The Goblin King from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”Joe Letteri has helmed Weta Digital to work on three films with visual effects Oscar nominations in this year’s Academy Awards. Its work on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” is the only film that had all the work done in one place while his team contributed to “The Avengers,” and “Prometheus.” The work done on just Gollum or just The Goblin King would be a great visual effects achievement in any film but it also included Azog and an incredible array of elements.
Letteri talked to The Hero Complex recently and the information is good but perhaps a retread for TORn readers. However, the piece also has three making of videos that are outstanding. The three characters mentioned above each get his own showcase and it highlights the talents of Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman and the digital and design team among others. Anyway, the story is right here and of course the visual effects team must be considered strong favorites on Oscar night. And for 2013 they get to tackle a dragon.
The visual effects nominees are certainly invited to our big-event party that looks to be simply amazing.
The Gwaith-i-Phethdain, or the Fellowship of the Word-smiths, is a part of the Polish website Elendilion.pl, run by our friend and Tolkien geek Richard “Galadhorn” Derdzinski. Since the early days of the internet when information was hard to come by and to share, he has led the effort in analyzing the languages in the Lord of the Rings films from 2001 through 2004, and beginning last year, he’s once again embarked on analyzing the languages in The Hobbit films.
To quote Richard:
The way to find the texts in the languages of Middle-earth was difficult. First of course was the careful and watchful hearing in the cinemas. Richard traveled far from Poland to Ireland to watch the movie 2 weeks before the Polish premiere. The first results were published thanks to the work of Miriam “Niranare” Simon of the German forum Mellyn Lammath and Cerebrum of the Hungarian website Parf-en-Ereglas. Then the international community of the Tolkien linguists with Helge K. Fauskanger (of Norse Ardalambion) and Andrew Higgins (of Elfling list) helped to find the detailed explanation of David Salo’s conlang forms.
The dialogues, together with lyrics and inscriptions, in the languages of Tolkien were created for the movies by David Salo, an American linguist. Richard’s analysis is a work in progress, continually updated based on suggestions from fans contributed via comments to his blog-style posts, and the results of his work on The Hobbit thus far can be found as follows:
Greetings all — as the Golden Globes have upset the table of this year’s Awards season (away from LINCOLN and in favor of ARGO), we have much shared excitement for upcoming HOBBIT: AUJ nominees Peter King (pictured here with WETA’s Richard Taylor), Dan Hennah, Joe Letteri, among others! TheOneRing.net is planning a big to-do here in Hollywood on the night of February 24th, THE ONE EXPECTED PARTY, in the tradition of our grand Oscar Parties of years past. Today on our *live* webcast TORn TUESDAY, your genial host Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway will discuss the rarified air of Hollywood’s awards season and how THE HOBBIT is performing worldwide as fans eat it up. Our webcast begins in a few minutes at 5:00PM Pacific Time, watch and join our innovative chat here on our Live Event page or here at Stickam (where you can turn on your camera or login with your smartphone)! Everyone join the mischief — we have a party to plan!
Over on Tracksounds.com, Doug Adams (author of Music of Lord of the Rings) discusses Howard Shore’s score for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Stream the Episode 54 of The Soundcast directly from the site, or download the podcast and listen later. In the episode, Adams discusses the effect of the format on film experience, how the score caused people some headscratching, and why this whole thing is just a huge “game of themes.” It does take the panel a fair chunk of time to actually get down to talking about the OST. If like me, you find that frustrating, you might want to skip the first 10 minutes or so.
Episode Highlights
00:00 Blunt the Opening and Doug Adams Intro
05:46 What we were expecting from this film
9:58 General reactions and comparing to Lord of the Rings
11:45 Reacting to the film and it’s music (spoilers)
31:21 Headscratching: Reacting to the score
49:56 A Game of Themes?
78:50 Wrapping it up
The Goblin King from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” Image by Warner Bros. Pictures
“The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” earned the top nomination for visual effects and six others nominations at the 11th annual Visual Effects Society Awards, set for Feb. 5 at the Beverly Hilton. “The Avengers,” and “The Life of Pi,” are close behind with six nominations each and are also in the top category.
The awards recognize special effect driven films such as those mentioned above in a different category from those features where effects play a secondary role. It recognizes work in animated films, broadcast, commercials, video games and student work. Weta Digital is represented with “The Hobbit” and a work on a few others films as well.
It also recognizes special effect characters pitting Gollum against the Goblin King, Hulk and the tiger from “Life of Pi,” named Richard Parker. There are currently 10 films on the Academy Award list for Best Visual Effects with the official nominations expected January 10. “The Hobbit,” is very likely to be on the final ballot. TheOneRing.net is hosting an awards-night celebration in Hollywood on the nights of the awards. Some tickets remain available.
Nominations for The Hobbit are as follows:
1. Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Joe Letteri
Eileen Moran
Eric Saindon
Kevin L. Sherwood
2 & 3. Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin King
Jung Min Chan
James Jacobs
David Clayton
Guillaume Francois
The Hobbit: Gollum
Gino Acevedo
Alessandro Bonora
Jeff Capogreco
Kevin Estey
4. Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin Caverns
Ryan Arcus
Simon Jung
Alastair Maher
Anthony M. Patti
5. Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Matt Aitken
Victor Huang
R. Christopher White
6. Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Areito Echevarria
Garry Runke
Francois Sugny
7. Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Jean-Luc Azzis
Steven Mcgillen
Christoph Salzmann
Charles Tait
“By my beard! You are shorter and wider than last we met.”
-Dwalin to Balin as they meet up for the meeting at Bag End
Yet another one of the statues we saw at Comic-Con 2012 for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was for the character Dwalin. Dwalin joined Thorin, Gandalf, Bilbo, Balin, and Bombur (not yet released). Dwalin went up for sale the same day as his brother Balin, making them the fourth and fifth statues released.
In Peter Jackson’s adaptation of The Hobbit, Dwalin was one of the many dwarves of the Lonely Mountain driven into exile by the dragon in the Third Age. Dwalin would join his brother Balin and Thrain in a group who would try to take back Erebor in 2841 of the Third Age. Dwalin would be one of the company who, one hundred years later, joined Thorin in trying to retake Erebor, and was successful in doing so. After the mountain was retaken, Dwalin would go on to be very successful with his brother Balin, and would live to be one of the oldest Dwarfs on record.
PACKAGING
The graphics on the box follow the same pattern we’ve seen with both Thorin and Balin, keeping the now familiar Dwarven design. Per the format we’ve come to know, the front of the box gives you a great shot of Dwalin, graphic work for the title of the movie, and of course the Weta logo. The sides of the box for Dwalin also present a familiar format with different looks at the statue on one side, while the other side of the box presents some of the various products you can get for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, such as the Balin statue, Thorin’s Map, Key to Erebor, and Bilbo’s Contract. The back of the box contains a great story on Dwalin, as well as information regarding details of the character and statue. The styrofoam on the inside is typical with what we’ve come used to getting with these statues, but does have a special compartment for his arms holding his axes.
SCULPTING
Greg Tozer is a name fans of Middle-earth collecting should know, if they own a certain statue of a Dark Lord of Mordor. That’s correct – the massive and awesome statue of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings statue line was created by Greg Tozer and David Tremont (who worked on Barad-Dûr). Dwalin is my favorite looking Dwarf design from The Hobbit, so I was super excited to get this into my collection. As is the case with his brother Balin, the likeness to Graham McTavish’s portrayal of Dwalin is fantastic. Not to be outdone is the work on the outfit of Dwalin; Mr. Tozer did a superb job of sculpting the fine details of the cloth part of his outfit with all the little lines in their place, and the fur of the outfit also wonderfully matches its onscreen counterpart. The leatherwork on the Dwalin statue is also exceptional. You have great detailed work in his chest guard and his belt, which lead into his sheath holding his knife. Dwalin, like any warrior, must have weapons which he takes into battle, and this warrior carries two nasty looking axes. These axes, named Ukhlat and Umraz, have all the Dwarven detail you see on the larger props in the movie, including the names carved into the axes. Any warrior must protect his hands, and Dwalin takes every precaution with two metal guards, which in the right situation could also be used as weapons. Finally, on his back, Dwalin has two holders for his axes, which are also sculpted very well.
PAINT
Dwalin continues the streak of very well painted statues from Weta Workshop. The skin tones use the proper paint mixture to not only make the statue look like a miniature Dwarf but also very like the character appeared on screen. The painting on Dwalin’s outfit is equally good. All the pieces of cloth, fur, and leather look as they should and as they did when we saw them in the movie. One of the great things about the cloth aspects of the paint is the proper green tint, giving homage to the green hood he wears in the book. As with both Thorin and Balin, the metal paint look to his axes makes them very much like used versions of something he’d carry if the statue were real. Much like with those two Dwarves, the Dwarven details of his axes are still there for the world to see. Finally, Dwalin has tattoos in support of his Dwarven heritage. These tattoos are decals, allowing fans to get great clean lines and show no blurring at all on the statue (both his head and on his hands).
Overall
Dwalin retails for $249, and while he is more expensive than his brother Balin, he is still a good deal. As I said earlier in this review, I love the design of Dwalin, from the tattoos and weapons, to just his overall look; he’s freaking cool! So for me, the $249 was easy for that reason alone. He looks great with the other four statues and if you can add him to your collection, I say go for it! Dwalin, like the other statues so far, is an open edition.
SPECIFICATIONS
Dwalin is an open edition statue with a retail price of $249. He’s also instock as of right now, so don’t delay.
Dimensions:
9.8″ x 9.1″ x 5.9″ (H x W x D)
25 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm
Over on Tracksounds.com, Doug Adams (author of Music of Lord of the Rings) discusses Howard Shore’s score for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Stream the Episode 54 of The Soundcast directly from the site, or download the podcast and listen later. In the episode, Adams discusses the effect of the format on film experience, how the score caused people some headscratching, and why this whole thing is just a huge “game of themes.” It does take the panel a fair chunk of time to actually get down to talking about the OST. If like me, you find that frustrating, you might want to skip the first 10 minutes or so.
