Review of King Kong: Production Diaries

Introduction

I`m an old King Kong fan. That is, I`m a fan of the original 1933 Merian C Cooper - Ernest Schoedsack movie which featured Fay Wray and an eighteen-inch rubber gorilla animated by a fiery old Irishman called Willis O`Brien. Not that I`m getting on in years.

When I first heard that Peter Jackson intended to mount his own version of the classic monster movie, I thought "Well, there`s a surprise(!)", as if there`s one thing I know about Peter Jackson, it`s that he`s an enormous Kong fan. A Kongophile if you like. It was watching Kong as a small boy in New Zealand which got him into moviemaking. I also thought "That`s good," because I knew whatever he made would honour the original movie, and given his track record with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, whatever he made was going to be spectacularly entertaining.

At the time of writing, we`re about a fortnight off the premiere of the finished result, and various bits of pre-publicity are starting to tickle the movie taste-buds. Possibly the cornerstone of this pre-publicity is the DVD release of Peter Jackson`s Production Diaries.

When the movie started production, a website also started up under the name Kongisking.net. Thinly masquerading as a fan venture, the site promised to go behind the scenes of the making of the movie and as well as featuring insider photographs would carry a video diary of the production process. This two-DVD set contains all of the diaries recorded during the principal photography stage of shooting, and in full DVD video quality rather than the dodgy high-compression video clips hosted on the website. It should be noted that the website now hosts the Post-Production diaries, so these discs are now the only place to view the Production diaries.

How the set sells is going to be an interesting indicator of customer interest in what is after all publicity material. This set is the equivalent of one of those glossy coffee-table making-of books that have been all the rage in Hollywood for years, although up to now the film companies have included the material on the movie release DVDs as Value Added Material. There has been some caution voiced in various quarters about whether we will see all of this stuff reissued as part of the eventual Kong DVD (which we will probably see around April 2006). Word from Universal and Peter Jackson is a resounding no - the Kong DVD will have tons of extras but none will be ported over from this release. I`m inclined to believe them as Peter Jackson has made a name for himself for not repeating extras - as seen on the Theatrical and Extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Also, it should be pointed out that there will probably be as much material again in the Post-Production diaries. Of course, we may see those as a standalone release in the interim between the theatrical and DVD releases of the movie itself.

If I have any reservations about this release, it is simply a case of the old story - why do we in Region Two get just the two-disc set, when Region One gets a snazzy presentation box containing four art prints of concept art for the film and an eighty-page scrapbook of photos and art (complete with a certificate of authenticity)? I`m not entirely sure the printed materials would make the price hike from the R2 bargain price to the R1 box worthwhile but I wouldn`t say no if Universal`s PR sent me the stuff to peruse.

I`ll take a moment to recap the contents of the discs as per Universal`s PR:

DISC 1 - Intro by Peter Jackson. Production Diaries: #1 Peter`s Welcome; #2 The Diner Set; #3 Rough Seas on Land; #4 Filming Inside the Venture; #5 Denham`s Camera; #6 Plane Spotting; #7 Storms on the Venture; #8 Animal Droppings; #9 Dump Tanks; #10 Dump Tanks Part 2; #11 Skull Island Preview; #12 Lumpy`s Galley Tour; #13 Clapper Boards; #14 Previsualization; #15 Skull Island Rocks; #16 Skull Island Shoot; #17 Gandalf the Spy; #18 The Swamp Set; #19 Peter`s Kong Collection; #20 Is Jack Black 5`4"?; #21 Creating Skull Island; #22 Location Logistics; #23 International Press Junket; #24 The On-Set Art Department; #25 Cameras; #26 Journey of a Roll of Film; #27 Creating New York in New Zealand; #28 Shooting at the Civic Theatre; #29 Concept Art; #30 Happy Holidays!

DISC 2 - The Making of a Shot: The T-Rex Fight. Production Diaries: #31 New Year`s Message from Peter; #32 Shooting Begins in New York; #33 New York Extras; #34 Vintage Vehicles; #35 New York Set Dressing; #36 Sewers and Steam; #37 Lighting Continuity; #38 Times Square becomes Herald Square; #39 Adrien the Stunt Driver; #40 A Day in the Life of Peter; #41 Skull Island Miniatures #42 Naomi in Kong`s Hand; #43 Hair and Makeup; #44 Global Partner Summit; #45 Second Unit; #46 Sound Recording; #47 Helldiver Airplanes; #48 Filming Winds Down; #49 The Kong Sequels; #50 Costume Design; #51 Unit Photography; #52 Andy`s Revenge on the DVD Team; #53 Peter Calls in Help; #54 The Last Day.

That adds up to a colossal almost four hours of viewing. That`s right - three and a good bit hours. However, as the diary entries are only a few minutes apiece, it would be unfair for me to describe the contents in detail. Suffice to say, they show the cast and crew in genial and often playful mood. Jack Black sends himself up quite frequently, and all the crew treat the ever-present video camera as if chatting to a friend. It all makes for a very relaxed and very enjoyable experience, lacking in the usual blackslappery and po-facedness of the usual PR cack found on DVDs as extras. I think the highlight of disc one is the piece on designer poo - fabricating animal droppings for the hold of the SS Venture. The star turn of the disc has to be the making of the Rex fight, which is a show-stopper.

Video

The diaries are short mini-featurettes of four minutes-ish average duration. They look as if they were shot on DV or HD-DV Video, so images are sometimes variable, but the content overrides any technical shortcomings. Everything is shot in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen.

Audio

The sound is in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround, but does not include anything that would give your sound system a workout even if it was in anything with more oomph.

Features

Ah, now there you`ve got me. You could argue that these are all extras because they`re the sort of thing you`d usually find as extras on any other movie disc. However, these are out on their own with no responsible movie to look after them.

There is one bonus item on the second disc, and that is the deconstruction of the Kong - T-Rex fight. Frankly it`s worth the price of admission for the rest of the set alone and has me convinced that Peter Jackson has made 2005`s most entertaining movie. It had me laughing and clapping my hands at the sheer audacity of the sequence.

Conclusion

I don`t think I`ve been this jazzed about seeing a new movie in a long time. The couple of trailers I`d seen for the new Kong had me laughing out loud, but these discs have convinced me that the movie (unless it is a total bust, which I don`t think for a moment) will be 2005`s biggest and best movie. People who know me from the forums will know I have a serious aversion to modern cinemas and it will take a lot to get me back into my local fleapit. Meet the lot.