Thursday, November 10, 2011

Latest The Hobbit Production Video: A Deep Delve Into 3D

I still haven’t quite come to grips with The Hobbit in 3D. I’ve got a few 3D films under my belt—Avatar, Captain America, Green Lantern, and Jaws 3—and to be honest, the added dimension hasn’t done much for me. Avatar made the most of it with its rich images of Pandora; the other films felt like they were trying to capitalize on a fad (hey, look, there’s a shield coming at me!) in order to take in a few extra bucks at the gate.

In short, I still prefer good old fashioned 2D, even after watching the latest The Hobbit production video on Peter Jackson’s Facebook page. Judging by the mixed feelings in the comments, others prefer 2D, too. “Love your work Peter, the technology is fascinating, and I can’t wait for 2012. But this 3d stuff is an absolutely horrid and wretched fad which adds zero value to any movie which incorporates it,” writes one commenter. But there were many more positives than negatives amongst the comments, and having viewed the video I’m a bit more optimistic with the thought of donning a pair of uncomfortable plastic glasses and settling in to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 3D next December.

To read the rest of this post, visit The Black Gate website.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say that the Black Gate website should allow external comments, that is one should not have to register at only wordpress to be able to comment on the site. Wordpress has plugins like intensedebate or disqus that can be utilized to allow users from twitter/facebook/googleplus etc. to quickly comment.
Also, I understand that it in keeping with the name, but the blue text on black background is jarring for readers. I personally use the readability plugin on most websites with annoying text, but..anyway, FYI and all.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/intensedebate/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disqus-comment-system/

Falze said...

the geek in me starts thinking about 48 frame per second images of the Battle of Five Armies

Sadly, I'm already envisioning that as a lot of shield-rattling buildup followed by 45 seconds of CGI mayhem with a rapid victory courtesy of the eagles as we are mostly treated to closeups of a woozy, swooning Bilbo's face, blurry views of the battlefield, perhaps some exciting closeups of grass and rocks as he tries to crawl from the battle. Just can't bring myself to think it's going to be decent after the absolute hash they made of the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.

(hmm...guess I haven't turned the corner towards optimism on this one)

Brian Murphy said...

Hi Anonymous, I agree with you, and I'll forward your concerns on to the Black Gate editor.

Falze: Believe me, I have plenty of fears and reservations, too. There's a place for humor in films, but not in the middle of battles (see shield surfing, or Sam smacking an orc in the face with a pan and quipping, "I think I'm getting the hang of this." Cuz yeah, I'd have time for humor if a monster was trying to cut me open with a scimitar).

Andy said...

I will not pay extra for 3D movies, especially since they give me and my wife headaches. If film producers want my money, they better offer a 2D option.