Its loss this past Sunday night to “Gravity” doesn’t discount the effectiveness of the visual effects work in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” While Weta Digital’s work on the film’s titular dragon garnered the most attention last December, the effects company’s wizardry can be seen throughout the entire film and a new video has arrived online detailing how one particular non-Smaug-related sequence in the film was created.
Earlier this week Wired posted a video showing how the bravura Steven Spielberg-esque barrel-escape set piece from the middle of the film was brought to life. The seven-minute sequence began life as dozens of pre-viz animatics before landing in front of cameras for hours upon hours of on-location, aerial, soundstage and green screen footage. That’s all before you factor in all the time Weta artists put in to create the stuff that could never possibly exist.
The video, which lasts just over two minutes, includes a brief appearance from Peter Jackson along with some behind-the-scenes footage and should hold you over until the home video release next month. Watch it below.
