The pre-production work lasted for two years, and the Lord of the Rings Studios and the entire crew put a lot of effort into it, and the biggest benefit of careful preparation was the smoothness of the shooting, and the filming was still bumpy and bumpy in the ten days before the start of shooting, and when Duke adjusted the state of the crew, the shooting immediately became smooth.

Fight scenes, lead actors and stunt doubles have all undergone long and rigorous training, even Orlando? Bloom's fancy and archery poses are both beautiful and standard.

In the stand-in scene, the crew found four dwarf stand-ins for the hobbits, and also specially made silicone headgear for Frodo and others, as long as it is not a large close-up of the front, the four stand-ins can be easily completed with headgear.

The silicone hood is extremely realistic, and if it is seen at night, the timid will definitely be scared half to death.

After 10 days of filming in the studio and on the open air, the crew left the city of Wellington and began filming on location.

The first stop of the crew's exterior scene was near the Ruapehu volcano in the south-central part of New Zealand's North Island, this intermittent volcano is the prototype of the doomsday volcano selected by Duke.

However, at this point, Duke has already decided to split the crew.

Standing outside the crew's premises, Duke looked at the Ruapehu volcano in the distance, the black volcano that exudes evil and death in the film, and now looks particularly majestic against the background of the turquoise blue sky of New Zealand, especially the snow on the top of the mountain, which looks particularly charming.

"Zach ......"

Withdrawing his gaze from a distance, Duke looked at Zach on his left? Schneider. "You're still with Ben? Watts collaborates, you are the best at using light and color to capture the most beautiful New Zealand. ”

Zack? Schneider nodded, but then said, "Duke, I need a helicopter." ”

"The helicopter will be there in the afternoon." Duke looked at the time. "You go and prepare."

Zack? Schneider will take a considerable part of the crew, including an important member of the film crew, Ben? Watts, in fact, this is also Duke's director of photography for his future, and the two collaborated on all the exterior shots as early as the filming of "The Matrix".

As the first assistant director, Zach? Schneider's temporary task was to shoot New Zealand's pristine landscapes with the people at Weta Studios, collecting materials for the special effects compositing scene.

"Anna, you and the sound designer David? Farmer goes to the North Island Zoo together. ”

Turn around. Duke vs. Anna? "The crew has been contacted, and you go there to record the calls of the animals, kangaroos, tigers, sea lions, cows, horses and lions, and wolves, and I need them to call different sounds at night and during the day." You've got a whole week, record more. ”

"I understand."

Anna? Prinz made his way to his trailer, ready to go to the zoo.

The crew has just set up camp here. Filming was not possible for the time being, due to the large number of horses accompanying it. The crew inevitably attracted New Zealand's animal protection organizations, who were not as difficult as their North American counterparts, but were not easy to deal with.

Standing here, looking out over the wasteland in the distance, Duke thought about the animal protection organizations he hated the most, and the crew would definitely need to send someone to deal with them. Such a person must not be too heavy, otherwise those guys must think they are great.

But people need to be shrewd enough and not afraid of the pressure they exer.

Thinking of this, Duke had the right person, turned around and beckoned to the back. Tina? Faye and Ivanka? Trump came over at the same time.

Duke made a Tina? Fei can comprehend the expression, to Ivanka? Trump said, "Evie, what is your biggest purpose in coming to New Zealand?" ”

"Flowers in a greenhouse wither when exposed to wind and rain......"

First of all, I said inexplicably, Ivanka? Trump replied to Duke's words, "Hone and hone my abilities." ”

"Now there's a really good opportunity."

Turning his head, Duke looked into the distance again, "I need someone to talk to the animal protection organizations, and those people are more difficult to deal with. ”

"I'm willing to do it." Ivanka didn't hesitate to respond.

"Tina."

Raising his hand, Duke gestured back, Tina? Faye left with Ivanka and explained some basic precautions to her.

According to the requirements of the animal protection organization, the crew's horses must not work more than three hours a day, with a break every half hour and a long break every hour and a half......

If the crew were to shoot at this pace, the scenes with horses alone would drag on for at least half a year.

These creatures, who love animals more than humans, have never considered things from the standpoint of human beings.

The crew was not very demanding, only five to six hours a day for the horses, and everyone on the crew, including Duke, never thought about animal cruelty.

Fortunately, there are no real orcs or ogres in this world, otherwise it would be troublesome to jump out of the half-orcs and ogre association to protest.

Shaking his head and dispersing these unreliable ideas, Duke turned to thinking about tomorrow's shooting, the scenes here are relatively scattered, and the main shooting is the combination of people and horses.

In the afternoon and one night, the crew set up camp here, and preliminarily organized the filming location, where it did not meet Duke's requirements, or added sets, or added green screens, and added a suitable background for post-production.

The sun just rose the next day, and the whole crew began to run at high speed, cranes, cameras, set props, and war horse weapons were transported to the first shooting location.

Duke walked past the camera booths, checked the camera set-up, and walked over to a horse trainer.

"How's Bill?"

The trainer was leading a snow-white horse, and the horse was very docile and stood quietly next to the trainer.

"It's in very good shape." The trainer gently rubbed the horse's neck.

Walking up to the trainer, Duke stood side by side with him, pointed to the main camera and said, "When I call to start, keep Bill at a forty-five degree angle to the green screen and run that way." ”

With the trainer's assurance, Duke left the place, returned to the director's monitor, briefly asked the assistant director, and let the scene reporter call to start.

It's just a shot with Gandalf, and it's not that difficult, and the specially domesticated horse runs in front of the green screen three times before Duke announces it complete.

And then Ian, who is dressed in white and has white clothes and white hair? McClain appeared on the stage, first staged a summoning horse king, and then made out with Bill, whether it was for the old drama bone Ian? McLean, or the crew's shooting, is not too difficult.

As soon as the work lasted an hour, representatives of animal protection organizations wanted to come over and protest to Duke that the horses had been allowed to work continuously for too long.

Bill's master and the horse trainer were standing there, and they didn't have any objections to the intensity of the work, and Duke didn't bother to pay attention to these people, throwing them at an assistant director and Ivanka? Trump went to deal with it and continued to shoot on his own.

"Transition!" Duke shouted.

"I protest against ......"

Although the sound reached his ears, Duke didn't even look at it, and quickly moved with the crew to the 'Perrin Plains', not far from here, to film the scene where Gandalf and Pipin rode to Minas Stirris.

In addition to cranes, green screens, etc., a new piece of equipment has been added to the shooting - prop horses!

Of course, the prop horse driven by the coupling shaft will not run, and can only make bumps on the spot, and only the back of the horse and the small half of the horse's head, which is specially for Ian? McClain and Billy? Boyd's stand-in prepared horse.

"Duke, ride it."

Billy? Boyd, who was not short, patted the prop horse and said to this side, "Gandalf should never want to rush to Minas Stirris. ”

"I'm old, Billy."

Ian? McLean walked over with the wizard's staff, "If you ride a real horse, the bones will fall apart." If I had the riding skills of Vigo, I would have chosen a real horse. ”

Duke looked up from the director's chair and shouted over there, "Billy, it's time to start shooting." ”

Billy? Boyd, who liked to joke but was the one to tell the occasion, immediately left the set, his dwarf double, wearing a silicone hood, and with the assistance of the crew, mounted the white prop horse.

Duke gave the order, the shooting began, and the picture in the monitor was given to Ian? McLean close-up, of course, doesn't show the full picture of the horse.

The props immediately went down and down, and Ian was filmed out? The close-up of McLean was very sporty and lasted about a minute, before Duke called a stop, the prop horse was dragged aside, and the crew moved forward slightly to continue filming the scene.

However, it will be Ian who will play again? McLean's stunt stand-in, here is a panoramic shot, the galloping horse is just a small meaning to the stuntman, Duke shouted twice NG, but because of a bit of a problem with the laying of the camera rails, director John? When Schwartzman's main camera moves, the lens shifts slightly.

This is the most typical way of filming in Hollywood, and not every actor is Vigo? In fact, it is very simple to tell whether a circus is himself or a stunt double, most of the horses galloping wild in the panoramic shots are stuntmen, and the actors themselves are basically the actors themselves when the horses only show one back in the close-up shots.

Cinema is as much a visual art as it is an art of deception.

As the filming progressed, more and more horses joined the filming, and a big circus followed. (To be continued......)

PS: I was tired to death yesterday, and I felt uncomfortable when I got up today, so I asked for a monthly pass and a recommended ticket