Opening the gates to Middle Earth: in your face!

Peter Jackson has just released the latest video blog on the making of The Hobbit, focusing on the technical nature of the filming, especially the 48fps digital shoot and the efforts to create a fully 3D cinematic experience. Fascinating stuff, and despite my suspicions of all things 3D in the cinema I took a look at it, continuing my ongoing efforts to spoil every possible nice surprise that the cinema is likely to offer me months, if not years, in advance.

However . . . there was a point in the video where my sceptical hackles were raised. Not because of the 3D itself, but because I was somewhere close to 100 percent sure that Jackson was having a laugh at the expense of his audience of desperate fans. Enlisted in this effort, if I’m right, were two of the most respected Tolkien artists, Alan Lee and John Howe. If you don’t want to be spoiled, jump ahead to 8:28 on the film above and take a look. They describe a rather . . . unique method of creating 3D conceptual art.

Now, as I say, I’m about 100 percent sure that this is a piss take. It’s presented in a straight-faced manner, and I haven’t seen anyone else calling it out as being ridiculous, but then straight-faced jokes are very much in Jackson’s repertoire. So can anyone tell me whether I’m just being overly suspicious here, or is Peter up to his old tricks again?