Production of The Lord of the Rings film series

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The production of The Lord of the Rings film series posed enormous challenges, both logistical and creative. Under Peter Jackson's direction, these obstacles were overcome between 1997 and 2004. Many attempts to produce J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings had failed; the few that had reached the screen were animations. Since the publication of the source novels in the mid-1950s, many filmmakers and producers had considered a film but then set the project aside. The series as filmed by Jackson consists of three epic fantasy adventure films. They were produced by New Line Cinema, assisted by WingNut Films. The cinema versions appeared between 2001 and 2003, and the extended edition for home video in 2004. Development began in August 1997. The films were shot simultaneously. Their production was undertaken entirely in Jackson's native New Zealand. It spanned the 14-month period from October 1999 until December 2000, with pick-up shots filmed over a further 24 months, from 2001 to 2003.

Storyboarding began in 1997; the Tolkien illustrators

weapons, prosthetics, monsters and other creatures, and miniatures. Some of the miniatures, such as of the city of Minas Tirith, were very large and extremely detailed, becoming known as "bigatures". The work was driven by Jackson's desire for realism, to give the effect of history rather than fantasy. Animals were studied to make the creatures biologically believable; weapons and armour were based on appropriate medieval or classical era peoples. Some 48,000 pieces of armour, 10,000 arrows, 500 bows, 10,000 Orc heads, 1,800 pairs of Hobbit
feet serving as shoes, and 19,000 costumes were created for the filming.

The composer Howard Shore saw the set in August 2000 and watched the assembly cuts of the first two films. He created around 100 leitmotifs to represent themes (such as the Ring), cultures, and characters, a record in the history of cinema, resulting in a long, complex and award-winning film score.

Special effects broke new ground in filmmaking, from prosthetics to almost wholly digitally-realized creatures such as

green-screen
studio set.

Development

Previous adaptations

Main article:
Middle-earth in film

Tolkien's novels The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–55), set in Middle-earth, were the subject of many early failed attempts to bring the fictional universe to life in screen. Tolkien was skeptical of the prospects of an adaptation.[1] While animated and live-action shorts were made in 1967 and 1971, the first commercial depiction of one of his books onscreen was in an animated TV special of The Hobbit in 1977.[2] The first big screen adaptation of the fictional setting was introduced in Ralph Bakshi's animated 1978 film.[3]

The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt films[4] before being sold perpetually to United Artists,[5] who then passed them in part to Saul Zaentz (which did business as Middle-earth Enterprises). Filmmakers and producers interested in an adaptation included Walt Disney,[6] Al Brodax, Forrest J Ackerman,[7] Samuel Gelfman, Denis O'Dell (who contacted David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni to direct),[8] and Heinz Edelmann.[6]

At the time that Bakshi's film was released, a teenaged

Disney or filmmakers like George Lucas or Steven Spielberg would eventually produce one for him to see, but realized it would have been impossible to adapt at the time.[13][14] An amateur filmmaker, he soon tried making original fantasy films inspired by Jason and the Argonauts and Conan the Barbarian. He did not revisit the books until 1997, thinking that he would be out of his depth to adapt them.[15]

Early development

In 1995, Jackson and his partner

special effects company in business. With the new developments in computer-generated imagery following 1993's Jurassic Park, Jackson set about planning a "Lord of the Rings-type of story" but whenever he and Walsh tried conceiving of a story, they ended with something so similar to Tolkien's books as to be considered derivative. Jackson began wondering "why nobody else seemed to be doing anything about"[12] adapting Tolkien to live-action, and at his request, his agent Ken Kamins tracked the rights to Saul Zaentz.[15]

Since Heavenly Creatures, Jackson was in a contract with Miramax. While he and his lawyer were unsure whether he was contractually obligated to bring his pitch to Miramax first, Jackson decided to do so out of courtesy, only to realize upon calling Harvey Weinstein that he had recently rescued Zaentz' production of The English Patient, and could therefore leverage the rights from him. Jackson realized it would take multiple films to adapt the books properly,[16][17] but pitched a single trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit and, if that were to prove successful, a two-part adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, shot back-to-back and released six months apart.[18]

Negotiations with Zaentz were elongated due to Weinstein's intention to keep Zaentz from producing the film himself, and by the fact that the distribution rights for The Hobbit were left in United Artists' hands. Miramax tried to buy the rights from the studio in vain.[15] By April 1996, Jackson had reread The Hobbit and commissioned WETA to produce concept art,[19] when Weinstein suggested postponing it to a potential prequel.[15]

Weinstein's dalliance led Jackson to take up an offer from

Universal Studios to film a remake of King Kong.[15] Weinstein was furious, but Jackson still intended to make The Lord of the Rings immediately afterwards, and had the book to hand, re-reading the prologue. Indeed, he suggested that Miramax and Universal co-distribute both films, to which Weinstein agreed once Universal threw Shakespeare in Love into the deal, as well.[15]

Peter Jackson in 2003, at the premiere of The Return of the King in Wellington

Pre-production for Miramax

When Universal cancelled King Kong in 1997,[20] Jackson and Walsh immediately received support from Weinstein and began a six-week process of sorting out the rights. Jackson and Walsh asked Costa Botes to write a scene-by-scene synopsis of the book, which Jackson then rearranged as the basis for his screen treatment.[21]

Immediately after King Kong's cancellation, Jackson clarified to Weinstein that he still intended to make two films, but concerns expressed by Miramax led him to try and write the treatment as a single film, "but by the time we had got to the end, it was clear that we were talking about two films."[21] At the story conference in Miramax (during which the Bakshi film was screened),[22] the Weinsteins "blanched"[21] but accepted this. While writing the treatment, Jackson considered doing three films[16] and "shaped our treatment into three parts" before Miramax rejected the idea.[21][16]

Between the synopsis and the treatment, Jackson decided to cut Gildor, Crickhollow, the

Pippin (the latter having looked into the Palantir) going to Minas Tirith.[21][22]

In this treatment,

Council of Elrond and Sam looks into Galadriel's mirror. At the end of the film, Saruman is shot by an overhead Nazgûl and, before his death, is redeemed through issuing the Palantir for Gandalf to look into. Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli are sent south to espy Sauron's forces, and Frodo and Sam are en route to the Black Gate.[21][22]

The second film opens in the thick of battle, and ends with Frodo sailing to the West. It features a more pronounced romantic triangle with Arwen and Eowyn, including a scene of Aragorn and Eowyn "asleep in each other's arms"; and has Elladan, Elrohir and Erkenbrand join Aragorn on the Paths of the Dead (the latter dying in the process), which are described as though made of flesh. The Nazgul just make it into

Mount Doom before they fall.[21][22]

They presented this treatment to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the latter of whom they focused on impressing with their screenwriting, as he had not read the book. They agreed upon two films and a total budget of $75 million.[21] Early discussions of casting were held, with Miramax wanting to "americanize"[18] the project, and suggesting star names like Daniel Day-Lewis for Aragorn (starting "fanciful internet speculation"[23] that Lewis was allegedly approached for the part several times) and even suggested Morgan Freeman for Gandalf.[24] Weinstein had dissuaded Jackson from considering Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd, whom Weinstein had secretly harassed just previous to this time. Jackson compiled his own casting wishlist, which included Ian Holm for Bilbo Baggins and Cate Blanchett for Galadriel.[25]

Meanwhile, WETA Digital developed the "MASSIVE" software and WETA Workshop began conceptual design for the films. Having used their paintings for inspiration (to the point of showing them in story conferences) Jackson suggested hiring Alan Lee and John Howe. Miramax didn't want to involve Lee, due to his association with the Tolkien Estate, but Jackson tracked the reclusive Lee through Michael Palin and convinced him and Howe to join the project. Howe, who previously mailed Lee and spoke to him on the phone once, met him on the plane. Howe brought along a collection of recreated Medieval armour for reference. A third artist, Ted Nasmith, was invited to join later, but had to decline.[21] Ralph Bakshi claimed that Jackson's company bought many of his designs.[26]

During mid-1997,[27] Jackson and Walsh began writing with Stephen Sinclair.[21] Sinclair's partner, Philippa Boyens, was a major fan of the book and joined the writing team after reading their treatment.[27] It took 13 to 14 months to write the two film scripts, which were 147 and 144 pages respectively.[27]

In this version, Farmer Maggot and Fatty Bolger appear. Gandalf is more frail and has given up pipe-smoking, and Gimli's dialogue contains several vulgarities. Sam, Merry and Pippin are all caught eavesdropping behind the door and forced to go along with Frodo. The Nazgul skewer Barliman Butterbur and Wargs attack the Hobbits near Weathertop. Gandalf's account of his time at

Orthanc was pulled out of flashback and Lothlórien was cut, with Galadriel doing what she does in the story at Rivendell. Denethor attends the Council of Elrond with his son. The Watcher in the Water, absent from the treatment, is reinstated. Arwen now rescues Frodo instead of Glorfindel, and later joins the battle of Helm's Deep, where a Nazgul sweeps in, only for its fell beast slain by Gimli. Indeed, Theoden's palace is placed in Helm's Deep itself. While on the Seat of Seeing, Frodo sees the Nazgul, having killed Saruman, attack Gandalf. He puts on the Ring to draw him away and is attacked by a fell-beast, which Sam lassos to the structure. The Nazgul attacks Sam before Frodo kills it.[21]

The second script included a

Witch-king, with the resulting wound becoming the source of her illness. Faramir finds Frodo after Denethor sends him to do so, having learned the secret of the quest from Pippin. Imrahil and Forlong appear in the script, and Aragorn fights Sauron in front of the Black Gates.[21]

Writing the scripts, Jackson and Miramax drew a 110-day schedule for production, beginning in April 1999 for release in Christmas 2000 and Memorial Day 2001. In so doing, they were able to budget the films better, with Miramax becoming increasingly worried and asking for cost-cutting rewrites such as killing one of the four Hobbits, and sent producers to oversee the work done in New Zealand. Eventually, Marty Katz arrived to New Zealand. Spending four months there, he told Miramax that the films were more likely to cost $150 million; which was beyond Miramax' abilities.[21]

Being a Disney-owned company, Miramax went to chairman Joe Roth, who went to CEO Michael Eisner with a request to aid Miramax on budgeting the production. Eisner had recently demanded cost-cutting measures, and declined.[19] Walsh said this was due to lack of faith in the property and concern over Jackson's proclivity to make violent films, although Eisner later claimed that he only refused because Harvey Weinstein refused to let him review the project or meet Jackson. Instead, Miramax looked for other studios like DreamWorks to join, but were again unsuccessful, and instead suggested merging the films into one.[21]

Bob Weinstein commissioned Jack Lechner to sketch a one-film version of the story. Lechner saw the story as too "dense" and that any two-film version would have left audiences unfulfilled since the story was only "half-told". He thought Frodo was a weak character. On 17 June 1998, he sent a memo in which he suggested cutting

Uruk-hai from kidnapping Merry and Pippin.[21]

Jackson agreed that "As an exercise in reducing The Lord of the Rings to one film, it demonstrated a lot of common sense",

Weta Workshop was theirs,[21] and that they would commission Hossein Amini to rewrite the script with Walsh. In fact, they had already sent the two-film script to Amini who "loved it". When Jackson and Walsh refused to co-operate, Weinstein said he had John Madden ready to direct it. In a later phone-call to Jackson's agent, Weinstein instead mentioned Quentin Tarantino. Jackson and Amini both believe this was a bluff to get Jackson to agree to make one film.[21]

Jackson's agent later clarified to Weinstein that, should he hire other filmmakers, he could not use Jackson's scripts or designs as a basis (which would compound the cost), and that he would be better off putting the project on a turnaround, which Miramax only begrudgingly agreed to. Hoping that Jackson could be forced to make the one-film version, Miramax dictated draconian conditions for the turnaround, limiting it to four weeks.[21][27] They further demanded that the other studio repay their investment and give them 5% of the revenue of the films: half for themselves, and half for Disney.[19]

Jackson made a 35-minute "making of" video to sell the project, and had the scripts sent to various studios. Jackson wanted to go to New Line Cinema, where his friend

Polygram were interested but were in the process of being sold to Universal. The other studios did not review the scripts.[28]

Move to New Line

A fan of the books, New Line CEO Robert Shaye was enthusiastic about the concept ever since he heard Miramax landed it, but initially refused Mark's inquiry on account of the percentage that the Weinsteins demanded. Eventually, however, due to New Line's need for lucrative franchises, he was convinced to meet Jackson. He was still unsure, however, but Jackson feigned being busy talking to other studios to give Shaye the impression that he was "in a more competitive situation than he truly was."[28]

Shaye had run the prospect by his head of international distribution, who said he could shore-up most of the investment from foreign distributors.[29] He was still unsure about Jackson himself,[29] and talked to him before the meeting, telling him that he did not like The Frighteners and that The Lord of the Rings is "probably something that we're not going to want to do."[30] However, after viewing the video, he asked "Why would anyone want movie-goers to pay $18 when they might pay $27?".[28][31] Eventually Jackson caught along that Shaye wanted to make three films, to which he responded enthusiastically. Shaye later explained he had already discussed making three films – should he decide to take the project – with his partner Michael Lynn, and went on to comment that he "would have made five if there were five books."[29] He talked about whether they should be released within a month, two years or three.[28]

Now Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to write three new scripts.[27] The expansion to three films allowed much more creative freedom, although Jackson, Walsh and Boyens had to restructure their script accordingly. The three films do not correspond exactly to the trilogy's three volumes, but rather represent a three-part adaptation. Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story than did Tolkien. Frodo's quest is the main focus, and Aragorn is the main sub-plot.[32] The filmmakers consulted Tolkien's biography, letters and scholarly books written on his works. They spoke with Tolkien's Estate, who decided to distance themselves from the films.[14]

In one iteration, the film was to open in medias res with Frodo and Sam near the borders of the Shire. Farmer Maggot had a bigger role than in the finished film, and Merry and Pippin only join the quest later. Arwen follows the Fellowship to Lorien, and later rejoins them in Rohan after she rescues two refugee children from the Orcs, delivering them to Helm's Deep where a love triangle develops with Eowyn, who delivers a child while fending off Orcs in the Glittering Caves. This culminates in her riding to war with Eowyn, who saves her from the Witch-King.[33]

Much effort was put into creating satisfactory conclusions and making sure

exposition did not bog down the pacing. Along with new sequences, elements that Tolkien kept ambiguous, such as the battles and the creatures, were defined in detail. During shooting, the screenplays continued to evolve, in part as cast members explored their characters.[27][34]

Production design

The Lord of the Rings film series began production design in August 1997.

Weta Workshop to create the armour, weapons, prosthetics and monsters seen in the trilogy.[36]

Pre-visualisation

Jackson began storyboarding the trilogy with Christian Rivers in August 1997, effectively creating a rough black and white 2-D version of the film. Jackson showed excerpts of the "animated" storyboards (filmed images with voices and a temporary soundtrack) to allow potential cast a view of the film's style.[35]

To plan his visual effects sequences, Jackson used a

lipstick camera for the models of sets and computer animatics (learned from Industrial Light & Magic), planning the battle sequences like a real general and giving a sense of direction. This often allowed room for him to improvise action sequences, such as the Moria staircase collapse (which was never in any script draft).[27] And he bought 40,000 toy soldiers to help him visualise battle scenes.[34] Pre-visualisation continued throughout production, such as the late addition of the Ents attacking Isengard,[34] and the siege of Minas Tirith in February 2003.[37]

Art design

Helmet and vambrace of Rohan with interlace, spiral, and horse-motif decoration, Lord of the Rings costume and props exhibit, 2003
Further information: Alan Lee (illustrator) and John Howe (illustrator)

The design of the trilogy began in August 1997 during storyboarding. Jackson himself wanted a gritty realism and historical regard for the fantasy, repeatedly citing the 1995 historical epic Braveheart[16] as a good example:

It might be clearer if I described it as an historical film. Something very different to Dark Crystal or Labyrinth. Imagine something like Braveheart, but with a little of the visual magic of Legend. ... It should have the historical authority of Braveheart, rather than the meaningless fantasy mumbo-jumbo of Willow.[14]

In November 1997,

Helm's Deep, the Black Gate, and Howe's Gandalf and the Balrog made it into the film. The last one inspired the opening sequence of The Two Towers. Jackson sometimes replicated some shots from famous Tolkien illustrations as a nod to fans.[38]

Lee worked on designs for architecture, the first being Helm's Deep,

Petra, Jordan, and the Grey Havens were inspired by the paintings of J. M. W. Turner.[37]

Edoras location during six months of building.[41] Some sets were reshaped: the caverns of Isengard became Shelob's Lair, and Helm's Deep became a Minas Tirith backlot.[37]

The Art Department was careful to respect nature, considering its

The One Ring.[42][43]

The contemporary jeweller Jasmine Watson created jewellery including the Evenstar worn by Arwen, and Nenya, the ring worn by Galadriel. Statues were sculpted out of polystyrene, although some thrones seen in the trilogy were crafted from marble, stone and wood. A former bank worker, Daniel Reeve, was hired to write the numerous books, spines, documents, maps, diagrams and even Orc graffiti that appear in the trilogy.[44]

Weta Workshop

Sting
Further information:
Weta Workshop

Jackson hired longtime collaborator

Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetics/make-up, creatures and miniatures.[45] John Howe was the supervisor on armour, having studied and worn it. Stu Johnson and Warren Green made 48,000 pieces of armour from the numerous moulds of plate steel. A small group of crew members spent three years linking plastic chain mail, eventually wearing their thumbprints away. Peter Lyon forged swords, each taking from three to six days, with spring steel "hero" swords for close-ups, aluminum fight swords and rubber versions. Weta created 10,000 real arrows and 500 bows.[46]

Weta created numerous prosthetics and continually monitored them on set. They created 1,800 Orc body suits to go with 10,000 Orc heads, taking six days and one day respectively. Weta spent a year creating hobbit feet to look like large, furry feet, yet act as shoes for the actors. In total, 1,800 pairs were worn by the four lead hobbit actors during production. Actors went in for face casts to create pointed ears and false noses. Most extensive was John Rhys-Davies as Gimli, whose Dwarven prosthetics required four-and-a-half hours to apply each morning.[27]

Weta's first completed creature was the cave

Australasian funnel-web spider, while the Wargs are a bear/hyena/wolf hybrid. Howe lent himself for Beswarick to study when shaping Gollum; Beswarick took inspiration from Iggy Pop due to his skin-muscle ratio.[34]

The backstories of the cultures depicted in the films had to be shown through subliminal glimpses on screen, while for the Elves and Gondorians, fictional histories were presented by changing styles of armour. The Elves have an

secateurs, and is written with runes to reflect worship of Sauron.[37]

Several liberties were taken in adapting Tolkien's

The Lost Road.[50][51]

To develop fight and sword choreography for the series, the filmmakers employed the Hollywood sword-master Bob Anderson.[52]

Costumes

Detail of embroidery on the sleeve of Arwen's "mourning dress", 2003 costume and props exhibit

Rohirrim (brown and green).[37] Elijah Wood, who portrayed Frodo, revealed in 2021 that one of the Orcs was designed to resemble Harvey Weinstein.[54]

Filming

Barrie Osborne and Rick Porras. Jackson monitored these units with live satellite feeds, and with the added pressure of constant script re-writes and the multiple units handling his vision, he only got around four hours of sleep a night.[34]

Jackson described the production as the world's largest home movie, due to the independence and sense of family.[37] Producer Barrie Osborne saw it as a travelling circus.[34] Fran Walsh described writing the script for the production as laying the track down in front of a moving train. Jackson described shooting as like organizing an army, with 2,400 people involved at the height of production. Due to the remoteness of some of New Zealand's untamed landscapes, the crew carried survival kits in case helicopters could not reach the locations to bring them home in time.[27]

Late 1999

October 11, 1999 – the first scene filmed for the trilogy was the scene in which the Hobbits hide from a Ringwraith

The first scene filmed was the "Wooded Road" sequence in The Fellowship of the Ring, where the

Ford of Bruinen chase and the deforestation of Isengard. Liv Tyler generally came to New Zealand for stunts, and spent five days on a barrel for Bruinen while her riding double Jane Abbott did the horseback scenes.[27]

During the first month of filming,

Weathertop sequence. Mortensen, who took the role in part because his own son was a fan of the series, became a hit on set, going fishing, always taking his "hero" sword around and applying dirt to his costume to improve costume designer Ngila Dickson's makeshift look.[27] He headbutted the stunt team as a sign of friendship,[34] and bought himself his horse, Uraeus, as well as another horse for Abbott.[37]

"What is amazing when you look at the finished scene in Return of the King, is to think that every time we cut to and from between Frodo and Sam we are actually jumping back and forth across a year-long gap." – Peter Jackson[56]

The

Amon Hen. Sean Bean began filming in November.[27]

2000

A

Hobbiton and the Grey Havens. McKellen worked mainly with the hobbits' scale doubles rather than the actual hobbit actors, but when Christopher Lee arrived in February, they became very friendly.[27] The Grey Havens sequence at the end of The Return of the King was shot three times.[37]

While the Hobbit leads had scenes in Hobbiton interiors and Rivendell exteriors in Kaitoke Park with new arrival

Helm's Deep and another three months of night shoots handled by Mahaffie, in Dry Creek Quarry outside Wellington, during which one of Mortensen's teeth was knocked out and Bernard Hill was hit on the ear with the flat of a sword. The extras insulted each other in Māori and improvised stunts, partially because those dressed in Uruk-hai prosthetics got extremely cold.[34]

The production then got larger, with Wood and Astin shooting scenes in

Battle of the Black Gate was shot, during which Sala Baker wore the Sauron armour. The Black Gate scene was filmed at a former minefield in the Rangipo Desert, and soldiers served as extras.[37] With the return of Sean Bean, the Fellowship reunited and proceeded to shoot the Moria sequence.[57]

In June they began shooting scenes on soundstages with Cate Blanchett for Lothlórien,[58] as well as a week of exterior shooting for the Lothlórien farewell sequence.[27] Other scenes shot in June were the Paths of the Dead across various locations, including Pinnacles. In July the crew shot some Shelob scenes, while another unit shot in July to August, and during September the scenes in Fangorn Forest and Isengard were developed. Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd tried numerous takes of their entrance, stressing the word "weed" as they smoked pipe-weed. Christopher Lee spent his part of his scene mostly alone, though McKellen and Hill arrived on the first day for a few lines to help.[57]

2001–2004: Pick-ups

Pick-up shoots were conducted from 2001 to 2003 for six weeks every year, with a Paths of the Dead scene in 2004.[37]

Environmental impact

The filming aroused concern over the environmental impact on the many film locations within New Zealand's

Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand and the Tongariro/Taupo Conservation Board questioned the concession, as it incorrectly allowed activities, such as fantasy filming and vehicles off-roads at Tongariro National Park, inconsistent with park management plans. The ecological significance of an internationally important wetland was missed. The process was rushed through without public involvement. Considerations of effects and their mitigation were not rigorous. Access was granted for a large-scale operation that had nothing to do with the parks' conservation purposes.[59] The filming in Tongariro National Park caused enough disturbance to areas including "Orc Road", that contractors had to be hired to restore the areas later.[60]

Post-production

Each film had the benefit of a full year of post-production time before its respective December release, often finishing in October or November, with the crew immediately going to work on the next film. In this period's later part, Jackson moved to London to supervise the scoring and to continue editing, while having a computer feed for discussions to The Dorchester Hotel, and a "fat pipe" of Internet connections from Pinewood Studios to look at the special effects. He had a video link and 5.1 surround sound to organize meetings and listen to new music and sound effects generally wherever he was. The extended editions had a tight schedule at the start of each year to complete special effects and music.[61]

Editing

Jackson initially intended to edit all three films himself at once, assisted by Jamie Selkirk. This soon proved too ambitious, and Selkirk (who continued to act as the supervising editor) hired a different editor for the first two films: John Gilbert, who worked some reels to be shown to distributors during the shoot and edited the first film, while Michael J. Horton and Jabez Olssen worked on the second. Selkirk and Annie Collins edited the third. Initially, they were all intended to cut them simultaneously, but after a month, overseeing three edits became too much for Jackson, and he focused on editing the first film,[62] while the other editors created assemblies of the other films.[16] Daily rushes often lasted for as much as four hours, with scenes created throughout 1999 to 2002 for the rough (4½-hour) assemblies of the films.[27] In total, 1,828 kilometres (5,997,000 ft) of film, representing 1110 hours, was edited down to the 11 hours and 26 minutes of the extended edition's running time.[63]

The first film's editing was relatively easygoing, although after a screening to New Line they had to re-edit the beginning for a prologue. The Two Towers was always acknowledged by the crew as the most difficult film to make, as "it had no beginning or end", with the additional problem of inter-cutting storylines appropriately. Jackson continued editing when that part of the schedule officially ended, resulting in some scenes, including the reforging of

Andúril, Gollum's backstory, and Saruman's demise, being moved to The Return of the King. Later, Saruman's demise was cut from the theatrical edition (but included in the extended edition) when Jackson felt it was not starting the third film effectively enough.[64] As with all parts of the third film's post-production, editing was chaotic. The first time Jackson actually saw the completed film was the day before the Wellington premiere.[65]

Many filmed scenes remained unused, even in the extended editions. Promotional material for The Fellowship of the Ring contained an attack by

Anduin by an Uruk-hai.[27]

A major cut from The Two Towers featured Arwen and Elrond visiting Galadriel at Lothlórien, with Arwen then leading the Elven reinforcements to Helm's Deep.

Glittering Caves from Uruk-hai intruders,[66] while in Osgiliath, Faramir was to have a vision of Frodo becoming like Gollum,[34] with Frodo and Sam having an extended fight sequence.[67]

Filmed for The Return of the King were two scenes present in the book: Sam using the Phial of Galadriel to pass the Watchers at

Cirith Ungol, and further epilogue footage, with endings for Legolas and Gimli, Éowyn and Faramir's wedding and Aragorn's death and funeral.[68] Sauron was to fight Aragorn at the Black Gate, but with Jackson deciding the scene was inappropriate, a computer-generated troll was used instead.[37] To give context for Wormtongue killing Saruman, and Legolas in turn killing Wormtongue, it was to be revealed that Wormtongue poisoned Théodred.[69] The final scene cut was Aragorn having his armour fitted for the Battle of the Black Gate by the trilogy's armourers, which was the final scene filmed during principal photography.[37]

Music

Main article: Music of The Lord of the Rings film series
Howard Shore composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced the trilogy's music

Canadian composer

Shire. Although the first film had some of its score recorded in Wellington,[27] virtually all of the trilogy's score was recorded in Watford Town Hall and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Jackson planned to advise the score for six weeks each year in London, though for The Two Towers he stayed for twelve.[34]

The score is primarily played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra (ranging from 93 to 120 players throughout the recording), London Voices, and London Oratory School Schola boy choir; many other artists, such as Ben Del Maestro, Enya, Renée Fleming, James Galway, Annie Lennox and Emilíana Torrini, contributed. Even actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto (extended cuts only for the latter two) and Peter Jackson (for a single gong sound in the second film) contributed to the score. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens served as librettists, writing lyrics to various music and songs, which David Salo translated into Tolkien's languages. The third film's end song, "Into the West", was a tribute to a young filmmaker Jackson and Walsh befriended named Cameron Duncan, who died of cancer in 2003.[37]

Shore composed a main theme for The Fellowship of the Ring rather than many different character themes, and its strengths and weaknesses in volume are depicted at different points in the series. On top of that, individual themes were composed to represent different cultures. Infamously, the amount of music Shore had to write every day for the third film increased dramatically to around seven minutes.[37] The music for the series turned out to be a success and has been voted best movie soundtrack of all time for the six years running, passing Schindler's List (1993), Gladiator (2000), Star Wars (1977), and Out of Africa (1985) respectively.[71]

Sound

Sound technicians spent the early part of each year trying to find the right sounds. Fran Walsh contributed to the Nazgûl scream

Westpac Stadium.[34] They spent time recording sounds in a graveyard at night, and also had construction workers drop stone blocks for the sounds of boulders firing and landing in The Return of the King. Mixing took place between August and November at "The Film Mix", before Jackson commissioned the building of a new studio in 2003. The building, however, had not yet been fully completed when they started mixing for The Return of the King.[37]

Special effects

The film series used many practical and digital visual effects that were unheard of in the film industry. Ranging from prosthetics and props to creatures almost entirely made through computer graphics, the process of making the film series has been praised as having advanced the field of cinematic visual effects.

Weta Workshop was the major stylistic force behind the films, working on concepts, sets and digital effects years before the first scenes were even shot. The series was also briefly aided by Digital Domain in the first movie. Props, sets, prosthetics and locations were given the utmost concentration and detail to achieve a look that was as realistic as possible.[73]

Scale

Production was complicated by the use of scale doubles (of sets) and

Fellowship of the Ring are standing together, Rhys-Davies and the four Hobbit actors were filmed first. The human-sized characters (Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas) were filmed in a second take, and the two shots were composited at different scales to make one image, making the initial Dwarf/Hobbit character shot seem smaller. An unintended advantage of not creating a third scale for Dwarves is that in a scene in which only Dwarves and Hobbits interact, no scale doubles are needed.[74]

Miniatures

An early composite of the actor Ian McKellen in the miniature of Isengard for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King

Weta coined the term "

Black Gate. Alex Funke led the motion control camera rigs,[77] and John Baster and Mary Maclahlan led the building of the miniatures. The miniatures unit worked more than any other special effects crew, labouring for over 900 days.[77]

Animation and computer graphics effects

Creatures such as

animatronic, which was scanned for the digital model of his longshots.[78]

Along with the creatures, Weta created realistic digital doubles for many miniature longshots, as well as numerous stunts, most notably for the acrobatic Elf Legolas. These doubles were scanned from having actors perform movements in a motion-capture suit, with additional details created using ZBrush. There are even morphs between the doubles and actors at times.[79] Horses performed with motion capture points, though horse deaths were represented using keyframe animation.[78]

Weta began animating

Syflex system for The Return of the King.[81]

Because they were turned to wraith-like versions of their former terrible selves, tall, slim actors wearing prosthetics and costumes were used to portray the

Mines of Moria, Gandalf has a scene combined with computer graphics as he grapples with the Balrog as they fall to their deaths.[83]

Christoper Hery (

Academy Award, Scientific or Technical for implementing the BSSRDF technique used for Gollum's skin in a production environment.[84]
Henrik Wann Jensen (Stanford University), Stephen Robert Marschner (Cornell University and previously Stanford University), and Pat Hanrahan (Stanford University) (but not the fourth coauthor Marc Levoy), who developed BSSRDF, won another the same year.[85]

Software

Weta developed a variety of software approaches, including the MASSIVE crowd simulation for battle sequences, to create the many special effects used in the films.[86] [74] Stephen Regelous developed MASSIVE in 1996.[79] It offers a large number of choices for each software agent to pick when inside a digital arena. Catherine Thiel provided the movements of each type of soldier, like the unique fighting styles (designed by Tony Wolf) or fleeing.[78]

While Jackson insisted on using miniatures where possible, sometimes shots became too difficult for that, primarily with the digital characters. Sometimes natural elements like cloud, dust and fire (which was used as the electronic data for the Wraithworld scenes and the Balrog) were composited,

Gold was tinted into Hobbiton, whilst cooler colours were strengthened into Lothlórien, Moria and Helm's Deep.[79] Such a technique took 2–3 weeks to do, and allowed some freedom with the digital source for some extra editing.[87]

The Return of the King used

Mount Doom.[88]

See also

Notes

FOTR.^ He only worked on The Fellowship of the Ring.
TT.^ He only worked on The Two Towers.
ROTK.^ He only worked on The Return of the King.

References

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Sources

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