Ain’t It Cool News has scored a bit of a scoop, unfortunately some of the report from an annonymous author seems to be a bit off.
Sounds more like the 6 minute ShoWest footage shown in Las Vegas versus the 25 minutes of footage purported to have been shown at Cannes.
Let me dissect this for you folks:
The promo-roll contains all of the material that has been published on the net a while ago, but the interviews are a little longer and the rendered skeleton that moves in the 3D-chamber in the teaser gets flesh added (and much of that!).
In addition, there are more scenes as well as production sketches and behind-the-screen material plus a few fx (as work in progress-samples). The behind-the-scenes-material shows us the constructing of a huge wooden castle/fortress (I suspect Helms Deep),
This fortress is Minas Tirith actually.
which is painted stone-gray by workers. It looks sort of unreal (I don’t mean “unrealistic”!) in this color, maybe they invented the grey-screen (ha, ha.). A set designer explains to the camera that very much construction has to be done and that this is an experience completely new to all of them. (Or so, I couldn’t take notes).
Another person, the head of production design, I suppose, explains, while sitting in a typical creative person’s office, that it is a very hard job to bring all the detail onto the screen that Tolkien described so very detailed in the books. It is a very challenging task but he is very satisfied with its forthcoming.
The ‘person’ is in fact John Howe, well known LOTR artist, and all around cool guy.
The other scenes that have been shown consisted of Gandalf slowly walking up a snowy slope (I guess that’s before they enter Moria), he looks *very* lost and lonely in these huge and rough mountains! We also see the party wandering across mild-green lands that reminded me of Ireland and Corsica. Small ponds (about 10 yards in average diameter), little trees (about 4 yards high), some brush along their path. It was only a short shot, maybe two seconds.
We believe this is not Moria, but probably Cathadras. It’s a very beautiful shot of Gandalf among the snowy mountains.
Also very, very beautiful is their wandering along a ridge between a lake in the mountains and the edge of the cliff that holds it in its position. Crystal-blue water, looking clean and sweet and good, but also cold and very beautiful in a rough way. It’s one of those places you’d stop to take photos for hours, but you would never want to build a house there. Also to be seen is the scene from the trailer where Aragorn (I suppose) holds up the ring on its chain to take a close look, he then says something like “A thing this small, causing so much pain and suffering. How can that be?” (or so…)
A little off, that’s Boromir holding the ring, and saying those words, but in a much better phrase, which goes like this:
‘It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much doubt and fear over so small a thing’
There are also many scenes from the trailer, and a few new ones, but I couldn’t distinguish exactly in the flood of the pictures. Many horses, orcs, riders, masks, weapons, ringwraiths (I mean those TV-movie-like looking guys from the net-trailer, I hope there are some effects coming up on these clips…), the flooding of the creek (yet without the effect described in the books), a wonderful Arwen and as well Galadriel, Saruman and Gandalf, the 4 Hobbits, actually the fellowship of the ring as a little slideshow. Which brings me to FX.
There were 2 moving fx scenes, as well as some photos of Gimli and other small-rendered folks. The two moving scenes were two guys sitting at a blue table (both facing towards us, on the left side the big (or normal) guy, on the right the small one) in front of a bluescreen on blue chairs, cheerio-ing with two white cups. The small guy was supposedly rendered small, but he looked completely alright, the movement was the right (realistic) speed for their sizes, the coordination of the cups (they clank together) just perfect.
A very cool shot indeed, and this is what the non-CGI ‘shrinking’ that will be used.
Even better was the second scene: The four hobbits (Merry, Pippin, Sam and Frodo) standing in some quickly put-together-dungeon made of wood and plaster, staring upwards, as if they’d look in the sun, and then a human man walks through the little group, shoving them a little aside to make his way.
A quickly put-together-dungeon? I’ts Barliman’s! That’s where they are! Where are they ever in a dungeon? Sigh…trust me, they are in Barliman’s…He doesn’t tap anyone on the head, but this extreemly tall guy does walk past the hobbits, and it’s flawless.
The size of the hobbits in comparison to the man: The top of their heads reach his belt. The man puts a hand on Frodos head (like onto a child’s head) to move him a little to the right so that he can pass. The hobbits also move in a perfectly normal manner, and so does the man….
Some of this information from the report might have had a few people worried, but no worries folks, PJ is on the right track.
