'Lord of the Rings' DVD Scores with ednet

Conquering time and space

How do you score a DVD when the director is shooting the film's sequel in New Zealand, the composer is based in New York and the scoring stage is located in London? The Lord of the Rings production turned to ednet for a solution!

With the Dolby Fax Plus systems and Polycom FX videoconference systems supplied by ednet, New Line Cinema was able to connect all the players for the scoring of The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Cut DVD.

On a gigantic work that spanned three continents, Assistant Music Editor, Nigel Scott, told us: "It was important for Peter Jackson (Director) and Howard Shore (Composer) to have a means of reviewing picture and score in real-time with good quality audio. It's greatest use came during the actual scoring in London. The score was recorded using The London Philharmonic Orchestra with The London Voices. An ISDN [DolbyFax] review would happen during the orchestra's break so that any changes decided upon could be assimilated into the takes later in the day. Howard's team (in New York) would send a stereo mix via Dolby AC-3 units and Timecode from the Colin Broad SMPTE Synchronizer, so that Peter could review the material locked to picture (in New Zealand). At the same time we had a Polycom Viewstation FX set up for video conferencing so that Peter and Howard could talk through their notes. Since the [work on the] DVD, Extended Cut, we've used the system throughout the year (generally once a week) to continue the spotting and review of score mock-ups for "The Two Towers".

Call us at 1-800-93-ednet to find out what we can do for you!