Dawn Treader Filming Report from Michael
NarniaWeb spy Michael sent us a copy of his report from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader filming complete with a lot of pictures. It turns out there are a lot more creatures aboard the ship than just one minotaur and Reepicheep.
Cleveland Point 6:15 am, shooting beginning at 7:30am
The sunrise breaks through the clouds lighting up the Dawn Treader swaying side to side and back and forth going through its morning mechanical exercise. There had been rain over night and two major cranes shifted off the sight that had been used for the fly over shoots.
The access staircase is moved into position and film crew begin to climb the stair structure in single file to board the Dawn Treader. The ship towers over a sea of portable camouflage tents.A group of experts meet on the deck and point towards the direction of the sun, wind and boats and nod. They disband and an announcer sound checks in a mono tone voice says, “Good morning”. He continues to announce key decision and warns when the DT will be moved into a new position.
All the equipment begins to morph back into a controlled state by an army of crew. About 20 Narnian sailors enter the site as the Dawn Treader is moved into position for the first shoot “Shot 64:8”. A giant crane raises a huge blue screen blocking the view. An hour later the screen is lowered and the Dawn Treader is rotated 180 degrees so that the decorative dragon head is pointing out to sea. It is an awesome display as this monster of a ship is moved skilfully through the array of portable tents and cranes.
Shooting has been said to continue until the end of September at this site. It’s worth a look and take a camera.
Huge thanks to Michael for sending in your pictures and report!
I like the idea. I love the creatures, and this isn't a problem for me. This don't change the history…
*Sigh* It probably won't ruin the movie for me… but somehow it just doesn't quote feel like VDT with a lot of creatures on board. It should be a relatively ordinary crew finding fantastical lands. Not a fantastical crew finding fantastical lands.
Initially, it does seem like an odd choice for Lewis. Why wouldn't he include creatures as part of the crew? This MUST have occurred to Lewis. Be he evidently decided it was better without creatures. Perhaps he knew it would take away from the wonder of the story if it was a fantastical crew finding fantastical lands?
I think that is an interesting fact. It would have made more sense to have creatures, but Lewis still decided not to include them. He must've had a reason.
Look at the second pic… in the far right theres a guy and im pretty sure it edmund
Cool. Interesing that there are other creatures on board.
glumPuddle: I must agree with you. Like you I am one of those people who thinks that if a book is going to be made into a movie than the movie should be just like the book!
Thank you so much!!!!! That was just my thoughts on the matter. As long as there is no romance between Caspian and Lucy I almost don't mind what they do, as long as it isn't as big as the changes they made in PC. Keep the story of Aslan alive!!!
que padre sisisisis que ya firmen sisisisi eaeaeae
Neither the Narnians nor the Telmarines have done any type of sailing in hundreds of years, and since Dawn Treader is set only three years after Prince Caspian, the crew would not have enough experience to sail to the world's end. Which leads to the theory I stated earlier, that most of the crew were not Narnian or Telmarine but from the closer islands. Actually, there is an old Galmian sailor mentioned in one of the chapters, I think it's when they're on Ramandu's island and discussing should they sail to the end of the world or not.
Cool! I'm really excited! Also, I don't mind at all about there being more mythical creatures on board- I kinda like it….. it would be boring if there were only people….:)
yea, where'd the minotaurs come from? but if it helps make the movie better i'm with it!
I say they can add as many mythical creatures as they want as long as they don't get in the way of the main story. In Prince Caspian, they totally threw in a bunch of stuff that got in the way of the plot which showed up, but I'd still prefer a closer adaption.
What's wrong with having hooved animals on board the Dawn Treader? After all, Mr. Tumnus sailed in ships in "The Horse and His Boy".
Oh, sorry! I thought one of the cast members was Skandar. Then I saw the picture closer and saw that it wasn't him. I want to see some pictures of him! I havn't seen any more but one! Has anyone seen anymore?
I agree with you!
I also officially hate minotaurs. And it's just plain idiotic. *scratches head* I seem to remember someplace in the Prince Caspian book where Trufflehunter said that they wouldn't have Aslan for a friend if they brought in 'that kind of rabble'. But what does Trufflehunter know compared to smart movie makers?
You never know, with all these rumored battles, maybe they'll be the ones to die in battle? You know, like the "unknowns" on board in Star Trek episodes? You know they're the first to die. lol… Well, anyway, I know what you mean, I always assumed it was a crew of ordinary human men.
Was hoping they'd have a faun in there. If they're going to have a minotaur, they should have a faun. 😛
– Twinimage
Yes, the principle of Expendability! 😛
Fauns make more sense than Minotaurs, anyway. Their more agile; if any narnian creature would be well suited for sailing, I'd bet on a faun. Still, it's not in the book… but I guess this is one of those moments where you have to 'do what the kids do and say "Whatever"'. 😉
Awesome!! I can't wait!! Thanks for the filming report Narnia Web. You are doing a really great work!!
And have you seen this images of the Dawn Treader!!??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvuXhrXbpgo&feature=channel_page
OMG! They are awesome!! In the photos I see that Georgie has changed a lot!!
Yes! Narnia is for all ages!
Well, you don't see humans participating in the great snow dance.
I also agree. All of these creatures being in this film might be a little strange.
i think we need to remember that creatures being on board, will not affect the morals of this story! which after all is the important thing!!! and if it makes it more exciting than why not!!! also it is goin to seperate this movie from other pirate, or sea movies even further which is also a good thing!!!
*Gasp*! You're right! I thought that there were no mythical creatures on the ship because they weren't good at sea-faring…..but Mr. Tumnes DID sail on a ship! Hmm…I have such mixed feelings on this issue. Part of me says it will be cool to have creatures on board, and the other part groans that it's not faithful to the book. I'll just wait and see how it all turns out…
I agree – it would seem sort of odd to have LWW and PC overflowing with Narnian creatures, and then have VDT with almost none.
That BBC version was almost as bad as a middle school play. They did everything by the book, the movie went on for hours. When you make a movie it is supposed to entertain, not bore the audience to sleep. Everything in PC that was changed and not followed "by the book" was good. Just like the night attack. The critics would tear a movie like that apart today.
I agree! The BBC versions are great because they are VERY faithful to the books! I love movies that follow the books.
Agreed. As long as these changes don't effect the main theme of the movie, then I'm fine with it.
Countless people were upset by the presence of all the changes, including the night raid. Why do you think PC only grossed $420 million compared to LWW's $745? Clearly people were unhappy with it. The book was essentially rewritten, and I think that made a bigger impact. I think that it was a good movie and very much filled with action, but it is not a good sequel.
I agree! 🙂
Hey look, it's Skandar! And theres's a minotaur!! Yay! Oh happy day!
Which is just what happened to PC =( =( =( =(
THERE'S A PICTURE WITH SKANDAR IN IT!?!?! WHICH ONE!?!?!
honestly i dont see any problems as to why Narnian creatures shouldnt be there. isnt PC– book and movie– all about unification? so why shouldnt some Narnian creatures not travel with King Caspian? i dont think Caspian wouldve forced anybody on this voyage.
wha-huh? centaurs/ minotaurs/ fauns couldnt keep their balance on a rocking ship just because they have hooves? these arent dumb animals. if they can wield a weapon with deadly accuracy, of course they can keep their balance on a ship. so its slippery, so what? humans and dwarves slip and slide too. different creatures keep their balance different ways. and as i've said, none of the crew of the Dawn Treader are dumb animals. they will do whatever it takes from getting themselves tossed overboard.
It does seem odd that Reep might be the only Narnian who dreamed of sailing the utter East. Maybe there were Narnians serving with or even "under" Reep in Caspian's ranks. Reep was clearly the only one who was told the rhyme by a dryad, but maybe he talked some other people into going for the sheer adventure of it.
how about the minotaur wanting to experience what its like to travel out the open sea? why would anyone want to keep that from him just because he has hooves and horns?
I'd rather it be a faun on board the ship than a minotaur. I still can't get over thinking of them as 'bad' creatures from LWW. A faun or two is ok, but I hope they don't overdo the creatures.
its doubtful that its Skandar. i've been studying at the same dark haired young man and it doesnt look like him.
i like to have a fantastical crew finding fantastical lands in a fantastical movie.
am i asking for much? i dont think so 🙂
You ARE aware that a book and a film are two completely new media and don't work the same way, right? You ARE aware that if you do a book-to-film adaptation, you can't possibly follow the book word for word, because IT JUST WOULDN'T WORK, right? You ARE aware that these films are NOT made primarily for the book fans, but want to reach a wide audience, because one of the points of the film is TO MAKE MONEY, right? And lastly, you ARE aware that these "extra creatures" might only be seen for a few frames in the background, so they won't make much difference, right?
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I mean, why do hardcore book fans always panic whenever there's a change from the books in the films? Hello – there will ALWAYS be changes. Deal with it.
I agree, I'm having mixed feelings about the creatures on the boat too!
Hi, It's called Emu Point, the suburb is Cleveland. It is NOT Cleveland Point!!
I thought of that and I wonder why Lewis didn't add them in the book, but he must have had a reason. Perhaps because a ship is not a place for minotaurs or fawns? They were needed elsewhere? Or they simply didn't want to come? In any case they're not in the book. Now it's only a minor change so it doesn't really bother me all that much.
Actually, I never thought of the book being about unification, to me it always seemed more about believing even when you have nothing to see to go along with that belief. It's a story about faith. Though it could be interpreted more than one way…….
I am the Man, the reason the BBC version is more than two hours is because it was a mini-series. It was meant to be watched in half-hour segments ending with a dramatic moment so the audience would come back next week. Which is, in itself, an entirely different medium.
Mr. Tumnus wasn't part of the crew, he was brought along as part of the royal Narnian entourage.
The reason hooved animals couldn't keep their balance is because they would have no traction to hold them to the floor. Of course the film makers could choose to ignore that little difficulty since the "hooves" will be CG………
Same here, Loyal Narnian! It just wouldn't seem the same.
You should see mountain goats or dall sheep on sheer rock faces with snow. They hold on pretty well to me with hooves and some goats can climb trees. I've had goats they're pretty agile. I think they could handle a slippery ship. I don't know about centaurs, but I know fauns and satyrs could do it.
Of course books and films will have changes. That's just the nature of it. And I understand that the films are being made to appeal to more than the book fans. Unfortunately, if the filmmakers wish to make money, which I imagine mostly book fans will wish to give them, the [filmmakers] are hopefully going to wish to please the audience. The differences between how much PC and how much LWW made should say something.
I completely agree with Arwen. The Witch shouldn't reeeeeeeaaaalllly have been in PC, but I'll cut the filmmakers a mulligan for that. If she shows up in VDT however, I will not grant them anything!! She died for all time in LWW, and it would be very repetitive to try to bring her back AGAIN!!!
Also, the romance in PC was the SYMBOL for them selling out the film!!!!!! It was the FIGUREHEAD of the "Market to the Non-Narniaddict" movement!!!! (Personally, I don't think it was Andrew's idea.) For romance in VDT, I say NO, NO, NO!!!!
(And anyway, who'd the lovers be?)
Caspian/Susan was the SYMBOL? Ugh!….
I meant there might be romance between Caspian and Ramandu's daughter. It is very slightly hinted at in the book, and I will not be surprised if the filmmakers ramp it up. But it better not happen with anyone else!
why are there so many creatures??? but the pics are really cool.
I don't like having the minotaur or any creatures other than Reepicheep aboard, but the rest looks good.
I SO agree with you, Narniac. I wish more people realized the reason PC didn't do so well was exactly because of the HUGE changes in the movie. Not to mention all the added creatures. I just wish movie makers tried a little harder to stay to the books. I get the whole "Lewis left room for imagination thing," but I don't think that means to almost entirely change the plot. Anyone agree with me?
Ditto to the both of you; I also loved the old series, and I think many more people would agree with me in saying that we liked them because they followed the books so well. Even if they were a little dull. One of my biggest disapointments was finding that these huge motion pictures weren't going to follow the book like BBC did. Not that I mind a few changes, I actually loved LWW, the motion picture. But when PC was all said and done, I just wasn't satisfied with all the changes. And I must say, why should we just let them "make the movie as they want to?" We are the fans, are we not? It's up to us to speak up about things we dislike!
Laura, I had to laugh at your comment. I couldn't have said it better.
I believe Lewis had many reasons for not including several things in the books, Susan and Caspian having a relationship as one of them!!!!