The Hobbit Footage Meets with Surprisingly Mixed Reviews
Reports back from those who attended Warner Bros’ 10-minute screening of Peter Jackson’s footage from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey indicate that what they saw of the film was somewhat disappointing. The footage, screened at CinemaCon, has been filmed in the unusual format of 48fps – twice the normal frame rate of a film. It was also shown in 3D. Peter Jackson introduced the footage with a short intro clip, explaining that this new way of filming “gives you much more of an illusion of real life; in 3D it also offers much less eye-strain” and also stated that the footage was far from completed but gave the audience a taste of what was to come.
Pete Hammond of Deadline said of the clip:
“No question the crisp, high-def-to-the-max look of the work-in-progress was wildly different and quite startling to those used to film and 24-frame digital 3D. One industry observer next to me said afterwards, “It was like seeing Live From The Met at IMAX. Kinda cold.” Another three-time Oscar winner in attendance who has worked on innumerable classic films told me later, “I think we should let him finish it and see what it’s like then, but it seems a little like the look of a soap opera”. Still another media member thought it looked “extraordinary” but felt the high-defness of it all would deeply divide moviegoers, especially those who like the grain of film.”
Jim Vejvoda of IGN said of the footage:
“It looked like an old Doctor Who episode, or a videotaped BBC TV production. It was as shocking as when The Twilight Zone made the boneheaded decision to switch from film to tape one season, and where perfectly good stories were ruined by that aesthetic. Here, there were incredibly sharp, realistic images where colors seem more vivid and brighter than on film, but the darker scenes were especially murky (and the 3D only dims that image even more). Frankly, it was jarring to see Gandalf, Bilbo or the dwarves in action against CG-created characters or even to move quickly down a rocky passage. The whipping of a camera pan or the blur of movement was unsettling.
While 48fps may create a more realistic, “you are there” picture quality, it actually works against The Hobbit from the 10 minutes of footage we saw. This undeniable “reality” kept pulling me out of the movie rather than immersing me fully into its world as the Lord of the Rings films did; the very fantasy element, the artifice of it all (whether it’s the wigs, fake beards or CG monsters) was plainly, at times painfully, evident. There was none of the painterly gentleness that film offers a fantasy film, as was so beautifully the case with the original (shot on film) LOTR trilogy.”
Media has always had some lukewarm response when it comes to changing the way it is manufactured, and some people are reluctant to change/are unsure of something new, and whether or not it will truly work. And for those who saw it, the screening of The Hobbit had greatly lessened their hopes for a great fantasy spectacle as stunning as The Lord of the Rings trilogy was before it. The key thing to bear in mind here is that Jackson is great with epic Hollywood sequences, and the footage is far from finished as of yet. The time to judge is not now. Perhaps this will be a true game changer on its release, and will inspire digital directors the world over to be a part of this new way of filmmaking. Perhaps this will be the antidote to gimmicky, half-baked 3D films that only sometimes seem to work well… or it could fail horribly and be buried forever. Only time will tell upon the film’s release on December 14th, 2012.
Image source – The Dominion Post