Peter Griffin: Jackson puts filming online

Even if you only have fleeting interest in big apes you're no doubt aware that our most famous movie director, Peter Jackson, is well into his shooting schedule for King Kong.

What you may not be aware of is that he's giving brief insights into the film-making process via the web at Kong is King

It's a sort of film-maker's diary from a director who is generally considered media shy and prefers to carry out his work under the radar.

The fact that Jackson is playing ball with the fan site to post the material is impressive itself.

So far the site hosts four movie clips, a few minutes each in length. They all feature Jackson and key members of his cast and crew.

The centre of attention at the moment is a large ship, the Venture, which is stranded in the middle of a Wellington carpark and surrounded by a massive blue screen against which waves, sky, clouds and distant landscapes will be added using computer graphics.

In the film diary, Adrien Brody and Jack Black stagger down the deck of the Venture trying to simulate a rolling sea.

The clips take a while to load and you'll be better off downloading them over a broadband connection, but they're worth checking out.

It's nice to know another epic movie is being made in our country as we go about out everyday lives. But it's even nicer to be able to keep up with progress of the production through the site "where one giant ape rules supreme".

What Jackson has agreed to seems to be part of an increasing willingness to open up the creative process. There seems to be continuous disclosure going on in the film and music industry, where artists are updating their fans throughout the production process.

It seems the creative industry is building production diaries into its marketing build-up for new releases. Inflate interest, but don't spoil the plot line or special-effects mystique by giving too much away.

Production diaries do often appear as "bonus material" on a lot of movies that make it to DVD. But the internet is letting artists tell their stories as they piece together their work, opening a window on the difficult creative process.

Former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy describes the day-to-day frustrations of the recording process at Billy Corgan

Maybe it's comforting for him to share his frustrations with an audience itching to hear his new work, maybe he's making sure everyone knows he's putting out a new record and hasn't slipped into rock star retirement.

" ... We have finished three-and-a-half songs, the fourth one being somewhat problematic and all, but I, never one to back down to a tussle with a tune, am fighting gloriously," wrote the intense Corgan last month.

Roy H. Wagner, a director of photography, is keeping a web audience up to date on his film productions at Student Film Makers

"It is finished. Production is finished on the most complicated, difficult (physically and artistically), and best projects I've ever encountered. Today I am continuing to recover. Tomorrow I will recount my thoughts and events that occurred on the final days of production," the film-maker writes.

Imagine if Fleetwood Mac had been posting clips during the tumultuous making of their Rumours album or Orson Welles had been able to send out a production diary during the shooting of his masterpiece Citizen Kane.

At least we have Ali G's internet-based production diary, penned in 2002 during the making of his film Ali G in da house.

"Today we iz filmin in Staines and it iz de biggist event in de city since Wolf from Gladiator reopened de Bakers Oven in de Elmsleigh centre," he says on day five of production. Maybe it's best sometimes to leave the door closed on the creative process.



* Email Peter Griffin