The barren land within a fifty-mile radius of the Ruapehu volcano became the battleground for the crew's frequent back-and-forth filming. A large number of horse battle scenes were shot in succession. The horses were trained by Magic Ring Studio in collaboration with three Wellington horse farms. As long as the contract is not finished, the crew needs to pay fees every day. Shooting a large number of horse battle scenes first was also for economic reasons.
Peter Jackson, once lacking capital, received relatively limited support from New Line Cinema. The cost of each installment of the trilogy was kept under $100 million. Throughout the production of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, he was a model of frugality.
Now, Duke's situation was worlds apart from Peter Jackson's, but compared to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and his usual filmmaking style, the $350 million total budget still required careful management.
Horses were a significant expense. After shooting many horse-related scenes, the number of battle horses used in the following scenes could be limited, saving a large amount of expenditure.
Of course, the final result looked very different from the actual filming. For instance, in the Battle of Pelennor Fields and the gathering of the Rohirrim, only about a hundred horses were used. The rest would be added with CGI in post-production.
Additionally, the running of war horses would stir up large amounts of dust. Using fog or dust to obscure the details of the subjects was a surefire way to save on CGI costs.
Compared to the relatively easy-to-complete Gandalf scenes, these two large-scale horse scenes took nearly ten days to complete. Animals were indeed one of the most uncontrollable factors in filming. Even though the horses had undergone extensive training, when nearly a hundred of them were gathered together, just dealing with their droppings and urine nearly drove the crew to madness.
The smell of horse manure and urine floating in the wind was truly unbearable.
Then, the cavalry formations had to be coordinated. No matter how orderly the arrangement was beforehand, once the cavalry moved, the chaotic formations that appeared on camera were always a sight to behold.
In the end, Duke simply gave up on this shot and decided to use CGI in post-production.
This grand war scene was only partially filmed on location; the rest of the battle would be filmed in the studio and later combined with CGI.
Almost all large-scale battle scenes used location shooting, multiple scene captures, and post-production compositing techniques.
The battle between the Rohirrim and the Isengard Uruk-hai had just ended, with dead and wounded horses lying all over the battlefield. Rohirrim soldiers delivered finishing blows to the semi-orcs that had not yet died, some holding prop swords and stabbing at the wolf-shaped props wrapped in green screens.
John Schwartzman's two assistants, holding steadicams, were capturing various angles according to their planned routes, as Duke observed the footage transmitted to the monitors, mentally adding to the scene he envisioned.
All the shots of the moving Uruk-hai cavalry were not actually filmed. They would need to be captured with motion capture in the studio, with the actors serving as the motion capture subjects.
The motion capture process required four steps: actor's movement, human motion capture, animation version, and finally, CGI compositing, before the war scene could be completed.
"Cut!" Duke shouted.
After the scene ended, the actors portraying semi-orcs immediately went to the side to touch up their makeup. Since motion capture was not feasible outdoors, the semi-orcs could only rely on makeup. They wore custom silicone headpieces, and the makeup process took over eight hours, though filming typically lasted only for a few shots.
With this scene wrapped, the crew was moving on to the next location. A large team of staff hurried to clear the battlefield, moving the horse corpses.
Of course, these were not real dead horses. If they were, the animal rights groups would have surely come after Duke. The crew ensured no horses were harmed. The "fallen heroes" of the battlefield were actually wood-carved, crafted to look realistic.
The crew moved 500 feet to the west, preparing to shoot Legolas' cool moment.
"Orlando's wig!" Duke saw that Orlando Bloom's wig was a bit off as he walked into the shooting area.
"Re-style him!" Several makeup artists immediately rushed over to fix Orlando's wig, while Duke stood by and gave Orlando instructions.
"Stand on the highest rock, imagine that the incoming wolf cavalry is about to charge, and strike the coolest, most confident pose while drawing your bow!"
Sean Davis, who had already completed his makeup, stood nearby with his dwarf axe. Upon hearing Duke's words, he teased, "Orlando, in the original novel, your character is not very prominent. To highlight your image, Duke specially added more scenes for Legolas. Don't let the director down."
During a brief break for the wig adjustment, Orlando Bloom turned to Sean Davis and made a "shut up" gesture.
Costume makeup for period films was far more complicated than modern films, and it took nearly an hour and a half before Orlando Bloom transformed from a bald man into the charming elven prince Legolas Greenleaf.
"Scene 42, take one."
After Duke's signal, the script supervisor placed the slate in front of the main camera. "Starting now!"
In front of three cameras, Orlando Bloom stood tall on a protruding rock, gazing ahead. John Schwartzman gave him a close-up of his elven eyes. Orlando then drew an arrow, strung his bow, and from the posture alone, he looked flawless. However, the camera would never capture what happened next: the arrow, which traveled more than 20 feet, fell to the ground, limp.
Ivanka Trump stood outside the set, alongside a few security personnel from the crew, keeping a close eye on two representatives from animal rights groups. She had once thought these animal lovers were admirable, but after over a week of interactions, she realized how frightening these fanatics could be.
Yesterday, during the scene of the Rohirrim cavalry preparing to face the Isengard wolf riders, the stunt doubles for Gimli and Legolas had fallen off their horses. These fanatics broke through the crew's barricade, rushing onto the set, completely ignoring the fallen actors and only concerned with the horses. One of them even stepped on the stunt double for Legolas, completely oblivious to the human actor.
After this incident, Ivanka understood that what appeared to be a minor issue was actually a significant challenge for the crew. These individuals were undoubtedly the crew's number one enemy.
Even the most annoying and intrusive paparazzi, who had been sneaking around, kept their distance and did not disrupt the filming. But these animal lovers only had eyes for the animals.
Since yesterday, Ivanka had changed her approach. No longer passively communicating with them, she had requested several strong security guards from Duke, specifically to deal with these two individuals.
"Orlando is so cool!" A low voice interrupted Ivanka's thoughts. It was Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd, two of the crew's most lively actors.
"Yeah, so cool!" Billy Boyd shook his head. "He's just impossibly cool."
"I'm jealous!" Elijah Wood looked at Ivanka with a teasing grin. "So, what do you think, Ivanka?"
"Not bad," Ivanka replied casually.
Elijah Wood suddenly winked at her. "Do you think Duke is cool, or Orlando?"
"They're not the same type," Ivanka shrugged, avoiding the question. "You can't compare them."
Billy Boyd and Elijah Wood whispered among themselves, and Billy, with his 'uncle-like' tone, said, "I think Duke should cameo as a character, maybe an orc killed by Legolas."
Ivanka remained silent, clearly not interested in joining the conversation.
"I think Duke could play an elf too," Elijah Wood said. "Like Haldir. They haven't cast anyone yet. He could compete with Orlando to see who's cooler."
"That's too ordinary a role," Billy Boyd disagreed. "I think the cave troll is perfect, the one who stabbed you in Moria."
"That's a good idea!" Elijah Wood agreed, both of them looking toward Ivanka.
"This has nothing to do with me," Ivanka quickly distanced herself from the conversation.
"Hey, Ivanka, don't be like that!" Billy Boyd pulled Elijah Wood over to her, lowering his voice. "We're going to shoot the snow mountain scenes soon, come ski with us."
"Have you seen the concept art for the cave troll?"
Ivanka nodded, and Elijah Wood hurriedly added, "Don't you think it would be fun for Duke to play the cave troll? You can give us your opinion too. He values your feedback..."
Ivanka rolled her eyes, realizing she didn't really have the right to offer suggestions in front of him.
But the idea did sound interesting.
After three more days of filming on the barren land, the crew finished the scenes for this location. The three helicopters the crew had rented arrived, and Duke boarded one to capture aerial shots with John Schwartzman. The crew then left the area around Mount Ruapehu and returned to Wellington, preparing to shoot snow-related scenes as New Zealand entered its winter season.
It was at this time that the members of the Fellowship of the Ring, along with Ivanka Trump, his temporary assistant, came to join them.
"Do you guys really think it would be fun for me to play the cave troll?" Duke asked, looking at the troublemakers.
Somehow, they had even managed to convince Tina Fey and Charles Rowan, and both of them were now on board with the idea.
.....
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