Barrel-Riding Test Photos at Aratiatia Rapids - TORn

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/02/26/42456-exclusive-barrel-riding-test-photos-at-aratiatia-rapids/

Should please Odo and Petty - something that's actually in the book!

Please me! Bloody please me!

"when the Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves, rode the rapids in barrels to get away from the orcs"

Orcs? What orcs. They aren't escaping any orcs.
And what rapids? They don't go for an exciting theme park ride- what sense would there be in the elves sending their empty barrels back via rapids? They'd be smashed to bits more often than not it makes no sense- yet again PJ and the Coven display their complete inability not to 'heighten' the drama at the expense of all sense and the book.
Please me! The cheek Ringdrotten.

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A satellite stereoscopic reading of crabbit levels as my new, new crabbit meter just exploded.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:"when the Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves, rode the rapids in barrels to get away from the orcs"

Orcs? What orcs. They aren't escaping any orcs.

That's just the person who sent in the pictures misremembering. Really Petty, there's enough to be crabbit about without actively looking for excuses.

And what rapids? They don't go for an exciting theme park ride- what sense would there be in the elves sending their empty barrels back via rapids? They'd be smashed to bits more often than not it makes no sense- yet again PJ and the Coven display their complete inability not to 'heighten' the drama at the expense of all sense and the book.

I can actually see your point here, though I'm going to reserve judgement till we know more.

"I'm going to reserve judgement till we know more."- Eldo

There's enough- the place they are filming hass the word RAPIDS in its name. It seems quite famous for, rapids.

Here's from the book;

'The dark river opened suddenly wide, and there it was joined to the main water of the Forest River flowing down in haste from the king's great doors. There was a dim sheet of water no longer overshadowed, and on its sliding surface there were dancing and broken reflections of clouds and of stars. Then the hurrying water of the Forest River swept all the company of casks and tubs away t the north bank, in which it had eaten out a bay. This had a shingle shore under hanging banks and was walled at the eastern end by a little jutting cape of hard rock. On the shallow shore most of the barrels ran aground, though a few went on to bump against the stony pier.
There were people on the look-out on the banks. They quickly poled and pushed all the barrels together into the shallows..'

Now I'll grant the Forest River flows with 'haste' and is a 'hurrying water' but that's a far cry from rapids. You do not got to somewhere famed for rapids, where stunt crews have to do tests days or even weeks before the crew turn up, and that is described as 'dangerous' to shoot that description. But it seems perfectly in keeping with the Covens previous to take two words, haste and hurry and turn the whole thing into a suspense fuelled action scene. This is exactly what I was talking about in adaptations, they heighten everything till you lose the important stuff in a sea of fake drama.

Well to me, they didn't look like HUGE rapids. and they're probably just making it a bit more suspensful for visual pleasure. It'll probably look just like it should once they CGI it up.
(Which I'm not saying I particularly like, but its better than nothing.)

'and they're probably just making it a bit more suspensful for visual pleasure'- Tin

That's exactly what they are doing and exactly why I despise them.
There thinking is an offence to me- its a river scene, they are in barrels, Bilbo's riding one, people will expect rapids, a bit where someone nearly drowns, splashing white waves, dramatic music, maybe some heroics from Bilbo- its so by the rule book its blindingly predictable and why the LotR films are not good films and why TH is shaping up to be even worse.
Viewers are neither stupid nor satisfied by being given everything they expect- great films, even good films surprise you. I wish they would stop so trying to make a 'film' and just make a good adaptation. But I suspect they are too vain and want this even more than LotR to be their Hobbit.

its so by the rule book its blindingly predictable and why the LotR films are not good films and why TH is shaping up to be even worse[quote]

I completely agree with you petty. But you have to focus on one key element when making a film or anything. They chose to focus on spectacle. The only reason it worked out was because they had a mind blowing story already that they didn't have to come up with. If it was a weaker story, theyd focus more on that. But since it isnt... well, they butcher it instead!

"you have to focus on one key element when making a film"- Tin

Yes, the script, the same thing they so shamelessly neglected in LotR and they seem hell bent on neglecting again.
On the one hand the idea of riding the barrels through rapids is stupid and makes no sense in the context of the story on the other its cheap thrills and heightened drama- PJ will always pick the latter- the spectacle over the script and that's why he has let down so badly lovers of Tolkien's books and his prose.
This is giving me a crabbit day! On my day off too. Doesn't help I saw an early edition of the NotP- available on howdy in 5 hours approx (12:00am)-but at least I prob won't be the only one that rag makes crabbit once its out.

In defence of PJ, it's quite hard to find a remote stream, that calmly runs down the side of a valley. I mean don't most downhill streams go pretty fast? Plus they could be quite easily filming the intro, by the river doors, and this could just simply be further down the scene, once the barrels have escaped through the gatehouse. The way Bilbo struggles to keep his head above water too, suggests that their is a fierce current at points, with the barrels "twisting and turning". Looking at the last picture of the link too, there seems to plenty of room to show the calm movings of the barrels down the river. So if the rapids are included, which even I admit, looks more than probable, maybe it's just for that one moment of initial speed, as the barrels break away, and Bilbo struggles not to drown!

For the majority of people too, excitement always beats strict accuracy of the original source. I saw LOTR before I read them, and I was the same. So I can't blame The Hobbit production, if they do occasionally stray away sometimes, I mean if it brings Tolkien to the youth, like LOTR did for me, surely that's a good thing?

if they do occasionally stray away sometimes"- Ally

If it were occasional I would be annoyed but could probably cope- but if LotR was anything to go by it will not be occasional but often and for all the WC Necromancer stuff continually.

Bilbo jamming his friends into barrels, seeing them fall into a dark hole rushing with the sound of chill waters, then realizing that he wasn't in a barrel himself, jumping onto a barrel, falling.... the chill waters around him, darkness, will any of them survive? Poor Bilbo. Thrilling? Psychological and visual drama? By the barrelful! No need to overplay it at all, at all. Remember, this is a story about a little hobbit, an often scared hobbit, a real hobbit facing realistic dangers. The thrilling part of the book is the way we feel we are Bilbo - what if I drown? Probably will. I can't swim. Horrible way to die, 'drownded" - ghastly!

They'd be as well leaving those barrels painted pink- its not like its going to make the scene any less ludicrous. It wouldn't surprise me if somehow they squeeze a waterfall into this sequence, or at the very least the peril of being swept over one.

I hope not. Even George Lucas when making The Phantom Menace knew enough not to cut the waterfall scene they filmed (though he did have one - with LAVA - in Revenge of the Sith).

I need a face-palm emoticon for when I say something in jest and it turns out to be real!

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I need a face-palm emoticon for when I say something in jest and it turns out to be real!

Oh my, how the times have... NOT CHANGED AT ALL.
Spot on Petty, and two years down the road, we are about to reap the consequences of our inaction.
 

I should have been even more crabbit about it  

i am jus gonna say this. I'de rather watch 13 dwarves down a rapid chased by orcs and elves and what not, than a slow river with 13 closed barrels for like five minutes ... srsly. i know it works in the book and all that, but when going to the movie theatre i am expecting more.

I wouldn't mind more, I'm just not sure that's what will be shown in DoS. Different maybe but, imho, that doesn't seem like it will be in a good way (consider: Ricochet-BarrelArmor-Ninja-Bombur).

That's the thing though, norc. It doesn't have to be a five minute sequence.

than a slow river with 13 closed barrels for like five minutes - Norc

If you dont have all the added nonsense it wouldnt take five minutes (simu post Bungo!), and instead you make the focus of the scene Bilbo trying to stay on his barrel and his fear for the dwarves lives.

You know, keep it focused on character.

And every scene doesn't have to be a fight scene. We get it, PJ, you like fighting, but it becomes boring after a while and your fight scenes are uniformly terrible anyway (imho).

bungobaggins wrote:That's the thing though, norc. It doesn't have to be a five minute sequence.

like a one minute escape? that would feel like such a dissapointment. here they are trapped in the elven halls and they just float peacefully away? that's not a very satisfying escape.

i can agree a fight scene is a bit unescesarry.. but still better than looking at concerned bilbo for like five minutes (if we're gonna have it this way, we might show that they are in the barrels for quite some time) watching 12 closed of barrels...occasionally slipping.

I think that could prove interesting in itself. The adventure could be Bilbo struggling to stay on; amp up the tension of what's described in the book. Show some not-too-frequent shots of the interiors of the barrels and the dwarves being buffeted about.

The Indiana Jones movies showed you could have action sequences without combat.

It could be 1:00, 1:30, 2:00?

The point is, the fight is contrived (elves pursuing the company, and orcs already pursuing the company, and then fighting the elves, it becomes a three way fight) creates unnecessary length. It's obvious, and lacks subtlety. If it were done as a stealthy escape, it would have taken a lot more thinking about how to make it exciting, creating an action sequence (while I'm sure there was some thought put into the gags) misses the point entirely and doesn't take much thought.

The Rankin/Bass sequence does the escape in seconds. It shows Bilbo taking the keys from the drunken elves, followed by a shot of the open cell doors, and then the barrels flowing down the river. It's easy to infer what has happened because of Bilbo's narration which talks about the wine deliveries from Lake-town. There's a nice humorous line from Bilbo and they float down the river to Lake-town.

(Plus the length of the scene could have been inherently shorter if they only made one or two movies. Now that there are three films, they need to pad it with an action sequence. That's just the whole point of all of this, the movie is too big for the original story, so they felt the need to "make it better" or "more entertaining.")

why would i want to look into the barrels? that would at least break the tension whether or not they're dead.

i don't like the bakshi version but... i don't like the way they handled the barrels. it went too quick. it didn't show how much of a big deal it actually is. and srsly! we get the drunk elves