Artwork inspired by Tolkien

chris63 wrote:

The trees are too visually jumbled. The overall effect tends to bug one's eyes.

azriel wrote:The Russian ones feel very early Medieval, at least your pic, Chris, conveys the creepiness that is Mirkwood ! I was looking at this & decided if Peejers had filtered the fight with the Balrog,at the beginning,just make it dim & dark, slowly building up colour, then I would have found it more intense, You could then have the grand, climatic,  fiery fall into the abyss to round it off .

 

I don't know what you mean exactly by "filter the fight." It's too bad that you didn't find the fight all that intense, but the scene was fairly close to the book scene and works excellently on-screen. As crabbit as it might make Petty and those of his persuasion, I even prefer that Gandalf delivers the line "fly, you fools" while clutching at the bridge as it allows him to make eye-contact with the audience (and the fellowship) as he says the words.
In fact, the light in the scene does escalate towards the climax of the fight. At one point the balrog flexes his wings out to their extremities and flames flare up all over his body: this is the brightest the scene gets. Afterwards the light diminishes and the muted colours and shades of grey that constitute the dark of Moria in the film gradually return as the balrog falls and the flames dwindle.
I'm a bit crabby myself because I just lost a stupid pc game (what a thing to be crabbit over   ), but I can't stand by and hear the fight between Gandalf and the Balrog besmirched thusly.

For the record, the bridge in that illustration is far too wide, and I've never liked the idea that balrogs would have hair on them, as "cloaking itself in shadow and flames" would, you'd think, tend to burn off any hair it had.

No, I like the fight, to a degree. I obviously put the wrong letter in my text   was a while ago   I should have put an L not an F, I agree the Balrog shouldnt be so hairy   but the pic that was put up felt more sinister to me. The fight scene you could say was awesome, mainly I feel due to the rousing choral singing, Fire & flames do add to what seems an undefeatable foe. I did like the exciting fall into the depths below, with the building up of singing where they pan back & all you see is a red golden light almost gracefully & undeniably head for a 'you or me' death situation. We want Gandalf to vanquish the Balrog but we want to see how. Its a 'do or die' moment, edge of your seat stuff, thats why I feel filtering the light is important.

As crabbit as it might make Petty and those of his persuasion, I even prefer that Gandalf delivers the line "fly, you fools" while clutching at the bridge as it allows him to make eye-contact with the audience (and the fellowship) as he says the words. - Forest


And here it is when its not milked for dewy eyed sentiment, and where its not full of slow motion 'Nooooooo!'-ing and where everybody doesn't have time to save him twice over if they weren't so busy going "Nooooo!". Here is the quick shock version!-



Bloody conversion programs! Sounds not quite in synch, which is a bit of a problem for the timing of his final words!   

I liked the short sharp shock version better, lot less gooey sentiment. You felt a haunting pang of   when Gandalf fell, I could never understand why no one dashed back to help Gandy ? & I think this was the wrong frame to have slo-mo, slo-mo wont work in every case.

Thanks Azriel- I think so too. It has a greater impact as you dont see it coming, and in life when bad shit happens it tends to be sudden.
Although I still have a little bit of work to do with the sound yet.

Nope, I prefer having a little time to register what is about to happen. It was probably the sync problem that you mentioned Petty, but the audio was very unconvincing where he says "Fly, you fools."
My main problem with that scene was that I never really caught what Gandalf was saying. A similar thing happens in these movies when characters speak an Elvish line of dialogue or old place name. The emphasis is not on articulating the phrase, but on giving it emotional heft.
For example, "Flame of Udun" always sounds like "Flame-addelloon" to me in that scene.

  

'The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it.'

So the Balrog hade a mane in some sense... possibly like that of a grey horse? Or an angry stoat that isn't?

Elthir wrote:

'The flames roared up to greet it, and wreathed about it; and a black smoke swirled in the air. Its streaming mane kindled, and blazed behind it.'

So the Balrog hade a mane in some sense... possibly like that of a grey horse?

  
Possibly....
But that's not something I'd suggest kindling....
Especially while mounted....
  

chris63 wrote:

Nice sentiment, but some artist didn't read the Tale of Years.

azriel Nice ones, I like the one of Berens Dad on the lake before the attack and his death, I am thinking that is what that is.

Maybe the label is off on your post of Boromir demise and you very likely know this... but that first picture is when Turin wakes and kills Beleg and then the lightning strikes and he sees what he has done. Yikes, that was a powerful point in the story for me. Poor Turin is dealt one heart break after another.

I love that story, it is so different from the other Tolkien tales, so Tragic, not a happy tale. It gets my vote for the best remaining story to put to film. If someone used all the different books versions and parts, one could easily get a movie out of it.

Of course it isn't the typical happy ending kind of thing so it will probably never make it, and even if it did it would undoubtedly be warped and twisted into some unrecognizable form that would just piss us all off.

Beleg is Slain at his site...   http://tednasmith.mymiddleearth.com/site-map/j-r-r-tolkien/the-silmarillion/

Petty says...

And here it is when its not milked for dewy eyed sentiment, and where its not full of slow motion 'Nooooooo!'-ing and where everybody doesn't have time to save him twice over if they weren't so busy going "Nooooo!". Here is the quick shock version!-

I know! Lord how that part bugged me. I just kept thinking , grab his arm, grab him, geeze grab him already.

whining babies...you just sit there and watch him dangle for half an hour until he falls... what crap.

Like the real story and flow was inadequate to make an impact on the viewer. Jackson is such a clueless saboteur of the story. His Brilliant changes just diminish instead of enhance. Same old recurring sentiment surfaces again and again, same old sick feeling in my gut. when I think of how it could have been done.

Did you watch the quick version Music?- if so i'd like your thoughts on it as I think I am going to make that the new version in the purist edit.

I love the slo-mo in those scenes, the Aragorn turning back while under a hail of arrows bit is epic.

this advert is ravishingly beautiful and reminds me of Tolkien. its some of the most stunning visuals I have ever seen. I would love to see it on a big screen, it blew me away.

I found this really interesting how they made the advert.