Desolation of Smaug appendices, do they even exsist?

I recently discovered and quickly devoured an incredibly interesting and well made documentary-come-behind-the-scenes-special film about the making of the first of the new trilogy of Tolkien films, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. It was a very long and very detailed series of clips and interviews covering everything from early concept art and world design, through casting, actor preparation, set-building, physical effects and digital effects, to on-set day-to-day life and chats with the directors, Peter Jackson and Andy Serkis. Altogether, not including the 2hr07mins of video blogs by Jackson himself, the entire spectacle is about 9hr15min hours long, and every second is glorious. I probably enjoyed this 2-part peek into the world of The Hobbit filming more than the movie itself. As I understand it these are the extras you get on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey extended edition DVD, but I know them only by the names "appendices parts 1&2".

Well, when the Desolation of Smaug was released on DVD, naturally, I was eager for another nice chunk of behind the scenes goodness, with Stephen Fry and even some old faces from the original film, like Orlando Bloom as Legolas etc.
Unfortunately what I could find about the filming of the second part of the Hobbit Trilogy was meager at best, and though I shouldn't complain, the four 10-15min "making of" videos (that it turned out were simply the videoblogs I can already find on youtube) paled in comparison to the mammoth epic produced as a supplement to the first film.

I have reason to believe however, that a similar long version of behind-the-scenes footage exists somewhere out there, mainly because members of the cast and crew in the video blogs keep referring to pieces of set or events that were around/happened in 2012, which is when the second film was filmed, and we see clips saying things like "2012" in the corner, and pieces of set I recognise from the second film but not the first.

So, my question to you all is:
Does a similarly in-depth behind-the-scenes video even exist for The Desolation of Smaug? Or am I stuck with the video blogs and the livestream event in the editing suite?

Similar "Appendices" will be released with the Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition DVD/Blu ray. So you'll just have to wait until the beginning of November.

Bungo is correct. The "Appendices" extras for all four of the previous films have been exclusive to the Extended Edition releases. The bonus features for the theatrical DVD releases are comparatively sparse, though not bad by normal standards. We don't have an exact date for the DOS-EE yet but it will mostly likely be in November if precedent holds.

Thank you both very much for your helpful responses (and so quick with them, too!), I don't know about you, but I will be waiting with bated breath for the next behind-the-scenes installment.

Well it cant be any worse than the actual films have been   

probably better than the actual films if the vlogs are anything to go by. The vlogs are very interesting, the films are not imho.   

 

I wasn't too disappointed by the Unexpected Journey film, and although it was a visual spectacle, and very enjoyable, It wasn't quite perfect. The second Hobbit film was lacking much more, I think. It didn't capture the essence of the book at all, due in no small part to the addition of cameos from Legolas and others, a dwarf/elf love story, and the near entire removal of the relatively large chunk of the book pertaining to the dwarf meetup with Beorn. I did enjoy the character of Azog, and I thought the Battle at Moria Gates scenes were magnificent.

I thought the Battle at Moria Gates scenes were magnificent.- Bilbo

Except it didn't make a lick of sense- not a single bit.
As to Azog, iin my view a bad idea even worse implemented. They seem to have no idea what he is in the film for and cant make up their minds about what the character looks like, what he odes, which bits of the films he is supposed to be in. A complete farce of a mess. And as for the quality of dialogue he has- thats just laughable, especially given the dialogue he gets in the original tale, which is brilliant.

eh Azog wasnt in the Hobbit.

He is in the appendices in RotK which is where PJ and co got the right to him from.

You will find about as much antipathy for AUJ as for DOS on here, Bilbo, though I'm glad you enjoyed the movies and hope you don't find the amount of criticism off-putting. We could use a more balanced discussion on here sometimes.

I have not actually watched the appendices on my copy of AUJ-EE yet, but if they're anything like the video blogs that PJ released during filming, I'm sure they are excellent. I devoured the LOTR Appendices, watching them at least as much as the actual films, and they are largely what sparked my interest in the technical side of moviemaking back then. It's a shame that documentaries of that depth and breadth never caught on, though I can understand why as I'm sure they cost a fair bit to produce. It's really neat to see more of that behind-the-scenes stuff with The Hobbit, regardless of how the finished films have turned out.

I'm quite aware that Tolkien fans are just as divided on certain points as anyone from any fandom, haha.

When I say the Battle at Moria Gates was magnificent, I just mean visually.
It was a very impressive and attractive piece of cinematography; a joy to watch.
As it happens I just thought the design of Azog was really cool. I liked his attitude and how he radiated menace and violence.

The appendices are incredibly good fun. I'm not sure who directed them (it was Costa who did the LotR ones), but they did a good job, you really felt part of the team, even though you were just sitting on the couch. You felt involved in the jokes.

I know Costa Botes made the Limited Edition documentaries for LOTR but I don't think he was involved with the Appendices (or at all with The Hobbit, unfortunately).

I never did get to see the Costa Botes' documentaries. Who knows if they were worth the time/money. Probably just something to get people to double dip on a home video release.

Man you guys have gotten cynical.

The Costa Botes documentaries are pretty neat.  They're in a very different style than the Appendices, pretty much a long (90-120 minutes each IIRC) collage of moments from the production.  People talk to the camera at times but it's much less structured and less expository than the Appendices, more interested in giving a sense of how it felt to be there.  A great complement to the Appendices.  The only reason they weren't included with the EE DVDs is that Botes wasn't done editing them in time.  The actors' contracts stated that the documentaries couldn't be released on their own, only as part of a home video release for the finished films, which is why New Line turned out the "Limited Edition" DVDs in 2006.  But when they re-released the films on Blu-ray, the Botes documentaries were given their rightful place as the fifth disc in each EE (though like the Appendices the documentaries are on DVDs).

Cynical? Me? Why I never...

Eldorion wrote:Man you guys have gotten cynical.

The Costa Botes documentaries are pretty neat.  They're in a very different style than the Appendices, pretty much a long (90-120 minutes each IIRC) collage of moments from the production.  People talk to the camera at times but it's much less structured and less expository than the Appendices, more interested in giving a sense of how it felt to be there.  A great complement to the Appendices.  The only reason they weren't included with the EE DVDs is that Botes wasn't done editing them in time.  The actors' contracts stated that the documentaries couldn't be released on their own, only as part of a home video release for the finished films, which is why New Line turned out the "Limited Edition" DVDs in 2006.  But when they re-released the films on Blu-ray, the Botes documentaries were given their rightful place as the fifth disc in each EE (though like the Appendices the documentaries are on DVDs).

actually these (Costa) things for LOTR sound very interesting. I dont think I have ever seen them. When LOTR came out I wasnt forum-ing or using a computer much and I probably missed a load of good stuff. I didnt follow any of the peripheral LOTR stuff so I may have even missed out the EEs, appendices, who knows what else. I saw some things on Youtube about costumes, sets, and a few of the actors talking but thats it. are the Costa documentaries freely available?

I dunno if they've been pirated or not since they're rare, but no, they aren't legally free. They're included with the EE Blu-ray release, though, both box set and the individual five disc editions.

crikey that sounds expensive. maybe one day I will get to watch them.

I thought we got the limited edition a few years back, but maybe not. They're on a fifth disk?

Mrs Figg wrote:crikey that sounds expensive. maybe one day I will get to watch them.

The 15-disc box set was recently marked down to less than $40 on Amazon US. That particular sale ended but it's still a lot cheaper than when the box set first came out in 2011.

Tinuviel wrote:I thought we got the limited edition a few years back, but maybe not. They're on a fifth disk?

Yeah. The EE DVDs had four discs per film, but the EE Blu-rays are five discs apiece due to the addition of the Costa Botes docs. You can buy the films individually without any of the documentaries, but I think they're well worth it. All the Appendices from the DVD release are still there as well, of course. And even though only the films themselves are in HD, the quality upgrade is worth a fair chunk of the price by itself (and the color grading of FOTR is barely noticeable except in side-by-side comparisons, despite what some people insist).

I don't know about all that.
They're pretty significant things, at a few hours long each, with some very interesting stuff in them.
Put it this way, I would pay for them, but I got everything LotR on boxset for my birthday years ago, and borrowed the hobbit stuff from a friend.