John Howe’s concept art of Erebor (photo credit: Empire)
Empire magazine has recently visited the hi-tech workshop of Weta Digital, sharing a whole feature of The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. Empire talked with the special effects supervisor, Chris White, concerning his work on the last Hobbit movie, like Azog’s scenes and Lake-town on flame.
Matt Aitken, the other special effects supervisor, worked on the Erebor interiors helped by several concept arts drawn by John Howe. “Howe’s art is subtly impressionistic, with a dark, Moria-like splendour just discernable in the shadows. It’s remarkable how the digital version has captured its essence: the glory of Erebor stretching back into the distance, the fitful glow of the fire, and the uncanny digital doubles in mid-shot stooped in misery. There is nothing real in the entire frame, but it is alive.” Aitken said that Erebor is an abandoned place now, but you can still see its old glory. “Thorin is a little bit troubled around this time. A big part of what we are doing with the lighting is making the space feel oppressive. We are trying to take it beyond what is merely realistic. We take it into subjective storytelling.” said Aitken.
Empire shared also the process that leads to the final CG shots created by Weta Digital, starting from the book and the concept arts. John Howe still works with pencil and sketchbook after over 16 years of collaboration with Peter Jackson. “He [Jackson] likes looking at artwork. He knows what he doesn’t want, but he doesn’t know yet what he wants because he hasn’t seen it. And that is the job we have — to bring in things he might not have thought of. I think we designed Beorn’s house six times, if not more.”
You can find more about the work of Weta Digital on EmpireOnline.com, and for even more contents, including an exclusive interview with Peter Jackson, you can pick up the September 2014 issue of Empire, now on sale.
