Almost every project I’ve been involved with has required a scope change – a change to the original agreement between vendor and client due to some unforeseen change.

Maybe the client comes up with some harebrained idea midway through the project, maybe the people working on the project get too busy, maybe there’s a legitimate change that neither group could predict. When these scope changes happen, I usually think of Lord of the Rings trilogy.

If you’ve seen The Return of the King, you’ve seen the “winged Nazgul” that swoop down on the city of Gondor. They’re the big black “fell beasts” shown below:

In one of the “Passing of the Age” feature on the The Return of the King, Extended edition DVD, the filmmakers discuss how the scene came about. Apparently the production was moving very fast as the release approached, and there was a scene in the script for a single fell beast to swoop down over the city and rain terror and debris on the citizens of Gondor.

Weta Digital got the shot, read the script, and saw that there were 4 fell beasts instead of 1. Each one had to be visualized, produced, and digitized. The unshakeable release date for the movie loomed larger and larger, and the scope of the job had just quadrupled.

And yet, when the Nazgul fly over the city in the final movie, the audience falls silent in awe.

The Appendices on the DVD showcase the numerous other scope changes that caused chaos and all-nighters at Weta, such as:

• Producer Barry Osborne calling intense “all-hands” meetings of all departments to coordinate the varying messages coming from director Peter Jackson, as Jackson came up with new ideas during shooting.
• The number of shots going up as the deadline loomed – with 5 weeks to go, the effects group had more shots to go than the first 2 movies combined.
• Sound guys frantically coordinating the sound of each footfall of Shelob, the giant eight-legged spider, as the Shelob shots changed from day to day.
• Weta Digital adding trolls crashing through the gates of Gondor, despite the fact that the scenes shot had not been prepped for the trolls to be inserted.
• The special effects people hearing the line “The eagles are coming,” and realizing they had to design and produce eagles flying over the still unfinished army.
• The “silent wave”that the special effects team did as Peter Jackson approved the final shot of the ring melting into the lava of Mount Doom.

All of the filmmakers on the Appendices note the intensity, the tension, the fear and rank smell of flop sweat that infused the last few months. It sounds like a backbreaking slog that resulted in every team member pushed to the limit, and it was far from the ideal method of making a movie.

But the DVD goes on to show the movies sweeping the Oscars, the sense of pride (and disbelief) the filmmakers felt in their achievement, and the massive appreciation of the fans and the world at large. There’s a sense that although it cost them dearly, it was, as Ian McKellan says, “a journey worth going on.”

Because scope changes often result in chaos, but sometimes they result in great art.

Awesome – the classic children’s television show The Electric Company is now on iTunes!

What’s next – Today’s Special? Tranzor Z? Starblazers?

This opens up whole new possibilities for iTunes – selling classic TV for nostalgic Gen X’ers and beyond. Relive the Saturday Mornings of your childhood, at only $2 a download.

There’s nothing quite like walking up stairs with an armful of books to read.

Right now I’ve got a nice blend of religious study, historical epics, work-related study, short story collections, and 1 random book (The Joy Luck Club) picked up from a used book sale.

It’s been good to get back into a regular reading schedule. Just finished The Quiet American, and started The Gold Bug Variations.

This weekend I had a free movie coupon for Blockbuster’s, so I decided to swing by the Blockbuster on Mass Ave in Boston.  There were a bunch of new releases coming out, so I figured it’d be no problem to find something I wanted.

Saw about 100 plastic holders for “Stranger than Fiction” – all copies gone.  The Prestige – all plastic, no copies.  Hollywoodland was there, but I didn’t feel like it.  A Good Year and Tenacious D were in, but I’ll probably never see those.

Figured I’d catch up on some classic movies I’d never seen.  Here’s what else was not at Blockbuster:

• Brazil
• Casablanca
• Hustle & Flow
• Crimes and Misdemeanors
• Perfect Blue (anime)
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Shogun (just finished the book)

Now come on – who’s renting “Brazil” on a Friday night???  (Well, other than me.)

More importantly – if someone else is watching Brazil, why do I have to wait for them to return it before I can watch it?  Why can’t I just press a button (like with OnDemand) or click a mouse (like Limewire) and the movie comes on?

In the end, I asked the clerks if there were any extra copies of “The Prestige” and they found one in the just returned pile.  Two weeks later there will probably be dozens of copies of The Prestige on the shelf while some other release takes up shelf, but that’s two weeks too late for me.

Think I’ll stick to on demand and DVD purchases, and skip Blockbuster whenever I want to watch a good movie.

The MBTA recently installed fluorescent lighting at the Courthouse stop on the Silver Line. Took the photos below last evening, to show how much it resembles something out of Disney Tomorrowland.

Not sure if they’re going to eventually cover these lights with posters – the lights on the wall seem way too big for a translucent poster.

I kind of hope they leave them uncovered, add a disco ball, and turn the whole thing into a roller rink. It’d make the commute into work WAY more interesting.