Re: The Desolation of Smaug pre-release thread [2] [SPOILERS]

[bungobaggins]

Maybe it's really humid in Erebor because of the dragon.

[Mrs Figg]

New posters.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.574025175966425

hey Bungo how ya doing?? so glad to see you          

[Mrs Figg]

I am Always too mentally tired come midnight, I prefer mid afternoon when nobody's there but me and the guy with the false beard.

Um, what types of movie are we talking about, Figgy?  Is he wearing a raincoat as well?

its a DWARVEN beard  

[bungobaggins]

Feeling a little better today, Figgs. Thanks.  

[Eldorion]

I'm glad that you're feeling better, bungo.

[Mrs Figg]

 

[Norc]

HI BUNGO  

that new poster, just saw it on facebook.. it's the worst photoshopping i have ever seen. it doesn't look like martin freeman. i'de love to see the before picture. Martin freeman is blond, he has bags under his eyes and smiling wrinkles and worry-wrinkles and looks like a normal human being. the AUJ poster was photoshopped too (quite extensive) but not as badly as this one!

[Norc]

in case you've forgotten what he actually look like:

[bungobaggins]

Hi Norc!  

Apart from Martin Freeman's face being completely mangled in that poster, I've got to say that that is some very unflattering lighting as well.

[Norc]

looks like he has two different eyes...

[halfwise]

Not sure why you two are going on about the poster so much. The changes are no more than normal for this type of thing. What's important is I think somebody heard us, and we finally have a poster that is all about Bilbo.

[Norc]

you're not sure why we're going on about it? have u looked at his face in it? he looks weird and creepy, not like a hobbit and not like martin freeman and his eyes look like the've been plastered on. he's hair looks like a synthetic wig and the skin is airbrushed into mordor and beyond. that's why i absolutely hate it!

[halfwise]

I thought you were all in love with Baddyass Cuppycake...why are you so concerned with Martin Freeman?  It's recognizably him, he's looking less weird and creepy than that shot you posted of him in Gollum's cave, and when has a movie poster ever looked like a photo shoot anyway?

Edit: actually it looks like a morph of him and Elijah Wood, but that's not such a bad thing.

[Forest Shepherd]

Is that supposed to be Bilbo just out of the river after the barrel scene?  My first thought was that he (or at least his hair) looks wet.

Edit: probably not, because he's wearing the blue coat thing that he presumably gets from Lake-town.  I must be seeing things.

From my vast, varied, and vexatious experiences as a teenager with similar problems, I'd say he's just a bit greasy after a couple weeks spent away from Lake-town and it's pleasant bath-tubs.

[Norc]

i have all the understanding that movie posters has to be photoshopped, but that being said, they have to at least resemble the bloody actor! he doesn't look like bilbo or martin freeman! i would've been equally angry had this been done to Evangeline Lily!

[halfwise]

I think you nailed it, FS. Though he's not looking exactly haggard.

[halfwise]

i have all the understanding that movie posters has to be photoshopped, but that being said, they have to at least resemble the bloody actor! he doesn't look like bilbo or martin freeman! i would've been equally angry had this been done to Evangeline Lily!

Uh, really?

[Norc]

he looks like a wax-figure. faintly alike but strangely and eerily not so..

[Forest Shepherd]

he looks like a wax-figure. faintly alike but strangely and eerily not so..

I do get some of that "uncanny valley" feel from this poster, but it's always off-putting in one way or another when obvious beautification is done to Freeman's Bilbo.

[Norc]

i have all the understanding that movie posters has to be photoshopped, but that being said, they have to at least resemble the bloody actor! he doesn't look like bilbo or martin freeman! i would've been equally angry had this been done to Evangeline Lily!

Uh, really?

yes. i would. it's principles. yes a movie poster has to be epic, yes we don't want to see all the pores because it's gonna be blown up to a freaking wall paper thing. but! it should still look like the actor and feel like the actor and not as i said below, feel and look like a bad wax-figure that just vaguely resembles the actor. 

in this case bilbo looks cross-eyed (pointing to different directions) and totally different, like they've been plastered on, greasy haired, skin like a baby's ass and just.. his face is narrow and strange... it just doesn't look like martin freeman. it's like when u see a robot and it becomes so realistic it reaches a certain point where it's just revolting.

[Norc]

he looks like a wax-figure. faintly alike but strangely and eerily not so..

I do get some of that "uncanny valley" feel from this poster, but it's always off-putting in one way or another when obvious beautification is done to Freeman's Bilbo.

yes, but i think this one is particularly bad. last year's poster was photoshoped to, but it didn't look nearly as bad as this one.(forget all the lotr reference, it isn't important in this debate, how this looks exactly like that strider poster)

comparison:

[halfwise]

They're just making him look young. To pull in the young teeny-boppers, like you are supposed to be. I'm thinking I should go in for some photo-shopping my own self.

[bungobaggins]

Oh, Norc beat me.

[Forest Shepherd]

Another thing to consider is that, emotionally, the first poster Norc put up from AUJ is consistent in its seriousness, while this DOS image has Bilbo with a worried look in his right eye but an open and upturned mouth, indicating excitement.
I think this may be the real problem. The "uncanny valley" vibe I mentioned, or human-like robots anyway, may be us reacting to his weird emotional appearance.

[Norc]

i get all that wanting him to look younger, and i quite like the first poster, but make him look believable at least! he looks weird, there is something off-putting about it! he doesn't look the younger him either! the light is so wrong and . no. it looks aweful.