In an interview with lansingstatejournal.com, visual effects motion control operator Paul Maple discusses his work on numerous films and television series and how his programming skills got him work on The Hobbit.
MAPLES is one of a handful of people in the world working as a motion control operator, one of many ways to create visual effects in films.
At its heart, his skill employs computer programming to control a camera crane. And he is good at it, having been nominated for three Emmy Awards.
In the case of Maples’ work on “The Hobbit” and “Star Trek:Deep Space Nine,” the programming can do things like create a twin, make one actor look much larger than another (think Gandalf and Bilbo), and effect different speeds in music videos.
“They’re camera tricks, but it all has to be very precise to work,” he said.
“The 3-D guys can import my camera move data into their computers to recreate my shots in a virtual world. I can also receive moves from them.”
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Bilbo Baggins’ lush green shire could have the life sucked out of it after Waikato’s undeclared drought restricted Hobbiton’s water supply.
It’s the region’s driest summer in five years and, with no rain in sight, Matamata best known tourist attraction may become three hectares of parched grass and stressed plants.
Losing the green image threatens to damage Hobbiton’s international image and could cost thousands of dollars to fix, manager Russell Alexander said yesterday.
The film set, that featured in both The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, has enjoyed an unprecedented summer of business.
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Welcome to the latest “Getting to know…” questions that need answering. Based on the old Getting to know you threads that I used to post on the message boards here on TORn, so those familiar with them will know that the questions can be a little crazy and the answers even crazier.
This month we’re asking questions of uber fan from Brisbane Australia, Peter Kenny.
Hi Peter and thank you for joining in 🙂
Kelvarhin: What piece of Tolkien ephemera began your collection?
Peter: My very first Tolkien Book was a single volume paperback edition of The Lord of the Rings given to me as a gift in 1976. I still have that original copy in my collection.
Continue reading “Getting to know Peter Kenny”
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
Many fans traveled to New Zealand from around the world in the days and weeks leading up to the Premiere, just to be there on that fateful day. One such person is Dr. Lynnette Porter, author of a new book “The Hobbit: The many lives of Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin” (review forthcoming) and previously a speaker at one of TORn’s Lord of the Rings related conventions. She has just posted an in-depth article on why so many Tolkien fans flock to New Zealand and just what made Premiere week so special. You can check out her article at Popmatters to read about ‘What happens when Humans go a-Hobbiting’.
And for those wondering, it is likely that TheOneRing.net will mount another tour of New Zealand, but whether that is in conjunction with a Premiere or not is still to be determined. Wellington would first need to secure one of the two remaining film’s World Premiere to justify the level of activities they hosted this time around. But then, the locations are always there, and if not a tour, a Cruise to Middle-earth is a very relaxing way to see such a delightful and beautiful country. Keep an eye out, we will post something if the omens look favorable.
Discussion board member ceppault has mapped all the known filming locations for “The Hobbit: and Unexpected Journey” on Google Maps. Clicking on each location produces a pop-up with media quotes and information about what scenes were filmed there. ceppault updates the map from time to time and shares it with TORN. Check out his most recent update here.
A decade ago, Matamata was a sleepy country town in the middle of the North Island, well-placed for travellers in need of a comfort stop and a takeaway snack. Today, it is better known as Hobbiton and is one of the country’s star tourist destinations, attracting 1.9 million visitors over the last 10 years. It is poised for a fresh invasion starting this Christmas which seems certain to top that number over the next decade.
It all began in 1998 when movie director Peter Jackson took to the sky in a small plane in search sites to film his planned trilogy of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
His target was a piece of countryside untouched by concrete buildings, power poles and roads that he could transform into Hobbiton, the primitive village home of Tolkien’s small, hairy, Hobbit people.
A family farm outside Matamata, set about halfway between the provincial capital, Hamilton, and the tourist city of Rotorua, and complete with Tolkien’s so-called “party tree” and a lake, proved perfect. Continue reading “How a sleepy country town became Hobbiton”
