Looking back on the never-ending legend "The Lord of the Rings" in China.

2006 54 38+0 19 February 19, the first part of the fantasy film The Lord of the Rings trilogy directed by New Zealand director Peter Jackson was released in North America, which won many praises. A classic adventure in the history of movies began. Eighteen years later, the fairyland-like Zhongzhou in the film still makes the "abstainers" dream and yearn for it all the time.

The Lord of the Rings, as the opening of the most famous film trilogy, is an excellent example of the original adaptation, and it is also a feast of perfect combination of visual effects and film soundtrack. Now, let's follow Enya's theme song "Maybe" for the first song, explore the bits and pieces behind Zhongzhou, review the adaptation, casting, soundtrack and shooting fifteen years ago, and regain the moving moments brought by those movies.

The long road to the screen

The attempt to make Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings into a movie began very early. /kloc-one day in 0/957, two years after the publication of The Lord of the Rings's novel, forest J. Ackerman, a literary agent, knocked on Tolkien's door. He wants to adapt this novel into an animated film that tells a real story. Tolkien appreciated the concept map he brought, but he didn't agree on the spot, and the matter was later dropped.

But similar ideas have not failed. 1978 The oak tree in the animated version of The Lord of the Rings is played by a real actor. The permanent film adaptation right of the novel changed hands several times after the sale of 1969, and it took nearly ten years for the film to be born. This movie only tells half of the whole story, and it was a good box office without a sequel. Two years later, the animated film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was released, which is a complete story produced by another team as a sequel to the animated film The Hobbit of 1977.

Finally, in 1995, the rookie director Peter Jackson was keenly aware that the rapidly developing CGI technology could help the filming of The Lord of the Rings. He immediately invited someone to discuss the filming of the new film of The Lord of the Rings, but by the time his owner, Milla Max Company, won the right to adapt it two years later, he was already in a professional crisis. After grasping the life-saving straw of The Lord of the Rings, PJ started the preparatory work, and the ensuing budget problem almost made the audience all over the world miss an epic masterpiece: Milla Max's parent company Disney was unwilling to invest more in this project, and the director himself was unwilling to make an ordinary bad film, so he had to change hands in this project.

Varnstam Brothers, which led the investment of $654.38+00 million for Peter Jackson project in the early stage, was very anxious and asked PJ to find a new buyer within three weeks. PJ had to record a 36-minute video tape to introduce his project, and finally found his next home, New Line Film Company, which was willing to take over within three weeks under harsh requirements. At first, PJ was worried that his plan to make the film into two parts would be the reason why the project was rejected. After watching the video, Bob Ye Sha, CEO of New Line Pictures, asked them a question that became a much-told story in the film history:

"Since there are three novels, why not make three movies?"

Of course, the new line official later said that the decision to shoot the trilogy was based on commercial considerations, but this sentence undoubtedly saved the sinking ship; The legal procedures for copyright transfer will be completed in a few weeks. The busiest thing after PJ is to rewrite the script for the trilogy. With the support of the new owner, the future of the film is bright.

So, on the threshold of the new century, Peter Jackson ended the long-distance running of the film The Lord of the Rings for half a century with amazing determination and brilliant talent, and handed over a perfect answer sheet that attracted worldwide attention.

▌ Colorful Cas lineup

Aragon, who is the "son-in-law"

Aragon played by viggo mortensen is one of the soul figures in the whole movie, but who would have thought that this cool and handsome Aragon was temporarily pulled by the crew to save the scene, and maybe he wouldn't have made this movie at all if it weren't for his son's persuasion!

It turned out that the crew initially chose another actor to play this role, but after shooting, it was found that this actor was too young to control the weather-beaten Aragon. But the drama has already started, and Aragon's scene will be filmed in a few days, which can make the crew anxious!

So viggo mortensen suddenly got a call from his crew and asked him if he would like to go to New Zealand to film The Lord of the Rings. However, Vigo has never read this book and doesn't know this story! Not interested, he said on the phone to think about it. However, the desperate cast really wanted him to play, so they begged him not to think too long and give them an answer that afternoon. Coincidentally, this call was heard by his son Henry, who is a fan of The Lord of the Rings. What! The Lord of the Rings is going to be made into a movie? ! Someone asked my father to play Aragon? Finally, my good father Viggo "accepted the play with his children" before he got this classic Aragon. Even director Peter Jackson can't help but say that it is his son Henry who can persuade Vigo to take part in the play.

The director is his fan.

Tall figure, majestic image, sharp eyes and rich voice ... Sir Christopher Lee lives in Saruman, a white wizard. He is an expert on The Lord of the Rings and a big fan of The Lord of the Rings. He read this work as soon as it was published and reread it every year since then! His dream is that this work can be put on the big screen one day and he can play a role in it.

Besides, I'm afraid he is the only one in the cast who has seen Professor Tolkien, and the director personally invited him to play the role of Saruman. It turns out that director Peter Jackson is his fan, and he especially likes watching movies starring him! The two hit it off, and four months after shooting, Sir Lee flew to New Zealand. When the idol joined, the director himself was very excited: "Your idol starred in your film, and you were shot by the director. God, this feeling is simply great! "

A walk-on counterattack

Originally, he was just a walk-on who appeared for less than 3 seconds, but because of his impressive face value, he became a famous figure with a surname and a view. This is the "walk-on counterattack" staged by Bret McKenzie.

He was a walk-on in The Messenger of the Lord of the Rings, and only appeared for a few seconds at the Elende meeting. But because he is a fairy shota who is tender enough to pinch water, the eagle-eyed audience found him and asked him who he was. But this walk-on didn't have a name, so fans nicknamed him Figwit. "Frodo is great ... who is this guy? (Frodo is great ... Who's that? ) and built a website for him. In this way, his popularity shocked the crew, and the director specially added a play to him. He also played an elf in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Although he still has no name, he has close-ups and lines!

That's not all. When filming The Hobbit, the crew invited him back to play Lindir, Ellen's secretary. He changed from a three-second walk-on to an actor who runs through six movies like Gandalf and other leading characters. This walk-on is also capitalized.

The most tortuous link

As the core contradiction of this film, it is natural that The Lord of the Rings ranks among Cass. In order to design the supreme ring, the crew found Jens Hansen, a Swedish goldsmith, on March 1999 and wanted him to help draw some design drawings. But Hansen flatly refused, saying that he was not interested in fantasy stories, and he simply couldn't read such books! The crew was going to find someone else, but a few days later they got a call from Hansen, "I'm going to be scolded to death by my son!" " I didn't realize this ring was so important! Ok, I am willing to help you design! "Finally, he gave Peter the prototype of 15 rings he designed. During the shooting, about 40 rings of different materials and sizes were used to deal with different scenes.

Unfortunately, Hansen died of cancer before the film was released, and he couldn't see his own The Lord of the Rings on the big screen. ...

Clever set design

Building hobbits

The beautiful, quiet and peaceful Hobbit is the place where the story begins and ends. It nestles on the lush rolling hills, where there are rows of Hobbit huts, gardens, vegetable gardens and farmland. A lovely little house with an old oak tree on the roof is of course a hole in the bottom of the bag!

Hobbits are filming in Matamata, Waikato town. It turns out that this is a famous town rich in dairy cows in the North Island of New Zealand, with large green pastures, large white clouds scattered in the blue sky, and clear streams flowing quietly near the village. Peter Jackson came here with two conceptual designers, Allen Lee and john howe, who were looking for a location. The two painters were immediately fascinated by the scenery and sat on the hillside and pulled out their brushes. Suddenly, houses, gardens, paths and stone walls flowed out of their works along the undulating mountains, just like nature itself.

The next step is the work of the set team. They first built a model of 4~5 square meters according to the sketch, and then began to dig houses, arrange gardens and plant various plants on the spot. Dan hennah, the artistic director, told Peter that the grass here should have existed for a long time, the fruit trees should be full of real fruits and everything should be natural. So Peter asked, how long do you think it will take? Dan's answer is that it will take a year. Peter said, yes, one year is no problem. As a result, the location of the Hobbit was restored for a year before shooting, so that the hand of nature erased all traces of man-made.

Unfortunately, because it was not built according to permanent building standards, the Hobbit was slowly abandoned after the filming was completed. The crew learned their lesson. When filming The Hobbit, everything was built according to the standards of permanent buildings. Now the Hobbit has become the most popular tourist hotspot in New Zealand.

Allen ligren sanatorium

Part of the canyon is located in Ketok Regional Park in Wellington. In order to highlight the idea of symbiosis between elves and nature, many elegant and smooth lines are used in the design of this set, which has the design style of19th century Art Nouveau movement or Celtic culture. When considering the scenery, alan lee's idea is to design the place where he wants to live after retirement! As a result, the valley he wrote exudes a quiet and elegant atmosphere, as if it were a sanatorium with its own aura of "returning blood".

Lord Elrond's Palace was shot in the studio. Elende is a clever man, so there is a luxurious library in his palace, which contains all kinds of exquisite books, sculptures and paintings. The most important collection is pieces of Nasir sword with Sauron's fingers cut off. Around it, the walls around it are murals recording the history of the elves. These murals are all hand-painted, and the one where Schledu cut off Sauron's finger was completed by alan lee himself.

Alan lee himself especially likes this one. He not only designed himself, but also painted murals and painted himself. He even wants to sleep in Frodo's bed! Unfortunately, it didn't come true because of the prop group.

▌ The Magic Visual Effect of Peter the Great

Oscar owes him a golden statue.

There is also a love-hate character in The Lord of the Rings-Gollum, whose "My Baby" can be blurted out by thousands of fans. Speaking of Gollum, we have to talk about actor andy serkis and motion capture technology.

Motion capture technology is to make actors wear special tights, put dots on their clothes and faces to track their movements and expressions, and then combine the captured movements with virtual modeling to make the movements and expressions of the characters more realistic and natural. Peter originally planned to use computer animation to make Gollum, and Andy was invited to voice him. I didn't expect Andy to be fully integrated into the role, hoping that he could play Gollum. Andy showed Peter Gollum's performance, moved him and got the role.

Unlike others, Andy can only perform in the air in tights in an empty studio. At that time, the motion capture technology was still immature, and the equipment always crashed. Although there are many difficulties, Andy gives Gollum life, which perfectly interprets this devastated and schizophrenic character. They didn't expect this technology to change movies.

Gollum is the first character to use motion capture technology in film history. Since then, Andy has been fascinated by motion capture performance, playing the gorilla in King Kong, the captain in Tintin's Adventures, and Caesar in The Rise of the Planet of the Apes ... He has been learning and challenging himself, bringing us countless real and vivid screen roles, and he has also set up a motion capture school and a professional studio. In 2003, Indiana Jones of the Twin Towers made him the best actor in the Saturn Prize. That year, however, he was turned away for "post-production by computer".

The world is constantly changing, and it is precisely because of these excellent filmmakers that we can see infinity from the small screen.

The secret of "the cutest height difference"

The colorful continent under Peter's lens is indispensable to those lovely races. Humans, elves, hobbits, dwarves ... Legolas and Gimli stand in the ring together, which can be described as "the cutest height difference". However, John Les Davies, who plays Gimli, is the tallest actor in the ring team! The action of the guards runs through the whole movie. How should Peter make John, who is1.85m, so short?

The most commonly used is the body double. The crew invited many dwarf stuntmen, who were not tall but experienced. However, body double can only be used for shots where the actor's face cannot be seen. What if he can see the face?

Peter is also good at using visual differences, near the big and far from the small; When the two people in the camera look very close, the Hobbit/Dwarf actor stands much farther than the human! Gandalf appeared and took a car with Frodo. In fact, the car is specially made. Frodo's seat is more than half a meter farther than Gandalf's! Gandalf squatted on the shelf when Gandalf and Frodo threw the ring into the fire in front of the fireplace. The scene in the cave at the bottom of the bag consists of two sets of scenery and props, one for Gandalf and the other for the Hobbit, which were shot separately and synthesized.

How did the scene where the Hobbit and Gandalf stood in the middle at the birthday party do it? The answer is-Gandalf is a dummy! In the scene of Alvin riding with Frodo, Frodo in alvin toffler's arms is also a dummy. Watch the movie carefully and you will find that it is a leak!

Fantasy epic woven with notes

Howard shore, a film musician, won the Oscar for the first time by his outstanding performance in the The Lord of the Rings, which beat the outstanding works such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and A Beautiful Mind. The score of The Lord of the Rings's trilogy is one of his best creations. The whole piece of music is played by an orchestra and a mixed chorus. At the same time, organ and harp are widely used, and national musical instruments from all over the world are supplemented in special paragraphs, such as Posnayidi, Norwegian Harden Horn, Tunisia Leibeiqin, etc., so as to achieve perfect artistic tension.

With the help of linguist David Salo, Howard's choruses all have lyrics in corresponding languages according to the theme of the scene. Whether it's the elegy of Gandalf, an elvish language in the Lorraine forest, or the roaring dwarf in the abyss of Moria, the perfection of every detail makes the music full of individual expression. At the same time, Howard's carefully selected singers for each solo, the properly matched voices for each chorus, and the accurate interpretation of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and New Zealand symphony orchestras are all indispensable factors for the great success of the score.

Frodo's Song of the Shire (I)

Just as the story begins in the quiet countryside of the Hobbit, Charles's theme phrase is the audience's first memory of the film. Howard shore called this theme "The Song of Charles"; 15 years ago today, it was played in front of the screen for the first time. The melody that captured people's hearts made listeners indulge in the tranquility and comfort of the Hobbit. When the fire crackled, Bilbo, who was buried in the first box, began to write, and relaxed tunes flowed with it. With Bilbo's leisurely narration, he brings out a humorous montage of a hobbit who lives and works in the shire. Charles is the main stage of the first film, in which the theme is always accompanied by a harmonious and lively plot; But later, along with Frodo's mental journey, it continued to develop and gradually sublimated into greater significance.

Frodo recovered in the valley after suffering all the way. At first, there were only springs and birds singing as the background. Then Sam ran to the bed in surprise, and the song of Charles rose quietly from this quiet room, and then developed into the melody of the valley by the appearance of Ellund. Accompanied by Sam, Frodo strolled through the valley and reunited with Merry and Pippin. Their laughter was regarded as an echo, and the brilliant theme of the valley filled the audience and reached its peak; But at this moment, the camera followed Frodo's eyes and looked at Bilbo in the corner of the garden. He is old, but relaxed.

The turning point of the genre is smooth as water, and the core phrases of Charles' songs sound just right. Like Frodo, the audience saw their beloved hometown from a distance from Bilbo's familiar but old smile. The melody continued. When Frodo saw the map of Shire in Bilbo's book, the melody further developed: "I miss Shire so much, and I miss this place that I have dreamed of leaving since I was a child. I really want to leave here to experience the same adventure as you ... but now it seems that my adventure story is so different. "

Unlike Bilbo, Frodo was burdened with the fate of Zhongzhou at the beginning of his adventure, which put him in crisis. He bears an unimaginable burden, and has just gained a little peace of mind, stirred by the appearance of his native land.

Frodo's Song of the Shire (2)

In the mine of Moria, the journey faces more twists and turns. Under the heavy obstruction of the enemy, in order to climb the mountain smoothly, the guards had to choose this dangerous dark road. When the team hesitated at the fork, Frodo's inner struggle became more intense. In silence, the chords change from high to slow, and the melody of Charles' song flows in strange and unknown tension. Frodo told Gandalf of his fatigue and hesitation: "I really hope the Lord of the Rings didn't come to me ... I really hope none of this has happened!" " Gandalf replied: "Everyone who is born at the right time will make this idea, but we can't decide. What we can decide is what we should do in the face of our current situation. " With the melody of his hometown, Frodo once again strengthened his will to face a heavy burden. This time, he wants to save not only the free creatures in China, but also his hometown land that he never loved.

Long after Gandalf rolling in the deep, the Song of the Shire reappeared. Jiewei stayed in Anduin Okawabe for one night, but Frodo was still surrounded by remorse and worry, and he became more and more haggard. At this time, he gradually realized that his burden could only be borne by himself, and relying on his companions would only put them in danger, whether he sacrificed himself to protect him or gradually succumbed to the temptation of the Lord of the Rings. When Sam approached to persuade him to eat, the memory of Charles was accompanied by Sam's concern for music, but this time it was a little sad and helpless. Sam said that he promised Gandalf that he would take care of Frodo, but the latter only responded sadly: "No, Sam, you can't help me. You can't help this time. "

At the end of the film, Charles' song was played repeatedly. After getting rid of Polomir, who finally obeyed his desire to snatch the ring, Frodo finally made up his mind to leave his companions and set foot on the dangerous road to Mordor alone. Standing on the river bank, the whistling wind in my ear indicates that the road ahead is uncertain. But why is he, not others, bearing such a heavy burden? When the fate of the world suddenly depends on himself, how should he face the inevitable challenge? The long chord of the prelude goes from far to near, and Gandalf's answer still echoes in his ears. It comes from the seemingly hopeless darkness of the mine: "everyone who is born at the right time will have this idea, but we can't decide." What we can decide is what we should do in the face of our current situation. "

The camera turned to Frodo, who burst into tears in the melody of Charles' song, eased but began to alienate. At this point, he finally put aside his doubts, ended his struggle, set foot on the boat by the river with firm belief and set off for the east coast. After saving Sam who insisted on diving, the warmth of his hometown represented by Sam dispersed with his lines; When they hugged each other tightly, the melody that had just undergone a sublimation suddenly turned around and the strings were successfully replaced by the original harmony flute. The listener seems to have returned to the simple village where the story begins, but the two originally carefree Hobbits are in a foreign land and are about to embark on a long and dangerous journey.

At the end of the film, the lens is lifted from Frodo and Sam from bottom to top, and cast into the barren wilderness and strange peaks until the magic land in the distance; The song of Charles is full of hope, and gradually becomes smooth and vigorous. With the drums, more bumpy phrases begin to change and rise. Frodo knew that he would never come back, but Sam remained stubbornly optimistic. Frodo immediately turned around and said, "Sam, I'm so glad to have you with me." Gradually, the low variation comes alive again, and the flute is moist but brighter. In the bleak prospect, two short and strong hobbits embark on a dark journey, and The Messenger of the Lord of the Rings ends with the song of Charles.

This is the first round of emotion that the audience got fifteen years ago, and this famous song of Yue Xian has always echoed with this emotion.

The Lord of the Rings has a profound influence on the benchmark of fantasy movies.

A "good" movie is different from a "great" movie. A good movie can meet the needs of the audience and provide a pleasant viewing experience. Great film works will have a far-reaching impact on the film field. There is no doubt that the Lord of the Rings series can withstand such an evaluation.

First of all, if Professor Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings itself is the originator of fantasy literature in the western world, The Messenger of the Lord of the Rings can also be regarded as one of the pioneers in creating the genre of fantasy movies. As the film unfolds, magnificent scenery, short hobbits, handsome and elegant elves, brave and stout dwarves, and ugly and bloodthirsty oak trees appear on the screen, as if opening a real foreign world in front of the audience, which has brought great impact on the audience in vision and imagination.

It can be said that this series of movies has become the benchmark of fantasy movies. Whenever a fantasy movie is released, film critics will subconsciously compare it with The Lord of the Rings. Its name frequently appears in the film reviews of fantasy movies. Interestingly, after the fifth anniversary of the release of the first song/kloc-0, a fantasy film still failed to reach the height of the Lord of the Rings series. Has been chased, but not surpassed.

Secondly, its shooting method has greatly promoted the development of film technology, and the first thing is motion capture technology. The innovation of film technology has brought great development to the film industry. People seem to have become accustomed to it, even questioning the innovation of technology, just like questioning what Ang Lee showed when he shot 120 frames in an actor's face for one second. But fifteen years ago, mankind just crossed the threshold of the Millennium, and computers were not popular, let alone smart phones. For most people, movie stunts are still models with a little computer processing. At this moment, Gollum appeared on the big screen. I knew at a glance that he was not a real person, but his eyebrows and eyes were lifelike like people, and the audience could not help but be impressed by him. It is a technical victory in itself to capture the synthetic characters and real actors on the same stage through actions and jointly interpret the joys and sorrows of the plot.

In addition, "The Lord of the Rings" was also the first large-scale film shot on a green screen, which was later synthesized by computer. The towering doomsday volcano, the burning Balladur without eyelids and the splendid underground hall Moria are all the painstaking efforts of digital animators.

Thirdly, The Lord of the Rings series is one of the rare films with three bumper harvests: box office, word of mouth and awards. It tells people that fantasy movies that sell well at the box office are not necessarily popcorn, but also works of art and fine products.

In terms of box office, in 200 1 year, the global box office of The Messenger of the Lord of the Rings was 87 1 10,000 dollars; Then in 2002, The Raiders of the Twin Towers and In 2003, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King earned $926 million and11200 million, respectively, and won the global box office titles in these two years. In terms of word-of-mouth, The Lord of the Rings's trilogy ranked eighth in IMDb (Return of the King), 1 1 (Messenger of The Lord of the Rings) and 15 (Twin Towers).

In terms of awards, The Lord of the Rings series, as a fantasy work, has been favored by the mainstream for the first time. The Lord of the Rings was nominated for 13 in the 74th Oscar, including many heavyweight awards such as best film, best director and best screenwriter. In the end, he was defeated by A Beautiful Mind in the competition for the best film award, although it was still a glorious defeat. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" swept the 76th Oscar and won 1 1 golden statuette including best film, best director and best adapted screenplay. It was a miracle! So far, only three films in Oscar history have won this honor. Even in recent years, high-input films with dazzling visual effects have emerged one after another, but it is even more difficult to gain recognition in the above three aspects.

It is said that movies are stories. In fact, The Lord of the Rings's story is not complicated, but it is not easy to tell a simple story well. It requires the joint efforts of directors, screenwriters and actors, including investors and other crew members. Through the above behind-the-scenes stories, we can see that investors, directors and crews all have heartfelt love for this work, hoping to present a wonderful and smooth story to the audience and overcome many difficulties. After three years of hard work, we finally achieved such fruitful results. Therefore, it is not impossible to tell a wonderful story while pursuing visual effects. In the final analysis, the emotion and feelings conveyed to the audience are the most important. Without this, the film will lose its soul. This, I am afraid, is also the reason why the Lord of the Rings series has been well received so far.