The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey director Peter Jackson takes fans into the ninth installment of his series of production blogs and this one ventures into the world of post-production and finalization before the premier.

This one shows everything post-production from CGI animation to sound edits, including a look at the recording of the official soundtrack for the film at Studio One at Abbey Road Studios. There are also fun segments on beard design, the animators’ sleeping quarters, and designing the Giants.

Highlights also include a few new scenes shown in between shots and transitions for the blog.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released December 14, 2012. Jackson notes in the video that they are on schedule to have the film finished two days before next week’s premiere in New Zealand. It must be absolute crunch time right now wish them luck in making the deadline!

If you can’t wait, you should listen to the film’s soundtrack in its entirety. The score is composed by Howard Shore who also wrote all three films in The Lord of The Rings trilogy for director Peter Jackson. “I have looked forward to returning to the imaginative world of Middle-earth for quite a while,” says Shore of the score. “I read all of the books by Tolkien, including The Hobbit, when I was in my twenties, and his deep love of nature and all things green resonates deeply with me.”