Made in Hollywood

The 50-mile wasteland of Mount Ruapehu became a battlefield for the crew to fight back and forth. A large number of horse battle scenes were also filmed one after another. The horses were domesticated by The Lord of the Rings Studio and the three horse farms in Wellington. As long as the contract does not end, the crew will It is necessary to pay a fee every day to shoot a large number of circus scenes first, but also for economic considerations.

The former Peter Jackson had no capital, and the support given to him by New Line Pictures was relatively limited. The cost of each film could only be controlled within 100 million US dollars. During the shooting of the entire "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, He is arguably the epitome of frugality.

Duke and Peter Jackson are treated very differently these days, but the total investment of $350 million must be calculated carefully relative to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and his usual style of shooting.

Horses are a big support. After shooting a lot of scenes related to horses, the follow-up horses can be controlled within a certain number, and the crew can save a lot of money.

Of course, it is completely different from the effect shown in the film. The scenes that use the most horses, such as the battle of Perrin Plain and the assembly of the army of Rohan, actually only used about a hundred horses, and the rest will be added in the later stage using CGI.

Moreover, the running of the warhorse will drive up a lot of dust. Using fog or dust to block the clear features of the production target is the only way to save the cost of CGI production.

Compared with several Gandalf scenes that were easily filmed, these two large-scale circuses took nearly ten days to complete. Animals are indeed a very difficult factor to control during filming. When a hundred horses came together, horse manure and horse urine almost made the crew collapse.

The smell of horse manure and horse urine fluttering in the wind is absolutely unpleasant.

Then there's the cavalry. No matter how neatly arranged in advance, as long as the cavalry starts, the chaotic battle is always horrific when viewed through the camera lens.

In the end, Duke simply dropped the shot and planned to do it in CGI in post.

This magnificent war scene. On-site shooting is only a part of it, and there are scenes in the studio behind, and CGI is also used for compositing in post-production.

Almost all large-scale war dramas will be produced by means of off-site shooting, multi-scene collection and post-production synthesis.

The battle between the knights of Rohan and the wolves of Isengard had just ended. The wounded and dead horses were lying on the ground, and the soldiers of Rohan made up for the lifeless orcs, some of them with prop swords. Aim at the wolf-shaped props wrapped by the green screen and stab.

Two of John Schwartzman's assistants, erecting the Steadicam, followed the set route respectively, grasping each scene in the field, and Duke watched the pictures transmitted to the monitor. It is automatically added to the scene imagined in my mind.

All the scenes of the active wolf cavalry were actually not filmed. These require the use of motion capture in the studio, and the object of motion capture is of course people.

Actor action version to live action capture version to animation version to CGI composite version. It is necessary to go through these four complex processes in order to complete this war drama.

"Cut!"

Duke shouted stop. The actors who played the orcs immediately went to the side to touch up their makeup. The conditions for motion capture were temporarily unavailable in the wild. All the orcs could only rely on makeup. They all had specially-made silicone headgear on their heads. Makeup takes more than eight hours at a time, and the shoots are often just a few shots.

The shooting of this scene has ended, and the crew is about to turn around. A large number of staff are busy cleaning up the dead horses on the battlefield.

Of course, what the staff moved was not a real dead horse. Otherwise, the people from animal protection organizations would have to jump out and fight Duke, and the crew would not hurt any of the horses. Those horses who "sacrificed bravely" on the battlefield They, in fact, are wood carvings, enough to confuse the real with the fake.

The crew moved 500 feet west to get ready for Legolas to be cool and handsome.

"Orlando wigs!"

As soon as he walked into the middle of the shooting venue, Duke saw that Orlando Bloom's wig was a little crooked, "Re-make up for him!"

Several make-up artists immediately ran over to help Orlando Bloom remove the wig and adjust it again. Duke stood by and explained some precautions to Bloom, who had a big shaved head.

"Stand on the highest point of the rock, imagine the wolf cavalry rushing on the opposite side, bend the bow and shoot the arrow in the pose you think is the coolest, most handsome, and most confident!"

Sean Davis, who had already put on makeup, stood nearby, leaning on his dwarf battle axe, and after hearing Duke's words, he deliberately teased, "Orlando, your character in the original book is inconspicuous, in order to highlight your Image, Duke specially added Legolas' role, don't let the director down."

Taking advantage of the spare time after wearing the wig, Orlando Bloom turned his head and made a shut up gesture to Sean Davis.

The makeup of the costume drama is much more troublesome than its modern film, and it took nearly an hour and a half for Orlando Bloom to change from a bald head to the charming elf prince Legolas Greenleaf.

"The forty-second scene, the first act."

After Duke signaled, the field recorder put the field record board in front of the main camera lens, "Now start!"

In front of the three cameras, Orlando Bloom was standing long on a protruding rock, looking forward. John Schwartzman specially gave a close-up of his elf eye. Bloom then drew an arrow and bent a bow. Taking the arrow, in terms of posture alone, he is impeccable because of his excellent appearance, but where the camera would never capture the arrow, the arrow landed softly on the ground after shooting more than 20 feet.

Ivanka Trump stood on the perimeter of the set, with several security guards hiding in the dark, staring at the representatives of the two animal protection organizations. In the past, she thought that these people who love animals are still very good. Not bad and caring, but after more than a week of contact, these paranoiacs are terrifying.

Yesterday, when the entire Rohan Troopers team was preparing to face Isengard's Wolf Troopers, Gimli's stand and Legolas' stand suddenly fell off the horse. These guys broke through the block of the crew and rushed into the set like crazy. The actors didn't even look at them, they just wanted to take care of the horses. One of them passed by the place where the stuntman fell off the horse and stepped on Legolas' stunt double because he only saw the horses...

After this scene happened, Ivanka then understood that this seemingly inconspicuous job was actually extremely important to the crew, and these guys were definitely the number one enemy of the crew.

Even the most hated and craziest paparazzi, sniffing for clues and chasing after the current location, tacitly did not interfere with the filming of the crew, and these guys saw no one except animals at all.

Since yesterday, Ivanka has also changed her way of working, no longer passively communicating with each other, and simply applied for several strong security guards from Duke to deal with those two guys.

"Orlando is so handsome!"

The whispers that sounded next to interrupted Ivanka's thoughts. It was Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd. Ivanka also became acquainted with the main cast and crew after working in the crew these days. The individual is the most active actor in the crew.

"Yeah, so handsome!" Billy Boyd was still shaking his head. "He couldn't be more handsome."

"I'm so jealous!"

"Why don't we have such handsome scenes?"

Billy Boyd seemed to notice Ivanka's gaze and turned to ask, "Evie, what do you think?"

"It's okay." Ivanka replied casually.

Elijah Wood suddenly winked at her, "Do you think Duke is handsome? Or Orlando?"

"Aren't they the same type?" Ivanka shrugged, but didn't answer directly, "There's no way to compare."

Billy Boyd and Elijah Wood got together and murmured a few words. Billy Boyd, the wife of an uncle's age, said, "I think Duke should play a cameo role, preferably by Lego. Russ shot the orcs to death."

Ivanka didn't speak, obviously not wanting to mix in.

"I think Duke can also play the elf." Elijah Wood said, "For example, Halda, hasn't the actor been determined yet, he can compare with Orlando and who is more handsome."

"A role like this is too common." Billy Boyd disagreed. "I think the cave troll is the best, the one who stabbed you in the Moria mine is the best."

"That's a good idea!"

Elijah Wood echoed, and Billy Boyd looked at Ivanka Trump at the same time.

"It's none of my business." Ivanka first separated herself.

"Hey, Evie, please don't do this?"

Billy Boyd dragged Elijah Wood to her side, and said in a low voice, "We're going to shoot the snowy mountain scene soon. We invite you to ski."

"Have you seen the concept art of the cave troll?"

Seeing Ivanka nodding, Elijah Wood hurriedly said, "Don't you think it's interesting for Duke to play a cave troll? You can come and give us your opinion, he still values ​​your opinion..."

Hearing this sentence, Ivanka couldn't help rolling her eyes. It seemed that she didn't have the right to express opinions in front of him, right?

However, it does seem to be interesting.

Filming on the wasteland for another three days, the scenes that belonged to this place began to end, and the three newly leased helicopters of the crew were also in place. Duke personally boarded the plane and, together with John Schwartzman, filmed some scenes that needed to be shot from the air. An overhead shot, and then the crew left the vicinity of Mount Ruapehu and returned to Wellington, taking advantage of the winter in New Zealand to prepare for the snow-related scenes.

That's when the members of the Fellowship of the Ring and his temporary assistant Ivanka Trump came over.

"You guys think it's fun for me to be a cave troll?" Duke looked at the group of guys who were afraid of chaos.

Except for these people, I don't know what reason they used to persuade Tina Fey and Charles Rowan, and even these two people agreed with this suggestion. (To be continued ~^~)

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