Father Geek here with some news from our Euro-offices in Paris that while it isn't Euro-news it is news of interest in all of Europe as well as thru out the rest of the world. It seems that "Anonymous Author" got a real closeup look at the current 6 min. promo reel that was unvailed at Cannes several days ago and has sent Edgard and crew a detailed talk about it to share with all of you...

Edgard here again... here's a report on the much awaited "Lord of the Rings"... our lucky friend Anonymous Author got the chance to see a promo-roll of 6 minutes... here's his long description of it.. and I guess this will make the fans even more excited about this film... there's "only" 18 more months to wait...

Hello fellow fans!

I had the great opportunity to witness the screening of a six-minute promo-roll to a very select audience. First, let me assure all readers of these lines that I do not intend to cause damage to any persons, projects and companies associated with the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This statement may sound embarrassing, but I just want to make sure. I am a first-time writer here, so please have mercy! Now, my impressions:

The promo-roll contains all of the material that has been published on the net a while ago, but the interviews are a little longer and the rendered skeleton that moves in the 3D-chamber in the teaser gets flesh added (and much of that!). In addition, there are more scenes as well as production sketches and behind-the-screen material plus a few fx (as work in progress-samples). The behind-the-scenes-material shows us the constructing of a huge wooden castle/fortress (I suspect Helms Deep), which is painted stone-gray by workers. It looks sort of unreal (I don't mean "unrealistic"!) in this color, maybe they invented the grey-screen (ha, ha.). A set designer explains to the camera that very much construction has to be done and that this is an experience completely new to all of them. (Or so, I couldn't take notes).

Another person, the head of production design, I suppose, explains, while sitting in a typical creative person's office, that it is a very hard job to bring all the detail onto the screen that Tolkien described so very detailed in the books. It is a very challenging task but he is very satisfied with its forthcoming. Then, we see a sketch of Hobbiton, to be exact, Bag's End, which converts into material shot at the real Bag's End. And it looks just great! The green, green meadow, the round blue door, the little paths paved with stones, the rolling hills around it - perfect!

In another shot of Hobbiton, we can see a little bridge crossing the river, where a cart is being pulled across. The bridge looks typically english, only much more narrow, made of stones, built as archs. A perfect little world! The other scenes that have been shown consisted of Gandalf slowly walking up a snowy slope (I guess that's before they enter Moria), he looks *very* lost and lonely in these huge and rough mountains! We also see the party wandering across mild-green lands that reminded me of Ireland and Corsica. Small ponds (about 10 yards in average diameter), little trees (about 4 yards high), some brush along their path. It was only a short shot, maybe two seconds.

Also very, very beautiful is their wandering along a ridge between a lake in the mountains and the edge of the cliff that holds it in its position. Crystal-blue water, looking clean and sweet and good, but also cold and very beautiful in a rough way. It's one of those places you'd stop to take photos for hours, but you would never want to build a house there. Also to be seen is the scene from the trailer where Aragorn (I suppose) holds up the ring on its chain to take a close look, he then says something like "A thing this small, causing so much pain and suffering. How can that be?" (or so...)

There are also many scenes from the trailer, and a few new ones, but I couldn't distinguish exactly in the flood of the pictures. Many horses, orcs, riders, masks, weapons, ringwraiths (I mean those TV-movie-like looking guys from the net-trailer, I hope there are some effects coming up on these clips...), the flooding of the creek (yet without the effect described in the books), a wonderful Arwen and as well Galadriel, Saruman and Gandalf, the 4 Hobbits, actually the fellowship of the ring as a little slideshow. Which brings me to FX.

There were 2 moving fx scenes, as well as some photos of Gimli and other small-rendered folks. The two moving scenes were two guys sitting at a blue table (both facing towards us, on the left side the big (or normal) guy, on the right the small one) in front of a bluescreen on blue chairs, cheerio-ing with two white cups. The small guy was supposedly rendered small, but he looked completely alright, the movement was the right (realistic) speed for their sizes, the coordination of the cups (they clank together) just perfect.

Even better was the second scene: The four hobbits (Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo) standing in some quickly put-together-dungeon made of wood and plaster, staring upwards, as if they'd look in the sun, and then a human man walks through the little group, shoving them a little aside to make his way.

The size of the hobbits in comparison to the man: The top of their heads reach his belt. The man puts a hand on Frodos head (like onto a child's head) to move him a little to the right so that he can pass. The hobbits also move in a perfectly normal manner, and so does the man....

Well, LOTR fans there it is. Make sure to let us know of all movie news at our Paris address, Edgard out for now.