The final installation of The Hobbit movies is coming in a couple of months. We've seen trailers and character posters come out already to promote the movie, but if these still aren't enough, there are still other Hobbit alternatives that can satisfy fans' cravings for anything Middle Earth. The latest one is from the second movie from the franchise -- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. In the about to be released DVD format of the movie, we see exciting behind the scenes features on Smaug as played by Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch.
And what exactly do we learn from the performance of The Imitation Game star? Just that it is a voice performance that needs as much preparation as any other acting gig. In fact, it's not just the actor's voice that we see now in the character of the dragon Smaug. We also get to see the facial expressions and other such nuances in body language even if it is technically, a computer generated character we are seeing on screen.
Empire Online recently posted a clip that accompanies The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug DVD version, and it is fascinating look at what went on when animators merged the acting prowess of Benedict Cumberbatch into an animated version through the dragon Smaug.
"Whenever we could we tried to honor Benedict's acting cues, and what I mean by that is we would study his video, and maybe he'd turn his head like that, or maybe he'd sort of lift his head back and look down his nose as he's reading the lines," shares animation supervisor David Clayton.
"We had a lot of animation controls within the facial puppet -- his nostrils, all the brow shapes, the sort of detail in his eye, his throat, his tongue -- we felt like his tongue would have a lot of detail," Clayton adds.
We're sure that more of these technical prowess will be on full display at the third and final installment of The Hobbit, The Battle of the Five Armies. In the meantime, the best way to appreciate the genius of Peter Jackson and the entire cast and crew of The Hobbit franchise might be to see the DVD special features!
