Technology: The Lord of the Rings (Case Study)

The Lord of the Rings:

RESEARCH Questions:

1. Who is making the new LOTR TV series? 

2. Where was this being filmed? 

3. Where have they just moved production to?

4. What technology is being used in this TV series as a result of not filming 'on location' like the movies were?

• Amazon Studios are making a new Lord of the Rings series that is set to be released next year in 2022.
• Amazon Studios’ “Lord of the Rings” series completed filming in New Zealand Monday.
• It will debut on the streaming service Sept. 2, 2022.
• The first season of the show reportedly cost $465 million to make, making it the most expensive television show ever made.
• Helmed by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay, the series is set during author J.R.R. Tolkien’s second age, a period of Middle-earth history thousands of years before the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Amazon Studios’ decision to move the Lord of the Rings TV series from New Zealand to the UK is not the first time the company has shifted a production off our shores this year.

Amazon announced on Friday that the second season of its untitled LOTR project would be filmed in the UK, leaving more than 1200 people employed to make the first season facing financial uncertainty.

Many locations in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is altered by CGI (computer-generated imagery). Peter Jackson attempted to use less CGI to make the movie appear as natural as possible. Instead of creating a purely CGI volcano for Mount Doom, he ingeniously decided to bring the cast and crew to an active New Zealand volcano.