It's been more than three months since Peter Jackson last posted a video blog from the set of The Hobbit, and I guess you can't blame him for not having the time. The two-part, massive production is well under way in New Zealand, and y'know, the guy has a few bigger fish to fry. But at last, Jackson and his crew are back on video for us to enjoy, this time talking about how they're using the RED Epic camera to film the movie in 3D. Even if you're sick of 3D technology, there's a lot of nerdy detail in here for everyone to enjoy. You can watch the video at Jackson's Facebook page or embedded below.
Yeah, they're tossing around a lot of cliches about the effect of 3D, that it "immerses" you in the story and that "you really feel like you're in it," but we've learned several times that CGI-heavy movies like the Lord of the Rings films and The Hobbit lend themselves well to 3D, so there's reason to believe it will work here. Also, the broad subject of "3D" allows this featurette to wander all over the set, so you get glimpses of all the dwarves, Martin Freeman as Bilbo, Hugo Weaving as Elrond, and even Elijah Wood as Frodo-- he's popping up at the beginning of the film to link the stories back to Lord of the Rings.
All this talk about the digital camera work and the increased frame rate and the 3D, though, makes me realize that we won't really know that this Hobbit will look like until a trailer emerges, not just online but in theaters with full 3D. Looking at the set you see a lot of hobbits, dwarves, rocks and trees that look very much like the Middle Earth we know from Lord of the Rings. But if this camera technology is really as much of a gamechanger as Jackson suggests, it's all going to look pretty different onscreen.
Let us know your favorite part of this video blog in the comments-- and maybe if you yell loud enough, we can convince Jackson to post more of the damn things!
