The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Co-Owner, Administrator
The Prequel.......


Amazing books. Hopefully will make for more incredible cinema just like his LOTR Trilogy

 
'The Hobbit' to be released in Dolby Atmos

By DERRIK J. LANG | Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Middle-earth will sound more realistic in "The Hobbit."
Dolby Laboratories Inc. and director Peter Jackson's Park Road Post Production announced Wednesday that "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" will be mixed and released in Dolby Atmos, the company's immersive new sound system that features two extra arrays of overhead speakers and the ability to direct sounds to individual speakers inside movie theaters.
"(Jackson) felt it was going to make a big difference in how he tells stories," said Stuart Bowling, Dolby's senior technical marketing manager. "He doesn't want people to just go and observe his movies. He wants you to feel like you're part of the experience of the stories that's he's trying to tell on the screen and allow you to be part of Middle-earth."
The director of the Oscar-winning "The Lord of the Rings" films adapted J.R.R. Tolkien's tale of Bilbo Baggins, set in the fictional realm of Middle-earth 60 years before "The Lord of the Rings." Besides the standard 2-D format, Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures are releasing the series in high-frame-rate 3-D, IMAX and other 3-D formats.
Bowling said Dolby's goal is to have the Atmos platform installed in 80 to 100 theaters in time for "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," which is scheduled to premiere on Dec. 14.
The second and third films, "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" and "The Hobbit: There and Back Again," are set for release Dec. 13, 2013, and July 18, 2014.
Other movies slated to be released in the Atmos format include Fox's "Chasing Mavericks" and "Life of Pi." Disney-Pixar's "Brave" was the first film to debut with the audio format earlier this year.
Bowling said the company expects more than 15 films to be released in Atmos next year and hoped to have the system in 1,000 theaters by the end of next year.
"Dolby Atmos is fantastic from a sound quality position," said John Neill, head of sound at Park Road Post Production. "We can now hear full range surround speakers, meaning that when we pan from the front to surround, the sound does not change in quality. The overhead speakers give us the opportunity to place the theater patron really in the location."
Jackson shot "The Hobbit" in 3-D and at 48 frames a second, twice the speed that's been the standard since the 1920s. He received a mixed reception for high-frame-rate preview footage of "The Hobbit" at the Cinema Con theater owner's convention last year. Some thought the images were too clear and realistic, taking away from the magic of the film medium.
 
When did one small, light-hearted novel become 3 movies?

Tim
 
When did one small, light-hearted novel become 3 movies?

Tim

...the moment they realized they could make 3x more money...;) Which, as a consumer, i am happy for them to do if each is as good as the first triology. I just bought all 3 Complete Works...9 CDs of music and have the 3 extended DVD versions. I am no Hobbit fan per se...but i liked the movies, and enjoy the music.
 
"The Hobbit" started out as a simple short story for his children, then later grew to novel size. Tolkien's son has the short story version in one of his reference books.

For anyone reading or re-reading any of Tolkien's Middle-Earth books, you need to get a copy of "The Atlas of Middle-Earth" by Karen Wynn Fonstad. It explains the geography of Middle-Earth and the time-lines of LOTR.
 
I saw it last Saturday. I liked it better than the Lord of the Rings films. This one has plenty of action and does not seem to drag on like LOR.

I saw it in a new format as well. High frame rate 3D. It has 48 fps instead of 24 fps. This is to combat the motion blur that 3D films suffer from. It seemed to do the trick as I did not notice any motion blur during this film.
 
I saw it last Saturday. I liked it better than the Lord of the Rings films. This one has plenty of action and does not seem to drag on like LOR.

I saw it in a new format as well. High frame rate 3D. It has 48 fps instead of 24 fps. This is to combat the motion blur that 3D films suffer from. It seemed to do the trick as I did not notice any motion blur during this film.

I've read positive comments from others too. HFR is huge in my book (this is the area I am the most sensitive in life: Low Frame Rate, and I got a very strong desire to speed that up). :b
 
I've read positive comments from others too. HFR is huge in my book (this is the area I am the most sensitive in life: Low Frame Rate, and I got a very strong desire to speed that up). :b

Me too. Motion blur was my biggest gripe about 3D. It's good news for hardware manufactures as they can now sell another new technology.:D Good thing I have not bought any 3D gear yet. Of course when I get around to it something better will come out after that.
 
-- I also read that some people are more sensitive than others on HFR.
...And that it takes some time to adapt. ...Makes very good sense, as we're so used to LFR.

And it's the same with music; different speeds (R2R tapes, and LPs).

_________________

When you listen or watch the beginning of a movie (BD, DVD, Laserdisc, VHS tape), or a music CD spinning (or LP, or R2R tape, or cassette tape, or 8-track tape), the speed at the beginning is totally different than at the end.
- Ever wondered if that has a certain influence on our listening interpretation (perception)?

Methinks that I prefer the end of eveything (well, near the end).

_________

Also, all the formats in movies and music are all 'round'; they spinned in circles, except from our PCs (Macs). ...Tapes (cassettes, R2R, 8-tracks), moving picture tapes (35mm, 70mm, 16mm, etc.) are rolled up in round 'reels'. They also spinned in circles.

In our PCs (Macs) the hardrives have also 'round' mechanisms.
...Even our watches and clocks.
Even the Earth spins in circles, and is gravitational, with a magnetic pole at one end.

Up very high, in space, music and movies; do they sound (look) the same?
 
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-- I also read that some people are more sensitive than others on HFR.
...And that it takes some time to adapt. ...Makes very good sense, as we're so used to LFR.

And it's the same with music; different speeds (R2R tapes, and LPs).


_________________

When you listen or watch the beginning of a movie (BD, DVD, Laserdisc, VHS tape), or a music CD spinning (or LP, or R2R tape, or cassette tape, or 8-track tape), the speed at the beginning is totally different than at the end.
- Ever wondered if that has a certain influence on our listening interpretation (perception)?

Methinks that I prefer the end of eveything (well, near the end).

Well that's interesting. I've only watched one HFR film so far but I don't remember having to adjust to the look of it. Getting used to the look of 3D I can understand because it is very different from 2D.

The end of LP's do get harder to track and engineers have to account for that unfortunately. I doubt that many people would claim their LP's sound better at the inner grooves. Although it does depend on what alignment they are using. As for CD's I can't say I've noticed that. Tape moves in a straight line at a constant speed (hopefully) so I'm not sure how that could be effected.
 
-- Yes, some people find HFR (High Frame Rate) at 48fps from 'The Hobbit',
'eye-distracting'. They don't particularly like it. I think that it's because it's so new and that they aren't used to it.

_______________

It is indeed very interesting: Speed, in music and in movies. ...And at the beginning and the end of a spinning disc, album, or rolling tape. ...Slower to faster.

Methinks the faster the better, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, just for a quick one; people (and me too) prefer 45 rpm over 33 1/3 rpm on records.
 
-- Yes, some people find HFR (High Frame Rate) at 48fps from 'The Hobbit',
'eye-distracting'. They don't particularly like it. I think that it's because it's so new and that they aren't used to it.

_______________

It is indeed very interesting: Speed, in music and in movies. ...And at the beginning and the end of a spinning disc, album, or rolling tape. ...Slower to faster.

Methinks the faster the better, but I could be wrong.
Anyway, just for a quick one; people (and me too) prefer 45 rpm over 33 1/3 rpm on records.

Yes 45 rpm is better because there is more information. Higher ips R2R also has more info. Digital 16/44 vs 24/176. 48 fps video should be a similar improvement especially where motion blur is concerned. You would think it would be harder to detect artifacts with 48 fps. I wonder if there was something not quite right with the projector in the case of some people having a problem with it? Were there people in the same theater that had different observations?
 
'The Hobbit' at 48 fps (HFR), and in 3D.

Yes 45 rpm is better because there is more information. Higher ips R2R also has more info. Digital 16/44 vs 24/176. 48 fps video should be a similar improvement especially where motion blur is concerned. You would think it would be harder to detect artifacts with 48 fps. I wonder if there was something not quite right with the projector in the case of some people having a problem with it? Were there people in the same theater that had different observations?

---- Some of these people were saying that it was just too "polished", and that the focus was kind of not right.
I'm not too sure, but I thought that I also read some sayin' that the picture's details weren't totally 'right'.
- Just for 3D; nothing exceptional here, very low profile type of 3D effects.
But it's the HFR that I'm most interested in myself. ...And so far, from what I've read, it kind of goes against what I truly believe (which should be awesome and with a major improvement).
But perhaps we also need 4K on top of all of that; then things should really turn into motion just right. ...Everything: Fast moving action scenes without blur, great focus, great details, 'perfect' and natural coloring, natural cinematic flow, and all that jazz which represents ultra high-definition moving pictures, with more pixels and faster frames (rate per second). ...Color spacing, deep color, shadow details, blacks, whites, etc.

BTW, that was at the IMAX 3D Theater, and with that special 48 fps, of course.

BUT! Maybe that's the thing here; 3D.

Anyway, as we progress in time and with professional reviews comin' in; we'll have a much better 'picture' (pun intended) drawing in front of our own very eyes. :b

...And you, yourself, you told us one of the true testimonies too from your own visual experience. ...And that testimony of yours, I cherish it, as it suits me perfectly fine in my pusrsuit of happiness.
 
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In the theater I was in the focus was good. It was not an Imax screen and I ended up sitting pretty close. About 8 rows from the front. Closer than I care for but the place was packed. The picture was a little grainy but I was very close to the screen. More resolution would have been nice at that distance.
 

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