films he tends to make. The other films I am focusing on are The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring and King Kong. This is because The Lord of the Rings was one of his first adaptations and it is the start to his changes. I chose King Kong as it is also an adaptation and this is where the changes of his film making become more prevalent.

However, there also does seem to be conventions that he uses; a signature mark, which is featured in every one of his films. These are:

Quests

The quest in The Lovely Bones is to seek desire for order, in The Lord of the Rings, it is to seek a desire for justice and from King Kong, there is a need to seek a desire of morality or validation.

Friendship

Friendship is quite important in this film, as the friends of the main characters are what is helping the characters to achieve this goal.

Social variety

All of these films also has a strong connection to equality. All of the friends are either mixed species or are from a different social background.

(Shows diagram from the flipchart, referencing to the statements on the flipchart. The statement is quests.)

Presenter: The majority of the quests in The Lovely Bones is to seek a desire for order. Susie Salmon was murdered by her neighbour, George Harvey. When Susie dies, she goes to the 'In-Between'. Her father gets suspicious about George and tries to prove that he is guilty of his murder. A conflict is also between the family themselves, as they worry about the father's mental state and wonder whether George is guilty. This kind of conflict is one of fear and curiosity, as the fear is due to the father's mental state and the curiosity to whether he is telling the truth. The argument is also a test of faithfulness, as to whether his family believes him. For the character of George Harvey, it is a fight against time before he is caught out. The Lovely Bones proves that friendship prevails after death. After Susie's death, a girl who was in her class sensed her after she left reality. Only she had an inkling of her departure. She and the only boy she ever kissed help out to find out the truth. Abigail has a conflict on whether to believe her husband. The order is from anyone who had a connection with Susie, as they
see that the order of what has happened has not been justified.

Video clip: Finding out that Susie is dead. [Item 1]

(Turns to the flipchart which states friendship)

In the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring there is a desire for justice. Frodo looks after the ring, which is a dangerous job itself, because those who protect the ring becomes consumed by its evilness, creating another conflict. The fight for friendship is through the formation of the Fellowship of the Ring. Their fight is to stop those of evil intent on retrieving of the ring. From what has happened in the past, to seek the justice they require, they must make an ultimate sacrifice in Frodo.

Video clip: The story of the ring. [Item 3]

In King Kong, the quest is to seek a desire for morality or validation, making sure he doesn't die for the wrong reasons. Friendship and love is also involved as King Kong is in love with Ann and all of them are fighting for Kong's survival. The only people who stand up for him are those who care, but the entire world learns that a large sacrifice will be made.

Video clips: King Kong as a sideshow and King Kong’s death. [Item 2]

INTERMISSION

Video clip: The forming of the Fellowship [item 3]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring shows that friendship could be of any species and could be strong enough to last through anything. The Fellowship represents this as the friendship consists of humans, an elf, a dwarf, a wizard and four Hobbits. The elf and the dwarf are sworn enemies, but throughout the course of the trilogy, they both end up becoming good friends, fighting in competition to see who could kill the most of their enemy.

King Kong's friendship is also mixed species, as King Kong is a friend with humans, who are trying to protect this secret and keep him alive.

(Flipchart states social variety)

(Dim lights)

Video clip: The aftermath of Susie [item 1]

The social variety in The Lovely Bones is ghosts and humans. When Susie died, she went to the 'in-between'. She goes back to briefly show what happened to Ruth and visit her family and friends.

The social variety in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the species. All of the species' have very different lives. The humans are very extravagant lives, being very social and living in luxury. The elves live very secluded environment, living in small forests, surviving off what the plants will provide them with. The elves are gentle creatures, which, unlike the humans, do not take things for granted. The dwarves live underground, surviving on the minerals that the ground provides them with. They are very brutish, unlike the elves, which makes them both mortal enemies. Wizards are ethereal creatures, using magic, which was bestowed upon them. They live whatever life they want. One, which will take over them with darkness, like Saruman the White, or take over with goodness, like Gandalf the White. The Hobbits live quite a content life. They live in houses under the ground, living life to full by eating and having extravagant parties. They enjoy lives with full merriment and pleasure. They are the size of a human child, their lives are as secluded as the elves, are not as brutish as the dwarves and are as down to earth as wizards, being a perfect mix of all of the good species and makes a perfect companion.

(Dim lights)

Video clip: The meeting of King Kong [item 2]

There is also a mixed species friendship in King Kong; humans and apes. Since the ape cannot speak, the humans become Kong's mouth as it where. Since the humans cannot survive out in the wilderness, Kong becomes their protector immediately after a hesitant start.

Presenter: One of the many important aspects that a director will use is the visual effect. The Lovely Bones uses contrasting colours. When Susie is alive, the colours are neutral, suggesting that her life is mediocre. However, when she is in the ‘in-between’, the colours are vibrant when she is in other people’s sections. But when she tries to recreate home, the colours, which are used are very dark and ominous, suggesting there is a huge black cloud, still hanging over her life.

The Lord of the Rings; The Fellowship of the Ring, however, uses the same contrasts in colour, but the colours are more element based. When they are in the shire, the colours consist of blues, browns and greens, suggesting that Hobbits are very peaceful creatures and are very in touch with natural. The same colours are used for the elves, as they live in forests. This shows they are ethereal creatures. The clothes they wear also suggest they are seen as royalty throughout the forests. Their homes also suggest this, but their homes are made of their surroundings, suggesting that if they royalty, they are the kings of the forest. The dwarves wear black, suggesting that they are used to being under the ground, as this is where they live. The humans have more royalists colouring in their clothes, suggesting that they are only interested in materialistic goods. Their clothes consists of dark browns and blacks when in armour, but when they are not, they wear reds and golds. The colours also represent good and evil in this film. The colours are very light and earthy around The Fellowship and when they camera is on those of evil intent; the background is very dark and metallic.

However, in King Kong, the main colours are those of the jungle. They stay very light, until night, when the colours change to blend with the darkness. The only time that the colour changes dramatically is to show that danger is approaching.

Presenter: Peter Jackson tends to know a lot about his characters before he casts his actors. The actors he then chooses are then shown to be his interpretation of what the character looks like.

(When each character is mentioned, there will be clips from each film, showing scenes involving each character)

Before he cast Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, she is described as a 14-year-old girl with mousy brown hair and white skin, setting the basis of the character. But a good actor not only has to look the part. They have to look the part; they also have to act the part. In personality, she is described as being very loving and trusting. She also needed a youthful innocence and naivety about her, being from a close-knit family. But after her death, she became more of an unseen protector of her family, helping them find her killer. She is also very forgiving, forgiving the man who killed her.

In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo Baggins had not been cast at first. He had been described as being a tall hobbit, and fairer than most of his kind, with a cleft chin, a bright eye, and a perky personality. In the book, Gandalf, describes him as being "a stout fellow with red cheeks".
He is brave, selfless, thoughtful, wise, observant, and even unfailingly polite. He is also curious about the outside world and knowledgeable about the traditions of the Elves. Bilbo, Gandalf and Aragorn notices that Frodo has an inner strength, setting him apart from the other Hobbits.

Presenter: There is one actor which Peter Jackson uses a lot, not because he is used for the same sort of films, but because he is used a lot for CGI featured films and is a good actor; Andy Serkis. He is famous for playing King Kong and Gollum from The Lord of the Rings series. His voice acting skills and being able to mimic creatures automatically cast him the role of both of these characters.

In King Kong, he also picked an actor who looked like the classic femme fatale/damsel in distress; a blonde beauty from New York. This character was played by Naomi Watts, who is renowned for playing strong, troubled women. In Mulholland Drive, she played a mentally unstable character, Betty Elms, who similarly to this role, she is an aspiring actress, in love with someone she can't have; a woman. In The Ring, she plays Rachel Miller, a woman who becomes worried about her son after the death of her niece after watching a mysterious tape, tries to prevent Samara from killing Aiden and herself. However in 21 grams, she goes against this role and plays an emotionally unstable woman, getting over the loss of her husband. In this film, she turns to drugs.

Unlike Andy Serkis and Naomi Watts, Elijah Wood sent Peter Jackson an audition tape and he immediately got the part. He was chosen because he had a naivety about him and that is what Frodo is described as having.

Peter Jackson always goes for the same of films. He either creates science fiction films or films that were already a film or a book. The films I have used are the latter.

When he advertises his films, he uses about 3 trailers to broadcast, he has star interviews and also has himself interviewed. When he had the Lord of the Rings trilogy advertised, he had an overall trilogy advertisement.

Each interview gives a large amount of detail about the film

Annotated Catalogue

The Works of Peter Jackson

Annotated Catalogue

Films

Item 1-The Lovely Bones-I chose this film because this film has many conventions unlike his other films. The storyline is more of a realistic quality. The colour palette is more different than the other two films because the colours are more childlike in essence. The storyline is a lot more brutal, and the trailers used for the advertisement reflects this. I used this film as a comparison to the other types of films, because the story is of a different nature. The other two films are about co-exisitng creatures fighting for survival, whilst this is a fight for justice.

Item 2-King Kong-I used this film because aswell as The Lovely Bones and The Lord of the Rings, this is also a film adaptation. He used dramatic trailers to advertise his film, the colours reflect the environments of the scenery, ie, greens and blues for the island and greys and blacks for the city, showing the stark contrast of both. But unlike The Lovely Bones and King Kong, this film adaptation is taken from a film, rather than a book. I used this film as a comparison to The Lovely Bones, as this is the conventional film that Peter Jackson has made.

Item 3-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring-I also chose this film because of the fact that it is also an adaptation from a book. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is already infamous throughout the world, meaning there was more pressure from the audience to make it as though they were looking at the pages and imagining it themselves. The advertisement campaign showed a dramatic storyline, reflecting the story itself and the colours depicting each species made this film a very popular film, winning it many Academy awards. I used this film as a comparison, as this is also another type of film he generically makes, an already existing feature film.

Internet

Item 5-Peter Jackson The Lovely Bones Interview

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_17538.html

This interview answers many questions about the film, but also answers the question as to why Peter Jackson had decided to do this film, because in the past, his films where of the fantasy/science fiction. He discusses the challenges that come with doing a film adaptation from a novel, such as audiences’ expectations and not being able to include one of the fine elements of the story, the fact that Susie was raped, which would have been controversial in the past and the reason why he chose to do the film. This is a useful item, as it shows Peter’s reasons why he chose to do this film.

Item 6-Peter Jackson King Kong Interview

http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0512141

This interview answers why he decided to direct King Kong, as well as giving his views on all of his products, which were released around the same time. This gives indepth detail about his advertisement campaigns and talks about being an auteur. This is used to give more detail about King Kong, his other products, his advertising campaigns and being an auteur.

Interviews

Item 7-Interview with Peter Jackson about The Lovely Bones

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmVc0YT4NoI

Peter Jackson discusses The Lovely Bones, discussing the differences of both The Lovely Bones and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. This is an indepth analysis of them both. This allowed me to give more detail about The Lovely Bones and The Lord of the Rings and gives a better understanding to the story of The Lovely Bones.

Item 8-Interview with Peter Jackson about King Kong

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqi_C2vOars

This interview briefly mentions the technology, which was used to create the film. Andy Serkis, who is a voice-actor, and CGI actor, was used in the film as well as the Lord of the Rings as one of the main antagonists, Gollum.

Trailers

Item 9-The Lovely Bones trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikUWKi0W5_g

The plot of this story is very different to The Lord of the Rings and King Kong. The story is from the perspective of Susie Salmon, a young girl who ends up murdered by her neighbour. The colours of the film are alot more vibrant than that of the Lord of the Rings and King Kong, which uses a very neutral colour palette. This and other differences of these films are alot more obvious due to this film. The music, which is used in the trailer, shows the genre of the film is. Susie states that she was murdered, which already suggests that the film is drama-related. I used this information to get the audience a better view of the story, as well as to get an idea of the visual effects, genre and music used.

Item 10-King Kong trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5j_2sRUTbU

This is the second example of Peter Jackson's films. This clips gives me a key understanding on the sort of genre he uses and how it's changes and how different the micro-elements are compared to The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring.

Item 11-The Lord of the Rings-The Fellowship of the Ring trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pki6jbSbXIY

This is one of Peter Jackson's first works. This gives me a basis of the style he first used when directing. This is a film he started out from, a film, which was the basis in his directing career. This film also showed his trademarks; how he films adaptations, the colour palette he uses and the general plots he tends to use.

Radio interview

Item 13-Peter Jackson interview

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/collections/film-interviews

Peter discusses the challenges he faced with creating The Lovely Bones and how he teamed up with the writer of the script, who originally wrote it. This is a helpful interview, as he discusses the challenges of doing a film adaptation, including how he didn’t want to make it simplistic and making the film’s genre fit the book, which evidently became a thriller. He also wanted to make sure that it was suitable for a younger audience, by limiting the violence. The interview also compares the lack of violence in The Lovely Bones and the large amount of violence in The Lord of the Rings.

Unused items

Magazine

Item 4-The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings-I did not find this product useful, because this article did not give much information about the why he created the films, his ideas for the film and what the conventions were of his films.

Book

Item 12-Peter Jackson: A Film Maker's Journey-This product did not prove to be useful, because it was more of an autobiographical account, rather than giving answers to the questions I have asked.

Peter Jackson

New Zealander Peter Jackson grew up with the passion of books and films since he was in his late teens. Then he had the inspiration of wanting to be a film director, eventually creating short films throughout his college years. Five pieces of his most infamous work are media-based projects. The Lord of the Rings trilogy are based on the same books as J. R. R. Tolkein and The Lovely Bones are wrote by Alice Sebold. King Kong is a film adaptation of the film of the same name made in 1933. These are the films I will base by project on. The Lord of the Rings film I will use is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Investigation-The works of Peter Jackson

In this research project, I will be looking into three film directed, produced or written by Peter Jackson. I will look into his visual styles, the actors he uses, the types of films he creates, conventions which run through all three and the marketing campaigns he uses. The films I will use are The Lord of The Rings, King Kong and The Lovely Bones.