Hobbit Video Diary links and discussion

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I would seriously doubt it. I think that is the one thing that they are leaving unspoiled. Which would make me just as happy.

[Elentári]

Agreed - as much as I am looking forward to seeing Persbrandt in this film, I really want Beorn to be a surprise.

Actually, I think I shall definitely avoid a lot more spoilers nearer the time this time round!

[Elentári]

New Vlog is up:

https://www.facebook.com/PeterJacksonNZ?fref=ts

Off to watch it myself...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Underwhelming, I thought. Why did he waste the first two minutes tell us what he wasn't going to do at comic-con. Oh well, I'm sure there was some good stuff in there.

[Elentári]

Yeah, "Sorry" didn't need to take that much time!

The highlights for me...
- Thranduil - love Pace, his costumes, his armour and his "Halls" - we finally got a glimpse of his private quarters!
- Bard and Laketown
- Dwarves in their cocoons
- Ruined Dale set in the snow

Lowlights...
-Dwarves exercise video spoof
- Hillarious expression on Lilly's face as Tauriel "rides" behind Legolas on fake horse (still can't decide if she was acting or playing the fool!)
- cute kid actor grown too much since principle photography!
- Decision to recreate Pelorus river set in the studio - PJ says "I promise you won't see a difference" Why bother with location shooting at all, eh, if you're going to "trust the studio" more and CGI everything?

Stuff that raises more questions...

-Gandalf and Bilbo in Dale?
-Thrain leading Gandalf through DG...not a zombie Thrain after all? Gandalf does not have Glamdring in either of those clips (2:15 and 7:55) so could be the flashback to how he got the map and key?
- Dwarves seemingly repelling an attack by Smaug
- We saw a shot of Tauriel and Kili together, though not in full costume...was this a rehearsal of a scene from the romance subplot?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thought the Dwarvercise (or whatever) was idiotic.

I'm pretty sure Lilly was just goofing; or maybe I am just being hopeful.

I don't mind the use of the studio to supplement the river shooting that they did. It will be okay, I'm pretty sure.

The Gandalf and Bilbo in Dale thing was really curious. That has to be in the last film, doesn't it? Otherwise there are even bigger changes than I expected. I'll have to watch again for the Thrain and Gandalf, but that seems encouraging. I completely missed the "Dwarves seemingly repelling an attack by Smaug" so I'll definitely have to watch it again.

Thranduil is really seeming to have the chance to be one of the best characters of all six films.

[Elentári]

it's about 1:54, quite early on: there is a very brief shot of the dwarves backing away on set and with a red and orange flickering light, which could well be Smaug's fire!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Thanks, that does seem to be what that might be. If so, though, it doesn't appear that the Dwarves are attacking Smaug, quite the opposite. Which would be okay with me, relatively.

[Elentári]

Well, yes - after all, Smaug did attack them by the secret door, and drove them inside before he smashed the mountainside. so an expansion on that would be fine.

But thinking back to one of the interviews RA gave, when asked about working with Cumberbatch, he intimated that he would be coming face to face with him in DoS, so conclusions are being drawn that Thorin will be taunted by Smaug rather like Aragorn was by Sauron at the Black Gate. Would you be okay with that? Would any dialogue between the two detract from Bilbo's big moment with Smaug? One would imagine that the "riddles with Smaug" would have already taken place before the Dwarves are attacked and trapped...

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Depends on how it works, I suppose. I would rather there not be any dialogue at all, but like with everything else, I will reserve judgment until I see it. But absolutely my priority is that any confrontation between Smaug and the Dwarves not overshadow or distract from Bilbo's confrontation(s) with the beast.

Meanwhile, Jackson shared this as well, with the caption "This morning at Dale. One of the few nice things about a 7am start!"

[Dave_LF]

Is that a little preview of the Laketown theme they're giving us at the end?

[Elentári]

Bilbo in Dale - this must almost certainly be from TABA - an eagle-eyed viewer has spotted that Bilbo is wearing the mithril shirt!

http://constantlycold.tumblr.com/post/5 ... he-mithril

[Elentári]

Meanwhile, Jackson shared this as well, with the caption "This morning at Dale. One of the few nice things about a 7am start!"

And the companion image is now up on PJ's FB page:

Evening at Dale. And 11 hours later, we're still going.

[Alatar]

Looks ok to me, but here's the funny thing. Remember how all the buildup to AUJ was showing stuff that we knew from the books, and all the new stuff was kind of a surprise? Maybe they are deliberately taking the opposite approach here, showing us all the departures from the text in advance, so that we're more pleased by the canon stuff when we see the movies? That would explain the emphasis on Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil, Bard and Bain. we don't need to be shown Bilbo and Gandalf, they're a known quantity.

Also, regarding Laketown, its perfectly obvious from those pics that it is indeed on stilts, but that its closer to water level. Hardly a hanging offense. Its not like Lakes are tidal!

[Frelga]

That's why I don't believe the line that he is just in it for the money. No one puts so much passion into something they only do for cash.

[Passdagas the Brown]

That's why I don't believe the line that he is just in it for the money. No one puts so much passion into something they only do for cash.

I agree with this. PJ is certainly passionate about his film-making, and clearly enjoys creating these films. If he was a better artist and more disciplined director, if he had a more nuanced understanding of Tolkien's work, and if he had a better writing team, these films would have been absolute gems.

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. But it also could have been a lot better.

[Elentári]

Looks ok to me, but here's the funny thing. Remember how all the buildup to AUJ was showing stuff that we knew from the books, and all the new stuff was kind of a surprise? Maybe they are deliberately taking the opposite approach here, showing us all the departures from the text in advance, so that we're more pleased by the canon stuff when we see the movies? That would explain the emphasis on Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil, Bard and Bain. we don't need to be shown Bilbo and Gandalf, they're a known quantity.

I've been thinking much the same thing, Al. It was weird how pretty much none of the "unexpected" stuff came out in the build-up, and it was a little jaw dropping when it all came out in the wash! You could be right that this time they are going for the reverse psychology...though as others have pointed out, naturally the vlogs are going to feature stuff from the current pick ups, which a lot of, presumably, is going to be the invented stuff being used to fill out the revised 3-film screenplay, with the canon storyline for DoS having already been filmed.

[Elentári]

That's why I don't believe the line that he is just in it for the money. No one puts so much passion into something they only do for cash.

I agree with this. PJ is certainly passionate about his film-making, and clearly enjoys creating these films. If he was a better artist and more disciplined director, if he had a more nuanced understanding of Tolkien's work, and if he had a better writing team, these films would have been absolute gems.

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. But it also could have been a lot better.

Totally. When Jackson gets it right it is breath-taking, which makes it all the more disappointing when he misses the mark .

[Passdagas the Brown]

That's why I don't believe the line that he is just in it for the money. No one puts so much passion into something they only do for cash.

I agree with this. PJ is certainly passionate about his film-making, and clearly enjoys creating these films. If he was a better artist and more disciplined director, if he had a more nuanced understanding of Tolkien's work, and if he had a better writing team, these films would have been absolute gems.

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. But it also could have been a lot better.

Totally. When Jackson gets it right it is breath-taking, which makes it all the more disappointing when he misses the mark .

It boggles the mind that the same person who filmed the dwarf-singing scene at night, followed by Bilbo's awakening, is the same person that gave us the pinball dwarf iPad game called Goblintown. The difference in quality is like the distance from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy. Almost an unfathomable distance!

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I agree with this. PJ is certainly passionate about his film-making, and clearly enjoys creating these films. If he was a better artist and more disciplined director, if he had a more nuanced understanding of Tolkien's work, and if he had a better writing team, these films would have been absolute gems.

Sure, it could have been a lot worse. But it also could have been a lot better.

Totally. When Jackson gets it right it is breath-taking, which makes it all the more disappointing when he misses the mark .

It boggles the mind that the same person who filmed the dwarf-singing scene at night, followed by Bilbo's awakening, is the same person that gave us the pinball dwarf iPad game called Goblintown. The difference in quality is like the distance from Earth to the Andromeda Galaxy. Almost an unfathomable distance!

The bottom line is that Jackson unabashedly films to meet his own tastes, and they seem to have a wide range from teen age thrill ride to a fair degree of sensitivity (this applies just as much to LOTR; think of the Paths of the Dead skull avalanche versus Arwen beside Aragorn's death bed, or the green scrubbing bubbles versus Théoden mourning his son's death).