It's no secret that I'm a fan of film. Movies and television. I enjoy them for entertainment, to be sure, but I also enjoy the artistry and craftsmanship of them. I like to know the secrets...how did they do that?
In anticipation of the new movie, The Hobbit, I was re-watching some of the 'making of' features of The Lord of the Ring movies. One of the aspects I like of those three movies was all the artistry that went into everything from the design of the costumes to the craftsmanship of the weapons. Some - actually quite a lot - was stunningly beautiful. Hard to call the orc weapons or armor beautiful but the designs of them were ingenious.
My favorite themes were the elf cultures and the Rohan culture. In watching the special feature selections I learned that Peter Jackson set sort of a mandate for everyone to think of these films as real...sort of like they were doing a movie about folks and cultures that had really existed at some point so that the creation of their costumes, homes, weapons, indeed all the minutae would appear realistic. I think they succeeded.
The curves and grace of the elven architecture, the incredible bas relief carvings in the Golden Hall of the king of Rohan...everything seen in the movies was designed and crafted by artists. Glass blowers, metal workers, seamstresses, jewelry designers, matte painters, model builders...so many artists representing so many different artistic media - wow. I do love knowing how movie magic is done.
I love that painters and scultptors and all manner of fine craftspeople were brought aboard to make the texture of these films beautiful. Somehow those efforts paid homage to the sheer beauty, texture and depth of Tolkien's words.
Yes, I totally appreciated the actors and their efforts on screen to bring the characters to life; however what I'm about today in this post is appreciating all the "making of" stuff that happens behind the scenes. Art has a big part to play.
Not all of my appreciation is for those who do their work in the 3-dimensional world, but also for those who sit at keyboards and wield a stylus to achieve beauty in a cg world.
There is a television show I like called Sanctuary. Very much of this show visually is achieved via computer graphics...and it's done so well it is a part of the story. [now remember, all this is my opinion]
So. What do you think? Do you like to know how the magic is done?
Oh, the picture at the top of this post? Want to know the magic behind turning this
photo [at left] to the one above? Answer: Art.
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