Friday, March 1, 2013

Vacation 2013 - Wellington, New Zealand - more LOTR sites: not quite the same without the movie sets

This is a day where we learned a lot about the deceptiveness of movies.  We learned that many movie scenes were actually a combination of CGI, filming in the studio, on-site sets on the North Island, and backgrounds of the scenes from the South Island, usually somewhere near Queenstown.  Some of the filming of scenes themselves were also completed in Queenstown.  Other examples are where a person may have been filmed in a river in one place, but where they were filmed "washed ashore" was the bank of a completely different river.

Our day started at the Port in Wellington.  One could choose about a 30 minute walk to get downtown, or one had the option of taking a round trip shuttle ticket for $15.  Of course, if you booked a shore excursion from the boat, the transportation left directly from the dock.  We booked an independent tour this time as it was much cheaper, and the hours still worked with the cruise ship's itinerary.  By this day we were awfully exhausted of all the tours, so we chose a half day tour and decided not to stay in New Zealand for more sight seeing after the tour.  As we had booked a tour, we did not have to take a shuttle, but we did have to take a "security transport" vehicle off the dock area, where we waited for our tour bus to arrive.

The tour was pretty good (minus the fact that the movie sets weren't still there - we knew that in advance).  What I liked most is that they showed clips from the movies of the places that we were going to, and also clips from the extras on the DVDs.  Sometimes it was difficult to imagine the scenes had taken place at those places, but they did also bring some still pictures to help us out.  They even brought props so tour members could pose if they chose to.  I also learned a lot of interesting information about Viggo Mortensen.  It sounds like he is a very admirable individual.

Instead of explaining where each of the pictures are taken, we'll play a guessing game. Guess which LOTR movie site or sequence was filmed at each location

1.  A Quarry outside of Wellington. Which 2 Lord of the Rings locations were filmed at this Quarry

2.  A city park in Wellington - several movie scenes were filmed at this park, including the scenes of the Orcs pulling down the trees.  Which scene was filmed in this portion of the park.  Hint:  one of the trees in the scene is no longer there as it did not survive a storm there from a few years ago.  Also, a portion of the section of the park has been planted with a different variety of grass.

3.  At the same city park as the picture above - What scene of the movie was filmed in this part of the park.  HINT:  notice the two individuals in the picture.  They are re-enacting the scene.  Look closely at their props.

4.  The individual in the picture is posing to give you a clue.  Also, there is a hint in the text of the blog post.

5.  This is not an actual scene from the movie, but it is a scene related to the movie.  The girl in the picture is playing the role of Legolas.
6.  I'm giving you a big hint by telling you that this picture was taken at Kaitoke Regional Park in New Zealand.  Which city from Lord of the Rings was recreated here?
Please answer by e-mailing me, or adding a comment with your answers.  Earl, I expect you to get 100% on this quiz.

3 comments:

Beee said...

While seeing LOTR once, I am not THAT familiar as to play along. I do enjoy these posts.

Alycia said...

I'll second Beee's comment. However, I'll try to get my hubby to play the game and then post his responses in the comments.

Alycia said...

just guesses:

1.a sauroman's mud men (one of the twin towers)
1.b helm's keep

2. The tree is the one with all the creepy crawly things coming out of it when the ring wraith was calling for the precious. The scene is when the hobbits are being pursued by the ring wraith(s). Different grass was stink weed (tobacco) from long bottom.

3. The hobbits leaving the shire and going to the prancing pony.

4. Arogon when attacked by wargs before they reach helm's keep falls over the cliff into the river and washes ashore where his horse is coached by his elf-fiance into carrying him safely to helm's keep so that he can also warn them of saromon's army

5. Legolas rides the the trunk of a oliphant and takes out leagons of meanies with his auto-replinshing monster-seeking arrows

6. The home of the elf witch loflorien

(sorry that my spelling is so atroicious)