Our Visit to Middle Earth

[gnomi]

On Sunday, MAB and I went to The Boston Museum of Science for the exhibit on the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. And, wow. Costumes (including fabric swatches for close-up viewing), props, prosthetics, armor, swords...lots and lots of amazing things from the movies. Also, explanations of how they did many of the special effects, from the perspective tricks that they played to make, for instance, Gandalf look so much taller than Frodo to the "digital doubles" used for the actors when filming scenes for which it was too expensive or too impractical to use real actors on real sets.

Many of the displays included video screens with multiple interview clips in which the actors, crew, or both explained how a specific aspect of the filming occurred. I think Andy Serkis had the most fun making these clips as he frolicked around the set on all fours, showing how they filmed his motions in order to overlay the digital Gollum.

This exhibit is not to be missed, if you have any chance of being in the Boston area between now and October 24. MAB and I spent over an hour and a half in the exhibit, and even then there were things we would have liked to look at longer, so you might want to plan accordingly if you choose to seek out the exhibit.

Comments

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

i wanna SEEEE! i need to pin my sister to a day so i can buy tickets.... was it crowded? do they time you once you get in, or can you spend as long as you want looking at everything?

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

The queue to get in was longish when we got there 5 minutes before the time stamped on our tickets (they don't let people in until the time stated on the ticket, in 15-minute intervals), but once they actually let folks in, it really didn't feel crowded. It's a well laid-out exhibit, with lots of space to move around. And they don't time you once you get in, so you can spend as long (or as little) as you want taking in the exhibit.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Thanks for the report. We're hoping to get there, though there's no way it can happen 'til after N4... I'm hoping we won't get too busy with all the holidays then, and can actually make it to the exhibit before it leaves.