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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoilers)

How would you grade [i]The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug[/i]?

  • Total voters
    121
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Having watched the 8 hour blu ray extras, I can safely say that they did exactly the same stuff regarding the sets. Instead of miniatures they used CG. But actors in front of greenscreen is actors in front of greenscreen, and digital set extension is digital set extension.

They shoot these films just like they shot Lord of the Rings.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

They also wanted to make Azog a practical character, and shot him as such, but realized it wasn't working at pretty much the last minute. At that point, there's not really much choice but to do it as CGI. :/

The goblins I'm a bit more miffed at, since PJ effectively asked too much of the costume guys and actors and realized that it wasn't working practically, so he had to switch it over to CGI to get the effect that he wanted.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

To be fair, after I saw the footage of original Azog and the practical Goblins in the extras, I agree with Jackson that the CG versions look a lot better. They do look CG, but the design looks better.

What baffled me was that Ian Holm never was in New Zealand, and he and Elijah Wood in fact never were in a hobbit hole set. All greenscreen and absolutely seamless integration.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

The whole film just felt more fake-y to me. As if the CGI and real life wasn't integrated quite so well.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

JarodRussell said:
Having watched the 8 hour blu ray extras, I can safely say that they did exactly the same stuff regarding the sets. Instead of miniatures they used CG. But actors in front of greenscreen is actors in front of greenscreen, and digital set extension is digital set extension.

They shoot these films just like they shot Lord of the Rings.
Click to expand...

That was their mistake. They used more miniatures and location shooting in the LOTR's trilogy but Jackson decided to overload with the CGI. The same as what George Lucas did. There is literally no difference now between Peter Jackson and George Lucas except Lucas doesn't do three-hour movies because he's not in love with himself like Jackson is.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

No they didn't, they used just as much on location shooting. The only difference is that the blue screen stzff isn't filled with miniatures this time.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Loved it. Loved Tauriel. Loved Smaug the Lovable. Great flick.

One issue that threw me right out of film at the beginning and the end, though:

WTF was going on with the credits font?

It looked like ass. I've seen better credit overlays done by school children using a generic moviemaker app on their ipads.

Bright white lettering in Times New Roman? Seriously? You spent how much on this movie? What, did you run out of money and ask your dad to do the credit sequences in Word the night before opening day, Pete?
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Base_Delta_Zero said:
Bright white lettering in Times New Roman? Seriously? You spent how much on this movie? What, did you run out of money and ask your dad to do the credit sequences in Word the night before opening day, Pete?
Click to expand...
Yeah, God forbid they be legible and very easy to read. How dare they. It should be some obnoxious font with low contrast coloring that all but blends into the scenery so that even if you do manage to see the camouflaged text, you can't read it anyway. That's how credits should be, dammit. Fuck reading!
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Weren't the credits just like the credits in AUJ and the LOTR movies? :confused:
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

I believe he means the "one year earlier" and "present day" subtitles...
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Ahh. Well, even then, that font reminded me of the font they used for the "60 years later..." caption in the theatrical edition of FOTR. Looked fine to me.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

0.68 seconds, sir.

For an android, that is nearly an eternity.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

There is a shot right after they first meet and try to negotiate with Bard about being "smuggled" into Lake Town, where we cut back to orcs running along the riverside over uneven terrain. It looks so fake to me. It looks as if they are running along marks in the studio on a green-screen stage, with background plate being added in later.

I could be wrong: that shot could've been done entirely on location. I'll accept that. But many other shots were done on that green-screen stage that it makes every complex shot seem like it was done that way, regardless of how it was actually done. That's what I mean when I said that the film has a very fake-y look to it.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

No, I'm not talking about the one year later bits, I'm talking the title card and credit sequence.

It started with The Hobbit all animated and LOTRs-ey on a black background and then blam! in big ugly white letters: "The Desolation of Smaug" over a mountaintop shot, followed by opening credits. Then they did it again with the end credits. It was lazy and lame and did not fit with the quality of the rest of the movie. It didn't have to be in Elvish or all flowery, but it shouldn't look like I'm watching a made-for-tv movie opening on late night Sy-Fy

They weren't white and generic for easy reading. They were white white and generic because a less than stellar effort was put into them and it showed. I imagine they ran out of time during post and just said, fuck it.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Um. That's the same exact style and font they used in AUJ and all three of the LOTR films.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

Well, I just watched it. The opening credits (Wingnut films, etc) were done exactly like the LOTR credits. The captions (such as "Bree - on the borders of the shire," "12 months later" and all of the subtitles for languages) were done in Times New Roman font, also matching the style in the original trilogy, although there were more captions here, I believe.

Skywaker, your avatar is disturbing LOL.
 
Re: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Grading & Discussion (Spoile

There are no opening credits after the “Desolation of Smaug“ title card. And the font is the very same for all the LotR films and the first Hobbit film. So, in short, I have no idea what the fuck you were smoking.
 
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