Visual Effects

Alex Funke

Born 1944-10-12 · Santa Barbara, California, USA

Acting credits

The Fellowship of the Ring: From Book to Script poster
NR

Recounting of the long process of adapting the text of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring for film, a project that had begun in 1997. This involved countless adjustments of scenes, about a hundred screenplay revisions, and constant reordering of key moments from the story to fit the brevity of a film.

The Fellowship of the Ring: From Book to Script

2002

The Fellowship of the Ring: Designing and Building Middle-earth + Weta Workshop + Costume Design poster
NR

This documentary introduces Wētā Workshop (and its design crew of sculptors and set-designers), renowned artists Alan Lee and John Howe who were brought on to join them in conceptual design, and costume designer Ngila Dickson. Topics covered include the design of Middle-earth cultures portrayed in the film, the making of props and settings for Hobbiton, Rivendell, the Orthanc interior, and Caras Galadhon, and the complexity of prosthetics.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Designing and Building Middle-earth + Weta Workshop + Costume Design

2002

The Making of 'The Fellowship of the Ring' poster
8.8

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Created by filmmaker Costa Botes, personally selected by director Peter Jackson, this documentary uses raw footage to reveal the inside story on how the greatest adventure film franchise was born.

The Making of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'

2006

The Fellowship of the Ring: Storyboards and Pre-Viz: Making Words into Images poster
NR

This documentary covers the early storyboard, pre-visualization, and screening processes in the production. Christian Rivers, a Wētā Workshop art director in the production team, drew most of the storyboards of the plot of the movie. After scene design was finalized, Peter Jackson used toy-sized miniatures of setting and characters, to review and decide on camera movements for each scene. The computer graphics program PreViz was then used to visualize the scenes with basic 3D models.

The Fellowship of the Ring: Storyboards and Pre-Viz: Making Words into Images

2002

RKO Production 601: The Making of “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World” poster
8.0

The astonishing story of the genesis, production, worldwide success, and legacy of King Kong (1933), directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, a landmark of cinema, one of the most influential motion pictures in history.

RKO Production 601: The Making of “Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World”

2008

The Fellowship of the Ring: Big-atures poster
NR

Behind-the-scenes documentary of the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

The Fellowship of the Ring: Big-atures

2002

Behind the camera