Welcome to my Narnia Blog!
Officially Founded 1-1-2011, it contains my thoughts, observations, and convictions on all things Narnia, my excitement about Narnia, and my admiration for the author, C.S. Lewis.
Using images and videos, but mostly words, I’d like to share a bit of what I love about Narnia and hopefully persuade you to love it as much as I do, or encourage you if you’re already as crazy as I am. :)
For Narnia! … and For Aslan!
-Susanofgp
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My Blog's Wordle
Narnia Quote
“I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now...Come further up, come further in!” ― Bree, The Last Battle
Hello any blog readers I have! Sorry for neglecting this lovely blog. I did have grand plans for character profiles and things. Hopefully they'll still happen. But lately I've been super busy... Making a film, helping choreograph a musical, and falling in love. ;)
This is my first Valentine's Day that I actually get to celebrate with someone else (other than my wonderful family)! In honor of the day, I'm posting some Narnia videos I have made that are sort of romantic in nature. And also changing the theme of the blog, because Christmas is long over!
What's special about today? Well, six years ago on this date, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe came out in theatres! This was the first Narnia film produced by Walden Media and Walt Disney Pictures, and it happens to be my favorite. :)
What is special about it? For me, it really brought Narnia to life! I was an avid Narnia fan before then, having read the books growing up, had the paper dolls and calendar, etc. I had watched the BBC Narnia films a few times, but not often enough to make them classics in our house.
I remember watching the LWW trailer for the first time online. The part I remember (besides the excitement that one of my favorite stories was coming to life on screen so beautifully and wonderfully) was thinking the Stone Table scene with the witch looked scary. Haha!
I saw the film for the first time with some friends on December 15th, 2005. As the logos faded away and dark clouds appeared, I remember squeezing my friend's hand and thinking, "This is gonna be good!!!!"
And boy, was it good! It was so faithful to the book! Every part of it was absolutely magical! The story of salvation was so clear in Aslan's sacrifice for Edmund. I fell in love with the Narnian dresses (and the 40's clothes too)! The kids were all so perfect for their parts, the music was awesome, the cinematography was awesome, and everything else!!
I saw the movie twice more in theatres (that was the first time I'd seen any movie in theatres more than once!), once on Christmas Eve, and again in January. The movie made 745 million dollars worldwide altogether!
It was an amazing movie. I was so glad they did such an amazing job transferring this book to film. And I think it will remain a classic for a long while! You will love it whether you're a life-long Narnia fan like me or not!
Here's a Narnia Music Video I made in honor of LWW earlier this year. Enjoy!
And one more thing (as a reward for reading all the way to the end ;)), here's the "Super Trailer" for LWW that was released a little while after the first official trailer. It has lots more in it. It basically tells the whole story of the movie in nine minutes. I love the music and the clips used at the end, (starting around 7:00)! Aahh! I love this movie. :D
I just wanted to share this video that I made about a month ago when there were some sad things effecting my life, especially something one of my friends was going through. I edited the video while thinking of the situation. It's the first time I've done one based on real life.
Anyway, today something sad has come up again, and, strangely enough, today RJ (who creates Narnia graphics, which I did a post about here) made a Narnia graphic inspired by my video.
I just felt so blessed, first because she would make a graphic based on my video, but secondly because she did it today, of all days. That's one way God blesses people, I guess. :)
This led to more views and a lovely comment from one of my YouTube friends on my video today. Thank you so much! I really feel blessed by God because I have blessed other people with this video. I'm amazed that it could bless so many different people, when I just made it because of something one friend was going through. That may be why it was so powerful. It's called, "King Caspian - Storm." The music is by Lifehouse.
Sorry it's a short post. Still not much Narnia news in the world today... :p Well, there was a rumor that Magician's Nephew was in pre-production and Silver Chair was in the script-writing phase, which means they're still a long way away from the screen, but it hasn't been officially denied or affirmed.... Here's a NarniaFans post saying where we're at now, which is uncertainty. :/ I want to know what happened to the funding that Perry Moore got for Magician's Nephew and how that plays into all this.
Hello All! It's almost the end of August, so I thought I'd post something. :) When I started this blog, it was mostly to let my excitement about Narnia out! Especially right around the release of Dawn Treader! :) I also wanted to post things like Character profiles and devotionals and quotes and things. I would love to get to these soon, so stay tuned!
Reasons for my neglect:
1. There hasn't been much Narnia news at all! Here's one of my Aslan's Country friends' interpretation of the situation:
We are stuck at where we were months ago... Waiting for Fox and Walden (or someone else) to decide to do another film! The last thing we heard was they wanted to do Magician's Nephew next. At this point, I don't care so much which one they do next, I just want another one! Actually I want four more!!!! :D
NarniaWeb and YouTube's Glumpuddle posted an analysis on the situation and possible routes the franchise could take. I thought it was really interesting, so I'm posting it here:
2. I'm producing a movie! Yep, you heard me. We've made two smaller-scale films before with friends: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in 2006 and "The Silver Chair" in 2008. (I can't believe I haven't posted on this blog about them yet!) Both were so much fun! Over the years, we've learned more techniques through short film projects and a film club our church hosted. Now, with the help of many adults and teens from our area, I am producing, "First Impressions," which is based on Pride and Prejudice. This is the other blog on my profile. (Check it out here.)
3. It's summer!!! And this means I'm busy. :) I have managed to dig up a few interesting articles and sites for you though.
First, Did you know you can download the Narnia font?!?! I just found out! It's the one they use for the official movie logo. Click here to check it out! I made the image below with the Narnia font. :)
Second, a Narnia Cookbook is coming out!! The writer of the "Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook" is now writing a Narnia version. Here is the article where she mentions her next book, but I saw it first on Facebook. Can't wait to see what's in it! :)
Third, I'm having fun hosting a contest on YouTube! You make a rules video, then people post their videos as video responses to your contest video, then you get to watch them all and decide who passes to the next round! It's pretty fun. I'm posting my most recent video below. (I've also been neglecting editing because of the film.... :/) You can always find my "Narnia Music Vids" on the sidebar of this blog. :)
Fourth, my sister found this cool site called "Wordle" which you can use to make pictures with words. Just click "Create" up at the top, then put in your blog url! You can customize the words, layout, and colors. :) Below is one I made by pasting in my blog's url. Try it! It's amazing! :)
Last, and certainly most exciting, I GOT TO GO TO THE NARNIA EXHIBITION IN PORTLAND!!!!!!! Yes. I know. It deserves its own post! :) I'll make a post for it when I upload our Narnia Nerds of the Northwest video that Hannah and I took while we were there. For now, let me recap the most exciting parts for me:
Getting to go there with the Dokupils was AWESOMENESS. It was so fun to be with my fellow Narnia freak, so we could oooh and aaah together! :)
Being allowed (after many phonecalls and talking to staff) to take pictures and video inside the exhibit!! Matthew (Aslan's Country boss) called Walden to get permission because we were going to write a report on our site. The OMSI people finally let us, and we got press passes. :)
Getting to see the ACTUAL props from the films!!! When we first walked in, we saw Edmund's flashlight from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Skandar has touched it. I know that sounds weird. We're not weird Skandarfans, it's just awesome to think that that's the one they used in the films! After more costume displays, we spotted The Book of Incantations. Yup. The actual one!! We plopped down in front of that for about five minutes. :) Other original items: The White Witch's dress and crown, Susan's coronation crown, and the door and door frame from Tumnus' house!
Overall, it was just so amazing to get to go there. I would have been very sad if I couldn't have gone. If you have a chance to visit, I definitely recommend it. :)
You can read our report on Aslan's Country here. Hannah did an awesome job writing it, and Matthew made an amazing slideshow! :) Enjoy! And more coming soon!
Today is Georgie Henley's Sweet Sixteen birthday! She has so much experience and talent and beauty that it's hard to believe she's only 16! From interviews and premiere footage, Georgie seems sweet and kind and fun! Here's a couple interview videos to watch if you'd like:
Below are some Narnia-related things that have made me happy recently. Well, more than that. Excited. Giddy. That quivery inside feeling that C.S. Lewis would call Joy. Anyway… sorry this is rather long!!!!!!! :D
The Narnia Exhibition is coming to town!!! Well not really, but closer than it’s ever been. :D I got to write the story on Aslan’s Country that OMSI in Portland has been added to their schedule! I have been wanting to see the exhibition, of course, for a long time. Ever since we went on a trip across America last September and saw lots of things (including numerous museums), I have had a dream of starting the first-ever permanent Narnia Museum! Anyway, even if I never do, this will be super fun to see! I’m hoping to meet up with my friend Hannah (from Aslan’s Country) at the exhibition. Yay!
I hadn’t learned about this song until recently. It’s by Toby Mac, and it’s called “New World." It was included on the "Music Inspired by Narnia" CD, which was released right before LWW came out in theatres. Anyway, it’s not the song that brings me joy so much, it’s this video. Containing clips from both Disney Narnia movies (LWW and PC), it just completely sums up what Narnia is and what you go through when you watch those two films. It’s extremely well-edited and probably my favorite Narnia Music Video of all time. Enjoy!
Font: I just got this font called, “The King and Queen” (demonstration below), which just looks cool. I use it for my username on YouTube.
“Costume Chronicles.” Have you heard of that? I found this “webzine” the end of last year when they had a Jane Austen issue. (Jane Austen is my second favorite book/movie series by the way.) One of my friends alerted me to their current issue, which is about C.S. Lewis!! They only have one article on the clothes and costumes of Narnia, which is kind of odd. But I can’t complain because the rest is really good! The editor is a Christian, and the articles are commentaries on the books, movies, and characters of Narnia, often from a Christian viewpoint. I liked what the authors had to say. There is also an article about “Jack,” one about the film, “Shadowlands” (about C.S. Lewis), and one about “Til We Have Faces,” his strangest and most adult work of fiction. You can download and read it here.
A friend lent me his four-disc version of the LWW, so I finally got to see the extended edition of the LWW! It’s basically more traveling shots, and the battle is extended. One thing I really liked is the addition of more sad kids and mothers in the train station scene. It makes you feel for more kids in England, not just the four, and yet it makes the Pevensies more real, because you realize what they’re going through actually happened to a lot of kids. They didn’t put in any of the coronation dance, which I know they shot, since it’s in the trailer and the outtakes! The best thing was the “Complete Production Experience,” which was a full movie commentary with interviews and behind-the-scenes pictures and videos going on during the movie! There’s also a movie about C.S. Lewis, which I liked. :)
I also recently watched the “Prince Caspian” cast & director commentary, which I own, but just never watched! It was very insightful and entertaining. :) I was surprised how many crew members and family members played extras! A couple parts made me laugh out loud! For example, the scene entitled, “Edmund Saves the Day” is the one where Edmund stabs the ice wall with the White Witch in it. At the end Georgie (Lucy) quoted part of the script, “Two boys. Two kings. Two failures.” Skandar (Edmund) responded, “And on the other hand, Edmund saves the day!!” Hahaha… One part I thought was interesting was that Anna (Susan) and Ben (Caspian) were glad the archery scene where Susan and Caspian are flirting was cut out. They said that, besides it being a happy scene in the middle of this intense preparing-for-battle section, it played up the romance too much; It added yet another scene developing this relationship that wasn’t even in the book. Anna said that! I was so proud. I totally agree! :)
I’ve been having fun being on YouTube and connecting with other Narniacs who make Narnia Music Videos. I wanted to get a cooler background, so I found one I liked that someone else made, then used it as a template and imported my own pictures, cropped them, and colorized them, using Photoshop. It was really fun! The sides I made fade from green to purple and on them I typed lines from the Chronicles. On the left side is the first couple sentences of each book, and on the right side are all of the last lines of each book! It was very fun to make. :D Click here to see it on YouTube. :)
I’m pretty sure It’s legal to make a digital copy of a DVD you own to put on your ipod. Well I downloaded the “Magic DVD Ripper,” which someone mentioned on YouTube, and ripped the three Narnia films!! This makes it a lot easier to make music videos (because before I had all of these trailers and film clips and stuff I’d taken from online). So this opens up wide possibilities. :D The “I’m Reading a Book” video was the first one I put online that I edited from the digital copy.
Well, I haven’t played it recently, but I really enjoy playing this tetris game on “Spareoom.net”. You use the arrow keys to direct the pieces. There’s a lot of other Narnia games online. Maybe I’ll do a blog post on “The Games of Narnia” someday. :)
Have you ever seen the movie, “Swan Princess”? It’s loosely based on the ballet “Swan Lake,” and it has animation and songs like an old Disney film. Anyway, there’s this cute song called “This is My Idea,” where Prince Derek and Princess Odette are lamenting having to marry each other when they grow up, and all of the sudden they realize they love each other. Someone on YouTube edited a video to this song using Edmund and Lucy as they grow up in LWW and PC. It’s really cute!
And here’s a couple of pictures that I like. They're all from different places and made by different people. This first one is by my friend Nicky. It's awesome. :)
(look at the necklace!)
Wow, those pictures were random. Yep! But they are joyful!!! :) That’s all. Have a nice day! :)
I don't know if you've noticed the YouTube widget I added on my sidebar. :) Well those are Narnia Music Videos that I have made. I really enjoy editing footage from the movies to songs that fit! It's my favorite "hobby," you could say. Anyway, for a time I was all of the sudden getting all of these ideas for music videos, and I made a lot of them! Some of them are still on my list-to-edit. :)
My sister's birthday was yesterday, and I wanted to make her a music video that she would love. I used the song, "I'm Reading a Book" by Julian Smith. LOL! If you haven't seen the original, you can see it here. Here's my Dawn Treader version. When I started editing, I didn't know how it would turn out, but I kept finding perfect clips to use!
I was also inspired to do a number of Christian music videos. Go to YT to read the descriptions. I'll just embed the videos below. :)
And I entered two Narnia YouTube contests with these two videos below. The first one I had lots of fun using effects on my Adobe Premiere Pro. The second one I had fun using clips from all three movies. :)
I also did two fun videos. One about Edmund to a song by David Archuleta, and one about all of the Boys to a "High School Musical" song. Hahaha...
Last but not least, I had fun making two short "search-stories" using a YouTube program. One is for Aslan's Country, the other is called "Thank You for Narnia." :)
I've done a couple more, but they were blocked temporarily. I'm going to try to fix them. :) And there will probably be lots more coming! :) So if you're on YouTube, keep an eye on my channel! NarniaMusicVids
In exactly one week, God willing, I will be holding my very own “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” two-disc DVD!!!!!!!!!
I am hoping to go to Walmart on April 8 to buy one. I’d like to see if the DVD really has a different case than the Blu-ray, which would not be fair. The Blu-ray case is gorgeous!! (As I explained in my post, Beautiful Narnianess.) I’ll also check the prices. If it is a LOT more at Walmart than Amazon, I’ll probably buy it at Amazon and get it on Tuesday. (with free 2 day shipping! ) :D
In preparation for the release, many AC stories have mentioned promotions and new websites, etc. Not as much as right before the movie came out in theatres, but you can definitely tell that they’ve picked up their marketing again. Here are a few links to check out:
Moving Pictures Company has posted a video on the VFX side of making Dragon Eustace. There’s also one from Prince Caspian about Reepicheep. Since the DVD and Blu-ray premiered in Brazil yesterday, some deleted scene clips have shown up. For example, a clip called “Mutiny,” which is mentioned in the disc descriptions. Also, someone mentioned on Facebook a scene where Lucy is dressed in boy’s clothes and Caspian teases her, saying, “Hey lad, you haven't seen a young girl anywhere?”
On a related note, someone mentioned they can’t wait to see these scenes put where they belong when the Director’s Cut version is released. This sounds exciting! Is she just guessing? Or will there actually be a “Director’s Cut” or and “Extended Version”?
