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Day 4 - Two Towers, One Party (Page 4 of 6)

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VIEWS EXPRESSED ON THIS WEB SITE ARE THE PERSONAL OPINION OF IAN SMITH AND DO NOT IN ANY WAY REFLECT THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS OF DECIPHER, THE OFFICIAL FAN CLUB MAGAZINE OR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS OF THEONERING.NET (TORn)

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Having taken enough of Dom and Craig's time we decided to head down to the Press lobby again where I'd left my jacket and some camera gear, ready for the next arrival. En route we bumped into one of TORn's founders Michael Regina (Xoanon) with his girlfriend, and also some other TORn staffers (see below). We hadn't been in the lobby long before Larry ("MrCere") advised us that the next celebrity was about to walk though the door, and it was to be Sean Astin.

11.20pm: Kayjee and Xoanon
11.25pm:
11.25pm: 'Over here, Sean. Over here' Ack! He's walking straight past us!
11.25pm: Sean chats with fans/TORn staffers in press lobby
11.30pm: Sean goes back to talk to TORn Digital again
11.30pm: Quickbeam introduces Craig Parker on the main stage
11.35pm: Craig Parker smiles at crowd's warm reception
11.30pm: A fan has obviously told a good joke
11.45pm: The oscar winners arrive - and Joe Letteri looks a happy man (man, I hope this IS Joe Letteri or I am gonna look SO stupid!)
11.45pm: Ethan Van der Ryn (wearing his TORn 'Good luck' brooch, Joe Letteri and Randall William Cook
11.45pm: Two Oscars, four statues
Sean had been featured quite heavily on the Oscar TV broadcast, receiving inevitable loud cheers from the party crowd every time the camera showed him sat in the audience. So it was a surprise to find he was also checking out the TORn party - I'd expected him to rush straight off to some higher profile event, especially with him chasing a career in directing as well as acting at the moment.

Sean arrived and immediately said a few words to TORn digital. I'm afraid it was here that the cramped confines of the press area (which seemed to have got busier and slightly more chaotic in our absence) caused a lot of cases of "people with long hair" stepping in front of the camera just as the shutter clicked. This is not a criticism of any of the people - I'm sure the TV crew to my left felt the same way about my bobbing around trying to get an uncluttered photo, but it did mean that taking good pictures was an exercise in endless frustration. Sean tried to stop in front of each press rep but by this time borders were not clear - there was just a mass of people behind the roped-off barrier, and, alas, he walked straight past Susan and I so that we didn't get the chance to ask any questions or take any photo's! My fault, for not being bold enough to tap him on the shoulder, or shout out his name insistently.

Sean gathered with some TORn staffers at the bottom of the stairs and I think it was about now that I realised what a miserable job being a real press photographer must be, especially if you're in a position where you have no interest in the celebrities you're trying to snap. Celebrity snapping as a job appears to involve lots of waiting, lots of pushing and shoving, and then about 2 seconds to get the shot you need to earn your daily bread. I can think of better ways to earn a living!

For some reason Sean decided to come back down the press line to talk to TORn digital right at the start of the line, which meant we got a second chance to "snap" him. Susan tried to attract his attention but there was so much bustle going on she got lost in the noise. It was about now that I realised that temerity was going to get me nowhere, and with no Brian Sibley on hand to make an introduction it was a case of having to shout rudely and loudly, as it looked like Sean was about to walk past us again. "Sean, can we have a picture for the official fan club magazine" I shouted as loudly as I could manage. It worked! The perfect gent, Astin turned around, stepped back and looked straight at the camera. Alas, even with a diffuser on the flash, the narrow corridor and close proximity meant the picture turned out less than perfect, but it was ours, rather than one of the many others I'd taken of him chatting to others sideways on. Susan didn't get a chance to ask any questions as there was clearly a schedule that needed to be maintained and Sean, although we didn't know it at the time, was due on the main stage, along with all the other celebrities.

Susan recognised Sean's wife, Christine, and asker her if that night's oscar win included some of her work because (and I didn't know this before I heard Susan ask) Christine had done some film editing work on Lord of the Rings. Christine told us that it didn't include her work as she hadn't worked on sound, but that she was very, very happy for the guys who she knew very well.

We didn't follow Sean upstairs to the VIP area to try and get the missing extra shots or interview because we could hear that something was happening on the main stage (lots of screams and applause) so rushed through there instead - just in time to catch Craig Parker on stage with Quickbeam. We missed the "mobbing" of Craig as security tried to get him on stage, and also the introduction where Quickbeam did a Haldir impression before inviting the actor on-stage to deliver his movie lines in a more accurate fashion. The pictures here show fan questions being asked, laughed at and presumably answered. I'm afraid the noise and need to capture pictures with so many heads in the way meant I was concentrating on getting into position for pictures rather than listening to what was being said. Other fan reports no doubt carry more information and a set of links to other reports will follow in the last page of this web log.

One complaint I heard repeated several times was that the chairs in the main room had been cleared after the TV broadcast. People seemed to think this was the sole reason there was some pushing and shoving going on from a small, rude minority when the first celebrity appeared on stage. Last year of course the chairs had been left covering the main floor - but the end-result was that people got hurt by pushed hard metal as chairs were shoved into backs and legs with the mad rush to get to the front where the celebrities were. I have no doubt that if the chairs HAD been left out as some were so vocally complaining they should have been we'd have had no dancing, nowhere near as many people able to see the celebrities and probably a few more serious injuries as well.

When Quickbeam and Craig left the stage we returned to the Press area, just in time for the arrival of the oscar winners. Here we were at an advantage as fans because we knew who most of the recipients were, where many of the other press members weren't sure who was who, or what questions to ask. Alas, Susan's chat with Jim Rygiel appears to have gone the way of The One Ring and completely disappeared from the night's recordings that I have (doh!).

In the previously published pages I had some problems trying to transcribe Susan's short interviews, partly because the recorder was set to "conference" recording rather than "direct" recording (my fault) which meant a lot of surround noise interfered with the recordings, but also because my PC's inbuilt speakers are so poor I'd thought the recordings were pretty unsalvageable. Having now wired up a decent speaker the recordings are much clearer and rather than rewrite previously published pages, complete transcripts will appear as transcript links from the final page of this Two Towers, One Party report :-).

The winners all seemed to be on as much of an adrenaline high as we were ("It's even better the second time" William Randall Cook told us when asked how it felt to win another Oscar) and were happy to pose for photo's. We thought we were pretty much done with the special guests, but as the oscar winners left, another special guesssst (my preciousss) entered through the main doors. Photo and more reports to follow....

Still to come..... The main stage show and a phone call from Peter Jackson. The Golden Gandalf Award ... and much more. Check back later on in the week for the last page of pictures and reports!

Click here for NEXT page of report on Two Towers, One Party

Click here for PREVIOUS page of report on Two Towers, One Party 		11.25pm: ?, Calisuri, Moocholas and Asfaloth!
11.25pm: Sean poses with member of the Press
11.25pm: Sean greets a fan/TORn staffer
11.25pm: Sean smiles for Decipher (OK so we were too close but we tried our best)
11.30pm: Adorable (c)' Sean Astin
11.30pm: Craig Parker talking to fans from the main stage
11.35pm: I'm not sure what the fan question was, but it looks like it shocked QuickBeam!
11.40pm: Craig Parker and Quickbeam wave goodbye
11.45pm: Susan tells Jym Rygiel that I thought the blue screen Nazgul rider was a bit ropey (OK, I'm joking, thank God!)
11.45pm: Michael Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn and Joe Letteri
11.45pm: Jim Rygiel gets interviewed by Susan



Don't forget you can check out reports of lots of other Lord of the Rings -themed events in the Web Logs section

Email: ian@iansmith.co.uk