The Hobbit - Desolation of Smaug

I finally went to see the new Hobbit film and loved every minute of it. It was breath taking through the amount of attention dedicated to the surroundings, the look and act of the characters and the animation of the orcs and Smaug. The characters felt more realistic and not wooden through the use of small movements, such as biting finger nails, repeating a word twice as they are taken back by something, it just made the film that much more lovable and amazing. The visual effects matched with the animation of the environment made the atmosphere tense and projected the mood of the scene to the audience well.
 

In this film we finally see Smaug, and the design of the animation was gorgeous, it felt real, with the cracks and edges of the scales that all had tints and shades of colour as a response to the lighting, the close up of the eye was outstanding with the inclusion of the reflected light and the pattern of the iris which was surrounded with the tactile scales of its flesh. The facial expressions of the dragon were equally outstanding which was created with the use of motion capture from the voice actor, Benedict Cumberbatch. To show age to Smaug the detail of the scales were attacked with dead looking flakes of scale and scars from previous encounters of life. I loved the secondary action and the anticipation as smaug summoned flames from his chest which is first seen glowing through his chest before he projects flames at Bilbo.

In the credits of the film, I noted that Weta Digital did the visual effects and animation, and they have done other well known films such as Iron Man, Man of Steel, Avatar, Tin Tin and District 9.

(For more information and images visit IMDB , USA Today and Weta Digital )