Of Hobbits.

I cannot express simply how excited I am by The Hobbit finally going into production. This video gave me chills, especially seeing the cast sit at Bilbo's table and to then be joined by Ian McKellen - it's incredible. The Lord of the Rings were a massive part of my teenage years (early - mid) and I cannot wait for The Hobbit films to join them. The original films were unlike anything I had ever seen and I cannot wait to venture into Middle Earth again.

Nineteen*8

I loved TinTin as a kid. I've never actually seen the animated series but I all the books my primary school had. When I heard that there was a film trillogy in development I have followed every tiny scrap of news since. Early news reported that Steven Spielberg would direct the first, Peter Jackson the second and they would co-direct the third. More recent news has it that there will only be two films but this remain relatively uncertain in this day and age of sequels. Since pre-production was announced and Spielberg's filming wrapped after 6 weeks or production I have been anxious for a glimpse at how Herge's legendary style would be transformed into film. Empire quoted Peter Jackson on the film's visual style;

"With live action you're going to have actors pretending to be Captain Haddock and Tintin, with CGI we can bring Hergé's world to life, keep the stylised caricatured faces, keep everything looking like Hergé's artwork, but make it photo-real."

Little has been stated about the film's scripts (written by Steven Moffat, rewrites by Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright) other than the first film will focus on the beginning of TinTin's friendship with Captain Haddock, Thompson & Tompson whilst exploring the stories of The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure.

Apparently Edgar Wright has written dialogue for Thompson & Tompson, which would be amazing considering that they were always hilarious in the comics and of course the fact that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are playing the twins!

I think they have captured the look of Herge's work as well as is possibly in a CGI realm. There will always be complaints about it looking reminiscent to the ill-fated Polar Express as well as it not truly reflecting Herge's style. To put it plainly; those out there who expect a perfect adaptation should give up on watching anything based off a book, film, musical, graphic novel, comic, real life etc because it will never happen. You need to look at this as an opportunity for one of your childhood favourites to get a treatment from film greats that you could have dreamed of; Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Jamie Bell, Daniel Craig, Andy Serkis, Nick Frost, Simon Pegg and the list goes on. Does this mean that it is going to be a success? Not necessarily. But it does stand a pretty good chance with such a talented team.

Those doubts regarding the animation falling deep deep into the uncanny valley should be cast aside when they think of the fact that WETA is undertaking the mo-cap and effects. I feel as though their experience speaks for itself; Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Avatar, District 9, I, Robot etc.

After all, it's all in the eyes.

Nine*8

I stumbled across an article just before Christmas over at Newsweek (via Slashfilm) which detailed an exchange between Peter Jackson and James Cameron on their film-making and their use of CG in particular. It is most definitely worth the read. Cameron makes a comment that given the opportunity to introduce an increased amount of CG into his 1997 epic - he would, rather than the extensive sets that were used in places. This is all hindsight of course.

Apart from this and a discussion over using makeup v. cg there is an interesting little note that Jackson makes mention of that the loss of the smaller independent distributors is affecting the film industry. Especially in the way of producing a medium budget film and the problem with the fact that the industry is producing blockbuster after blockbuster and it is almost irrelevant if it is a quality film.

Anyway, check out the article. It's well worth it.