It's been a while...

It's been a while since my last update - time sure is going quickly and I have little to show for it. Activity on the boards has been slow these last few months. Only now does something appear to be happening. Recent updates include the somewhat credible rumour that Martin Freeman may play Bilbo, that Sylvester McCoy is up for the role of 'one of two wizards', possibly Radagast the Brown, and that Ian McKellan believes that filming is now set to commence in January 2011. Now that my laptop is working again, I will be updating this blog a lot more regularly. I'll discuss each of the above stories in more detail, specifically with regards to how fans are talking about them. I am also set to join the Hobbit community myself (watch out soon-to-be-fellow TORN members!) and I will write a post about this exciting new stage of my research very soon.

The Hunt for Gollum

I finally got around to watching "The Hunt for Gollum", a fan-film appearing on Youtube. And I have to say I was very impressed. It was a very creative and convincing piece of fan fiction - the actors playing Aragorn and Gandalf were very similar to their Lord of the Rings counterparts, the settings, costumes and music were very true to Jackson's films, and overall contributed to a very authentic 'Middle Earth feel'. Any fan of the Lord of the Rings should definately check it out! Now I can't wait to view the follow up film, by the same crew, called "Born of Hope". Also, now that I have decided to include other forms of social media in my research (see previous post), I believe this will make for an interesting section of my thesis.

New Approach?

As I was brainstorming last night, I had the idea of expanding my research to include other kinds of social networking sites in addition to the message boards. This way I can look at sites like facebook, myspace, twitter, and youtube and look at how they function for fans and the studios in the lead up to The Hobbit. All of these sites will develop to feature more content relating to the movies as it draws nearer, and obviously there will be more to discuss with some than others, but this way I can provide a wider outline of how new media functions alongside the development of a major motion picture, both in terms of its fans, as well as its producers. There may even be new kinds of social networking sites that will appear in the time before the films come out that I can explore. Let me know what you guys think...

EXCLUSIVE: The Official Hobbit Press Release!

The following post on theonering.net got me all excited - until I remembered what day it was made on.... happy april fools :-(

EXCLUSIVE: The Official Hobbit Press Release!

The post has received 76 replies (as of Friday, 2 April 2010)
Response from members was varied, but largely negative. Normally, I've noticed members are fairly tolerant with people poking fun at The Hobbit, but as one poster says in reply to the april fools - "This isn't the sort of thing to joke about", I guess posting fake news reports concerning the film's production is crossing the line.

This is a great post I found on Theonering.net. It summarises all the major discussion points taking place on the forums right now in a very creative way (in the form of one of the songs sung by the dwarves in Tolkien's novel)


O! What are you doing,
And where are you going?
Auditions need viewing!
M-G-M is owing!
O! tra-la-la lally
There's no time to dally!

O! The fans are all freaking,
Why the length it is taking?
No info is leaking,
To know what you're making!
O! tril-lil-lil-lolly
3-D? by golly,
ha! ha!

O! Where are you going
With interviews all a-nagging?
No knowing, no knowing
Who'll be Mister Baggins,
Or Balin and Dwalin
still no time to dally
I croon
ha! ha!

O! Will you be saying,
or will you be shying?
No interest is straying!
The rumors are flying!
To shy would be folly,
To say would be jolly
So listen and hark
It is time to embark
please film soon
ha! ha.

posted by Pipe Dream on March 7, 2010 at 2:22pm

Hobbiton Construction Photos!

It's not all doom and gloom (see previous post). Check out this story, posted today on theonering.net.
It's the strongest indication yet that the movie is going to be made!

Hobbiton Construction Photos!

Source says the MGM situation of ‘great importance’ to two potential ‘Hobbit’ films

So, I have spent the last two months surveying the fan sites. Up to now I have been focussing on three sites - theonering.net (which demonstrated a healthy relationship between fans and studio during The Lord of the Rings), ‘The Hobbit Movie Forum’, and the official ‘Hobbit Movie Blog‘.
Hot topics of the moment include news that the Hobbit may be filmed in 3D, ongoing casting rumours and speculation (just who will be playing Bilbo?!), and MGM’s ongoing financial troubles leaving fans agitated over whether the movie will go ahead:

Source says the MGM situation of ‘great importance’ to two potential ‘Hobbit’ films

Of course, this is also of some concern to me, as my project basically depends upon the film being made…

Scholar-fan

Also, I should point out that as a big fan of Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s books myself, I am not ‘looking down’ on fans in any way - hence the name ‘scholar-fan‘. Nor am I examining users of fansites and those who contribute in forums and discussion boards as if they were specimens in a zoo. What I am concerned with is what I can learn from monitoring those sites and participants - about how communities are formed, the kinds of issues and debates that are being triggered by the distribution of (and absence of) official studio-released information, as well as unofficial news, rumours and speculation posted by other participants. This leads to the central issue of how we can judge the current relationship between fans and producers through looking at online fan activity with regard to this major upcoming film release.

What is my project all about?

Between 2001 and 2003, New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy became one of the most celebrated pieces of film of recent years. The success of The Lord of the Rings depended largely upon its wide fan base. It became imperative for the producers to appease the fans of Tolkien’s novels, as they would have depended upon this particular crowd for their box-office success.

Now, the stakes are raised even higher with the approach of the new two-film adaptation of Lord of the Ring’s prequel, The Hobbit. Filmed by a new director, Guillermo Del Toro, The Hobbit nevertheless reaches out to the same fans who made Jackson’s trilogy a success - a large number of the production crew remains the same, including several recurring cast members. This presents an even greater challenge for producers, with not one but two pre-defined fan-groups needing to be won over: the fans of Tolkien’s original book, and those who developed later around Jackson’s trilogy.

The way in which Del Toro’s films are viewed at present by the different fan groups is mirrored in the mass of online forums, message boards and other websites which are designed to facilitate debate and discussion. My PHD project seeks to define the fans of the new film, exploring the expectations, hopes and fears of the different fan groups. It will also examine the role of the internet in the build up and release of the films, focussing on sites that feature message boards and forums for fans to interact with.

My PHD project involves surveying one or more fan websites over a period of time before, during and after the release of one or both Hobbit films. I will be looking for patterns that emerge in discussions and identify key talking points. I will also pay attention to the ways in which the producers actively make use of these websites in the production of the films. I will be analysing fan response to key points in the development of the film, such as the release of official teasers and trailers, circulation of information and spoilers, the release of merchandise, as well as the rise of fan-fiction and other forms of fan participation.

I believe my project will deepen the research already carried out in the area of fandom, and in particular, the increasing role of the internet in establishing fan communities. The Hobbit presents an intriguing new challenge for producers who have already been seen to rely heavily upon existing fan bases and reaching out to those audiences through websites. If The Lord of the Rings trilogy was seen as somewhat unique in the sense that it catered to a pre-existing fan base - Tolkien’s novels, then The Hobbit can be seen as doing something very different again - drawing upon fans of the book while also providing consistency with Jackson’s vision of ‘Middle Earth’ to draw in fans of the trilogy (many of whom will have never read the books).

Welcome!

To fellow ‘Hobbit’ fans (books and movies!), scholars and anyone else who might happen to stumble across this blog - hi, and welcome!

My first attempt at blogging is an attempt to share any significant developments and findings of from current PHD project. Right now, both blog and PHD are in the early stages, but I’m already getting a good sense of ’hot topics’ being discussed by Hobbit fans. I won’t be using this site to post every news article regarding the production of The Hobbit (there are already countless sites out there that are doing just that). What I will be doing is updating my blog as I proceed with my examination of the fan sites and discover new and exciting things about the way fans are interacting with those sites, and each other’ in the build up to the two-part Hobbit movie.

For starters, you can read a more detailed description of what my project is about in the following post…