Made before production on The Golden Compass movie had begun, this video from New Line runs through the plot of the first His Dark Materials book to introduce the project to anyone unfamiliar with the novel. After a brief introduction to Philip Pullman and the successes the books have had, the twenty-seven minute video proceeds to detail the plot of the film through the use of actors, narration and storyboarding. You can view the video in three parts over at our YouTube channel; or simply watch the first of the three videos embedded below, with the remaining two below the fold. Enjoy.
Update: New Line have asked us to take down this footage as it was produced by Anand Tucker – the previous director for the film – and is “not an appropriate representation of the film being produced.” Naturally we’re disappointed: the video has been receiving positive comments, and viewers will not be so naive as to assume the film will be exactly like this footage. We’ll comply with the request however, and no longer link to the video. New Line have also been targeting the video on sites such as YouTube, so it may not be possible to find the footage elsewhere on the web at all.
Hmmm interesting stuff. Snazzy. This is how you get foreign distribution and marketing deals.
Nice to see all the storyboards and concept art. Interesting to note that some concept shots ended up in the final/near final film, to a near T, like Lyra and Mrs. C on the observation deck.
Is that Olivia Williams (Peter Pan, Rushmore) voicing Coulter?
They should use the opening minute and a half of the first video the promote the film instead. Much more inticing!
Interesting to hear Pullman say “I didn’t write the book in order to send a message – I wrote the book in order to tell a story. The book is not about predestination, free will or authority and revolt. The book is about Lyra. The book is about a little girl.” I wouldn’t have believed it from anyone else.
Funny, I thought they must have been intending to cut Lee Scoresby = and then he’s mentioned right at the end.
Plenty of gore in the bear fight ….
Sorry for my spelling…
I really hope that they have this as an extra on the DVD, it provides more insight into the production process than most of the extras that you get.
Very interesting. Glad i got to see this. Wish it wasn’t on youtube. the quality sucks.
Also like the romeo and juliet music over the end ^_^
This made me cry, it was so beautiful. The music choices are fantastic, too: Edward Scissorhands, Romeo & Juliet, A Beautiful Mind–brilliant! Does anyone know what piece is playing during the first couple of minutes about Pullman?
Its really interesting, because you can see how its evolved from this all the way to the extended preview that came out a few weeks ago. The ways that the plot has moved around, they’ve done a wonderful job trying to figure out the best ways to make it fit. Its also interesting that the story board, in some parts, seems farther away from the book plot than the way the movie looks.
Energy: Yeah, the quality isn’t great; sorry about that. I have the file in the original format and am working on getting it available for download for a reasonable filesize. I just wanted to get it on YouTube first so everyone could see it.
Thanks Will, I look forward to that. I’m not too worried about filesize, but I know bandwidth can be an issue. Maybe put the file on rapidshare or something? Not a perfect solution, but keeps peeps like me happy 🙂
Very nice… I especially liked the live-action bit with Lyra and Pan in the first one. It’s the longest shot we’ve seen so far of daemons, even if it isn’t finished. Also, it doesn’t seem like they’ve changed much of the plot; the only major thing I noticed was Billy being the severed child. And Lyra not knowing Lord Asriel was her father until the end. All in all, I’m happy with it.
Aryl, the music at the beginning is by Ralph von Williams, called “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis”.
Thanks, Amy! 🙂 I appreciate the help!
Seeing all the great artwork in this makes me think HDM would probably work better as an animation than live-action! Hopefully the finished movie turns out as good as the storyboards seem. I also hope Dakota Blue Richards can act as well as the girl playing Lyra here. Her line deliveries were spot on, and more often than not very powerful too.
I kind of agree with the animation comment… After seeing Howl’s Moving Castle, I thought about how great it would be for Hayao Miyazaki to do The Golden Compass. Does anyone agree with me?
Howl’s Moving Castle is Dakota’s favourite film. 🙂
Really? What a coincidence!
And how do you know that, Will?
PS: I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just curiosity.
And by the way, was that Citagazze at the begining of the video?
It’s in our much belated Dakota interview. I’m on it; I promise..
Will! thanks for the high quality version. 😀
*ads to his HDM media folder* heheheh
After the 5 min preview of the film, and this I’m feeling much happier about this film. Still not to keen on their image of London & the gyptains, but i think I’ll be able to enjoy this version of the story.
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I wanted Hayao Miyazaki to do the Golden Compass film for ages.
That interview…it didn’t disappear! 🙂
Glad I’m not the only one who thinks so!
Wouldn’t it just be so awesome? They could still do it, ya know.
Yah boo sucks to NewLine – so what are they afraid of?
Anyone got this for direct download? Can they transfer it through LimeWire or Morpheus?
27min can’t be more than 200MB
I would love to see it
Sorry – should have said – this is posted after the video had been ‘withdrawn’ by NewLine
Will. Do you work for the Golden Compass as you seem to have the answers? If so why don`t we hear more about Roger as he is a main character in the book and this film. But his name does not seem to appear any where. It`s not listed on reviews, cast lists and has only recently beed added to the main GC cast list. I thought the story was about lyra going on a journey to find her best friend roger who had been taken by the Goblins. This is what the basis of the story is all about and I think people have lost sight of this. Please comment.
Gobblers, Satchel, Gobblers.