Lord Of The Ring

Yup, went to the exhibition today after church. It was awesome. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Hope Christine had a good time too.

Thank goodness I managed to catch “The Fellowship Of The Ring” and “The Twin Towers” before the exhibition. So I wasn’t that lost inside. There was quite a bit on the prologue of and history behind the movie/story. So “The Fellowship Of The Ring” helped.

Quite an experiencing seeing all the life size props and costumes being displayed. All the weapons and armour etc. Sorry. It’s a guy thing. We’re naturally attracted to shiny metallic stuff. Haha. To bad most of them were behind casing and Plexiglas and what’s not. *Rueful look* Would love to get my hands on the fighting knives of Legolas or any elfish weapon. I guess their oriental inspired curves made them more appealing. They look classier, deadlier. Haha Killing with class! *chortles* The weapons of other races just seem so boorish, so uninteresting.

Speaking of weapons, saw videos of how they aged/oxidized/rust the weapons to make them seem more realistic. Trust me, they’re doing an excellent job of it. There was this exhibit which had the armour of various races lined up. And we could get a really close up look at them. Goodness… they look really… realistic. Especially for the baddies’s. the rust, the dried up blood, the animal hair, it all adds to the realism o fit. Quite amazing, considering that they have to do the same for more than one copy. And that there are so many different suits of armour for each race. Respect…

Oh and the costumes! Hahaha, someone was rather attracted to Galadriel’s white flowy gown AND Legolas’ suede tunic. Hahaha, Christine was so cute as she sneaked a feel of his tunic. Haha, thank goodness no one saw. Quite thrilling. Hahaha. Personally, I think Arwen's suede riding robe and Legolas’ is the best. Looks real comfy, being made from suede and all. Can see the effort they put into the exhibits. Every detail was taken care off. Even the size of the mannequin used. Elfish mannequins are taller than human’s. It’s all these small details that go to show how professional they are. Seriously, I think they would have gotten away with it if they used human mannequins to display Elf’s clothes. *Gives thumbs up sign* But they didn’t and I have to give them credit for the effort.

There were a lot of videos on the different filming techniques. There were videos explaining how “massing” effect was achieved for battle scenes, how the props were created through miniatures etc etc. but the really interesting one is the “forced perspective” technique. It is the effect responsible for making hobbits look smaller than the rest of the cast. It can be achieved using 1) Really small doubles 2) Computer software. But the really interesting one mentioned in the videos is one that is low budget and relatively “low tech”. Haha, it simply involves using disproportionate props and different camera angles for filming. That seemed almost possible to try at home. Haha.

The exhibition was quite worth the money. Come to think of it, I really wouldn’t mind paying good money for it again. But only after catching “Return Of The King” and if I have as good company as today. *Winks*