The Making of…
Chapter 25
Back to the Routine
The next few weeks of filming consisted of us madly running around the studio, dashing between sets and makeup, trying to get as much done as possible. We were currently in the middle of filming the Mines of Moria scenes, which meant hours and hours of wandering around fake rocks. I was convinced that they were driving me slightly insane! We’d finished most of the scenes of us walking, which meant that we were moving on to the ‘Balin’s Tomb’ set, which also meant fighting an invisible troll! Peter was talking us through the movements he wanted us to do, and how we should react to the ‘cave troll’. As the Stunties who were playing Orcs had the final touches added to their makeup, Viggo and I were practicing our fight routine. I hadn’t had much time alone with him recently, as we were both so busy. I watched him intently as he talked me through a part of the routine that I’d forgotten, and then he turned to me.
“Got it?” He smiled as I went to stand beside him.
“Um… Yeah…” I mumbled, drawing my sword and counting through the routine, swinging and blocking in the positions I’d been taught.
“Wait,” Viggo interrupted, pausing me and sheathing his sword, “You only hold the hilt with one hand there, because then you go in for the punch.” He stood behind me, placing his hands over mine, one on the hilt of my sword, the other on my clenched fist. “See?” He murmured softly as I blushed.
“Y-yeah. Thanks.” I eventually managed to stammer with a weak smile, glad that he was behind me so he couldn’t see my reddening cheeks.
“No problem.” He replied, releasing me as Peter called us over to start the scene. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, trying to pinpoint the reason as to why I felt self-conscious when he was close to me like that. Normally, I was fine with it, but recently I’d been blushing any time he came near me. I shook my head, chasing away these thoughts so I could get into character and focus on the scenes ahead. It was probably just a phase I was going through anyway…
More weeks of filming passed uneventfully, until one day the entire fellowship was called across to Weta workshops for some ‘special filming’ – no one was really sure about what was meant by the message, but we turned up on the morning all the same. We arrived and found Richard Taylor, who was basically the head of the movie’s special effects team; he covered everything from prosthetics to weaponry! He brought us into a long room where there were several specialist-looking cameras set up, and most of the room was covered in blue-screens.
“Right guys,” Richard smiled once we were all assembled, “What we’re doing today is some motion-capture filming, so we can make your digital doubles for some of the Khazad-Dûm shots.” He must have seen our questioning looks as he explained some more. “Well, most of the set we’ve designed can’t physically be built, so we’re doing most of it digitally, and of course, you can’t act on a set that doesn’t exist, so for the shots where you have to do some really crazy stuff, but we can’t see your faces, we’ll be using digital versions of you.”
“Sounds complicated…” Billy mumbled.
“It is.” Richard grinned, “For us tech guys anyway, it’s pretty easy for you lot… Just not very dignified.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked suspiciously.
“Well, to create accurate doubles and to get your movements right, we have to film you going through the movements. Which means you have to wear skin-tight motion-capture suits.” Richard replied. An audible groan arose from the guys, and I ducked my head. Skin tight suits? Brilliant. Just brilliant.
