Sluggo said:

So are they filming this in 3-D?

Yes, digital 3D. Not film.

For the sake of comparison, the previous trilogy was shot on "Super 35," which is 35mm film, shot full aperture, and then cropped to conform to whatever aspect ratio the director/cinematographer wanted. In the case of LOTR, it was 2.39:1. This also meant that fullscreen versions have more information on top and bottom, but less on the sides. (See Terminator 2 and the Harry Potter flicks - at least the first two - for other examples of films shot on Super 35.)