Watch Now: Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery

6/15/2015

I am happy to share this all-new side quest film, called Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery! It will serve as a companion piece to my main fanedit, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. This film focuses on Gandalf's investigation into Dol Guldur, along with showing more of Thorin's back story. While I felt that these subplots were too distracting in the theatrical releases of The Hobbit, now they actually work quite well on their own. Just like my main fanedit, this is only the first version of Durin's Folk...I imagine there will be more relevant footage to add once the BOFA EE is released in November!

Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery from Dustin Lee on Vimeo.

23 Comments

Joey

6/15/2015 10:47:13 am

Brilliantly put together. I especially like the transition from Bree into the first time we see Bilbo.

One question. Did you leave out when Thrain tells Thorin about staying away from charging Azog because Azog wants to kill all of Durins line? If so, why was that cut out?

Dustin

6/15/2015 11:15:34 am

Thanks, I chose to cut that part with Thorin and Thrain because the Moria flashback is repeated twice in the films. Once in AUJ when Balin tells the story, then again in DOS when Thorin talks about it. I found it to be redundant, especially since Balin says Azog swore to wipe out the line of Durin.

Ahmed Hussien

6/15/2015 10:26:07 pm

Loved it, works great as a side quest film. This shows just how important for a movie to have consistent tone, the quality of these parts was not felt when they were scattered throughout the trilogy, because they were out of place, and seemed as if they were interrupting the story. But here, when they are in the right order, I can see how well they are shot and acted, I also can appreciate how beautifully designed Dol Guldur is. All this was wasted in the original trilogy, simply because these parts were in the wrong place.

Marius

6/18/2015 07:06:45 am

This turned out to be a surprisingly exciting film, and it's obviously very well edited. There's nothing quite like this, it feels like someone has tried to make a film out of one of Tolkien's letters or unfinished stories, and it's quite brilliant in it's own very unique way. The story is of course somewhat incoherent, and it is expected that you know The Hobbit's storyline well.

I think the film is pretty much as good as it possibly can be, considering the source material. Radagast's rabbits are unfortunately present, but there's probably nothing to be done about that. And the final battle with the White Council is so unbelievably corny, it's more like something out of anime than a Tolkien story, but again there's probably nothing to be done about it, and I guess the film needs the battle as a climax of some sorts.

Dustin

6/23/2015 06:47:42 am

Thank you! It is definitely necessary to have watched The Hobbit in order to understand some of plot points here, so I think it works best as a companion piece to my main Hobbit fanedit.

I did try to keep the silly rabbits to a minimum (having already cut out that daylight orc chase). I'm also assuming there will be some more material to work with once the BOFA EE comes out. Supposedly Beorn has a torture scene in Dol Guldur and I think that could work out really well for this side quest story.

Sandro

6/28/2015 03:41:50 am

Very well done! I have absolutely no advice for improvement. Of course, the events in this film are very episodic. But that's what it's supposed to be: a companion film. If they had decided to make two instead of three Hobbit films, Peter Jackson could've released these extra scenes on the internet in between the two films. That would've been some nice promotional material to get us hyped for the theatrical release of the final movie. That scene in which Smaug's head emerges from the treasure is the perfect way to end this film, because it's a segway into the main movie. I also have less trouble accepting some of the silly stuff this way, since it doesn't break the tone of the other scenes.

And last but not least: Thank you so much for removing Thrain's Wilhelm Scream! I know that it's one of Peter Jackson's trademarks, but how could he possibly think that it would work in the death scene of a dignified character!?

Dustin

6/28/2015 07:23:26 am

Yeah I couldn't believe that Peter Jackson use a Wilhelm scream for Thrain. Usually it's fun to pick that sound effect out in a big battle from some random character, but here it was stupid and tasteless. Fortunately 5.1 audio allows for such fixes!

Leonardo

6/28/2015 08:00:47 am

Hey Dustin! I have been following your projects for some time now and i'm looking foward to your final cut of the main movie! I know you from TORn but I don't post much there. I tend to be a lurker most of the time.

I wanted to ask you which program for Windows do you use and whether or not it has works for WinXP.

Could you tell me? I am willing to learn video editing to make my own personal version based on yours if you don't mind, mate.

Thanks in advance, Lee. Keep it up, your work is very nice!

Dustin

6/28/2015 01:46:51 pm

Hi Leonardo, I use Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5, running on Windows 7. I am not sure if it's compatible on XP. If you have other editing questions feel free to ask!

Donavon

7/5/2015 03:09:34 am

Will we be seeing a 1080p direct download or torrent of this any time soon, or will that be released with the final version of the Tolkien Edit? My internet connection can be a little shoddy (vacation home) and I'd prefer to download the thing wholesale and watch it once it's safely on my hard drive.

Dustin

7/5/2015 04:08:20 am

If you click through to the Vimeo page that it is housed on, under the video box is a Download button. You can directly download it at 720p that way. I will have the full 1080p version available with the final version of my main fanedit later in the year!

Dante

7/27/2015 08:08:29 am

Just wanted to know if you were planning on releasing disc images for this as well?

franklapidus4ever

7/25/2015 09:38:43 am

Finally got a chance to download this and watch it. Very well come once again, Dustin! Thanks so much for all your hard work. I do have a couple notes/questions that I'd like to bring up, if that's alright :)

- Which prologue did you pull for AUJ? I would recommend using the extended edition prologue, not so much for the scenes but for the continuity in Smaug's design. The theatrical edition featured an earlier design of Smaug that doesn't really line up with the one we saw in film two. So if you want Smaug to look the same in both of your fan edits, I would use the EE prologue.

- Maybe this is just because a rough edit, or maybe it's because you only have the footage PJ put in his films to work with, but some of the transitions between scenes are very abrupt. For instance, the transition between Radagast's first scene and when he meets Gandalf in the forest. Maybe something to tweak a bit?

- Thank you for taking out some of Radagast's goofier moments (i.e. stick insect, smoking Gandalf's pipe). He comes across as much more dignified, albeit still eccentric, in your version.

- Is all of Gandalf's dialogue outside of Mirkwood necessary? Maybe you could trim it down to what is pertinent to his side quest and not so much about the company going through Mirkwood.

- Would the scene between Azog and the Necromancer work in your version, do you think? I'm referring to the one where the Necromancer is telling Azog that he will be the commander of his army. Maybe not essential, but I think it's pretty cool.

- I like the use of the brief flashback to Moria as Thrain is remembering Thorin for the first time. Very well done!

- THANK YOU for removing Thrain's Wilhelm scream!!!

Overall, a very nice piece of work. Again, take or leave my thoughts above as you will. I can't wait to see if you'll be able to add anything once the EE of BOTFA comes out!

Dustin

7/27/2015 11:24:21 pm

Thanks! Yeah I definitely forgot to insert the EE prologue with Smaug's updated claws. I'll change that for the final release. Some of the scene transitions are a little abrupt but there's not much I could do about that. I'm sure I can cut down some of the dialogue outside of Mirkwood...it is more than we need to hear at that point. I can't remember why I cut out the Azog/Necromancer scene but I'll look into re-inserting that part. I guess it would fit this story well.

brad

12/1/2015 05:25:51 am

Hi Dustin!

Awesome work on this. I love how you took so many corny parts away from Radagast especially, to make him a more respectable character.

Is this going to be included in the download from your release?

Thanks a ton!
- brad

Dustin

12/1/2015 07:44:23 am

Thank you Brad, this will be included in the DVD/Bluray special features of my main fan edit. I will be updating Durin's Folk on Vimeo very soon too.

brad

12/1/2015 01:37:43 pm

Okay, super excited! For the best way to get a digital copy of it from that..would I burn the ISO file to DVD, and then rip it back into digital format? Sorry, I'm not so tech-savvy.

Thanks for the response, telling all my friends about this edit!
- brad

Dustin

12/1/2015 01:42:03 pm

There will be a digital copy of Durin's Folk available in addition to the DVD/Bluray versions. I just haven't finished it yet!

Riley Best

12/4/2015 05:55:25 am

Hey, why'd the video get taken down? Was there some sort of legal complication? Do we still get to download Durin's folk? My brother and I loved this side film.

Dustin

12/4/2015 07:23:02 am

Durin's Folk is currently under construction, lol. I'll have a new version up in a couple days!

David

12/7/2015 08:11:47 am

when will the durins folk video get put up? can you even put up the old one? really enjoyed the edited version of the hobbit :)

Lobot

11/11/2016 06:55:43 am

Hi, the video seems to have been taken down on Vimeo. Is it possible to put it on some alternative sources such as MEGA, like you did with your other edits? Thanks so much for your beautiful work.

Dustin

11/14/2016 10:06:25 am

Yes, unfortunately I received a DMCA takedown notice for Durin's Folk. I'm working on an appeal however, and will update everyone on it soon. Thanks!

Watch Now: Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery

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Watch Now: Durin's Folk and the Hill of Sorcery

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©2016 Maple films ltd.all rights reserved

©2016 Maple films ltd.
all rights reserved