Movie Aesthetics

What do you all think of the way props, places, actors, etc. Looked in the movie? I think they all look very good and they stay pretty true to the way they are described in the book. Usually they only have very minor differences.

Lorient Avandi wrote:What do you all think of the way props, places, actors, etc. Looked in the movie? I think they all look very good and they stay pretty true to the way they are described in the book. Usually they only have very minor differences.

I don't have a huge number of issues with the movie aesthetics. Much was done very well indeed. Things like "hyena" like wargs stuck in the throat, though.

And Welcome, Lorient Avandi! And, I say, what a very civilized (cool) name you have. Odo will be very pleased, I'm sure. He'll no doubt be thinking, "At last, someone in Forumshire who appears blessed with a bit of sophistication." .

Welcome, welcome! And I agree - I was very pleased with how the movies looked. Now, wait till Petty gets started on the script..

I can start on aesthetics if you like! Witch Kings Scream mask helmet and silly gigantic mace would be a good place to start a crabbit rant. Elven cloaks that only work when it suits the writers whim! They are supposed to change colour depending on the light and landscape you are in!! Lack of colourful hobbit waistcoats. Gandalfs eyebrows.
Oh and um, welcome to the forum Lorient Avandi. Do stay and have a bukie (and if your to young you'll just have to beg Queen Tin for some of her 'special' fizzy lemonade )

Oh and meant to add- big hobbit feet and overly pointy hobbit ears. OOOh you've got me started now. Anduril looking exactly like, but longer (on screen at least) than the other unnamed bloody one he carrie saround for most of the films. Uruk Hai not being hairy enough, Pippin comments on it when hes been carrying, coarse hair on their backs and arms- where is it then?!! Gandalf the White having a crappy little beard- where was he when he was dead the barbers?! The strain, stress and pain of Frodo and San's journey being expressed by smearing their faces a bit dirty- then inexplicably when the orcs catch them they have little pink faces under their helmets!!Arrgh!!! The meter is blinking now! Mordor looking like a reasonable day out, bit cloudy but not to bad, take the kids and a bucket and spade- where is the description Bormoir gave "the very air you breath is a poisionous fume"- no its not its quite nice. 'tick' 'tick' 'Awooooooga'

I definitely agree with you, orwell, on the wargs. They really don't look like wolves at all. Love the way most of the forces of good's armor looks. Especially the gondorians. I do actually like the way the witch king looks though, besides the mace.

Don't listen to Petty - we don't...

Cheek! These are deep and meaningful posts they just look like the drunken ramblings of a mad Scots hobbit!

Lorient Avandi wrote:I definitely agree with you, orwell, on the wargs. They really don't look like wolves at all. Love the way most of the forces of good's armor looks. Especially the gondorians. I do actually like the way the witch king looks though, besides the mace.

Don't mind the Witch King so much, though the mace is a bit silly, I agree. Not keen on Sauron. Though Sauron in "etheral" form was kind of cool - though it didn't make the movies.

I agree the vast bulk of the armour etc looks good- with the notable exceptions of the Scream mask helmet, the ludicrous mace, the similarities in swords Aragorn carries. Not keen on the Moria orc armour either- with those hooky arm and leg bits for scrambling up and down walls- if orcs knew how to do that Helms Deep would have been a very short fight- but as to be expected PJ doesn't let inconsitincy or commmon sense stand in the way of anything he thinks is a' cool idea'.
Other things- the Shire lacks buildings- in Frodo's time only the very rich and the very poor lived in holes- the majority lved in houses with only one floor and a turfed roof. Lothlorien- the opposite in the book of how it appears in the films- its meant to be bright sunshine and green grass not blue light and stars. Oh and rubbish trees in Lothlorien too as NZ lacks large tress with wide trunks. The lack of any thick mists in the Dead marshes, even though Gollum says the line "nice thick mists"- shame PJ forgets them- and of course its another lovely day in the Mordor region of ME with blues skies above the marshes for the 'tricksy lights' scene even though it should be set at night, and the tricksy lights themselves are nothing at all like how they are described but have been replaced with some cheap bunsen burners. (And while I am ranting about this bit why remove the excellent character developing dialogue from this bit (especially Gollums) and replace it with Frodo falling face first in the mud? - I know thats not an aesethic but it bugs me. The Dead in the marshes are an aesthitic though and they loook rubbish, like something from raiders of the lost ark. Where are the elves and the orcs and the men from the battle of dagorlad? They should have listened to the radio play version for how to make it creepy. (see below) AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!- I need to go for another lie down).

Listen from 06:00 for the marsh bit. (And marvel at how much better a Frodo Ian Hom makes than Mr Woods!)

The elves were there and I believe there were some men. I did not see any orcs though.

Those were meant to be elves and men? Not generic movie phantoms then? And there is nothing made of it, we are not informed of the Battle, or that the marshes swallowed up the graves etc. I don't know anyone who has watched the films without first knowing Tolkien who has made any connection between the Last alliance and the Dead Marshes. That's down to the poorness of the script nothing else.

I made the connection, and I saw the movies before I read the books. And gollum makes a remark about the battle. It wasn't that hard to put together. Eecially because of the location of the marshes, and the armor of the people in the pools.

Honestly then you win my prize for observation- I know of noone else who has made the connection until tit wa spointed out to them. And what PJ gives us by way of dialogue concerning it is shockingly brief- the bulk of the scene is wasted with Frodo falling into the pool and finding himself in the 1980's film Poltergeist.

Lorient Avandi wrote:The elves were there and I believe there were some men. I did not see any orcs though.

According to The Lord of the Films (an unofficial movie companion by TORn commentator J.W. Braun that I borrowed from the local library out of morbid curiosity), PJ realized that there should have been orcs present but did not include them because he thought that it would confuse some people in the audience who wouldn't realize the orcs were dead (despite the name of the marshes, I guess).

Proof of what I have said all along, PJ made these films on the assumption is audience was made up of complete idiots. The worst basis on which to create anything.

What I don't understand is that PJ refused to include prologues or recaps in the second and third films, choosing instead to make the audience remember what had happened and follow the entire trilogy from start to finish. I think that was the right decision, but it's not something that would be possible if the audience was as dumb as the film-makers seem to think sometimes. Their own success disproves the claim that they had to pander to the ignorant, unwashed masses.

Also, as Braun points out, PJ has Gollum say that there are dead Elves, Men, and "Orcses" in the marshes, even though he only shows the first two.

Ah well thats alright then- much better than Gollums tale of when he was young, hearing about the Last Alliance, and the sadness and poigniancy in that dialogue, those one or two lines PJ does put in. And what is the excuse for replacing the will-o-the-wisp style candles of the dead with bunsen burners? Setting it during the day with blue skies overhead? And the lack of decent mists except in long shots?

Anyone ever wonder how anyone gets on top of Orthanc in the movies? There is absolutely no visible way up and yet Saruman gets up there repeatedly, Gandalf gets up there, and in the EE of ROTK Wormtongue is up there. I can sort of see how Saruman gets up there, as he's a wizard, same with Gandalf. But Wormtongue is just an ordinary mortal, same with all of the men of Numenor and Gondor who have used the tower and who I am guessing got on top. Any one else wonder this?

Lorient Avandi wrote:Anyone ever wonder how anyone gets on top of Orthanc in the movies? There is absolutely no visible way up and yet Saruman gets up there repeatedly, Gandalf gets up there, and in the EE of ROTK Wormtongue is up there. I can sort of see how Saruman gets up there, as he's a wizard, same with Gandalf. But Wormtongue is just an ordinary mortal, same with all of the men of Numenor and Gondor who have used the tower and who I am guessing got on top. Any one else wonder this?

A secret door like the dwarves of old might make?

My thoughts are along the same line as Orwell's. I figured there must be a secret trapdoor on the top of Orthanc (since there are no external staircases). It's a bit odd, though.

I think PJ just doesnt do it right is all. It had a staircase up, probably internally. I'm sure Gandalf says when it was first in use, before Saruman, it was an observatory for watching the stars- can't imagine you'd need magic or a secret door for it then.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I think PJ just doesnt do it right is all. It had a staircase up, probably internally. I'm sure Gandalf says when it was first in use, before Saruman, it was an observatory for watching the stars- can't imagine you'd need magic or a secret door for it then.

An observatory should really have a guard rail though. Wouldn't get past a Safety Inspector as it is.

Maybe Numenoreans were very bouncy.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Maybe Numenoreans were very bouncy.

Or thought themselves above the Law! Capitalistic cost saving? No wonder things turned bad.

Orwell wrote:An observatory should really have a guard rail though. Wouldn't get past a Safety Inspector as it is.

Maybe the Numenoreans had just finished watching Star Wars when they built it.