The Golden Compass videogame developer Shiny Entertainment’s Concept Artist Sean O’Daniels talks to GameSpy about bringing the game world to life. He writes, “When we began working on The Golden Compass game, there wasn’t a great deal of reference material to work from. After all, we started long before the cameras began to roll. I knew the film’s production designer, Dennis Gassner, would have his own vision of Lyra’s world. With no direction or style guide to follow I tried to understand The Golden Compass and tried to imagine how Lyra saw her world.”
With no time for pre-production on the game, O’Daniel’s art was used for as a “style guide, [for] promotional purposes and for providing inspiration to the team.” Read the full interview over at GameSpy.
Two new pieces of concept art were published along with the interview – you can view them below.
The producers of The Butterfly Tattoo are offering to chance to appear on screen in the movie adaptation of Philip Pullman’s novel. Friday sees the filming of a large ballroom scene where the principal characters first meet, and “150 to 250 extras” are sought. The Oxford Mail reports that, “Men and women aged 18 to 30 are needed to act as guests at the ball, with women wearing ball gowns or full evening dresses and men wearing tuxedos or tailcoats.” Production assisstant Lew Fryer states that, “All extra work is unpaid, but food will be provided. This will be a very exciting shoot to be involved in, especially for people who would like to get involved in the film world. It’s a great way of learning more about the industry and making good contacts.”
If you’re interested in attending, you can email tbtextras@googlemail.com with your age, phone number and a photo of yourself in what you will be wearing.
Sega’s “Asset Wrangler” on The Golden Compass movie, David Allen, has updated his IGN blog with more details of his time on the movie set. He posts some screenshots and photographs comparing the on-set environment with that digitally constructed by Shiny for the videogame and talks about the “geomatics agency” on set that used lasers to scan props and actors in the film. You can also view a photo of when an English town was transformed into the port of Trollesund. Read more.
An official-looking Japanese site on The Golden Compass has popped up. New Line appear to be running another audition for Lyra – this time for Japanese girls, presumably to voice the dub when the film is released in Japan next March. In a video on the site, director Chris Weitz says, “I’m very excited to have the chance to find another Lyra, from Japan. Please do not miss this opportunity, and I look forward to seeing you in London this November.” Also on the site is a Japanese trailer for the film – it mostly uses footage we’ve already seen, but there’s a couple of new shots within it. You can view it below.
In addition, there’s a few other items dotted about the site. The “keyholder” below seems to be available for fans buying tickets in advance; whilst this map featuring cute cartoon renditions of the characters/actors is a simple maze-puzzle. It’s available in pdf here, with the solution here.
Dakota’s unofficial fansite has scored the actress’ first autograph. The photo signed is a new image from the film. You can view the image in full over at dakota blue resource.
The producers of 
