Day 13 - 17 Wellington (Part 1)

The plan to drive to the South Island as quickly as possible didn't quite work out. The ferries from Wellington to Picton were fully booked, so we were stuck in New Zealand's capital for five days. But that wasn't too bad, as we stayed at a great campsite and there's a lot to do in Wellington. Despite Wellington being the capital, there are actually more people living in Auckland. Nevertheless, Wellington has a cool big city atmosphere with numerous clubs, bars, and shopping streets.

As a Lord of the Rings fan (not as big a fan as the rest of my family, but I still love the movies), we went to the famous Weta Caves. In a 45-minute tour, we were introduced to the impressive art of costume and prop making. The Weta Caves are not only responsible for the hideous-looking orcs, the hairy Hobbit feet, or Sauron's armor, but they have also co-produced movies like Avatar, Narnia, and King Kong. Once you've seen behind the scenes of such an elaborate film, you realize how much work went into it.

The drawing alone for a design of a dwarf armor had to be revised 300 times before the production process started. The helmets, swords, and chainmail are of course not made of real steel. It would be too exhausting for the actors to wear all the armor elements. Furthermore, it would be too expensive and time-consuming to produce the individual elements true to the original - with a few exceptions. The supposed plastic swords from fight scenes would stand out in close-ups (e.g. when someone draws their sword). The reflection of light, the sound, and the reflection of the environment on the steel are things even the best artists can't replicate. The Hobbit swords - like Frodo's sword Sting - also come in two different versions. One for the proper actor (Elijah Wood), who is about 1.70m tall, and one for the doubles seen in close-ups. The reason for this is that Elijah is small but not as small as a Hobbit would look next to a human. Because of that, Hobbit actors usually kneel in close-ups (you never see the feet of the Hobbits when they stand next to 'normal-sized' people). For panorama shots, where you see the whole body of the Hobbits, they are doubled by children. But since the sword always has to fit the height of Elijah or the child double, there are two different sizes of Sting.