The Lord of the Rings - The Hobbit - Extended Editions
The Lord of the Rings - The Hobbit - Extended Editions
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Any budding filmmaker looking for inspiration would do very well to get their hands on this Amazing set!
The extended movies are incredible. But much more, these extended editions Blu-Ray (I bought the digital version from Fandango) include "Appendices"!
These Appendices are incredible movies - each, on their own!
Peter Jackson and the incredible team that put these films together documented the entire production process, capturing it all on film, and they're Awesome enough to share it with us! Much more, they invite authors of related books and material to join in and offer insights into Tolkien's world, mythology, history... anything that can possibly be deemed worthy to help them tell us why they did what they did and how incredibly l o n g it took them to work out and deliver into this, most amazing collection of films!
Just as a sample, here's the first "Intro" from the first of the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu-Ray set
If you follow the above link, select one of the films in its contents. In the lower section, click on Bonus Features and take a look.
If you've chosen "The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey" you'll notice that there are 38 bonus features.
The first two are each over 4 hours on their own!
I first discovered these back with the much earlier release of The Lord of the Rings Extended Editions. I had already bought each of the theatrical editions - and this was long before I knew about Vudu, which is now Fandango - a service that allows us to stream our movies instead of having to place discs into a player. Nothing strange about that now, but back then it was super cool to be able to use this service!
Rosie and I rented the whole trilogy of Extended Editions from Netflix, back when this meant that they would send the discs via the postal service, keep them as long as you like, then return them using the included box.
I just wanted to see the additional story footage. It never bothered me to watch an exceptionally long film - I wanted to see how far they went with it - and it is Awesome! I love that we were able to remove the constraints from Peter Jackson and his team and just let them show the whole feature.
So what's with all of these extra discs?
We never really put in the "Special Features" discs much back then. Both working fulltime, we'd watch the movie and move on to the next.
We dropped one of these into the player and were greeted with the friendly video shown above. As he offers, I just selected "Play All"
Of course, it took several day to get through it all! Wow! But - Oh My!!! Is it ever Awesome!!!
A fun set of clips that Aitor Martin put on YouTube : Benedict Cumberbatch performing the voice of Smaug - he did so in a Motion Capture Suit, even though this was not required of him as there was no intention of using the captured data. In the end, however... it turned out to be very useful indeed - to drive specific motions of the Impressively Massive Dragon!
As I watch my way through these amazing documentaries, I am constantly inspired for my own projects.
It's also an important reveal and reminder regarding How Many People, giving Everything They've Got (and more) over YEARS to complete these Masterpieces of carefully planned, professional artist-driven storytelling.
It's a humble reminder that I am only one artist - and that my budget is far less than half of a percent of one month of what it takes to make something like this.
Point being, I'm not trying to do something this epic at the final quality of what these incredible teams produce.
That Does Not mean that I'm not trying to give it my All to make the best videos that I can - but more: Give it my all while considering the fact that it's only me.
Taking inspiration from all of the various departments of genius that are involved in making feature films like these is a Wonderful asset that I didn't have when I first started working on this stuff. I have to admit that I was incredibly clueless in regards to how movies are made. I just knew that I wanted to make motion pictures. I didn't even realize back then how much I didn't know about the process! :)
This incredible collection includes wonderful material regarding research that went into Tolkien's craft as well as a great many other things, like how they come up with motions for various creatures, how they decide upon voices, using amazing environments and building stages inside that convince us that we're someplace real - yet completely fantastical!
In Daz Studio, I try to liken this to the difference between:
Filming on Location: Filming in a real environment rather than a sound stage
My interpretation: Utilizing a fully realized Daz Studio Environment such as Medieval Lands, by Andrey Pestryakov or Urban Future 8, by Stonemason, for example
Sound Stage: Vignette-style stages with green-screen backdrops for set extension in post
My interpretation: Bringing in only the scenery props that I need for Character interaction in the camera shot - rendered to Alpha in order to extend the scene in post
Most of my work is done without any scenery at all in the Character Renders.
I use joelegecko's HDRI Photoshoot 1, 2 and 3 as my lighting solution to help convey the character's surroundings in order to more easily match the character render with the background and foreground elements shot separately.
The Mind's Eye
The Mind's Eye
One major advantage that I find myself having, is that I only have to relay my design information to one person - me!
In a filmmaker's environment, making an Epic film requires a lot more work to ensure continuity amongst all of the genius creators that are needed to bring the whole thing to life on screen.
Seeing and hearing from their perspectives on all of this is enormously beneficial, eye-opening, and just plain entertaining - the inspiration magnifies as we see all of the work these folks pour into even the smallest moments of the film - along with who knows how many thousands and thousands of dollars!
We can find many of these Appendices video on YouTube, but I assure you - it's nothing like having the actual collection at your fingertips.
Rendering and Hair Simulation takes time - Time that I can trust my computer to do for me while I walk my dog and spend valuable time with Rosie and the kids.
It also means that I will often have time to take in at least part of these amazing movies. These Appendices truly are movies in their own right and are just as enjoyable as the Epic Wonders that they are about!
Highly Recommended!
Highly Recommended!
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