Peter Jackson Talks ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation’ In Video Blog

Peter Jackson premieres new blog on Facebook that will follows the “pickup” production of the Hobbit sequels – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

The video blog shows footage of the films' actors – Orlando Bloom, Evangeline Lily, Luke Evans, Ian McKellen, etc – immersed in filming scenes on lot sets before a green screen. Jackson explains that they’re filming pickups – fractions of scenes previously filmed that need to be reshot for a variety of reasons. For instance, one scene last year went unfinished because of uncooperative weather. In order to replicate the scenes a year later on a lot, everyone needs to be brought back in.

In addition to Jackson and the actors, other critical film crew members, including the art director, set director, stunt director, casting director, and makeup personnel are on hand to recreate every detail down to the amount of bird poo on Radagast’s scruffy beard.