What's John watching?

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Extended Edition - The Appendices: Well, I guess I'm about an hour and a half into the second disc of the appendices; less than halfway through the second disc, if you can believe it. But, you know, you need this much material to appreciate what they managed to do. I just finished watching the bit on scale, and how they shot the film to reflect the hobbits' and Gimli's shorter stature, and they really used every technique at their disposal (big, mechnical, stilt suits in the case of the Prancing Pony). But the funniest part is how well it works, and how little you think about it, sitting in the theatre.

The Weta Workshop was just amazing! They had their own forge, for goodness sake! These beautiful swords, complete suits of armour, all real, quality pieces made by smiths on staff. Sauron's gauntlets are so intricate, and they work! Moving so smoothly. It's truly a wonder. So detailed with their Elvish runes, Glamdring and Sting are really works of art, but then perfectly balanced as well. Apparently, Viggo (Aragorn) all but slept with his sword.

Actually, speaking of Viggo, there's some funny material on the set of the battle at Amon Hen. Richard Taylor, the director of the Weta Workshop, gives this impassioned speech - lots of bloodlust, maiming, no mercy, etc. - to the hundreds of Uruk-hai who Aragorn must battle single-handedly. Viggo relates how he's standing there with his head in his hands thinking, "I've got lots of shooting ahead of me. I'm not going to be too ashamed to just turn round and run for my life if things go badly."

Just amazing... And I guess they had three other directors, in addition to Peter, shooting simultaneously to make their 15-month deadline. That sort of surprised me; not once I thought about the volume of shooting they had to do - Peter estimates 6 or 7 years as the length of time it would've taken him on his own - but when I thought about the consistency of the films: the style, the mood; they're solid, and I wouldn't have guessed that so many different minds could match them.

One day I'm going to visit New Zealand, visit all the locations. The footage of Alan Lee and John Howe (Tolkien artists whose previous works were Middle-earth for many fans, including Peter) on location at what would become Hobbiton, sketching away, was really breathtaking. ¶ 5:42:00 p.m.