SoundWorks1SoundWorks Collection recently took a trip to Wellington, New Zealand to speak with the wizards at Park Road Post Studios about their work on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. From these interviews comes a 10-minute video (which we’ve embedded below) detailing the tremendous process of constructing the sound design of the second film in Peter Jackson’s epic adaptation.

This profile comes on the heels of the Oscar nominations the film
received in both sound categories – Sound Editing and Sound Mixing (in addition to Visual Effects). The Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday, March 2.

Interviews in this video include re-recording mixers Michael Hedges, Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, and Gary Summers, as well as composer Howard Shore and producer/co-screenwriter Philippa Boyens. Continue reading “SoundWorks Collection profiles ‘The Desolation of Smaug’”

Hobbit Desolation of Smaug PosterThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced their nominations
for the 86th Annual Academy Awards this morning, and The Desolation of Smaug received 3 nods.

Best Sound Mixing
Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
 
Best Sound Editing
Brent Burge
 
Best Visual Effects
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
 

Congratulations to the nominees! The ceremony will be held on March 2nd. Continue reading “‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ nominated for 3 Oscars”

Bilbo_EmpireThe nominations for the 61st Annual MPSE Golden Reel Awards have been announced, and The Desolation of Smaug received two nods – Best Sound Editing: Sound Effects and Foley in an English Language Feature and Best Sound Editing: Music in a Feature (English or Foreign Language).

The films Gravity and 12 Years a Slave led with 3 nominations apiece.
The awards ceremony will be held on February 17, 2014. Continue reading “‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ receives 2 nominations from the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE)”

headThis past Thursday night, the Visual Effects branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences met to vote for the five VFX nominees at this year’s Oscars. As expected, voters were highly impressed by the frontrunners Gravity and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. But the fellow potential nominees were no slouches either. Presentations of the special effects work behind Pacific Rim, World War Z, and others left quite an impression as well. Continue reading “‘Smaug’ Visual Effects wow at Academy Awards bake-off”

Master of LaketownAmong other awards groups announcing their nominations today, the Costume Designers Guild also released their nods. Ann Maskrey, Richard Taylor, and Bob Buck were nominated for their work on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, along with the costume designers of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Oz the Great and Powerful. Continue reading “Costume Designers Guild nominates ‘The Desolation of Smaug’”

Smaug WETA Temp CoverDue to be released
on April 1 (no, not an April fools joke), the new book Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon comes from the same wonderful team behind the three The Hobbit: Chronicles books. This release will be 96 pages, exploring the creation of the title character of the second Hobbit film from concept art to digital realization. Final cover art is not yet available, but you can order the book on Weta’s website as well as Amazon.com and other online book stores. Continue reading “‘Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon’ now available for pre-order on Amazon.com”