The Desolation of Smaug - 1stTrailer: My Thoughts

BEWARE! SPOILERS (if you haven't seen the first film or read the book)

The much-anticipated first trailer to Peter Jackson's upcoming film, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has finally been released. After the first installment of The Hobbit franchise received a mixed reception (yet still managed to rake in the money - $1.17 billion worldwide according to boxofficemojo.com) it would appear that expectation for the second installment is even greater than it was for the first. By the looks of people's reactions across the internet, most were interested to see if we got a peak at Smaug, or Orlando Bloom reprising his role as our favourite elf, Legolas. We got both of those things as well as a host of others. This trailer is a very good one. It shows a lot considering how early it has been released and really has that 'I have to see this now!' factor. Here I'll just share my thoughts on 8 things that intrigued me most when viewing the first trailer. If you haven't seen the trailer already then you'll find it below:

Our first shot is of The Lonely Mountain (I'm guessing) which reminds the audience of the destination of the quest. But just as we are shown this intimidating landscape, we hear an authoritative, wise, and regal voice who states the basic premise of the quest, 'to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon.'

We are shown glimpes of other locations as the voice goes on, including the Woodland realm (above) - which looks very much similar to the design of Lothlorien and with bits of Rivendell in The Fellowship of the Ring, but with more green and brown tones, and a more twisted/wild look (suiting Mirkwood) which makes it noticeably different yet undoubtedly belonging to the race of Elves (elegant, magical). 

1.) Thranduil. 

As the voice comes to the end of his statement we are shown a shot of Thranduil, King of the Woodland Realm played by Lee Pace. Being Legolas's father, it is obvious that the make-up department have tried to make him look similar to his onscreen son, with very light blonde hair and dark brows. He has a fantastic crown that resembles elegant yet dangerously spikey branches, hinting that although the Elven race is graceful and beautiful, it can also be deadly. I have never seen Lee Pace in his screen work but just from the few seconds of this clip I can see he will do a superb job as Thranduil. His voice has a deep, commanding, superior, and almost languid quality to it, making him seem wise and as old as he is. It would appear that Pace has really studied his character in the book whilst ensuring that he appears equal in importance and royalty to Galadriel, Celeborn, and Elrond form the LOTR films. Cate Blanchett, Marton Csokas, and Hugo Weaving in the LOTR trilogy all gave their characters a gravitas, magic, mystery, and all-knowing quality, which made them seem like real Elves (Celeborn in the Extended Edition of LOTR - wish they hadn't cut his scene with Aragorn). Pace has a lot to live up to after Blanchett, Csokas, and Weaving did such a tremendous job, but it seems like Pace will fit in well with Elven royalty in Peter Jackson's Middle Earth already, and is every inch the King of the Woodland Realm.

2.) Legolas.

As soon as it was announced that Orlando Bloom would be returning as Legolas, the majority of us had our anticipation levels reach stratospheric heights. Yes, Legolas is not in the original book but seeing as his father Thranduil is then I don't really see the harm in including him at all. It gives a sense of continuity with the LOTR trilogy, and as long as there isn't a massive change to the story by including his character then I see no problem whatsoever. My first thoughts when seeing Legolas was that he looks older, much like I thought in the previous Hobbit film when I saw Gandalf, Galadriel, Frodo, Saruman, Bilbo (old), and Elrond. Yes I know it's obvious that they would all have aged because they're human too, LOTR was filmed over a decade ago, etc, but seeing Legolas was a sad reminder that it was over 10 years ago that we first saw those films. I was a kid at the end of primary school when FOTR came out, and now I've graduated from university. Was it really that long ago that we first saw Jackson's interpretation of Tolkien's Middle Earth? Nevertheless he still looks beautiful and he is still our Legolas; it was really wonderful to see him back with his bow and arrow. The line, 'Don't think I will not kill you dwarf,' is brilliant, and harks back to the friendship Legolas has with Gimli in LOTR, a friendship that began as hostile enemies, yet ending with one of the truest and most beautiful friendships in literature. I wonder if we'll see Legolas perform death-defying stunts like he did in LOTR. Fingers crossed! Go Bloom!

3.) Beorn?

This is a very short glimpse of a bear but I'm guessing it's Beorn. Because the clip is so short there is very little to say, however, I am curious as to how Jackson and his team will make Beorn convincing as a "shape-shifter" and if his form as a bear is realistic. They did an excellent job with Treebeard who was a talking tree/Ent, so I doubt that we'll be disappointed with Beorn.

4.) Tauriel.

Arguably the most controversial move Peter Jackson and his team have made in The Hobbit trilogy is the creation of an entirely new character that isn't in the books. I can understand why Jackson wanted a female character in the Hobbit films because it appeals to a wider audience (females); LOTR didn't have that problem because you had 4 female characters; Rosie Cotton, Arwen, Galadriel, Eowyn (the latter 3 being very important to the narrative and strong, female roles). But to create one is risky and has upset many fans. I have never seen Lost so I don't really know what Evangeline Lily is like as an actress, but in the trailer she seems fine, she seems like a proper elf, and I hope that she proves Jackson's move to be a good one. I won't be happy if they make her this tough, kick-ass, rebel elf that has a romance with Legolas - that will be ridiculous, annoying, and totally unnecessary. By the looks of the trailer though she'll be a good addition and not cause major changes to the narrative. Good luck, Evangeline Lily!

5.) Dol Guldur.

Gosh, how ominous and foreboding does Dol Guldur look? It looks so creepy and otherworldly... the ultimate lair for the Necromancer. This one is going to be risky too, as what takes place at Dol Guldur is not shown or told in the book as such, it is only hinted at, but we are told in LOTR what happened there (possibly a brief explanation at the end of Hobbit but I can't remember). Regardless, Gandalf is there with his sword, staff, and Radagast, and utters, 'It is undoubtedly a trap.' OMG. There's going to be some serious s**t going down at Dol Guldur and I cannot wait. 

6.) The Mirkwood Spiders.

When I saw the first Hobbit film in January my heart dropped when Radagast was inside his house and you could see the shadows of hundreds of spiders crawling up the outside of his windows. I hadn't read the book at the time, but being an arachnophobe, I immediately thought, oh no - not more Shelobs. The spiders of Mirkwood were terrifying in the book, especially with their metallic-y, hissing, speech. Somewhere online I read that they were descendants of Shelob but she is in a monster league of her own, evil in spider form- these spiders are slightly different and definitely smaller (fewf!). I have heard Jackson say that his team had to make these spiders different and distinct from Shelob herself. However, by the looks of the spider visible in this trailer, the spiders (thankfully) won't be as scary or monstrous as Shelob in The Return of the King. The spider you see in the above screenshot has skinny legs (they haven't shown it's body or face so I am still terrified of what they may look like) but at the moment the spider scene looks like it will be watchable for arachnophobes like myself. I want to be scared of the spiders in this film because of their evil nature not because of their appearance (the more I watch The Return of the King, the less of the Shelob scene I can watch.) For now, all looks positive. I do wonder if Jackson will let these spiders speak like they do in the book? Animals speaking can often look silly, so it will be interesting to see if they avoid this trait of theirs or what they do to make it convincing.

7.) Arrival at The Lonely Mountain.

'That my friend... was a dragon,' says Balin as the dwarves supposedly here a rumble from within the mountain. This promises us that there will be some dragon action in the second installment. I expect that half of the film will be set in Mirkwood whilst the rest will take place at the Laketown and the mountain. A great line for the trailer, it wets our appetite for what is to come. It also hints that the other, younger dwarves haven't really thought about what they've let themselves in for.

8.) Smaug.

Unbelievable, the trailer finishes with a sneak peak of Smaug himself. SHOCK! We only saw his eye in the first film, but here we see his shadowed face. Unfortunately, after reading comments online it looks like people thought the same as myself - he looks a little raptor-y? And a definite shift away from the look of dragons in classic children's literature. Jackson may have done this purposefully however, because he knows that with any clip he releases, he will be inundated with comments and criticisms. In Fellowship of the Ring we see Gollum twice but each time he is covered in shadow; this is because final touches were still being made to Gollum and his appearance really hadn't been finalised yet. That way, Gollum was still visible in the film but you couldn't quite make out the exact features of his face. I think Jackson may be doing the same here with Smaug. Testing what the audience thinks whilst his artists still work on getting the right look for Smaug. The shot of Smaug's eye at the end of the first Hobbit film was promising, so let's hope Jackson stills pulls it out of the bag. 

I do not envy Jackson and his team with creating Smaug though. From how the dwarves described the attack on Erebor, dragons sound like the worst creatures in Middle Earth - meaner, lethal, and more dangerous than Shelob, Nazgul and their beasts, or Balrogs - and dragons are ten times bigger! So Jackson and co. really have their work cut out for them to make Smaug the dragon seem as terrible as legend has it. They haven't let us down with creatures so far, I'm sure they won't this time either. 

Final thoughts?

Overall, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug looks promising, more action-packed, and full of thrills than it's previous installment. You can see some of the changes from the book in the trailer and it looks like most of them will be to make the story more suitable for cinema - not all scenes in books work on film. Fingers crossed that this time the pace and editing of the film will be more flowing and the story in general more planned out. The first Hobbit film seemed incredibly rushed and had a lot wrong with it - still enjoyed it though! I don't think I will ever grow to like the villain of Azog in the film, he really irritates me and annoyingly looks like a highly-computerised, thuggish Voldermort. From what the trailer shows it's going to be a fun-filled ride and a big improvement from the first film. Can't wait to see what Benedict Cumberbatch brings to his roles too, and of course, we know that Martin Freeman will be outstanding again. It's a shame we have to wait until December, ey? It will be worth the wait, I am sure, and makes the perfect early Christmas present. I'm loving this poster for it too (right >). 

Shore's Score: Analysis of 'The Black Gate Opens.'

Using my first blogpost to analyse one of the pieces that is used towards the finale of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King may seem like a stupid idea, however, it's the piece that I have the most to say about at the moment.

Yes, my first blogpost will be looking at 'The Black Gate Opens' composed by Howard Shore and featuring the flute virtuoso, Sir James Galway. Here is the music on YouTube >>>  in case you want your memory refreshed or don't have the soundtrack. I will be looking at the section from 1:00-1:40. However if you would prefer to listen to the music in the scene itself you will find that scene later in my blogpost via a YouTube link.

This music comes at the final hurdle of the story. After battles in Rohan and Gondor, meetings with Ents, and all manner of non-stop fighting, Aragorn, Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin can do no more except one thing - draw out Mordor's armies so that Frodo & Sam can pass through the land unseen, whilst simultaneously diverting Sauron's attention from the Ring; as Legolas calls it... 'a diversion.'

We must remember that Aragorn & co. have no idea how Frodo & Sam are doing. They know that the journey of the Ringbearer and his friend has been the most dangerous (particularly when they hear how both took the path of Cirith Ungol and are being led by Gollum), but they still hold out on a very small hope that their friends are are as well as can be and are close to finishing the quest. Throughout the trilogy, a lot of the action has involved Aragorn and everyone else - they have fought all of the battles. But at this point in front of the Black Gate, even though they have one more battle to fight, they know that there will be no victory in this battle. They are merely buying precious time for their two friends. The REAL battle is taking place between Frodo and the Ring - between two hobbits and Mount Doom. After the initial menacing sounds of Mordor and battle - 'The Black Gate Opens' - that we hear as Aragorn and co. stare at the endless outpourings of hideous orcs, the camera cuts to Frodo & Sam as they try desperately to climb up the mountain.

The music for this scene starts at 1minute on the soundtrack, but in the actual scene itself (see clip below) it starts at 1:51. I will from now on be referring to the times on the clip below.

As Frodo looks up with his tired eyes the camera cuts to a shot of Mount Doom, spurting fire and smoke and dominating all of the Ringbearer's sight with its enormous size... they still have a long way to go. Whilst we see this a familiar sounding flute begins to play. Melancholy, slow, going from low to high notes as we cut from small hobbit to huge mountain, the music mirrors Frodo's feelings of 'so near and yet so far'. That familiar sound of the flute then begins to play the theme of the Shire, or 'Concerning Hobbits' from The Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack. But this isn't the same merry, happy, joyful theme that we heard in the first film as Gandalf and Frodo rode to Bag-End. Far from it. As the trilogy progresses we actually hear snippets from the Shire theme every now and then, but what is interesting is that as Frodo & Sam get closer to Mordor, the theme gets slower and sadder - very clever and effective Howard Shore!

The camera cuts to Frodo's dirtied, haggard feet that have travelled non-stop for the past year - and not across soft, lush grassland, but the sharp rocks of the Emyn Muil, the bogland of the Dead Marshes, the black razor rocks of Minas Morgul, and the hot, ashy wasteland of Mordor. Now, his poor feet - and hands too - have to wearily claw their way up the impossible terrain of the mountainside.

If you listen to the music during this scene from 2:02-2:30 (actual scene), Shore has used the Shire theme at its saddest. Completely slowed down, and sounding strained/shaky, it is at its most desperate - just like Frodo and Sam. Compared to how it was before the quest for Middle-Earth, it is also has a harder and forced sound rather than the light and bouncy feel which it had previously.

Why has Shore/Jackson decided to have this music in this scene? The obvious answer is that the camera is on Frodo and he is a hobbit, therefore they have the theme of the Shire. But I think that there is much more to it than it simply being the theme of the hobbits and the Shire.

First of all I think the music reminds the audience that these are hobbits - two tiny people; one of them has an enormous burden around his neck, whilst the pair of them still have an enormous quest (in terms of mountain-size and doom of failure) ahead of them. The shots of Frodo's feet on the sharp, hard, dry rocks, his mouth panting and his lips cracked and dry - you see the hardship he has endured and just how difficult his quest has been. In the back ground we see Sam lying down for a rest, one of the few times where Sam isn't seen to be pushing Frodo along... even Sam is struggling at the last hurdle. They are very close to the finish line and yet this will still be the toughest part of their long journey.

Frodo has no physical energy left. The length of his travels plus the lack of food/water means that there is no where for him to get his strength from. So, what pushes Frodo to keep climbing that mountain? The fate of Middle Earth? The fate of his friends? Sam? No. I don't think it's any of these. I think what Frodo uses is his distant but very potent memory of the Shire. That's where he gets his strength from. The memory of that peaceful land far away which is untouched by the evils of the world, a land where he was happy and didn't want to leave, his home. And even though the memory is distant - to the point where Frodo later says that he cannot recall the touch of grass - it is still as strong as ever, so he strains to remember it and transform that memory into a formidable strength that pushes him towards the Crack of Doom - hence the straining of the music.

Every strained, shaky, but strong and potent note that comes from Sir James Galway's flute mirrors the unimaginable effort it takes for Frodo to heave himself just a couple of paces up those barren slopes. As we hear this wonderful sound of the Shire and we see little Frodo trying with all his might, we are reminded of the enormity of the task that he was appointed with. From 2:10-2:20 in that scene, the music gets stronger and stronger, and even though Frodo eventually collapses in need of rest, the music mirrors the fact that no matter how long it takes, no matter how little strength Frodo has in him, he is still endeavouring to complete his task.

Apologies for my lack of musical jargon. I've never analysed music before. But I hope that you enjoyed this analysis. It's one of my favourite pieces from the entire trilogy because of how transformed the sound of the Shire is and how brilliantly it mirrors the emotions of Frodo and the quest in general. It brings tears to my eyes. Shore did a magical job with this scene, in my opinion.

If you have any other thoughts on this piece or this scene, I would love to know. Please share in the comments section.

Shore's Score: A Series

Howard Shore

One of the main reasons why I started this blog was so that I could share my thoughts on the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy which was composed by Howard Shore. Shore really transcended the realms of scoring a film when he composed this soundtrack for Peter Jackson - the size and scope of his work is enormous, complex, and beautiful. Arguably the greatest soundtrack in film history, I shall discuss each piece from Shore's work and analyse it in detail. There won't be any classical jargon - I'm afraid understanding the technical side of classical/film music is something I do not possess. However I will try and unpack the key themes/moods of each piece individually to see just how the music reflects the emotions/elements of scenes/themes in the film.

This series will be called Shore's Score. The first post of this series will be written as soon as possible.

About this blog.

Hi! I'm Claudia, and welcome to my blog.

As you can probably guess from the title, this blog is concerned with the The Lord of the Rings. I've been a fan of the film trilogy since it was released in theatres and after only recently reading Tolkien's books (including The Hobbit) I find that I love the story of Middle-Earth even more than before. 

I adore the books, the films, the soundtrack of the films - there are so many aspects of LOTR which I love and have thoughts on that I thought it may be worth blogging about it in case somebody else was also interested and wanted discuss certain ideas further. I have already written a few LOTR posts on my other blog but seeing as that blog is dedicated to film in general, I didn't want to clog it up with purely LOTR posts. That's when I thought I should launch a LOTR blog.

I haven't started writing any posts yet but I will soon. I am not a Tolkien or Middle-Earth expert - not by far - so please forgive me for not quite knowing the full picture that is painted in The Silmarillion. However I really love Tolkien's works of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I love Peter Jackson's adaptation, and so many other things in the films and books. I hope that my enthusiasm for LOTR will mean that other fans who read this blog will agree with what I write and most importantly, enjoy it. 

That's my introduction to the blog! Feel free to comment and even disagree with my ideas, I'll enjoy the discussion. Thanks for stopping by and I hope that at least one thing I say will interest you.