Re: Tolkien related video's.

by Forest Shepherd Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:46 am

I think I've only seen the one of the river through the trees before. Those are lovely.

by halfwise Tue Feb 19, 2019 1:09 pm

I'm a bit confused by those. They are obviously enlarged reproductions and I couldn't understand why they were making such a big deal about them until they called them tapestries. But in my experience tapestries are done with colored thread, and try as I might I don't see any thread work in those.

by Forest Shepherd Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:27 am

I'm pretty sure they're real tapestries, hence all the big deal made about them. Aubusson is known for its history of tapestry-making.

by halfwise Thu Feb 21, 2019 1:07 am

But I zoom up, no threads. For me the cut-off between wall hanging and tapestry is the threads have to be colored before they become part of the cloth, not painted over. I still don't know what's going on here.

by Eldy Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:50 am

https://www.cite-tapisserie.fr/en/contemporary-creation/aubusson-weaves-tolkien/ground-breaking-adaptation

The next stage is creating the ‘tapestry cartoons’ (painted plaster-board models) scaled to the real size of the future tapestries and that serve as a guide to the hand weavers during weaving. Bruno Ythier, curator if the Cité internationale de la tapisserie, gives an overview of this transposing technique: “It is Aubusson know-how that dates back to more than five hundred years ago. It is the work of the cartoon painter, who transposes the work. And it is not just a case of enlarging the work as the weavers point out with this anecdote: ‘You start with a tiny rose on the picture, and if you thoughtlessly enlarge it, you end up with a cabbage.’ The enlarged illustration needs to be reworked bit by bit to restore the spirit of the original. A whole range of technical parameters need to be taken into account, especially the properties of the wool itself. Wool absorbs light, which implies that colours must be as saturated as possible when the wool is dyed to obtain colours that are as vibrant in the woven fabric as in the original works.”

...

The first cartoon, which sets the tone for entire wall hanging, was prepared by cartoon painter Delphine Mangeret. This piece was chosen as the graphic standard for the wall hanging as a whole because of its very tapestry-like nature and its similarities with works created within the National School of Decorative Art in Aubusson in the 1930s. The weaving committee was inspired to opt for a return to past traditions promoted by the School at that time through bold colours and a very specific technical draft influenced by 15th and 16th century tapestry work, and rarely in use today.

by Forest Shepherd Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:05 am

Ah excellent, so... wait so those weren't the cartoons but the finished tapestries? And it's just hard to see the threads apparently.

by halfwise Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:52 pm

Yeah, I have a hard time believing thread work that fine can be done by hand, I think it's been mechanized. but have to look through that link Eldy provided in detail. If done by hand, it's jaw dropping.

by Forest Shepherd Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:12 pm

It's definitely not done by machine, that would completely go against the whole "500-year-old tapestry tradition" thing they have going for them.

by chris63 Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:47 am

by halfwise Wed Feb 27, 2019 1:35 pm

The ride of the Rohirrim was okay until the end when the guy started preaching at the end. F-off!

by azriel Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:20 pm

by halfwise Thu Mar 07, 2019 10:46 pm

I don't think Nicholas Hoult has the hidden depths to carry the character of JRRT. Not saying I have another twenty-something actor on offer, but I wasn't quite feeling it from that. You need someone with an old soul.

by azriel Fri Mar 08, 2019 1:39 pm

Have to agree with you on that one. I didn't feel comfortable, but then Im more used to Tolkien as a Elderly Gentleman type. Tweed suits & a pipe.

by halfwise Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:00 pm

He was writing Lost Tales while in the trenches. He can't come across as your typical 20 year old. He needs to look like part of him is always off somewhere else. There's more than enough youth around who have that look about them, Hoult doesn't.

by chris63 Wed Mar 13, 2019 1:53 am

by chris63 Wed Mar 13, 2019 1:54 am

by halfwise Wed Mar 13, 2019 12:16 pm

I don't like the bald statement that hobbits have pointy ears. Tolkien only mentioned (once) in a letter to a publisher that he envisions them as having ears that are only slightly pointy and 'elvish'.

by Pettytyrant101 Sun Mar 24, 2019 9:20 am

by azriel Sun Mar 24, 2019 11:21 am

Excited & wary in equal measure. Very Happy

by Pettytyrant101 Thu May 02, 2019 3:57 pm

by azriel Fri May 03, 2019 1:29 pm

Interesting points of view. I like the idea that a big man ( Sauron ) can be wounded by losing a finger & so can a little man ( Frodo) also become wounded. It sorta knocks class into a cocked hat. Every one gushes about how fabulous the Queen is & how in awe they are, Im not, she is still a human being, she was born a wibbily blooded baby the same as me, same as us all. We are all the same, big or small. This chap did have a few ideas to think about & he was easy on the ear. Smile

by Pettytyrant101 Fri May 03, 2019 2:34 pm

{{ Frodos failure to resist the lure of the Ring, his loss of it against his wishes and it destruction against his desire and his subsequent difficulty in living with it is something PJ utterly screws up sadly, and my single biggest complaint about his adaptations- he ultimately completely misses the point by dangling Frodo off the cliff and then having Frodo choose to turn from the Ring and choose to live and take Sam's hand- by giving Frodo that choice he negates everything Tolkien was trying to say and convey in that scene, and everything the entire narrative had been building to. Unforgivable. Mad

}}

by halfwise Fri May 03, 2019 3:19 pm

Well, Frodo DID succumb to the Ring in the Film, and his choice was between a melting ring and life, so it wasn't a total negation. I can see how they couldn't have Gollum just fall off - the feeling of randomness would also risk negating Tolkien's point, which is that man alone is not strong enough to fight all battles, and Gollum's fall was in a sense divine intervention. Gandalf had a premonition of this from the beginning.

I'm not defending the tired trope of the hero being pulled up by his best friend, just the risks of looking comical they were trying to avoid if Gollum stumbles over the edge. To me it was like Filmimir giving in to the lure of the Ring: Tolkien can get away with some things because he's Tolkien; flim makers have to accept they don't have what it takes to pull some things off.