Hope you all had fun.
I am so glad LOTR got Hugo nominations--although it doesn't surprise me. If they hadn't, there might have been war, lol. ;)
Thought you all might be interested in this article from Cinematographer Magazine, about the different methods they used in the movie. I thought the discussion about lighting was particularly interesting, and they even mention the lights in Galadriel's eyes that we were talking about the other day:
American Cinematographer Magazine
Here's the bit about Galadriel's eyes:
To achieve a glowing, luminescent quality for the Elvish Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett), Lesnie used soft light exposed at key. Lesnie also extended Jackson's predilection for eyelights. "Peter likes to see eyelights, and to create that effect we usually used 'wands,' which were two 2-foot Kino Flo tubes taped together. In close quarters, these wands are ideal and virtually instantaneous tools; they have four intensity levels, they're cool and very flexible, and they're perfect for handholding. For the character of Galadriel, however, I wanted to create a special eyelight, because Tolkien describes her by saying 'no sign of age was upon her, unless it were in the depths of her eyes; for these were keen as lances in the starlight and yet profound, the wells of deep memory.' In order to achieve that quality, we created the 'Galadrilight,' which was simply a rig of hundreds of Christmas-tree lights mounted next to the camera. This technique placed many reflections in Cate's eyes, creating a wonderful otherworldliness. Her skin is so luminescent that sometimes I didn't have to use any fill, because the Galadrilight was doing the work."
I just got back from taking Matthew to an audition for "The King and I". He didn't get called back, which could or could not mean he didn't get a part. Either way, it was a fun experience and we should hear something by next weekend. I'll not be online as much this week, because they'll be calling to let us know and I only have the one phone line.