FanstRAvaganza3: Location scouting -The Hobbit. Setting the scene.

TODAY FROM OUR TAGTEAMERS:

F3 brightens up "hump day"! In fanfic, Maria Grazia presents an interview with Trudy Brasure and giveaway of her book, A Heart for Milton • C.S. Winchester helps new authors get their feet wet writing fanfic • In freeform, ChrisB continues the alphabet with "B is forBeard(?)? • jazzbaby1 puts John Porter in the hands of Frank Spotnitz • Agzy outs Armitage characters as dog lovers • In fandom,fedoralady recommends the right tunes for your Armitage fanvid • Rose Gisborne describes her Armitage day •In the Hobbit, IngeD3 reveals the deeper meaning of the dwarfs' hoods • Ana Cris reflects on the significance of Mountains in the Maori and other cultures here and here • In King Richard Armitage, Fabo offers some choices to play Anne Neville • Rose Gisborne discusses colours on Richard • Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day.

DON'T FORGET TO VISIT THE CORE BLOGGERS: bccmee on the incompetent but gorgeous Lucas North • CDoart on Richard Armitage & women • fitzg (guesting at Confessions of a Watcher) divulges a classified memo from the DG of MI-5 on Lucas’s return to Section D • RAFrenzy on Richard Armitage as catalyst for creativity • Nat with a Richard Armitage crossword puzzle • Traxy on family relationships and Ordeal by Innocence • Fanny interviews Wattpad author Stella del Nord • Jonia on how she keeps herself from thinking she needs to marry Richard Armitage • Servitus on teaching North & South.

Location scouting -The Hobbit. Setting the scene.

"Eighteen years old and reading JRR Tolkien for the first time, I was sitting on a train as it left Wellington and rumbled through the North Island. During the twelve-hour journey, I'd lift my eyes from the book and look at the familiar landscape - which all of a sudden looked like Middle-earth." Sir Peter Jackson. (Foreword; "Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook by Ian Brodie)

Richard Armitage:

" ..... there is nowhere I would rather be at this moment than exploring "Middle Earth" with my new family of Dwarves, Elves, Men, Wizard and Hobbit. What a gift to be here, in this place, at this time. I can't wait to share it with everyone. I am a very fortunate man." (August 2011)

 "..... the privilege to be in NZ working on The Hobbit has made this year unforgettable. The places we have been to and the things we have seen, have surpassed all my expectations." (December 2011)

 

(Upload by Filmsactu.com on Youtube)

The second half of this Hobbit Production Video #2 on Peter Jackson's Facebook Page describes the location scouting for The Hobbit. (At 4mins 55 secs).

Following is an excerpt by Sir Peter Jackson on location scouting from Ian Brodie's "The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook"

An exerpt from Sir Peter Jackson on location scouting for Lord of the Rings: (Much of this is relevant to The Hobbit as well as LOTR).

"The way the locations process works is that generally a location scout goes out in advance and canvasses the whole country for potential places....

Dave Comer, Robin Murphy and various other people scoured New Zealand and sent me photographs and videotapes. It was almost like casting for an actor, and the process is really the same, with somebody doing the initial sweep and then once we narrow down the choices, and we see places we'd like, we go out for what is called a 'recce'.

This was a team of people including myself, Andrew Lesnie, our Director of Photography, Caro Cunningham, the First Assistant Director, and a slew of technical support people. We would look at the landscape from an artistic point of view, first of all to see if it was suitable and does this feel like it came from the pages of Tolkien's book? Then you look at it from a logistical point of view, because the second consideration is where do we park the trucks? Where can we feed the crew? Is there a road in here?" (From: "The Lord of the Rings Location Guide Book" by Ian Brodie)

Things to consider other than the artistic merit of a location:

1. Transport & road access. Trucks, caravans, cars
2. Helicopter landing site
3. Area of two football fields to park caravans; portaloos, changing facilities; technical equipment; food tents etc.
4. Accommodation.

Tolkien was quite explicit when it came to descriptions of the scenes, particularly in Lord of the Rings. Thorin's significant place, his heritage and therefore his point of focus will be Erebor and therefore how they depict Erebor is going to be all important. It will need to stand alone in the scenery, so that everyone's eyes are drawn to it.

Two of J.R.R. Tolkien's drawings of Lonely Mountain (Erebor).

   

We have several months to wait to see how Erebor is revealed. I suspect it will loom up majestically out of the landscape ..... how The Weta team will do this, I'm not quite sure .... How many more days to go? Check the Counter in the sidebar.

 UPDATE: More locations for The Hobbit were revealed in Peter Jackson's last Hobbit Production Video Blog #6.

Comments

[bccmee]

Wow, there's a location book on LOTR? I guess I'm not surprised now that I think about it. :) I wonder if a book will be written on The Hobbit locations? How fun it will be to be able to follow in those hairy footsteps.

[Nat]

I'm so glad they are filming "The Hobbit" in NZ... it IS Middle Earth! The location shots in PJ's production vlogs are amazing... I'm SO excited to see the first film this year. :)

[Servetus]

Didn't realize it was this complicated, but I did read that there was a lot of stress about the terms of the local labor contracts for these films. I'm glad the boys are enjoying themselves, though, in the landscape! It looks absolutely luscious.

[MrsFitzwilliamD]

Sir P.J. finds the most beautiful locations for his movies, but I suspect Erebor will be CGI. There's a hint that this might be so in one of the production videos. Thanks for all the info, I'm going to have to track down that book on the LOTR locations. Hopefully they'll re-release with additions for Hobbit.

[jasrangoon]

I haven't ever thought about all of the various aspects of location shooting, such as places for all of the trailers and such. I guess I thought it was just about how a place looked. Thanks for the description of what all scouts have to take into consideration, very interesting.

[IWantToBeAPinUp]

The NZ lanscape is such an important part of LOTR and I doubt it will be any different in The Hobbit. Peter Jackson's Vlogs just bring home how beautiful the scenery is, but also how challenging and demanding filming there is.

[Ana Cris]

Hi,
I'm amazed at how our posts are complementary!
And I could not resist, I purchased this book in my trip to Middle-earth!
Ana CRis

[Mulubinba]

Thanks for your comments everyone. I've been a bit remiss in responding as W/T/F are working days for me.

There is a Hobbit locations tour that has been organised by Red Carpet Tours (http://www.redcarpet-tours.com/).

I'm sure Erebor will be CGI but I guess they base their conceptual design on a "real one" ... Mitres Peak (right photo), fits in well with Tolkien's sketch, but Erebor needs less water around it :)

Ana - you and I must have been on similar wavelengths with our respective trips. If I'd not prescheduled my posts, I would have linked more over to you! My location visit (tomorrow's post) isn't as good as yours at Matamata though as we just couldn't get close enough. Still, it was a fun tour.

[Ana Cris]

Mulubinba,
The more I see New Zealand, the more I want to go back there. There is so much to see yet!