On this episode of Hobbit in 5, we talk about Matamata’s “makeover” for cast and crew of The Hobbit, Weta’s Rivendell Environment is now available for pre-order, a fan builds his own Hobbit hole, Howard Shore receives award, Peter Jackson announces casting of Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, and Conan Stevens, and we continue with another character study!

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Matamata is set for a makeover fit for a Hobbit before the cast and crew arrive for filming of the movies. Matamata Public Relations Association manager Sue Whiting says the organisation will be upgrading facilities to create a ‘Hobbit-like feel’ before the cast and crew arrive. Whiting told the Waikato Times she believed the Welcome to Hobbiton sign is the most photographed in the country, and sculptures of Lord of the Ring characters had drawn hundreds of people, so it is important to maintain them. “At the end of the day, it is all about bringing people to Matamata and creating a reason to visit,” she told the newspaper. More..

Sir Peter Jackson has started his direct communication with fans worldwide through his newly created Facebook account! The first article is titled ’48 Frames a Second’ and talks about shooting The Hobbit in the much faster film speed. Here’s an excerpt. Follow the link for the complete article:

Time for an update. Actually, we’ve been intending to kick off with a video, which is almost done, so look out for that in the next day or two. In the meantime, I thought I’d address the news that has been reported about us shooting THE HOBBIT at 48 frames per second, and explain to you what my thoughts are about this.

We are indeed shooting at the higher frame rate. The key thing to understand is that this process requires both shooting and projecting at 48 fps, rather than the usual 24 fps (films have been shot at 24 frames per second since the late 1920’s). So the result looks like normal speed, but the image has hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness. Looking at 24 frames every second may seem ok–and we’ve all seen thousands of films like this over the last 90 years–but there is often quite a lot of blur in each frame, during fast movements, and if the camera is moving around quickly, the image can judder or “strobe.”

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On this episode of Hobbit in 5, production photos arrive from the Hobbit set, fans share their stories on Tolkien Reading Day, Saiorse Ronan gives us her insights on how the Hobbit film might be different from The Lord of The Rings production, and Weta Workshop offer up a wonderful Bag End replica giveaway if you can solve their puzzle.

April 1st, 2011 Episode 11

Ronan Story – http://lat.ms/la-ronan

Weta Bag End form – http://bit.ly/weta-form

Chat Details – http://bit.ly/torn-chat-info
Chat App – http://bit.ly/torn-chat

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Master Titi, the spy that send the set pics exclusive to TheOneRing.net yesterday, has sent in a new batch of images today. In this latest set, we get to see some actors in costume, and in one particular image, it sure looks like he might have captured the first pic of Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins! Click on the images below for a larger version and let the conversations begin!  (Don’t forget, to click the ‘discuss’ link on this story to share your thoughts with over 6000 Tolkien fans, or find us on Facebook to interact with 20,000+!)