It's been four months since we last had an update from the set of The Hobbit, so at long last here's a new video from Peter Jackson, replete with Hobbity goodness and, specifically this time, all things 3D.
Jackson's fourth Hobbit video-blog seems designed to allay any fears we may have about 3D, and especially the limitations that often drain colour and light from the screen. As a bit of a showcase we get a good look at the sinister forest of Mirkwood, which is currently looking like a Roger Dean album cover. The over-saturated headache-inducing psychedelia is to compensate for the fact that the RED camera "eats colour". Similar problems have to be overcome in the make-up department, and we're given a demo with Graham McTavish as Dwalin, whose face looks crazily sunburned so that it doesn't show as yellow on screen. He's got pale arms though. "I've barely seen daylight for six months", he sobs.
We also get a proud tour of the camera department, and Jackson's collection of cutting-edge RED Epics: four dozen of them, named after Jackson family members, dogs (Tricky-Woo? Really?) and The Beatles. There are crane cameras and handhelds, with Jackson insisting that the system isn't as cumbersome as you might have heard, and that he's shooting as he more-or-less normally would (apart from having to do it through mirrors). The 3D effects can actually be achieved and adjusted "live". Alan Lee and John Howe are even doing 3D concept art! There's talk of negative and positive space, interocular and convergence, and 48-frames per second: twice the normal shooting and projection speed.
But for those who couldn't give a longbottom leaf about the tech stuff, there are more exciting glimpses in the ten-minute clip. Mirkwood aside, we get to see a green-screen "polystyrene and plaster pine forest"; Andy Serkis doing a bit of directing and Elijah Wood looking on and enthusing; Stephen Hunter's Bombur knocked off his feet; quick shots of Elrond (Hugo Weaving) and a sword-wielding Gandalf (Ian McKellen); and Bilbo (Martin Freeman) allowing dwarfs to spill through his iconic round front door. And is that Last Bridge we see the company approaching, near where the encounter with the trolls happens?
"Just about everything we've been talking about, - the 3D, the 48 frames - you can't actually see," Jackson apologises. "But you will..."
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is out next December. And if you fancy casting your mind back, there's a rather nifty tenth-anniversary Lord Of The Rings feature in the current **Empire.