That's the end of our lunch time. It's time we went back to work.
All right, here we go. Thank you.
God, it's so brilliant up here.
You realize how much work was put into this set.
I mean, it's-- We're one, two-- We're three stories up now.
And we're outside in a car park.
This is where you can really see the situation. That's the back lot...
...and the trailer village where we all stay in Stone Street Studios.
It's quite brilliant.
The biggest part of your job on a movie is waiting.
Wake me just before they call action, will you?
Thank you.
Good.
Oh , ******
Grouch.
Just imagine that this were to land on your face.
- Is that gonna hurt? - Ha, ha.
People just wanna know, like, what is it like, dressed in this, to...?
You know, bathroom.
See, you're like that, and sort of like that, hopefully.
Um, but because of the underneath...
...it's sort of-- You might have to come in-- it's sort of...
...planting about like that.
So that's sort of pretty much...
It's pretty much how...
And then you sort of just snake under a little bit...
...and lift it up like that a little.
And, you know...
And you're pretty much there.
That's... That's number one. Um...
Yeah, anything else requires a bit of de-rigging. Heh.
- That's fine. - How are you doing?
Yeah, it's good. I feel lazy.
Brett, there's good news and bad news.
- Okay. - The good news is you're comfortable.
The bad news is the Dwarves aren't gonna be on set for about 45 minutes.
- I'm good. I'm good. - Ha, ha.
Yeah, right here.
- Just leave you hanging around, Brett. - Okay.
- Shuffle off. - Gotta prop him up.
No, I think he's all right.
- I'm assuming it's Brett under there? - Yes.
Not Boris Karloff?
The caterpillar. The caterpillar.
That's how I sleep most nights anyway.
The reason why we, uh, wanted to invite you all along...
...for this bit of performance art...
...is that, urn, all of you, every single one of you...
...is gonna have to be put through this.
We thought we'd just have Brett demonstrate to us what it looks like.
- Okay, Brett? - Yep.
And action.
Yeah, you can rip and tear a bit bigger now if you want.
Rip it. Rip it away. Just get out of it.
Wriggle around.
Yeah, wriggle and roll around a bit.
- Use your hands. - Yeah.
Oh, mind that sword. Jesus.
- Careful. - Houdini.
Well, it's just gonna be like any Saturday night, basically.
Well, we'll make sure it's a lot more difficult for you guys to get out.
- Breathing's all right in it? - Yeah, fine.
You don't wanna breathe too much. So long...
I'm not gonna be breathing.
So long as you're modest with your breathing requirements.
If you're a regular breather...
You don't wanna over-breathe.
You're not an over-breather, you're a regular breather.
- Over-breathing. - Yeah.
All right, very good.
The on-set VFX for Hobbit consists of five or six people.
We collect all the camera information.
Shooting gray and silver balls is one thing we do for every shot, pretty much.
We do scans of all the sets...
...which allows us to gather the light and color information...
...so we can re-create the world that was on-set.
...and also extend the world, so we can finish off Middle-earth.
Every day we bring visual effects to Peter.
Sometimes for a first look, sometimes for a final.
Three versions...
...of three different ideas.
Everything either gets bought off...
...or sent back with more notes.
So it's a real upper when he gets shots...
...and approves them for us.
Oh, yeah, that's great. Yeah. That's really fantastic, yeah.
- That's it. - Okay.
- See? Perfect. Thank you. - Thank you, sir.
We should gear one up to go, thank you.
The spiders' bodies are about this high.
You know, their legs are-- You know, that-- So...
So when they go, they kind of collapse down and their legs crun-
Crumble underneath.
And so you can see the bodies drop.
You might see bits of us, and then we come through.
In the background, you just want a bit of that.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
So I'm gonna add--
Should be fun. We should try one without rehearsing.
- Oh, yeah. Absolutely. - I think we should just...
Just go into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Because if it's chaotic, which it will be...
...then it'll be quite fun.
- Take three. - B marker.
And fighting!
They're winning. They're crushing you with their legs.
You're in mayhem!
Look out!
They're pushing you down! They're winning!
Here come the Elves, and they're hacking. Hacking. Hacking.
They're killing them.
And cut.
Once we've exposed a mag, or recorded onto a mag...
...these cards go off to a place called the Barbecue.
And at the Barbecue, they ingest the footage off these cards...
...and then they back it up.
So this is the Barbecue.
Um, the reason why we call it the Barbecue...
...is because of its physical appearance.
It kind of looks like one of those huge industrial barbecues.
Because we've got so much data coming in for left and right camera...
...it's different to a 2D movie...
...because it doubles the data amount.
So we have to have a rig...
...that will be able to facilitate all of that size.
I'd say one of the biggest perks of our job...
...is to be able to watch what happens...
...on the stage during the day. It's pretty special.
And another great thing about our job...
...is we share the room with the lovely photocopier...
...and get to meet interesting people...
...based on the fact that they're photocopying their work, so...
So we've met a lot of the crew.
Afternoon tea?
- I knew you were... - Sushi today. Would you like some?
Tofu burger or steak.
Our job is sort of keeping the, um, crew...
...fed and watered, keeping the oil in the machine, you know?
Sometimes it's quite tedious, when there's not a lot sort of going on.
Coming home from work, and someone saying, "How was your day?"
And after thinking that I'd had this really boring day, sort of said:
"I stood in a dark room with about 200 people and watched Andy Serkis be Gollum."
And then, just as the words sort of leave your mouth...
...you realize how many people would trade places with you, you know?
On The Hobbit, we've had 200 staff...
...focused on the activities of getting the work done for each new day of filming.
So, uh, I very rarely get to go on set.
I have to be in the workshop building with our team.
The great thing is, regardless of the hard work...
...it's a joy because we're back in Middle-earth.
There's a bunch of stuff going on.
We're processing the Gundabad weapons. Still got the Dwarven armor weapons...
...to get through, which is a huge amount of work.
We've got 3D modeling still happening over here.
It's pretty crazy at the moment.
This is Models. Shari's working on some armor at the moment.
This is the mold shop.
The Milling Department. The engineering bay.
Sanding room. The Urethane Casting Department.
These are huge walk-in ovens, very warm.
This is where we do all the chain mail patterning.
Catherine and others then work...
...to figure out the patterns for each component.
This is our dyeing area.
This is our foam-latexing room.
It's manic in here too, as you can see. It's almost chaos.
Nick Keller, one of our designers...
...has been responsible for designing armor on the film.
And Kim Docherty is responsible for running...
...the 35-plus silicone prosthetics that we produce every day.
We need about a, what, 98 percent success rate...
...to not fall behind production.
So we need a near-perfect production schedule.
Yup.
There's 30 different stealth Orcs.
Hunter Ores, um...
...which we...
All of which have got the sort of, you know, roadkill-death kind of quality to them.
Dave is a particularly good experiment for this, because he's big.
Does my ass look big in these?
So we're just seeing how far we can push the silhouette, you know?
All of it's about trying to change the silhouette.
So if you see this darken shape in the trees, you know it ain't human.
You know it's actually something quite sinister.
Stealth Orc, uh, they sneak into Lake-town...
...kill people and sneak out again.
Today we have a fight sequence at Bard's house...
...and the Orcs are invading some of the Dwarves and the humans...
...and the Elves come in and save the day.
Yeah. It's almost like you turn away before you do the cut.
- You know? You kind of... - Yeah, that's great. Okay.
I'll try it on this one. That's awesome.
- And action. - Eleven, 12...
...13, 14...
...15...
...16, 17.
That's it.
Should have shot it, right?
I don't get-- One thing I don't--
I don't get how this-- How that bloke kills this guy...
...just in terms of the way it's designed.
- What happens is-- - Shouldn't there be more of just a kind of--?
- Kind of a stab up the throat? - How about both of them?
- Hell, yeah. - ******* brilliant.
- That's good. - Please.
There'll be-- A walnut brain will come out.
So we go-- So we go-- This is awesome.
So we come around... Uhn.
- Yeah. - Yeah?
It is pretty cool. It is pretty cool.
- Uhn. - Yeah.
- And they both just kind of fall down. Yeah. - Perfect.
- Yeah. - Killer.
Third time. Get right down on your leg.
Yell as you throw it.
- Yeah. - Yaah!
Just throw it up as hard as you can.
- Yeah, yeah, use your legs. - Uh-huh.
Okay.
And that didn't hurt a bit.
The stunt, psyched, ready, focused.
Hopefully, I'm getting a stunt cap. That's what I'm going for.
Am I getting a stunt cap?
You may wear a stunt cap, maybe and a stunt T-shirt.
And a stunt T-shirt.
- And a jacket. - And a jacket. Oh, Emma.
I'm getting pinned by Dwarves.
I'm getting knocked down with plates. I'm getting killed, stabbed in the throat.
That's all on for me today. It's gonna be a big day.
Then she's gonna-- After you land, take one step in.
- Yeah. - She's gonna come charging at you.
Yeah.
Okay? So punch him through there.
As she draws out, do your thing of dropping the weapon and slumping away, dead.
Going by what Pete wanted...
...we would sit down and start choreographing the fights.
That, in itself, was the part I really enjoyed.
You can really let your imagination kind of go wild with it.
It was almost-- If you wanted to, as you put that knife there...
...you could look for the next target.
So you, unh, unh, And then you're straight into-- You know.
Or whatever the hands are.
I go slice, slice.
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good.
- That's pretty good. - Okay.
Yeah, and it is like, you know--
What's cool when people get stabbed with knives...
...is when the knife gets jammed and it's hard to pull out.
Just going chun-chun isn't sort of...
- Yeah. - You know, it's sort of, unh!
- It's that moaning, that kind of thing-- - Ugh!
Yeah. Yeah, that's kind of cool. That's good, yeah.
Sticky guys. You're sticky.
You're sticky and gooey.
All right, shall we...? Shall we give it a go?
- Yeah, cool. - Right, going to shoot. Thank you.
Three, two, one, action!
Orcs! Orcs! Orcs!
You killed them all.
Not all. There are others.
Tauriel.
- Cut. - Cut.
Yeah, that was awesome, Legolas.
My fist, I thought I hit his nose and got pfft.
But it's hard to tell because there's all that prosthetic there.
It was quite a tight shot. We were really close. I was a bit too close...
...and took a left-- Right hook, sorry, to the nose. It's good.
Don't mess with this Elf.
That's a shooting wrap. Thank you, everybody.
I mean, a year and a half is a long time...
...to be shooting and spending every day with the same people.
So, um, one of the traditions we had was Weiner's Wheel of Wonders.
And it was always a nice way to end the day.
- We picked two people tonight. - Right.
To take a spin at Weiner's Wacky Wheel of Wonders.
Just so you know, two new prizes.
There is a hookah lodge weekend.
Ooh.
And there is also "hold Eric's balls."
Oh, we have Jenny.
Balls! Balls! Balls!
Three!
Four!
Five!
Oh, Jenny!
- Money! - Great time was had by all.
So we've wrapped now and we're just packing up here.
Getting our gear ready for tomorrow.
End of the night, we have a little clean-up.
Ken does a lot of paperwork. Loves his paperwork.
Ah, the sweet pleasure at the end of the day...
...of getting the stuff off. It's heaven.
Oh, that must feel amazing.
- Whoo! See you over there. - Okay. See you.
Through the maze of the trailer park.
Now you see the magic being undone.
It is a little bit like a magician...
- ...showing you how their tricks actually work. - Yeah, all is revealed.
To take this off, it's very nice.
Maybe I should have a mustache in the next movie.
A mustache?
Adam's getting the hot towel.
Oh, lucky. That's the best part.
This is the routine, every time.
Your towel.
Ooh. A green one? First time-- Yow!
Oh, that's hot.
Another day done on the set of The Hobbit. And, uh, one has survived...
...thanks to the ministrations of all these fabulous people.
Toward the end of his day, um...
...I'd sit with Peter and work out what configuration he wanted to shoot in.
Then overnight, we'd turn that all around...
...reset it, uh, for the next day.
We have to run a night shift...
...so that changes are done overnight.
So there's night shift carpenters, carvers and painters.
Crazy bunch. I wouldn't do it.
The night team worked through till 7 this morning...
...and the day team started at 6, so we've got a bit of overlap.
We just pulled it off at the last second, just before Peter walked in.
So, uh, here we go again.
Our shoot was 240-something days.
Everyone is there for the long haul.
And it's just been massive the whole way.
Just massive in terms of the number of people that we've had on...
...the number of sets we've been working on...
...the number of cast that we've had, stunts...
...costumes, catering.
Everything has been on a huge level.
The way that a shoot defines itself, really, is how enjoyable it is.
There was no tension on our set.
It was a great family atmosphere, it was a great team.
I feel very blessed to be a part of it.
Uh, there'd be well over a million people that would love to do what I'm doing.
Just being a fly on the wall on production. It's just an amazing, um...
Amazing thing to be a part of.
This is by far the longest job I've ever done.
Um, I think it'll be the longest job I ever do.
Yeah, it's a long time spent together.
I get emotional if we talk about it too much...
...but it's been an amazing job, amazing experience...
...and, um, yeah, I've got to go back to reality now.
I'm not sure whether I'm ready for that, but, uh...
You can't help but, uh, form some pretty close bonds...
...and, uh, admire people for what they do.
Hopefully the fans will enjoy it as much as we've enjoyed making it.
Certainly, it's been a great-- It's been a great journey...
...and, uh, I'm gonna be sad to leave it behind.
Middle-earth's been good to us.
I just hope that we've been good for Middle-earth.