On Being a Knowledge Worker: Case Study- Report Writing Assignment

Internal Code: MAS-1256

Report Writing Assignment:

Case Study: The third of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, The Return of the King received a remarkable eleven Academy Awards in early 2004. By that time, the trilogy had grossed a record-breaking $3 billion in box-office sales. The first two films, The Fellowship ofthe Ring and The Two Towers, also won Oscars, and all three films made it into the top ten revenue-generating movies of all time.The dream of a young New Zealand movie maker, Peter Jackson, The Lord of the Rings trilogy was a milestone for the movie industry. Jackson had learned his craft, and built a modest professional reputation, making a series of low budget but critically acclaimed films. By age 33 he was completing his first Hollywood-backed film, The Frighteners, starring Michael J Fox. Jackson turned his attention to Tolkien’s trilogy after learning that the rights for a more modest idea – to film the same author’s earlier book, The Hobbit – were already taken. Jackson developed his career as a member of a lively Wellington, New-Zealand-based film- making milieu. Its members included long-time friend and Oscar-winning co-director of Shrek, Andrew Adamson; special effects experts Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, who would become key players in filming the Tolkien trilogy; and Jackson’s wife, screenwriter Fran Walsh. Jackson was also a member of a worldwide community of Tolkien fans – reaching as far as a Frodo Society in northern Borneo – to which he looked for inspiration. The Lord of the Rings was made under contract between Jackson’s New Zealand company, Wingnut Productions, and the Hollywood production company New Line Cinema. New Line Cinema had never attempted anything on the scale of a seven-year trilogy at a budget of $264 million. Industry insiders predicted that failure ‘‘would have sent Jackson’s career into a tailspin, and toppled a major studio.’’ A digital and special effects company called Weta, led by Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger, was formed. Weta developed technology to give ‘‘life’’ to digital characters, so that each could act on its own and also react to the environment. The New Zealand film-making industry had cut its teeth on a series of earlier films that gained international attention. Among them were Jane Campion’s The Piano (with young Oscar-winning Anna Paquin), Once Were Warriors, and Jackson’s earlier film Heavenly Creatures (starring a then unknown Kate Winslet). Television series such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and Xena:WarriorPrincess helped build expertisefor filming in NewZealand’s natural environment-with mountains, glaciers and dense rainforests all in close proximity. The national industry was better prepared for Jackson’s trilogy than many might have imagined. Everything came together. One commentator noted that ‘‘The sheer logistical achievement...is prize-worthy: seven years in the making; 15 months of principal photography; nine camera units operating simultaneously; re-shoots every year to enhance and refine; the creation of [Jackson’s] own studio and special effects house in New Zealand, far away from the Hollywood establishment.’’ Near the end of the project, soundtrack composer Howard Shore commented ‘‘It’s really bittersweet because we’ve worked on it for so long and so hard, with great collaboration and true friendship. The Lord of the Rings is also our story.’’ Many of the principals in the making of the trilogy moved on to other projects with their reputations greatly enhanced. The profiles of the main cast – such as Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen and Liv Tyler, originally chosen for their enthusiasm for the Tolkien project – skyrocketed. Peter Jackson accepted an invitation from Hollywood to direct the remake of the block-buster movie, King Kong. That and various other movies would soon reuse the talents of many of the original Lord of the Rings cast and crew.