News from the set

Well this makes PJ's 48 frames a second malarkey seem a bit redundant;

'A camera capable of visualising the movement of light has been unveiled by a team of scientists in the US.
The equipment captures images at a rate of roughly a trillion frames per second - or about 40 billion times faster than a television camera.'- from the BBC tech site.
Now thats a lot of frames!

I assume that was developed for research or experimental purposes. Though forget 48 fps, that must make those slow-mo cameras that people record explosions with look like the blink of an eye.

Apparntly they shot a tiny bolt of light moving very fast across a glass bottle, when they watched it back they could see the light wave rippling across the glass. It has medical a well as engenering possibillities.

I must say, that's really wild.

Did a bit of quick Googling and here's the video from the MIT lab that did this.

Thats damn impressive. Still a few years away from shooting films with them I suspect!

That is soooooo cooooolll!!!!!!!!

completely geeking out here! I know what my lesson starter is tomorrow!!!

Hey Kafria, long time no see! It's great to see you here again; I hope everything is well with you.

Getting better..
busy time of year (the musical daughter having Sat and Sun events to add to the three nights a week rehersals and at least two other christmas duties a week was enough to cut browsing time, then added a family loss - my gran. My laptop has sat lost and lonely on the table for the last three weeks pretty much. Can see the light at the end of the term tunnel, no choir rehersal tonight, so time to return to browsing! Soooo much to catch up on, but the plan to read through first then post didn't last beyond the cool vid!)

Bad Weather Forces “Hobbit” Crew to Move from Nelson

Heavy rain has forced the cast and crew of “The Hobbit” movies from their filming locations in Nelson, New Zealand.

The crew that was filming at the Pelorus Bridge campground packed up in a hurry, according to campground manager Stephanie Neal. She said “They were supposed to be here until Saturday, but they have pulled the plug because it’s so wet. They certainly wouldn’t be able to film in this weather.” She also explained that the film crew lost 20 wooden planks down the river due to heavy rains and flood-like conditions.

Ceris Price, publicist for the film’s production company 3 Foot 7 said, “We were relying on beautiful weather. It’s just a real shame, because everybody loves Nelson. We have been having a lovely time here, but the weather in the last couple of days has made it very difficult. It’s time for a Christmas break.”

She also said that it was “extremely probable” they would return to the area next year to finish shooting at their locations at Canaan Downs and Pelorus Bridge.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/12/14/51373-the-hobbit-teaser-is-coming-soon/

Whats it got in its teaser, precious.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2011/12/15/51412-exclusive-hobbit-trailer-details-revealed/

I must have missed your post here before Kafria, sorry to here about your gran. Here's to you and Squach having a cracking and well deserved Christmas Hols.

John Bell ?

An official WB press release came out today that includes some Plot detail. One new Cast member is in the list, a John Bell, who appears to be about 10 years old or so. No official listing on IMDB yet for this casting, so no idea if he is Bain or Estel, or some other youngster.
What is next for John Bell? I had heard you have been cast in The Hobbit. Is that true and can you tell us anything about the character you will be playing? And are you a Middle Earth/Tolkien fan?

I have just finished filming a small part in the film Battleship in Louisiana and I am about to start another project that I can’t say anything about just yet. I have been offered a part in The Hobbit and the character I play is very different from Tomás. My character is confident and brave and ready to do battle if required even though he is still a boy. I have read the Hobbit and loved it and I love Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films so you can definitely call me a fan.

I have no idea what part the lad could be playing, can anyone on Forumshire guess. No bad language Petty


Looks like he enjoys a pint, so he cant be that bad

Well, as the article you quote says, he could very well be a young Aragorn (Estel). That seems the most obvious guess to me. Other than that, perhaps he is a young Hobbit, though I'm not sure who. He'd probably have to be an invented character if that were the case (same if he's in Mirkwood or Dale). I'm leaning towards the young Aragorn idea, though that's just a hunch.

Frodo!

!*@$!

Well he has quite er rustic features so I think he will play Bards son, he is not pretty enough to be Estel, Estel should look like that beautiful kid in LOTR who played Arwens son.

Stephen Fry talks about the Hobbit.

http://www.digitalspy.com.au/movies/news/a356330/sherlock-holmess-stephen-fry-i-ate-testicles-for-the-hobbit.html

http://www.movieweb.com/news/exclusive-joe-letteri-talks-the-evolution-of-gollum-in-the-hobbit-there-and-back-again

well I see that I was right about that kid, he plays Bards son.

I found some of what Mr Fry was saying potentially worrying. Why think of Orlando first as an elf in TH, has he had scenes with him I wonder? The dwarves are 'funny and active'. And why associate Bard with riding horses? Laketown a smelly city! And his Master of Laketown sounds like a gross charicature.

see what you mean, but I wouldnt worry about the Lego stuff, its probably because everyone knows who Lego is, what is more worrying is the horse riding I hope Bard is not some pseudo cowboy with leather chaps, WTF, and the gross Master of Laketown, sounds as subtle as an axe in the head, also wtf is smelly Laketown, it should be light and woody and Tolkienesque not some grubby 3rd world sleeze pit.

Sounds to me like Pj is doing to Laketown what he did to Bree, only even worse.

Agreed. Is it just me or is there a disturbing level of misanthropism running through PJ's Middle-earth movies? I think to some degree it's an outgrowth of a pretty common phenomenon amongst fantasy fans, but there seems to be an attitude that humans are weak and dirty and generally undesirable compared to Elves (though Dwarves get the worst of it, of course). Look at (as mentioned) the dirty and filthy Bree compared to idyllic Rivendell, a gross exaggeration of the book. Or humans needing to be rescued by Elves at Helm's Deep, a complete fabrication. The "humans are weak" message actually annoys me more than the mere presence of a non-canon force at the battle.

Didnt mind Bree so much, I suppose PJ wanted to portray the sense of threat and anxiety the hobbits felt at seeing men up close for the first time, if it was all jolly and clean it wouldnt have set the atmosphere for them to meet Aragorn, who on the face of it looked just like the strange and scary men in the village.

Mrs Figg wrote:Didnt mind Bree so much, I suppose PJ wanted to portray the sense of threat and anxiety the hobbits felt at seeing men up close for the first time

Well, the fact that PJ needed to the emphasize the threat of Men (as opposed to a general uneasiness with the new and strange) ties into the misanthropy point I just made. However, I think he tries to force Bree into the role of the story that the Old Forest occupies in the book, and Aragorn takes on the Tom Bombadil role of Hobbit-rescuer. However, I dislike this change. Even without the Old Forest sequence, the movie version of the Ringwraith's pursuit of the Hobbits (made much more immediate and dangerous since the Ringwraiths actually saw the Hobbits before they got on the ferry) filled the same role as the Old Forest, making PJ's Bree redundant.

It also eliminated one of the calmer periods. One of the defining features of the book is how it alternates between intense and calm episodes. In the book you are introduced to the idyllic Shire, then there is a harrowing escape from Ringwraiths, but then there are some quiet and warm scenes at Crickhollow. Then there's the Old Forest, followed by Bombadil, followed by the Barrow-downs, followed by Bree, followed by the break-in at the Pony. And so on and so forth.

This pattern prevents the reader from getting overwhelmed, gives more space for characters to reflect and develop, and makes the exciting parts that much more exciting when they happen. There is of course 'down time' in the films, but these are fewer and more far between than in the book, and many places that were havens in the book (Bree, Lorien, etc.) were made much more menacing in the films. Obviously cutting things was necessary to make the films but PJ's disproportionately cut out the quiet moments, which makes the story much more action-packed but also removes a lot of its emotional resonance.

Mrs Figg wrote:if it was all jolly and clean it wouldnt have set the atmosphere for them to meet Aragorn, who on the face of it looked just like the strange and scary men in the village.

Actually, I think having the warmer atmosphere of the book made Aragorn's first appearance more menacing. Aragorn wasn't suppoesed to look like the men of Bree: he was supposed to be a mysterious stranger who spent most of his life wandering through the wilderness where only monsters and outlaws lived. That's the reason he stuck out. In the movie, he actually looks considerably more wholesome than the men of Bree, even though he wears a hood over his face the whole time.

Anyway, sorry for taking this off on a tangent, I just saw an opportunity to elaborate about one of the things I wish PJ had done differently and jumped on it. As much as I liked the films, I think they would have been much better if they had taken a more character-oriented approach and spent more time developing the emotional material and the rest of Middle-earth aside from warfare. It sort of reminds me of Irvin Kershner's (director of The Empire Strikes Back) criticism of George Lucas: he wanted to move the plot too quickly. PJ is better than Lucas (once Lucas had shed such positive influences as Kershner and others) and FOTR is the best when it comes to this, but even that film gets too much credit for preserving the flavor of the book. That is not to say that the films lack any emotional resonance, but it is much more visceral and (again) far more prevalent in FOTR than the latter two. IMO.