THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - MOVIE BLOG

Internet Week Screening (London) with Q&A

2010-11-05T11:13:00.002Z

The Hunt For Gollum is showing as part of Internet Week Europe, with a screening hosted by Framestore next week.

Event Details:

The Hunt For Gollum was released to over 10 million views in May 2009, went viral and won numerous awards including 'Best Fiction Produced for the Web' at Festival Cinema Tous Ecrans (Geneva). Based on previously unseen appendices of The Lord of the Rings, the film is a serious adaptation with high production values which has been embraced by the fans worldwide and compared to Peter Jackson's trilogy, despite the tiny budget and not for profit status.

November 11
06:00 PM — 07:30 PM

Framestore
19-23 Wells Street
London, -- W1T 3PQ

The director and some of the cast will be on hand to answer questions and introduce the film.

In order to attend this (free) viewing please RSVP to gemma.samuell@framestore.com Seats are limited.

Latest screenings - Comic Con, Gen Con...etc

2010-08-04T12:11:00.003+01:00

Upcoming
GenCon Indy (5th-8th August)

Exeter University Tolkien Society (October)

Recent
Comic Con France: (July)

Tolkien Day Geldern (Munich)

props & masks on ebay

2010-05-28T17:07:00.008+01:00

We're getting rid of a few spare props and costumes, bits and bobs on ebay at the moment. They really do take up a LOT of space, so if you fancy owning a real piece of THFG, head on over to the actors at work shop...

This week, the actual Gollum mask worn by Chris Dingli & Matt Cunningham throughout the film is up for grabs here!
Other props & costumes from Hunt for Gollum & Born of Hope are going live there soon.
10% of proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK.

6 million views & Cannes

2010-05-20T13:01:00.003+01:00

This week I headed over to the Cannes film festival for a couple of meetings and some sun. Being able to say our microbudget film has been seen by 6 million people certainly raises a few eyebrows in this sell-sell-sell world of feature film marketing. I met up with Tous Co Prod again, a crowdfunding company who are interested in our upcoming feature films. Partnering with them will allow anyone to effectively become 'a producer' in our next film with micro-investments as low as 10 euros. It also allows anybody who invests to follow our production from the inside, as well as receiving a share of profits. A cool new concept.

Also for any german fans, Hunt for Gollum will be screened at Tolkien Day Geldern on the Lower Rhine in Germany on 29th & 30th May.

http://www.tolkiengesellschaft.de/en/3313/tolkien-tag-niederrhein-2010/

Born of Hope is here

2009-12-01T15:39:00.003Z

at last....!!!!

At 7pm tonight, Born of Hope will be released! In case you didn't know, it's the next LOTR prequel, made by our friends at Actors at Work Productions, this is an even more ambitious epic (unofficial) LOTR prequel over 6 years in the making. It tells of Aragorn's parents, and the Dunedain set 75 years before the events of The Hunt For Gollum.
Director (and actress) Kate Madison.
Quite a few of the THFG team have been involved in BOH, and of course we poached a some of them for our film too. So today is the momentus day we've all been waiting for...
Enjoy:
http://www.bornofhope.com
(online at 7pm, 1st Dec....)

Spain screening & award

2009-11-16T13:49:00.006Z

The Hunt For Gollum will be showing at La Cabina in Valencia, Spain on Saturday 12th December around 1pm. Director in attendence - maybe see you there. :)
http://www.lacabina.es/

I also just got back from Geneva, where I was suprised and delighted to win the Reflet D'Or for the "Best Fiction produced for the web" category! This is the 3rd award the film has received. Thanks very much to all the kind people I met at the festival. here's a pic:

Screenings in Switzerland & Brazil

2009-11-02T15:06:00.002Z

Catch The Hunt For Gollum on the big screen in Geneva at Le Festival Cinema Tous Ecrans, on 3rd & 5th November. Director Chris Bouchard will attend for a Q&A on Thursday the 5th. Link:
http://www.cinema-tout-ecran.ch/2009/index.php?rubID=34&lan=en&filmID=552

THFG is also showing in Brazil at the CineFantasy Festival, Sao Paulo between 6th & 16th November. Screenings are always free - being a non-profit film.
http://www.cinefantasy.com.br/

PS... don't forget that Born of Hope is coming next month - for those who need their next fix of Lord of the Rings.
Here's a brand new Born of Hope podcast - a new peek at what's coming and some hilarious behind the scenes action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_n4m8RWn6Y&feature=player_embedded

The Times (UK) & New Zealand Herald coverage

2009-10-22T14:42:00.003+01:00

The New Zealand Herald covered The Hunt For Gollum today in their article March of the fifth Gollum
They appear to be the first to ask Peter Jackson's camp if he's seen THFG, with the following answer, I quote "a spokesman for Jackson said they have chosen not to comment about the film". Of course Jackson himself is likely far too busy to watch a film like this, so I'm certainly not expecting any feedback from him. That would only generate more publicity, and we've had more than our fair share of press already. Even so I can't help but wonder what his reaction would be. I hope he would understand where we're coming from, and that this was simply a labour of love, and a chance to learn about film-making.

Also, The Times did a nice article last week: Gollum spearheads the Hollywood fan-film revolution pointing out that the film has had 3.5 million views - figures beating most big budget feature film releases.

Free screening in Cardiff

2009-10-20T15:55:00.003+01:00

The Hunt for Gollum returns to Wales this Saturday (24th October) at the Chapter Cinema, Cardiff. I'll be attending the free screening, along with actor Arin Alldridge (Arithir) and some of the crew.

FAN-TASIA: The Hunt For Gollum + Blair Thumb (ctba)
Saturday, 24 October 2009 18:15 Cinema 2

I'm delighted to see that they're also showing Blair Thumb, a fan movie by Steve Oedekerk, writer of Bruce Almighty. I enjoyed his hilarious Thumb Wars in my student days. Should be a lot of fun.

Tickets are free (of course) and you can reserve them at the box office, although the cinema is quite small so call them to reserve.

I'm looking forward to getting back to Wales for the first time since we filmed some of the mountain scenes there. In other news, I recently got back from Canada, from the FNC in Montreal. Soph & I were very kindly received and enjoyed a panel with some other participative film-makers. In particular www.touscoprod.com seem to have a novel approach to film funding.

Also, I should tell you there's a festival screening in Geneva at the Festival Tous Ecrans on November 5th. More on that soon,

Chris

Visiting FNC in Montreal

2009-10-05T17:36:00.003+01:00

Hey folks, it's been a while since I updated - I've been making the most of my newly found free time. :) Anyway I'm just about to head off to Canada with Soph for the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal, Canada for a screening of THFG, at something called the FNC Lab - Participative Film-making! Something a little different. Here's the blurb on the event:

Since the arrival of platforms for sharing content online, the cyberspace slogan has been: We need you! Video, text, sound, image… Anyone can produce their own content and then broadcast and promote it in just a few clicks. Home movies are everywhere, all claiming to be a hit. Needs are expanding and things are becoming more ambitious. Whether looking for additional funding or a volunteer editor, it’s becoming easier and easier to use the Net to make films collaboratively. Is this the next film revolution'

With :
Chris Bouchard (UK) | director | www.thehuntforgollum.com
Barbara Tonelli (FR) | co-founder | www.touscoprod.com
Thierry Vogler (CA) | producer/writer/director | www.5000kmdejerome.com

This panel will be followed by the screening of the film The Hunt for Gollum, directed as a participatory film by Chris Bouchard in tribute to the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Saturday 10th October, 5pm, Agora Hydro-québec (La Tanière) Montreal is the time and date, should any of your want to come, please do come and say hi.

This should be quite an interesting one, especially to get insights from other participative films - I suppose that's what this was - our buzz word was more 'collaborative'. But hey - same difference.

Meanwhile, totting up the views it seems THFG's now had around 3.5 million views. So glad it's still finding a fresh audience. And so, I've been slowly but surely prepping the next project, exploring various options - Residue, being only one of several possibilities for the next IOC feature. Whatever it is, it's likely to be ridiculously ambitious - I can gaurantee that.

Secondly I must big up some more upcoming free screenings - at the Chapter Cinema Cardiff - 24th, Oct 2009. Also it's showing down at the massive ICON film festival in Isreal on 6th & 8th October.

au revoir!

THFG at London Comiccon

2009-07-06T15:55:00.004+01:00

Just a note to say we'll be appearing at London's Comic Con on Sunday July 19th. We'll be showing the film, and doing a panel with most of the leading figures of the film there.

C

Extended version featured on Youtube USA

2009-05-31T09:56:00.004+01:00

On friday co-producer Spencer alerted me that we'd had over 70,000 views in 1 hour on the Youtube version of the film, which is extended in that 1 scene with Arithir was added back in. Anyway it turns out that the film was featured on this Friday's Youtube Spotlight on the USA/Worldwide homepage.

It's had over 600,000 views in the last 24 hours - crazy!

The Armchair Critic Review: The Hunt for Gollum (Independent Online Cinema, 2009)

2009-05-26T12:29:00.000+01:00

The Armchair Critic: The Hunt for Gollum (Independent Online Cinema, 2009)

Here's another review of the film I've just been alerted to. Thanks Paula!

Inside Report - interview at SCI-FI-LONDON

2009-05-13T11:28:00.002+01:00

The charming folks at INSIDE REPORT
did a feature on The Hunt for Gollum just before the premiere at SCI-FI-LONDON.
Check it out (includes Gareth doing his Gollum impression...) and me saying "great" far too many times.

the week of 1,000,000 views

2009-05-11T17:14:00.006+01:00

The Hunt For Gollum crew after the premiere at SCI-FI-LONDON.

Well, it's been a hectic first week, with over 1 million views, thousands of messages from fans who appear to have enjoyed The Hunt For Gollum.

you can see the stats on www.dailymotion.com/huntforgollum
(adding the additional languages version to the HD version and you reach the total)

So it's time to sit back and reflect on releasing our baby out into the world!! It's been an emotional time. Our IMDB page and guestbook have received loads of messages. Dailymotion officially tell us that the film has "gone viral", which apparently is a first for a longform video. So how does it feel? Well it's been exhilerating, and completely unexpected. I was preparing myself for the inevitable onslaught of angry messages from diehard fans... which didn't come! Leaving me feeling almost smugly triumphant. Anyway it's time to come back down to earth and begin thinking about how to pickup a normal life again for a little while before embarking on the next crazy project.

A few interesting meetings and phonecalls have appeared, but the challenge now is to try and attract investors for the next project, which perhaps will be following Project Residue outlined:
http://www.independentonlinecinema.com

as the probable next project (but that requires considerable funding which will in itself require a lot of work). For the timebeing I'll sit back and read scripts, write scripts and see where the fancy takes me...

Chris

Going Global

2009-05-10T12:43:00.011+01:00

A number of months ago we were contacted by two Spanish guys called Luis Ig. Bacas Riveiro and Jose Maria Urraca Mulero contacted us asking if they could subtitle the film into Spanish which we were very happy to help them do. Since then a lot more requests have flooded in and we currently have the film available on Dailymotion with subtitles in Spanish (from both Spain and Argentina), French, Portugese (from both Brazil and Portugal), German, Italian, Russian, Turkish, Polish, Greek, Hungarian, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Catalan and of course English. In addition, we are awaiting subtitles in Hebrew and Chinese. Once more the global power of Tolkien cannot be underestimated.

If you know of someone who might be able to translate the subtitles into a language not mentioned and who would like to do it then get them to email brian "at" hunt4gollum.com stating which language they could help with. Obviously we'd like the film to reach as many people as possible so any help doing that would be much appreciated :-)

p.s. to view the film with Hungarian, Norwegian, Finnish, Catalan, Portugal's Portugese or Argentina's Spanish then please go to the additional languages version of the film on http://www.dailymotion.com/HuntForGollum

p.p.s if you would like to view Serbian or Croatian subtitles then leconty has posted them on the forum here here

24 hours and 200,000 views later...

2009-05-04T17:00:00.006+01:00

http://www.thehuntforgollum.com
is finally back up online (sorry for that) and I need to sleep, maybe dream of the next project! So i'll leave you with these links somebody kindly emailed me...

(posting this really for the cast and crew to check out, have fun guys - was an awesome party!! loving you all!)

http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/news/1811402/rts_top_5_fan_films
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/8022623.stm

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103673352
US radio

Review:
http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/reviews.php?id=8013
http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/05/03/lord-of-the-rings-fan-film-the-hunt-for-gollum-now-online/
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/article/the-hunt-for-gollum-full-short-film-now-online
http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2009/05/03/32047-fan-film-hunt-for-gollum-watch-it-now/
http://www.starlog.com/home/daily-news/1-movies-a-television/117-the-hunt-for-gollum-begins
http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/695191/LOTR-Fan-Film-The-Hunt-For-Gollum-Premieres-This-Weekend.html
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/News/143808,new-lord-of-the-rings-film.aspx
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8028657.stm
BBC Northern Ireland
http://www.10zenmonkeys.com/2009/05/01/will-the-hunt-for-gollum-satisfy-true-fans/
http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/04/hunt-gollum.html
http://londonist.com/2009/04/arts_ahead_whats_on_in_london_29_ap.php
http://fancinematoday.com/
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?p=12760
http://www.demonews.de/kurznachrichten/index.php?shortnews=20380
http://www.moviereporter.net/news/6967-the-hunt-for-gollum-ein-prequel-von-fans
http://www.jatekok.hu/hirek.php?tabla=hirek_200905&id=32
http://www.vivacinema.it/articolo/the-hunt-for-gollum-e-uscito/8595/
http://blog.screenweek.it/2009/05/the-hunt-for-gollum-finalmente-on-line-42514.php
http://www.badtaste.it/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7772&Itemid=63
http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/50268-the-hunt-for-gollum.html
http://www.filmtotaal.nl/artikel.php?id=13734
http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/05/04/kultur/film/ringenes_herre/tolkien/peter_jackson/6042321/
http://www.elbakin.net/film/news/9935-The-Hunt-for-Gollum-est-en-ligne
http://www.fantasymundo.com/noticias/10353/hunt_for_gollum_online
http://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=18458491.html
http://www.gamona.de/kino-dvd/der-hobbit,die-jagd-nach-gollum-fanprojekt-ist-fertig:news,1469439.html
http://www.fantasy.fr/articles/view/9288/un-extrait-pour-the-hunt-for-gollum
http://www.mymovies.it/cinemanews/2009/6424/
http://www.omelete.com.br/cine/100019395/O_Senhor_dos_Aneis.aspx
http://www.elbenwald.de/news.php?news=n3358_Trailer-zum-Herr-der-Ringe-Fan-Film--The-Hunt-for-Gollum.html
http://www.rumors.it/notizie/29358/articolo.htm
http://www.new.divirta-se.uai.com.br/html/sessao_8/2009/04/30/ficha_cinema/id_sessao=8&id_noticia=10650/ficha_cinema.shtml
http://blog.screenweek.it/2009/04/fan-film-su-gollum-online-gratuitamente-fra-pochi-giorni-42225.php
http://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/09_aprile_25/grandesso_e09aca00-31b2-11de-98f0-00144f02aabc.shtml
http://epocanegocios.globo.com/Revista/Common/0,,EMI69923-16353,00-FAS+DE+O+SENHOR+DOS+ANEIS+GRAVAM+INICIO+INEDITO+DA+SAGA+COM+R+MIL.html
http://www.ecrans.fr/L-ecole-des-fan-films,7029.htm
http://www.fantasybookreview.co.uk/blog/2009/04/25/the-hunt-for-gollum-video-teaser/
The Guardian Guide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/may/03/fan-films-hunt-for-gollum
The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/movie/129688/hunt-for-gollum
http://www.highlandersbooks.com/2009/05/03/newsflash-the-hunt-for-gollum/
http://www.themorningstarr.co.uk/2009/05/03/the-hunt-for-gollum/
http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=the_hunt_for_gollum_to

Working Player Link... on Dailymotion

2009-05-03T23:40:00.002+01:00

Our servers died.... ouch! so go to Dailymotion to watch the film directly here:

http://www.dailymotion.com/huntforgollum

WATCH THE FILM!!!

Watch the Film... (4pm Sunday)

2009-05-01T18:14:00.007+01:00

To watch the film... after 4pm GMT on Sunday 3rd of May (that's probably before midday in the USA of course) direct your browser towards...

www.thehuntforgollum.com
(sorry about website problems, go below if so.... - we're trying to fix it!!!!

OR

www.dailymotion.com/huntforgollum

It will be go live at or around 4pm - and will be released with subtitles in over 7 languages (French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish... and more...)
Have fun, we did. :)
Chris
NB: if you're computer can't handle the "HD" version be sure to click "MENU" and then "High Quality" so you still get a reasonably good picture quality.

4 days to go...

2009-04-29T17:10:00.003+01:00

On 3rd of May The Hunt For Gollum will be live and online for FREE streaming at
www.thehuntforgollum.com

Release Time:
Our awesome web-guy David Rendo will be putting the film online at 4pm (GMT) on our site - just as we sit down to watch it at the public premiere at SCI-FI-LONDON.

We'll also put out our documentary, some cool clips, the soundtrack and info on our next project...

So - how does it feel? Exciting - relieving - but I'm most looking forward to celebrating with all the talented people I've met on this journey when we have our premiere and party. A year ago we were on location filming an Orc battle, and a year before that I was writing out the script. So it's been a pretty intense time (can't count how many all night editing sessions!) and I for one am looking forward to a little break before I start the next project... which may (I can reveal) be something related to the concept of Human Residue
It will be an original feature film which we're hoping to do with the same kick-ass team, but this time we'll be looking for industry funding to get it off the ground as a low budget feature. We'll see where that goes...

Anyway after a long journey and an amazing experience of film-making, I can release my first real film to the world... The Hunt For Gollum. And take cover...! The main thing - it was a hell of a ride - let's see what we can do next...

Premiere at SCI-FI-LONDON!

2009-03-30T17:28:00.003+01:00

So, tickets are now available for the world premiere at SCI-FI-LONDON on May 3rd! These will be free to the public (non profit film remember!) at a first come first served basis. They've now got their page up so you can reserve your ticketsright now:

RESERVE PREMIERE TICKETS!
http://www.sci-fi-london.com/competition/gollum.php

Release Date is here!

2009-02-02T14:12:00.004Z

hey folks, well Gollum and I would like to announce that on 3rd May 2009 you will be able to watch The Hunt For Gollum online in HD!

RELEASE DATE:
SUNDAY 3rd MAY 2009!!!

We'll be streaming the film (which now runs at well over 40 minutes) in HD and have some very exciting news to come about the festival it's launching at. Also the work the team are doing on visual effects, sound, music and editing is very spectacular indeed and i take my hat off to my team who are pulling out all the stops to meet our deadlines for this release date. Well over 100 volunteers are now working on the film and it's a pretty unusual thing, which I am very lucky to be directing.

I write this from the madness of post-production, which i'd probably best get back to without further ado. :)

Meanwhile here's a fellow who we might be seeing a little more of in this adventure...

Chris

FIRST FULL TRAILER!

2008-12-19T14:22:00.005Z

Just in time for Christmas, after a lot of polishing we're finally ready to release the first ever full length trailer. Check it out below!

THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1

This exclusive brand new trailer shows more than ever before!

Official Website for pics, movies and downloads:

http://www.thehuntforgollum.com

Featured on BBC Radio 6 Music

2008-12-04T13:17:00.003Z

I was asked to phone into the Nemone Show to talk about the film. You can hear the interview here:
BBC Radio 6 Music.mp3

The Hunt - Getting warm...

2008-11-19T18:10:00.005Z

It's been a landmark acheivement to finish filming after all the effort the production crew have put in. Gladys, Brian, Spencer & Julianne - my awesome co-producers have kept this project going through the most amazing trials. (Thanks guys!)

So now finding the time to finish things is the more tricky thing.

When will the film be released?
Well we have been aiming for putting the film online this December. This is almost achieveable but because of delays during filming and the sheer volume of work to be completed in our spare time on editing, music, sound and visual effects I'm going to put the date back a bit. Currently I'm discussing a fixed date with the team which we will announce soon. I might be as early as January or it might be a month or two later, to give time to put some polish on our hard work. Ultimately I won't release it until I'm completely happy.

Anyway that's all for now folks. Thanks to everyone on the production crew who's made this so fun. Now we hand over to the postprod team and enter the final stage of this epic journey...

Just remember... there's nothing quite like hugging a friendly orc...! ;)

Almost a wrap

2008-11-04T18:08:00.007Z

It's November now and we're now as good as wrapped. Over a year in the filming, it's sad to think I won't be spending so much time camping out in forests with a bunch of orcs and our amazing crew!

Spencer, Adrian and myself after wrapping the marathon last shoot.

The final few shoots were intense, the very last one included a fight scene at night, which we filmed until 3am before grabbing a couple of hours sleep and embarking on a full day of shooting the next day.

An elf scout makes an appearance on the night shoot

Anyway it's all in the can, Adrian's wrapped and Lewis is editing the latest scenes into place. After staring at a rough cut without a beginning or end, I'll soon be able to see how the movie is flowing as a whole.

A snap rescued from our first shoot in Wales over a year ago

Just as Born of Hope hit the Chicago Tribune and Daily Telegraph, we had a nice bit of press with an interview I did for SFX magazine link.

Orc desktop by Julie Mink

Surviving the shoot - day 11 & 12:

2008-09-17T13:13:00.008+01:00

Ok well, this is a blog so it's about time I posted something like a diary.... blog.... thing.... Here's what happened over the last two days shooting.

[[[[UPDATED - pictures added - thanks to Gladys!]]] :)

7am Monday morning we all gathered at Debden House campsite, Epping Forest. Straight away we were onto the task at hand. Max, Soph & Gary got the orc footprints created while Adrian (Strider), myself and Irene (lol) rehearsed with Matt (playing Gollum in the sack). Makeup and hair went on speedily - grubbying up our Ranger sufficiently to be convincing in the wild. In this scene Aragorn discovered a large trampling of Orc prints. A simple scene but one to help build up tension before the fight. Adrian was marching right along the stream and even though the camera was a bit heavy for the jib we pulled off a rather lovely shot even with the SG-Pro depth of field adapter mounted. This makes the camera twice as heavy but makes the background all nice and out of focus. It makes it look 10 times more cinematic. We were using Chris's FX1 as the main camera during the shoot but also had the HVX200 on our low budget steadicam and for sound. Lucky we had Chris onboard with his cam because the HVX batteries were prone to dying at any moment. After a couple of takes and further hair adjustments we got the scene. Bex kept Strider's freshly cut wig aka "Curly Sue" straightened out for the whole shoot and sprayed the poor chap down at every convenient moment.

Anyway the next scene was Matt's entrance. He'd come all the way from Wales to help out and his main task was to enact the body movements of Gollum while trapped in the sack; with hilarious consequences on the location. The sight of the tightly wrapped bag containing Matt rolling and struggling with the caterpillar effect couldn't help but make us laugh. But poor Matt soldiered on through what must have been considerable discomfort until we had a shot that wasn't too silly but added a bit of lightness into the otherwise dark scene.

Following this Adrian had to draw swords as the steadicam moved towards him. We attempted the Vertigo effect (dolly zoom) on our steadicam - using the remote control to zoom out slowly as JP moved the camera forwards with his trademark smooth operational subtlety. The effect worked pretty well after a couple of takes - . It's always great to experiment - we'll see if it makes the cut.

Next up came the ultimate test. Co-producer's Gladys & Julianne, also know as The Banshees rolled in with the day's rations and our big star for the day. Franceso - Gladys' son. Could we get 4 year old Francesco to perform as needed? It was a difficult and rather violent scene where Gollum gets captured. I knew it was going to be very difficult to get what we needed. After carefully sculpted prosthetic hands were applied by makeup artist Sara (and much coaxing and child-bribery) we attempted to shoot the scene. Ash kept him amused with the latest sci-fi geekery while the prosthetics were sneakily applied. Seeing a laptop playing Stargate in the middle of the forest was kindof wierd. For the scene little Franky was required to be tied completely inside the sack by Adrian. Mum was on hand to make sure he was happy and Adrian was ready to be gentle.
"Ok Franky are you ready to go in the sack?" Franky: "no". The little chap was far more interested in stealing JP's role as camera operator. Uh oh - what next. This is where Spencer stepped in. The kid had latched onto him like a limpet and Spence turned the whole thing into a game. The cameras rolled and Franky did more than 5 takes fully in the sack with the prosthetic hands groping out for freedom before being tied inside by Adrian. Amazingly we got the shots we we're hoping for - a great acheivement by all and what bravery by our little starlet!

So the day finished with a few steadicam journey shots. The pressure was on as the sun started going down (as per usual) but 1st AD Irene made sure we got every shot on camera before darkness set in. Pretty good going - and off to Theydon Bois for a pint and chips to round off the day.

Next day half the crew were back for another grueling shoot. This time at Leytonstone - a risk shooting so near the population of London which unfortunately caught us out. We had to relocate back to the safety of Epping forest and thanks to survival expert Gary (from Bear Claw Bush Craft) we found a suitable Dead Marshes location up there to replace Leytonstone. This time the focus was on Ranger survival in the wild. How would Strider live off the land? Bushcraft teacher Gary Wale had come down with all the gear and experience to train Adrian in skinning Rabbits, making fire, cooking, washing and catching food. It was so realistic we were all in awe. Gary was a real-life Ranger! We spent the morning getting some great survial shots as Gary showed Adrian what to do. Following this we were jumping forward a long way in the script to a scene of considerable tension. Strider discovers he's being followed by a black horseman. Julian jumped right in to replace Matt as Gollum puppeteer. And for the horse; initially planned to be a digital effect, we got solid assistant producer Ash Barker in along with Spencer sitting on his mighty shoulders. Out of focus in the distant sillouette - we had an astonishingly convincing horse impression. Those guys wouldn't believe it but it was pretty close. We shot the scene and then headed straight for the pool (ok it was kindof a marsh). Here some muddy footprints lead our hero on the right track at last. We finished the last shot and the sun went down. Time for a muddy tramp back through the now dark and creepy forest towards The Bull where fresh beer awaited a thirsty crew.

Our young star & cameraman Franky, shows us how it's supposed to be done.

Until next month... Farewell

2008-09-03T10:47:00.000+01:00

Here's a new banner design by one of our contributor artists Julie Mink!

Behind The Scenes Info

2008-08-14T16:35:00.004+01:00

We've just added a large new section to the website featuring how the art department, prosthetics, fight team and visual effects are being done on a microbudget... Visit the site here: www.thehuntforgollum.com

Teaser 2 - Released

2008-07-29T17:50:00.006+01:00

We are proud to finally reveal the brand new 2nd teaser for The Hunt For Gollum. Hope you like this video, it shows a little more of what is to come.

Trailer links on website:
www.thehuntforgollum.com

Special effects work & concepts

2008-07-16T16:35:00.006+01:00

I'd like to release a couple of images from the vfx/art side of the film. These by concept and visual effects artist Jean-David Solon.

Concept image: Strider passes through the ruins of ancient Arnor on his quest...

It's exciting for us to add new depth to the realism of the film through special effects. The quality of work created by the TH4G artists breathes life and spectacular realism into our vision of middle earth.
More concept work by TH4G artist JD Solon

The next shoot dates will be in August and September...

Dream scenes and editing

2008-06-30T22:56:00.007+01:00

The mysterious immortal Elves of Middle Earth make an appearence in The Hunt For Gollum. Last week we explored these mysterious immortals through a dream sequence which was shot in a wonderfully Elvish location: Hampstead Heath Pergola in London.

Currently the production will be completed for an end of the year release online. We've got a lot of editing now to be done (30+ hours of footage to cut into the 30 minute film). Also we're looking for visual effects and sound artists to join the Hunt For Gollum team. Get in touch by email... chris@hunt4gollum.com

And so, onwards we continue THE HUNT!!!

Orc shoot completed!

2008-05-23T17:35:00.004+01:00

2 weeks ago we completed the most ambitious shoot of the film. It was an intense 4 day shoot where featuring a large band of Orcs and some choreographed fights. Epping Forest was our location and our crew of 48 people camped out for 4 days at Debden House Campsite. Was a great shoot enjoyed by all, and an impressive acheivement for a low budget film.

There will be some proper updates appearing about this on our website, but in the meantime here's a few stills from this shoot.

We're working on some short teaser clips, to put online soon.

Costumes... in progress

2008-04-22T22:55:00.003+01:00

... 2 weeks before the shoot Marta, Natalie and Sophie lay out the orc costumes made so far. Now final adjustments, refinements and extra costumes will be thrown together to complete the Orc army.

The costumes laid out on the rooftop...

The director can't resist taking a turn...

Making Helmets...

2008-04-19T18:58:00.004+01:00

Here's a first look at the orc helmets made today our creative Hunt for Gollum props team Lisa, Jim and Lisa! They'll be outfitting the Orcs for the shoot in 2 weeks today....

pics, art and stuff

2008-04-14T23:39:00.003+01:00

Dear H4G readers... here's a few new images, storyboards and posters, as we build up to the biggest shoot of the film...

Launch of www.hunt4gollum.com our new website

2008-01-29T11:36:00.000Z

... has just been launched. Drop by and have a look around, there's a lot more info and imagery from the film on www.hunt4gollum.com

www.hunt4gollum.com

We've also completed a shoot last Sunday, in 2 forest locations around London. It was a very successful shoot which brings us up to 25% of the film shot.

The shoot made good progress with a very strong team coming together for this scene with 2 Rangers.

Next we're building up our art department creating the costumes and props for the main batch of principal photography in April and May.

Latest News:

2008-01-14T00:36:00.000Z

With weekend Costume design sessions and lots of new faces on the team, The Hunt For Gollum is well and truly underway. Our strong team of 5 co-producers have been working really hard putting togther the different departments on the film from locations to art department, prosthetics & costumes. And our first shoot of the year is coming up next Sunday. This will be a forest based Ranger scene.

A shot of next week's location:

Soon to come:
info on costume design, fight team training and our brand new website will be launched next week.

New High Quality Teaser

2007-11-09T14:06:00.000Z

We've just uploaded a high quality version of the teaser trailer.

* Watch Teaser Trailer (High Q) (Stage6, divx format)

or view medium quality below:

Teaser1 Hunt for Gollum

Movie Stills - first look

2007-11-04T20:53:00.000Z

Here's our first batch of imagery taken directly from the footage. These are all real locations in Snowdonia, N Wales.

The production is ready to go into the second phase. We're planning to shoot the remainging scenes in the new year. Currently storyboarding and location hunting.

We're currently looking for talented people to join the team. Particularly looking for costume designers, and production people.

We aim to make this a professional quality, cinematic production and to release online for free download. This project is in no way affiliated with New Line Cinema, Peter Jackson or Tolkien but we thank them. Feel free to get in touch on chrisbouchard1*@*gmail.com

Teaser Trailer 1

2007-10-13T18:30:00.000+01:00

Here's our first proper little teaser for The Hunt for Gollum. Hope you like it, it shows some of the beautiful locations we shot at and some hints at our hero.

Teaser1 Hunt for Gollum

High Quality Versions:

Divx Version [High]

Quicktime [Medium]

I hope to post another trailer showing a lot more action in the near future. Any comments more than welcome!

North Wales Shoot Complete

2007-09-03T21:30:00.000+01:00

We've just got back from North Wales, filming key hunting scenes for the past 3 days. It's been a fantastic shoot and we've got around half of the film in the sack featuring Strider, Gollum and a taste of some Orcs. We were camping near Cadair Idris(interactive map) which is incredibly beautiful, stark, mountainous and forested just like Middle Earth. The moody Welsh weather was kind for the first two days although the last day we all got completely soaked climbing the mountain. Actually this made the shots look even better.

I must thank our amazing cast and multi-talented crew: Adrian Webster, Matthew Cunningham, Sam Price, Kate Robinson, Gareth Brough, Adam Dymond, Luke McNally, Natalie Flindall and Stoffer Roberts.
Next up - we'll be logging through the footage before filming the remaining scenes over the next few months. Filming stills to come soon.

Costume Making Clip

2007-08-14T22:56:00.001+01:00

We spent the weekend on my rooftop making some of the costumes for the film including Orc armour, costume, helmets...etc Here's a clip:

TH4G Making Costumes clip1
Uploaded by residuemovie

First TH4G Flier

2007-07-25T16:39:00.001+01:00

Wow!! Carlos Avina (from our friends the Born of Hope team) just emailed me with his design for this beautiful flier for the film... Thanks Carlos!

4 weeks to go...

2007-07-25T16:11:00.001+01:00

..until the shoot! It's going to be great, but actually pretty daunting. I've been working on preproduction and script for the past 4 months but in the final run up there's loads to do: costume finalising, Ranger casting, storyboarding, wig fitting, props, more locations... Fear not though, it's all in hand. :)

A few words on the story

2007-07-25T15:11:00.001+01:00

A new chapter in the Lord of the Rings saga, created by fan's of Tolkien. This short film is set in Middle Earth and depicts events leading up to the Fellowship of the Ring. Synopsis: The Ring of Power has been taken from Gollum by Bilbo of the Shire. The heir of Isildur sets out to find him before he falls into the hands of the enemy and reveals the location of the Ring...

Here's a brief synopsis of the film's story in TH4G (and pics of some locations!)

It's technically a PREQUEL although our story is based carefully on Tolkien's appendices to The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. We're creating a serious, epic and cinematic tribute to the Tolkien and also the film trilogy. Our story takes place after The Hobbit but before The Fellowship Of The Ring and follows a young Ranger of Arnor (although one of great lineage) in his journey to find the creature.

A PREQUEL to The Fellowship of the Ring

By the way, these are pictures of where we'll be filming in September: Snowdonia, N Wales, UK

"Gollum has ventured out of his cave deep beneath the Misty Mountains. He's searching for one thing. The Ring, which was taken from him by Bilbo who tricked him but also named his homeland; The Shire. Many evil things are being drawn towards Mordor and Gollum inevitably is drawn towards the black land. The heir of Isildur sets out to find him before the creature can be captured by the enemy and reveal the location of the Ring...

Next I'll do a post on the cast I guess.

Making Orcs 1

2007-07-24T12:54:00.000+01:00

I spent last Saturday with Luke McNally (special effects designer) making casts for the Orc masks. We took casts of the faces of our Orc actors so that Luke can custom design the prosthetic masks to fit their faces exactly. Here's a video of the process. was a lot of fun.

THFG_bts1 - rough edit
Uploaded by residuemovie

What they might look like...

Logo Teaser

2007-07-24T12:11:00.000+01:00

Here's a little teaser, basically just a logo test. It was really satisfying to create this using the LOTR Ringbearer font and some music I composed a while back. It's exciting to see a little flavour of what might be to come.

THFG_LogoTeaser
Uploaded by residuemovie

This entire clip was made in Sony Vegas 6 (apart from the music of course). It took about 2 hours to make.
Next up I'll post on the story, the cast, the locations and there's even a behind the scenes video of us making our first orcs this weekend...

Welcome to the blog

2007-07-23T16:46:00.001+01:00

I've just created this blog for my new film project, which for now I will be calling THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM. So, what's this film about? It's a short (not going to bite off too much this time). It's a Lord of the Rings fan film. Yep, that means it's set in middle earth with similar character, but tells a new part of the saga (and luckily there's plenty Peter Jackson left out for us to tell).

And as for story, I'm not going to say too much just now but it takes place in between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, and follows one of the Rangers of the North...

Fear not guys my main project Human Residue is still pushing ahead, but as it's now deep in post production, this gives me a chance to get back out on set and shoot something else while the warmth of summer is still with us. Secondly, it's always good to take a break from a project and Residue has been so overwhelming for the past 2 years that I really need something new to get excited about Then I can come back to editing Residue with fresh eyes.

Meanwhile check out the website for fellow LOTR fan film Born of Hope who are kindly collaborating with me on this project. It's really exciting to be working with Kate and some of her team.

Enjoy the blog, I aim to keep it up to date with all the info of the film production over the coming months.
Peace
Chris