The Sunday Salon: The Hobbit Trailer and Production Video #5

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope your winter holidays were delightful, because mine certainly were. On the first day of Hanukkah, Peter Jackson gave Jews and Gentiles alike the first trailer for The Hobbit and gave us a new production video the Friday before Christmas. Considering the fact that I’m now draping myself in the The Lord of the Rings fandom flag and planning to make a Fili costume for next year (probably beardless), it’s high time for a double dose of my incredibly unprofessional shot-by-shot analyses. I watched the trailer with my friend Natalya, whose comments will be interspersed with mine.

• 0:11 — The Hobbit will be framed with the very beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I thoroughly appreciate, since we’re tacking on another four to six hours to the beginning of the usual The Lord of the Rings marathon. Word on the street is that this is Freeman dressed as old!Bilbo, since Ian Holm was unable to travel to New Zealand to shoot his scenes.
• 0:18 — Natalya: “It’s too tidy!” Otherwise, this is a mirror of a day shot we see at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring—I believe it’s the title card.
• 0:21 — Ian Holm has definitely aged, through, of course, no fault of his own. It will be odd to see against the jovial, boyish Bilbo of The Fellowship of the Ring.
• 0:23 — FLAWLESS. Freeman was born to play a hobbit. And look at Bilbo’s fancy yellow vest and teal ascot ensemble! Somebody’s fancy.
• 0:28 — Natalya: “Crazy old man wizard eye!” Oh, Ian McKellen’s Gandalf. Flawless as ever.
• 0:29 — Bilbo’s distressed expression is hilarious.
• 0:30 — Market day in Hobbiton. It’s the same day as his previous interaction with Gandalf, so presumably the wizard caught him on the most ordinary of days. I can see it now… “It was a day like any other…” You can also see Quint from the Ain’t It Cool News reports here—he’s the fish monger.
• 0:32 — I love this shot, particularly Bilbo’s very ADR-ed “Wait!”. It’s just charming.
• 0:33 — Freeman remains a flawless Bilbo. His finger wag, however, reminds me of Drunk Uncle, one of my favorite Saturday Night Live skits.
• 0:35 — From left to right, we’ve got Kili, Bilbo, Gandalf, Thorin, Dwalin, and Ori. It really blows my mind that I didn’t even blink upon seeing this shot; I’m just so used to height differences being easily squared away in fantasy films nowadays.
• 0:37 — Natalya: “That boy is trouble.” D’aww, Fili.
• 0:38 — Grow a beard, Kili. (I really hope the other dwarves mock him endlessly for not being able to grow a beard. Even Ori can do it!)
• 0:39 — Glóin is looking up at someone (presumably a Mirkwood elf, perhaps Tauriel or even Legolas) who is holding a portrait of someone. I personally think it’s either his wife or baby Gimli; others have speculated it’s one of Bilbo’s trinkets.
• 0:43 — Bombur smashes a table in Rivendell.
• 0:44 — I love McKellen’s upswing on “Dori!”, and Dori looks like a fantastic dwarf. He means business, but he’s also coming across as kindly.
• 0:45 — Talk about trouble. This is, presumably, a Rivendell scene, based on the instrument and player behind him. That might even be Lindir.
• 0:51 — I got chills when I first heard this and just went very still. Howard Shore is truly a genius.
• 1:09 — And everything got even chiller and stiller here.
• 1:20 — Gandalf in what could be Dol Guldur.
• 1:22 — Natalya: “There’s not enough Hugo Weaving in this trailer!” Clare: “There’s no Hugo Weaving in this trailer!”
• 1:24 — This shot made me gasp when I saw it. I love the idea of tying the films together through small, spatial things like this, and it’s brilliant to see this again.
• 1:29 — Part of the White Council, I presume.
• 1:32 — Fandom has been sniggering about a potential Galadriel/Gandalf love story, but I see this as more maternal and friendly. While she is younger than him, they are both so incredibly old—to have her look at him with such concern and care is magnificent. (Also, she’s taller than him, a detail I quite appreciate.)
• 1:42 — The introduction of Sting. In a very neat bit of production design, it does not yet have the markings from The Fellowship of the Ring; they are presumably added by Elven smiths afterwards.
• 1:50 — The score just opening up into that main theme continues to blow me away.
• 1:52 — Rivendell guards accosting the company. There’s some speculation that the twins will show up here.
• 1:57 — I love this piece of business, but Dori and Fili feel blocked very arbitrarily.
• 1:58 — Many are speculating that this is Thrain, driven mad by imprisonment—Gandalf must fight him before being given the map and the key.
• 1:59 — Fighting the trolls.
• 2:02 — Dwarf pile!
• 2:04 — The plate tossing scene seems definitely intact, with or without song.
• 2:12 — Why, hello, the One Ring.
• 2:25 — Gollum returns!

• 0:04 — It’s the jailbreak sequence!
• 0:12 — Nori (holy crow, that’s a lot of hair!), possibly Fili (stunt double?), Bifur, Dwalin, Dori, and Glóin, all waving to Peter Jackson.
• 0:31 — Bilbo falls down, but Nori helps him up. I’m very much looking forward to the Company and Bilbo becoming great friends.
• 0:37 — Jackson menacing the cast on the Rivendell sound stage.
• 0:38 — Bombur takes out a goblin with his belly.
• 1:12 — Turner and O’Gorman messing about onset, with someone at that writing desk.
• 1:15 — Possibly part of Jackson’s cameo, as he’s in costume.
• 1:25 — The whole company on horseback.
• 1:56 — The dwarves carry Bombur through Mirkwood.
• 2:47 — New favorite crew member: “No cell phone laws here, man” guy.
• 2:51 — Ori is all bundled up for the weather. Adorable.
• 2:58 — Andy Serkis frolics among the flowers.
• 3:48 — More corset-esque bodices were popular among the hobbit lasses sixty years ago, apparently!
• 3:50 — ADORABLE.
• 6:21 — I teared up here. My God, it’s like nothing ever changed.
• 7:10 — More tears.
• 7:29 — Baaaaaaaaawwwww.
• 7:51 — This really blew me away. The idea that the Party Tree was just stumbled across…
• 9:34 — Bilbo’s neighbors on his way to market.
• 10:27 — Quint from the Ain’t It Cool News set reports in his film debut.

I’m in Ireland! Updates to follow when I return.

The Baen Free Library is full of free downloads, including The Shadow of the Lion and On Basilisk Station. Night Shade Books is offering Butcher Bird and Grey as free downloads at the moment. Vertigo Comics is offering free downloads of the first issue of several series, including Fables, The Unwritten, and Y: The Last Man. (And you will go download The Unwritten.) Small Beer Press offers several of their books as free downloads, including Kelly Link’s Magic for Beginners. If I’ve missed your giveaway or freebie, drop me a line!

What did you make of the trailer and production video?