With its ceaseless tide of wizards, Wargs, Orcs, Stone-Giants, Skin-changers, Goblins, and, of course, Gollum, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — available on Blu-ray from April 8 — is a feast for fans of fantasy filmdom.
But it proved a challenge of Silmarillion proportions for the visual effects team at Weta Digital charged with bringing Tolkien’s fantastical romp to life. The first blockbuster to combine the dimensional hurdles of 3D and pioneering 48fps HFR technology, it’s arguably the most daunting special effects movie ever attempted. Continue reading “Behind The Hobbit: the special effects masters”
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Fictional Frontiers, a radio show specializing in genre entertainment and located on the east coast of the U.S., was part of the media assembled at The One Expected Party and checks in with an entertaining look at the weekend’s art show and Oscar night’s biggest geek celebration. It showcases each of the Oscar nominees, a few interviews, selections from the art show and a good representation of the musical showcase from the evening. Checking in under five minutes, it’s an excellent capture of the event.
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David Salo who you may know from his work as a linguist, language constructor and translator for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies has recently started his own language blog called Midgardsmal. Salo intends to blog about his thoughts about his work on the films, as well as the new languages he created for The Hobbit. Continue reading “Linguist David Salo now blogging at Midgardsmal”
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Last week, all fans of TheOneRing.net were focused on the approach of “The One Expected Party.” But there was another event involving some of the Oscar-nominated members of The Hobbit production team. On Saturday, February 23, the 
Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (just down the street from the Dolby Theatre) was the venue for “The Art of Production Design,” jointly sponsored by the Art Directors Guild, the Set Decorators Society of America, and the American Cinematheque.
The panel of guests was made up of the production designers for Lincoln, Anna Karenina, Life of Pi, and Les Misérables, as well as The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Dan Hennah was there as production designer (at the right in the photo), along with Ra Vincent (left) and Simon Bright (center), the set decorators.
With that much talent present, the time allotted to each film was all too short. Dan Hennah assured the audience that the designs for The Hobbit were not just a return to The Lord of the Rings. There were new challenges involved in what he called a “long and relentless journey.” A great deal of pre-production had taken place during the period when Guillermo del Toro was on board as director. Once Peter Jackson took over, everything was revisited. Continue reading “Oscar Nominees Talk Hobbit Set Design”
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It is a little difficult to imagine what event might have had more geek credibility on Oscar night than our own One Expected Party. GeekExchange.com certainly managed a solid report complete with the YouTube video above that shows highlights from many of the events that took the stage. They also managed a photo gallery that is definitely worth a look. You can read the entire report if you click this simple link.
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Dan Hennah talked Oscars with the Nelson Mail (part of the Stuff.co.nz network) after the awards ceremony and the One Expected Party where he rated the official ceremony as the best of the five he has attended. He visited the Governor’s Ball and along with his wife Chris (who managed the production team on set (and was kind to TheOneRing.net embedded reporter) attended our own celebratory events afterwards. Along with the Hennahs at the party were production nominees Ra Vincent and Simon Bright (both for set decoration) and the article mentions them as well. Nelson, in New Zealand, is where the Hennahs are from, making the Academy Award winners part of the native Kiwi population, along with Peter Jackson and Richard Taylor that sprung from New Zealand soil and stand among the best in the world at their craft.
The article starts, ” Dan Hennah may not have picked up another Oscar to add to the one in the dining room in his Orinoco home but he still had a great time at yesterday’s Oscar ceremony in Los Angeles.
The Hobbit, for which Hennah was nominated for production design, lost to Lincoln in that category. Hennah said Lincoln was “a beautiful movie and it was well executed. It got what it deserved”. ”
You can read the rest right here.
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