Special Effects of The Lord of The Rings Film Trilogy - Scale

Scale

Production was complicated by the use of scale doubles and forced perspective on a level never seen before in the film industry. Elijah Wood is 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall in real life, but the character of Frodo Baggins is 3 ft 6 in (1.07 m) in height. Large and small scale doubles were used in certain scenes, while entire duplicates of certain sets (including Bag End in Hobbiton) were built at two different scales, so that the characters would appear to be the appropriate size. At one point in the film, Frodo runs along a corridor in Bag End, followed by Gandalf. Elijah Wood and Sir Ian McKellen were filmed in separate versions of the same corridor, built at two different scales; then these two separate shots are combined to create a shot of both actors appearing to be in the same corridor.

Forced perspective was also employed, so that it would look as though the short hobbits were interacting with taller Men and Elves. Surprising the makers of the film, the simple use of kneeling down was used to great effect. As well as this, some actors wore over-sized costumes to make average sized actors look small, and there were numerous scale doubles, who are disguised with costumes, and an avoidance of close-ups and numerous back shots, and even latex faces for the Hobbit doubles.