The Special Effects of the Hobbit

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The crowning moment for the SFX team will of course be Smaug. A great, scary dragon that can fly, speak and breath fire will be a very difficult task to visualise. Will they do a Gollum and pull it off? Only time can tell...

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by skip spence

The crowning moment for the SFX team will of course be Smaug. A great, scary dragon that can fly, speak and breath fire will be a very difficult task to visualise. Will they do a Gollum and pull it off? Only time can tell...

True, true. Still, after the splendid bear effects in Golden Compass, I would be surprised if there aren't some at Weta who would hanker to get their claws into Beorn, so to speak.

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

True, true. Still, after the splendid bear effects in Golden Compass, I would be surprised if there aren't some at Weta who would hanker to get their claws into Beorn, so to speak.

Odd. Because even though I generally enjoyed the special effects in the GC, I thought the bears were, sadly, very un-bearlike in a way. Their faces were too long and there was something else wrong in their appearance as well - oh yes, they had too long legs. And they did not move like bears do. Close to it, but not close enough to appear believable.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

And they did not move like bears do. Close to it, but not close enough to appear believable.

I think they moved too fast, and their fur did not ripple, but I'm partial to any depiction of northern themes. (Blinded by the light on the snow I suppose. ) Bear mythology has rarely been seen in movies, so now might be the time to develop Beorn well.

[ArathornJax]

there are some great moments to be had for sure in the film . . . the trolls, Beorn (if he is not cut out), Smaug, the spiders, etc but one thing is for sure. There will be some things that will disappoint some and others that will excite.

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^I'm fairly certain Beorn will get cut out and thinking about it I'd welcome it too.

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

True, true. Still, after the splendid bear effects in Golden Compass, I would be surprised if there aren't some at Weta who would hanker to get their claws into Beorn, so to speak.

But bears are real animals, although they might not speak or work metals irl. A dragon like Smaug is an all together different challenge, and a much more difficult one. The dragons in Reign of Fire looked cool and fairly realistic but they were more like winged beasts. Smaug I imagine very different to those creatures. I look forward to the movie in any case. I think The Hobbit might be a better fit for the big screen then LoTR as it has a more straight forward storyline.