Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sneak Peek- Bieber Video


Hello and good day.
To all our fans and supporters out there, we appreciate all of the help, donations and buzz thus far. Our trailer video got 1,000 hits in the first week. So it is with great pleasure that we give you a little preview of the next video to land on our page. This one is dedicated to Justin Bieber and his fans as well as to all of you Roadtotheshire fans. So help us get JB on our side to persuade Peter Jackson to invite us back to the Shire!
1st verse- Lyric sneak peek:

We know you love us,
we know you care.
Just tweet about us,
hit like or share.
Cause we are furry,
our need is dire.
And we must get back, get back, get back to the shire!

*Once the video is up, you will also be able to download the original track we cut for $1.

Cheers!
Olo, Toad, and Beri

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Dream is Happening


When I was in elementary school, a friend of mine introduced me to the J.R.R. Tolkien series, The Lord of the Rings. I wasn't much of a reader back then, and the series was definitely above my reading level. I had no idea what fantasy books were and I had certainly never heard of Middle Earth or even Tolkien. The only thing I knew about hobbits was the small, creepy culdesac in the avenues next to Salt Lake called Hobbitville. But I went for it anyway. Little did I know it would turn out to be the greatest series I would ever read. Peter Jackson and crew had just come out with the Fellowship of the Ring movie. Thus, fantasy books gained an aspect of "cool" without which, would have led to me to hide my new passion in it's entirety. All of the sudden, I found myself shopping for Tolkien based trinkets and memorabilia online and at book fairs. I poured over those books and watched the movies repeatedly. I longed to visit the Shire and live the life of a halfling.
Ironically enough, my physical appearance resembled that of a hobbit in a few ways. I was short for my age, had long, curly, brown hair, was in-shape(round is a shape), and I smoked a lot of Pipeweed... ok, I never smoked. But the rest was true. I belonged in the Shire.
After I finished The Hobbit for the first time, I began wondering when Peter Jackson would announce the production of said book into a feature film. It was inevitable that it would happen, just a question of when. I decided to write a letter to Jackson. Not only would I ask him about his timetable, but it seemed only fair that I offer my services as a hobbit look-alike as well. I could think of no better way to feed my Tolkien hunger. I am sorry to admit that fear got the best of me, however. Jackson didn't need more hobbits, and he certainly didn't need amateur actors. I had played Hamlet in the 6th grade school play, but that hardly compared. Besides, I didn't even know the address to send the letter to. So I destroyed it. My friends and family would have just laughed anyway.
My passion began to dwindle. I stopped wearing the replica ring-on-the-chain I had purchased and set it neatly in its miniature Mt. Doom stand on the back of my shelf. My dreams of the shire were over.
Fast forward to 2011. I am studying advertising at BYU. My friend Jon Wright approaches me to continue a conversation we had a few weeks earlier concerning a summer project. "What if the theme based itself on The Hobbit. They just started production in March."
Fast forward about one half of one millisecond. The passion and dreams were back. We are going to make it to the shire. But we can not do this alone.
Hopefully most of you have found that soft spot in your heart for making dreams come true. This blog is dedicated to Aimee Fresh, for donating the first dollar to our dream. Thank you Aimee!

If you don't feel like donating, help us with our social media endeavors. Blog, tweet, comment, like, retweet, text (or anything else) about us so as to get Peter Jackson's attention. Ideally, he will invite us to be extras in one of the greatest epics ever told, The Hobbit. So spread the word, The Road to the Shire is here. Stay tuned for more of our blog posts, videos, photos, etc.
Cheers, and God bless.
http://roadtotheshire.com/
Check us out!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Filming: Day 1

What a day! I never thought I would spend 22 consecutive hours with make up on my face. But in order to get the shots we wanted, with the lighting we needed, that's what it took.

4:30 am: My alarm rang and I dragged myself out of bed to enjoy my first breakfast.

5:00 am: Toad and Galadriel knocked on my door about 30 minutes later. When Kelli agreed to the part of Galadriel, I don't think she anticipated being as tired as she was. But huge props to her for being such a good sport and looking absolutely gorgeous.

5:30 am: Olo showed up and we made our way to Michelle's for make up and costume finalization. Big shout outs to Michelle and Vanessa for their help. They were awesome, even if the eye liner did make me look girly.

6:30 am: We started our trek up Rock Canyon trail carrying tons of equipment. The hike seemed about twice as long with that big ladder in my hand.

7:15 am: The first shot went well. It was exciting to finally be rolling on this portion of The Road to the Shire. Look for the bridge shot in the trailer video.

8:00 am: Now, it was a race against the clock. We needed the morning shade for proper lighting but the sun was coming up in a hurry. Not to mention the heat. I have never had a worse wedgie. Stretchy pants are not my favorite.

9:00 am: We wanted a shot by the river, but the only way we could set it up properly was by crossing it. I don't care how warm it was getting, run-off water is COLD. By this point, we were all acting a bit strange. I wonder if the couple passing by that I spoke to with an accent really thought I was from Australia? Then again, I think they were distracted by the previously mentioned stretchy pants.

10:15 am: Again, mad props to Kelli... for her work as Galadriel and letting us keep her longer than planned. I don't think her Brigham City-bound caravan was happy with us.

6:00 pm: Let's fast forward through clean up, lunch, getting lost driving to Eden, UT, and Olo bailing hay like his life depended on it. The Storey family had planned a great meal for us upon arrival of 100% Storey angus beef hamburgers, strawberry salad, and corn on the cob. I had never chucked corn before, but got that opportunity. I was also later informed that it was called shucking. So technically I still have never chucked corn.

9:45 pm: Filming in Eden went great. Even though I did get six mosquito bites on my right wrist alone. We got the shots we needed and headed back to Provo. But I must mention Jon passing out in the front seat. His limp head was swinging around like a rag doll. It was actually quite creepy the few times a hard, right turn would leave his lifeless face pointing in my direction.

11:something pm: We picked up Critter, aka best wizard ever, and headed to the foothills behind Jon's house to film the fireside shots. I hope we didn't wake anyone up that lived close by. Then again, if we had, I am sure they would have reported the strange looking seance to the police.

2:00 am: Yeah. We are back to the a.m.'s. I dropped Critter off and made my way home. I have never been so happy that all my roommates were out of town. This could have been an embarrassing entrance. Is there some sort of process to removing make up? If so, I didn't know the procedure. Finally, I just climbed in the shower and melted it off with scolding water.

2:30 am: Bedtime. It felt so good to climb into that bed, 22 hours after I had climbed out of it. All in a day's work.

I Hope this trailer video gets the point across. We want so badly to be extras in the Hobbit and only with the help of our fellow Tolkien fans will we get there.

Thanks everybody,
Beri