Huge Interest In Web-Based Audio-Visual On LOTR

Media release from Shift

www.shift.co.nz

www.purenz.com/lotr

December 18 2001

Huge Interest In Web-Based Audio-Visual On Lord Of The Rings

As excitement builds about the first feature in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which is receiving rave reviews in London and has its Australasian premiere in Wellington tomorrow, a web-based audio visual that lets people journey through the New Zealand landscapes seen in the movie is receiving massive interest internationally.

A stunning audio visual flash movie produced by New Zealand internet communications company Shift is on the Tourism New Zealand’s purenz.com website. It lets visitors to the site journey through the spectacular New Zealand countryside that became the backdrop for Lord of the Rings., accompanied by the voice of New Zealand actor Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess ).

“We launched the website movie on the same day that Lord of the Rings had its London premiere”, says Shift’s Director, Selwyn Feary. “Our aim was to help Tourism New Zealand make the most of the phenomenal interest in Lord of the Rings, by showing the enormous impact that New Zealand’s people and environment had on the way the film was made.”

The landscapes and scenery are undoubtedly co-stars stars of the film, playing a fantastic supporting role to the imagination of Peter Jackson. It is vital that New Zealand get full credit for that, says Mr Feary.

“Lord of the Rings fans and media all over the world can’t get enough about the movie…we want to capitalise on that interest for this country. With the world’s eyes on us for a short time, New Zealand now has to use our chance to tell the world what we have to offer in the best possible way.”

Lord of the Rings is an extraordinary technical and artistic achievement. Like Peter Jackson, Shift has used ultra-modern technology to tell its story and get the messages across. It was a big technical challenge to take a lot of images and information about Lord of the Rings, and manipulate them so that people can see them via the internet. The site is interactive, so that a visitor to the site can stop the movie and drill down for more detailed information, then start the movie again.

“As well as showing people our gorgeous scenery and people, we want the world to know that we are an advanced, innovative society. We can get that across to people in a lively, fun way by clever use of web and communications technology”, Selwyn Feary says.

Since its launch a week ago, the web-based audio-visual movie has greatly boosted the number of hits to the purenz.com website, and has been linked to Lord of the Rings fan websites all over the world.

“We have been getting positive feedback on the website from all over the world – that is exciting”, says Selwyn Feary.

For further information:

Selwyn Feary
Director
Shift Limited
Tel: 04 499 8050
www.shift.co.nz

www.purenz.com/lotr

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