The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Preview

I was just going through Twitter one Sunday morning when I saw a promo from Odyssey for a sneak peak to the sequel of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey which is (drum roll please) The Desolation of Smaug (pronounced as 'Smwaa-gh' and not 'smog' as I initially thought) the prize of the promo was an access code to a Worldwide live event (live streaming) which would be hosted by none other than Peter Jackson himself. 

The live streaming will feature behind the scenes production for 'The Desolation of Smaug' which is the second installment to The Hobbit trilogy and which will be released in theaters in December. Peter Jackson will also be answering questions from fans and other special guests. 

In order to get an access code to the exclusive event you have to answer the question- When danger is near, Bilbo's sword glows to what color?, (which is technically wrong, since Sting- the sword glows specifically when Orcs and Goblins are near- but that's just me being, nit picky)-anyways! you have to be one of the first 12 to get the right answer by commenting on the photo which appeared on Odyssey's facebook page. I immediately answered BLUE! all caps and was lucky enough to be part of the 12 ^_^. 

My access code was sent as a Private Message on my Facebook account. 

The Worldwide Live Event was going to be live streamed at 8:00 AM March 25, 2013 from New Zealand, which is at 3:00AM in Manila and for other countries was still at March 24, 2013, (3PM Eastern/Noon Pacific).

Paul and I eagerly anticipated the live streaming and at 3:00AM sharp- viola! Peter Jackson was in front of us! :D 

I took some screenshots of the live streaming ^_^ 

Peter Jackson showing his favorite weapon from the LORT series - Theoden's sword. 

The Live streaming started with Peter Jackson greeting fans a good morning all the way from New Zealand, it's 8:00AM where he is and God knows what time from where his audience was watching. (In our case it was 3AM) Peter, showed a newspaper from New Zealand showing the date as March 25, 2013 and the result of a cricket match. 

Peter then proceeded to showing the studio where all the pre-production, post-production and editing was done (in other words) where the magic happens. 

Peter showed the audience, framed movie posters which were hung on the studio's walls, there were a lot of James Bond Movies, he also shared his early love for military aviation.  

Theoden with his horse encrusted sword. 

Fans sent videos to ask their questions and these were diverse fans from China, Latin America and North America. 

A fan asked what is Peter Jackson's favorite weapon from the LOTR (Lord of the Rings) trilogy- to which Peter answered 'the sword of Theoden'. 

He does edit barefoot- who wouldn't? 

There have been rumors that Peter edits barefoot- and yes it's true. He does not walk around barefoot on the set (which was also part of the rumor) - for obvious health and safety issues. 

Peter talks about how different it is to be working on a set of 200-300 people but once everything is done it's just James and himself in the editing room. 

Peter Jackson uses a 103 inch TV to edit- Yup! You read that 103 inches! This is so that it gives an easier feel and sense of how the movie will be in the cinema, so they bought the biggest TV they could find and it's now sitting in their editing room. 

Bringing Smaug to life. 

Smaug has been a pretty mysterious character even in the first movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Peter has been teasing the audience by only showing Smaug's shadow and his eye during the first movie, well he is still teasing fans by only showing some simple and basic designs of the famous dragon. 

A preview of Smaug?? Hmm.. maybe. 

Orlando Bloom asked what scene is Peter most excited to see in the new film- he answered, when Bilbo is faced with Smaug, for Peter this is the highlight of the movie and also a very iconic Tolkien scene. 

Peter giving a tour. 

Here- Peter Jackson is showing actors wearing Mo-Cap (motion capture) suits, (the guy in the grey suit which what looks like black knee pads) they are supposed to be orcs- so they walk like orcs which the cameras on their suits picks up for more realistic movement (in case you didn't know the same technology is used for Gollum, with the talented Andy Serkis wearing the Mo-Cap suit). 

Source of Inspiration 

Peter Jackson showing some art work from famous illustrator John Howe which is also a source of Inspiration for the sets in the movie. 

The Dynamic Duo - Billy Boyd (Pippin) and Dominic Monagahan (Merry) saying 'hi' to fans and asking questions as well. 

Fan(girl) favorite Orlando Bloom will be reprising his role as Legolas. 

A lot of Legolas fans will definitely be excited to know that Legolas will be appearing in The Desolation of Smaug. The movie will be exploring the wood elves and will also feature Legolas' father. 

Speaking of wood elves- Peter Jackson previewed a new character who will be appearing in the movie, this character is not in the original Tolkien novel. Let's just say for now that 'she' will be adding some girl power in the movie. (wink ^_-) 

Preview of a sequence from The Desolation of Smaug 

As a final treat -fans were shown a sequence from The Desolation of Smaug - the trailer is not ready yet as they are still working on it. The preview shows Gandalf investigating the story line of the Necromancer. 

Paul and I really love watching behind the scene footage, especially if it's movies like Lord of the Rings and now The Hobbit, (Paul is a BIG Tolkien fan, he would only call himself a 'fan-boy' if the word Tolkien, LOTR or The Hobbit is also in the same sentence) when we were were still boyfriend and girlfriend we'd spend hours watching the extended DVD (LOTR) with a lot of behind-the-scene footage. Of course those would be after the movies have been released. 

Now because of technology and social media like Twitter, Facebook and Live Streaming fan's can already get a glimpse of their favorite movie while it's still in the works. 

Thank you so much Odyssey for the opportunity to catch this, it's definitely made us more excited for the movie this coming December. In the mean time fans can sink their teeth into the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey on DVD and Blu-ray. It will be available in Odyssey stores on April 1, 2013. Click here for more details!