Hobbit film sets and such

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm thinking the Elvenking's halls. And I agree about not calling them spy shots, which is why I removed that from the title.

[Alatar]

My first impression was the Elvenking's Halls too.

[Elentári]

Could be Elvenking's Halls, most likely Galion's cellars or the dungeons...but seems more Dwarvish to me...perhaps we are looking at the inside of Erebor?

[SirDennis]

Ele, now that you mention it, there is a cellar feel to the columns -- short with broad capitols (?). Could be the dungeon at Mirkwood, or perhaps where barrels are stored? The window frame appears to be inlaid with blue stones or a small painted ivy motif. The window frame itself suggests an above ground structure. It kind of reminds me of the window Galadriel was framed in during the telepathy scene with Elrond from LOTR.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The thing that suggests Erebor to me is that some of it appears to suggest that it is turning into ruins.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Or maybe (as some at TORN have suggested) it is a mix of different sets.

[Elentári]

Judging by this as pointed out on TORn, it seems that it's all just props and scenery from some video game called "Cardinal"

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I don't believe anything that comes from the Noldor Blog. He has been consistent wrong (sometimes blatantly so). It may well be that the props aren't for The Hobbit, but at this point I'm not convinced that they aren't.

[SirDennis]

Voronwë do you think this might be part of an elaborate deception intended to keep fans away? The so called spy shots at Miramar featuring set pieces also posted recently on the Noldor Blog?

Overheard in NZ:
"Hey lets follow that "Cardinal sign" for a first hand glimpse of movie making history."
"Nah, it's just for a video game by a lesser known NZ director."
"Yeah, no biggie. Cuppa?"

Or is the speculation meant to help the Cardinal project?

It is strange that there hasn't been a definitive statement. For one thing the images were posted by the site and not taken down. On the other hand we know they can sit on information (ie the casting Elijah Wood).

Speculating on things we hear from around the net is one thing. But if TORn has a hand in muddying the waters, well, that runs counter to what I thought they were all about.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I suspect that if the shots weren't from The Hobbit, the powers that be at TORN would have said so by now. They're pretty good at that type of thing.

[SirDennis]

Good point.

[Kezmoid]

I going with Elven-King's Halls as well. The way those pillars open out, almost like a flower, seems more appropriate for the Elves of Mirkwood than the Dwarves. I also recall the design team on the extended edition extras/commentaries talking about how they only used straight lines for the Dwarven architecture in Moria, which further suggests Elven design to me.

[Elentári]

Returning to the "Barrels out of Bonds" feature 2 weeks ago, it seems the Aratiatia rapids are indeed being investigated for the purpose of barrel-riding!

A crew have been spotted performing some kind of tests with pink barrels at the Falls.

Just sending you a few pics of the activity going on at the Aratiatia Rapids where they have started filming for the barrell scenes in The Hobbit, they had heaps of safety people there as pretty dangerous stuff, mostly all wound up when I took the pics, but shows the barrels they were using for when the Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves, rode the rapids in barrels to get away from the orcs I think it was. the barrels are pink so as to allow for them being digitalized apparently. the hyab truck was in place to maybe film up the rapids, anyway, they used both ends of the rapids to do the job, as you will see. there are big barrels on the truck, plus a small one, I guess for scaling for Hobbit size??

[Elentári]

A visitor to the Hobbiton set has posted on TORN saying now is a great time to visit!

since the filmed was pushed back due to PJ being in hospital it’s been reopened. Well, because they should have been filming right now, the set is PERFECT. All the hobbit holes are complete, there is fruit on the trees and flowers in the gardens – it is like being in the Shire. They even have the (fake) tree above Bag End, and have expanded the set to include more hobbit holes than they used in LOTR.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Lonely Mountain will apparently be all CGI.

Mountain not needed for movie

Three Foot Seven Productions publicist Melissa Booth said there was no way Mt Taranaki would be used as the Lonely Mountain.

"We don't need a mountain," Ms Booth said.

"Mt Doom (in the Lord Of The Rings) is a completely artist-created fictional painting," she said.

"It's already established so it can't be changed."

Either Ms. Booth was completely misquoted, she is completely confused, or they are completely changing things around, since if you read that quote literally, it says that they are making the Lonely Mountain into the same thing as Mt. Doom.

Well, that's one way to tie the two storylines together and connect the Hobbit films to the LOTR films. But not a good way, and can't believe that is really true.

[Primula Baggins]

Very odd. I'm more inclined to believe a publicist got confused than that they'd make such a change.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Yeah, she obviously was either misquoted (although I don't see how) or she was confused. There is no way they would do something that ridiculous.

[River]

Shall we put that on your tombstone?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

From the Dominion Post, the one photo released from the first day of shooting:


Man PJ is skinny!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Another one, from Peter Jackson's new Facebook page: