Middle -earth with your own hands
The film crew of the film “Hobbit: Emolla's Smuuga” shares the secrets of creating the perfect fantasy
Filming of the film is a titanic work that cost hundreds, and in particularly large -scale cases, thousands of people. And these are not only the actors whom we see on the screen. This is a huge team of representatives of various professions – from operators, make -up artists, costumers and programmers to fencing instructors and experts in physics. And although the work of these people passes behind the scenes, their contribution to the creation of the picture cannot be overestimated. After all, it is they who, under the sensitive leadership of the director, create the world of the film, make it convincing for the viewer.
On the eve of the release of the long -awaited fantasy epic “Hobbit: Wasteful Smuug”, we managed to communicate with the four of the wizards who have embodied the beauty of Middle -earth. Costume artists Bob Buck and Richard Taylor, Montazer Jabez Olssen and head of the choice of locations for filming Jared Connon shared their impressions of working on the continuation of the “hobbit”, talked about the most difficult and exciting moments.
Beauty and dangers of New Zealand
A constant change of locations is very important for the trip about the trip, because it is part of the narrative. To choose the best place for filming, you need to read the script, discuss the vision of this place with the director, consider many photos. “After all, we are looking not just a forest, its atmosphere, the emotions that he causes is important to us. The forest can turn out to be a light grove or a terrible thicket, and the river can be small and slow or stormy and dangerous, ”says Jared Connon. So viewing the photo here you will not get off, you have to drive in New Zealand and ask the locals about the picturesque corners of the nearby. Most of them are happy to help and make friends, so the searches become, though a dreary, but pleasant activity.
“Peter Jackson knows the country very well, he shot“ lords of rings ”here, he traveled along it with his family and friends, and his knowledge helps us a lot in the selection of locations. However, the director will never agree with the very first, obvious choice. It is important for him that we try to find something new and eventually choose the best option of all possible, ”Konnon continued. The difficult task for the crew was the need to show that the screen on the screen as in the “Lord of the Rings”, but to cover its other species, even more grandiose. Nature has also become darker than in the first part of the "hobbit", a darker, threatening. After all, the journey of heroes is becoming more dangerous, and the world around them should emphasize this.
There was enough thrill and film crew. More than a hundred people, including actors in costumes and make -up, had to be delivered to a helicopter by a helicopter to the place. The clouds and wind strongly interfered with the shooting, up to the point that one day it was urgent to evacuate the entire group due to a sharp deterioration in visibility. Four people then had to stay upstairs and start the descent on their own, but, fortunately, they managed to pick them up before the onset of dark. It was not easy to remove the scene with gnomes in barrels floating down the river. A place with a slow but noticeable current was looking for a long time and constantly feared that water could rise due to approaching rain. One and a half year negotiations on the possibility of filming in the National Park on Mount Ruapuh also patted the nerves team, but it was worth it.
Costume like a mirror of a soul
Changes in the geography of the film, as well as a number of events that occurred on the way, also affect the wardrobe of the heroes. Dwarves lost their costumes that were worn throughout the first film, and they had to be invented over. “Dwarves lose their weapons and get new, lose and find it again and again. It seems that we changed their costumes eleven or twelve times during the trilogy, ”says Richard Taylor. “And clothes need to be changed thirteen gnomes. This is a huge amount of work, – Bob Buck echoes him. – A separate problem was to put on gnomes in human things. I had to put on the actors costumes of too large size for them, so that they seem small. Yes, and make sure that they can move in them and they were not too heavy. ".
A difficult but interesting task was the design of new races and characters. The elves of the fever should merge with nature, be strong and dangerous, but at the same time elegant and sophisticated. Richard Taylor noted that he did not want the elves to look weak due to excess flower motifs and other decorations on their uniform, but it was also necessary to show their belonging to nature. Inspired by the style of Ar-nuvo and the era of the Renaissance, the designers still found the middle ground. Elves wardrobe also turned out to be surprisingly diverse. Higher elves and forest elves look different and wear different outfits at the king’s court and in the service. Unlike them, the elf of Rivendell in the “Lord of the Rings” did not need to leave far from his city, so they did not have to change their elegant robes to the camps.
When creating the image of Beorn, designers turned to the Viking culture. The character of the hero is full of contrasts: turning into a bear, he becomes fierce and dangerous, at home, in human form, he looks peaceful and caring. The werewolf costume should reflect his character and look simple, home -made, but to give out the power and pride in the owner with his missing people. Beorn loves animals and will not harm them, so it has boots made of rough fabric, and not from leather, a home -made sweater, exposing shirts of a sleeveless shirt. Bob Buck took a chance to add only one bright and symbolic part to its vestment – a buckle in the form of a hook with two ends, one of which depicts the head of a bear, and on the other – a person. “This is one of those things that you do not necessarily notice on the screen, although who knows. I wanted to create an original element of decor, even if it never gets into the frame, ”Bob admitted.
The lake city, where Bilbo and Gnomes arrive, reminded the designers of Eastern Europe, Asia and even Siberia, so the appearance of its inhabitants is eclectic. Different cultures mixed at the crossroads of trade routes, and this must be shown, as well as the fact that rich times have long passed here. Two heroes from this city contrast with each other excellently. The mayor clings to his miserable power, dressing in dirty, worn, but pompous things, and looks frankly funny in them, while the bard of the archer holds stoically simply. “Bard is a symbol. This is a hero who is not lucky in life, but he remains a strong, heroic man. We were inspired by the works of Russian artists to convey his gloomy courage, ”Bob Bab describes the hero.
The path from the sketch to the screen
Work begins on each suit, weapon or armor from the sketch, often developed simultaneously by several people from different teams, in order to then choose the best. According to Richard Taylor, more than ten thousand illustrations were made for the Hobbit trilogy, while https://galaxy-spins-casino.co.uk/ the Lord of the Rings drew less than a thousand. It can be seen that Peter Jackson this time tried to create an even more impressive world for the audience, requiring a thorough study. More creative freedom is also facilitated by technical progress that has stepped forward. If the Taylor team when working on the “Lord of the Rings” had to create models of creatures or weapons in full so that they could be scanned and digitized, now the models can be immediately created on the computer, without missing the slightest detail. Robots help designers, with the help of which, for example, it is possible to cut the fabric much faster than manually.
“Almost all costumes appear on the screen are created from scratch. This gives full control over the creation of a thing, and this is great, but at the same time you have to keep track of everything. I even had to get used to the fact that some things deliver to New Zealand for a very long time, and learn to make them independently, ”Bob Buck says about their work. During the filming of the main part of the film, there were about ninety people in his team – from artists, dyers, seamstresses, laundry workers, people who artificially aging costumes, jewelers, modists, sculptors, shoemakers and tanners to help actors put on their costumes on the set. Each thing here passes through many hands, and this is an amazing, debugged mechanism.
For Jabez Olssen, work on the Hobbit also became unique. The installation here had to be engaged not only after, but also in the course of filming, placing several portable Avid Media Composer systems on the site and a full -scale system in a truck. “We went down to the rivers and climbed the mountains, where the shooting took place. And it was amazing, because the editors rarely have to get out of the studio and enjoy the views of the places where the film is being shot, ”Olssen shares his impressions. It is not easy to cope with a huge amount of captured material, which needs to be sorted and edited. Peter Jackson shoots many options for the same scene from different angles, and at the installation stage chooses the best from them, without afraid to experiment. Also, Olssen and his assistants are instructed to create completely new scenes from pieces of captured material. “Thanks to the characters and special effects modeled on the computer, you can change the plot of the film even at the end of the filming. It is difficult, of course, to change anything at the last minute, but the ability to do everything perfectly and not to compromise is very inspiring, ”the editor said.
Well, the efforts of the team working on the picture were clearly not in vain. After their stories, watch the movie “Hobbit: Mustard Smuug” will be even more interesting. Knowing how much work, attention and love is invested in the smallest details, not one of them wants to lose sight of.