Project Narnia

The Big Premiere

2006-12-31T15:31:00.000-06:00

The day came at last: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was finally finished, and it was time to unveil our film to the world ... well, almost. The evening was fantastic, complete with red carpet, flowers, awards, applause, food and lots of smiles. Each happy face represented a gleeful cousin savoring the fact that we're done!

The Cousin Drama Club

2006-12-31T15:25:00.000-06:00

An Enthralled Audience

2006-12-31T15:23:00.000-06:00

T.C.D.C. (Plus Some)

2006-12-31T15:19:00.000-06:00

All the cousins, including our extras ... Kathleen, Johnny, Bethany and Cara.

Movie Stahs

2006-12-31T15:16:00.000-06:00

Nicole, Aubrey, and Meagan

Colleen with the Oscars

2006-12-31T15:13:00.000-06:00

Red Carpet Photo

2006-12-31T15:10:00.000-06:00

Two lovely dryads

Refreshments

2006-12-31T15:04:00.000-06:00

Lots of yummy food at the Premiere ... marmalade roll, fish, and Turkish Delight!

It Is Finished!

2006-12-31T15:01:00.000-06:00

When?

2006-12-21T16:34:00.000-06:00

Our first movie short, “Joan of Arc,” was made in about six hours. Slapping together a three page script, filming shots in sequence, and staging a few bloopers didn’t take long at all. We had fun, and made the mistake of believing that bigger projects would be just as simple.

Wrong!

“The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was made over the course of 18 months. Because the cousins live four hours apart, we couldn’t hop over to each other’s houses every time we felt like filming. Thus, Cousin Camp was born, a week of summer break spent sleeping over, playing, and for the most part, filming. In 2005, camp was held at Uncle Ron and Aunt Marilyn’s house, where we filmed things like Mr. Tumnus’s cave, the Beaver’s dam, and the journey to the stone table. Over the next few months, we shot a scene here and a scene there, when one family would visit the other for the weekend. We even filmed several hours on Christmas day! Then in summer 2006, camp was held at Uncle Bob and Aunt Karla’s house. We finished shooting that week: scenes like the stone table, the battle, and the witch’s courtyard. Finally, filming had wrapped! We were on the home stretch. Right?

Well, editing took a bit longer than we anticipated. Actually, a LOT longer. The novelty soon wore off, and each time Lauren or Aubrey walked past the computer, they tried to forget that there was hours of footage just waiting to be clipped and cropped and split and chopped.

But in the end, two years after the idea was first suggested, our movie finally came together. (Don’t even mention the words Prince Caspian.)

Filming on Christmas Day 2005

2006-09-04T15:59:00.000-05:00

And just look who showed up!

Who?

2006-09-04T15:41:00.000-05:00

Who are these crazy kids? Ten cousins, ranging in age from 5 to 19. Lauren, Aubrey, Bobby, Rachel, Caleb, and Adeline make up one family, and Nicole, Meagan, Hannah, and Colleen make up the other. They each played crucial roles in our Narnia production. Aubrey worked on script and costumes, Nicole specialized in wigs and helmets. Colleen and Rachel came up with fights for the battle, and the boys crafted dozens of wooden weapons. Hannah interviewed cast members for a special behind-the-scenes featurette, Meagan sewed kitty ears, and Lauren directed, filmed, and edited. Everyone had a part to play, and they played it well!
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Making a movie with nine actors was a bit tricky. Each kid had at least two characters’ shoes to fill, counting bit parts like dryads, hags, etc. We did lots of pre-production planning to make sure no one had to be two people in the same scene! A problem with this family is the lack of boys – luckily, there were enough to cover Peter and Edmund. However, Meagan had to be Mr. Beaver, Nicole played the Professor and the adult Peter, while Adeline was elected Witch’s dwarf. These girls did great in their roles – truly versatile actors.
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The complete cast list is as follows:
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Aubrey – White Witch, Mrs. Macready, adult Susan
Nicole – Professor Kirk, Mrs. Beaver, adult Peter
Meagan – Mr. Beaver, Maugrim, adult Lucy
Bobby – Peter, Mr. Tumnus, adult Edmund
Hannah – dryad, tourist, hag
Rachel – Susan
Caleb – Edmund
Colleen – Lucy
Adeline – Witch’s dwarf
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Special guest star Uncle Bob as Father Christmas!
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You’re probably wondering who we got to play Aslan. Well, that was one place our creativity came to the rescue. At the beginning, we thought about using our golden retriever, but he died. Then we considered lion costumes, yellow towels, cats, puppets, and lots of pretty ridiculous ideas. Finally, Lauren suggested using the camera as Aslan. When the Great Lion comes on the scene, events are viewed from His eyes. The Pevensies look into the camera when addressing Him, the camera stares up into the Witch’s face at the stone table. We borrowed David Suchet’s voice from Focus on the Family’s Radio Theater version of the book and dubbed it in each time Aslan speaks. The result? Totally awesome.

Let's Go to the Movies!

2006-09-04T15:33:00.000-05:00

Why?

2006-09-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

Why did ten cousins decide to create their own film version of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?” Why didn’t they stick to normal fan activities, like collecting happy meal toys and hanging up posters of Skandar Keynes? The reason is simple. We possess an overwhelming passion for C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles. As long we can remember, we’ve read, listened to, watched, and quoted Narnia. Ask any of us to finish the line “Of course it would be raining,” and we’ll chant in unison: “Do stop grumbling, Ed. Ten to one it will clear up in an hour or so, and in the meantime, we’re pretty well off. There’s a wireless and lots of books.”

We used to be regular cousins who saw each other about every other month and filled the weekend with video games and soccer. Then, in the spring of 2005, Meagan had an unusual school assignment: make a short movie about Joan of Arc. We wrote a script Friday night, filmed all day Saturday, and spent Sunday watching the completed movie – over and over. It was fun … there were moments of frustration, of course, but lots of laughs, too, and many memories were made. That got us thinking. Why not do a big film, a really huge production, something we could work on over several months and showcase with pride? With any other group of ten people, agreeing on a story might have taken ages. But with the cousins, we knew without a doubt that “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” was the only option.

To be continued …

Photos from Camp Narnia '06

2006-08-31T17:58:00.000-05:00

Below is a collection of photographs from this year's camp. Yahoo, filming has wrapped! (Now for editing ...)

Peter and a lovely dryad

2006-08-31T17:47:00.000-05:00

Gearing up for a long day of filming

2006-08-31T17:44:00.000-05:00

Wardrobe malfunction

2006-08-31T17:40:00.000-05:00

Filming is HARD WORK!

2006-08-31T17:37:00.000-05:00

Setting up Aslan's Camp

2006-08-31T17:35:00.000-05:00

The Stone Table

2006-08-31T17:33:00.000-05:00

Half Susan, Half Hag

2006-08-31T17:31:00.000-05:00

Armor in progress

2006-08-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

Lampposts grow in strange places ...

2006-08-31T17:23:00.000-05:00

Mademoiselle Director

2006-08-31T17:16:00.000-05:00

Lucy with Edmund (in civilian clothes)

2006-08-31T17:12:00.000-05:00

The Witch

2006-08-31T17:08:00.000-05:00

Viewing the dailies

2006-08-31T17:05:00.000-05:00

Peter

2006-08-31T16:58:00.000-05:00

Mr. B

2006-08-31T16:55:00.000-05:00

The Cousins

2006-08-31T16:50:00.000-05:00