Best Movie Setting

[Son of Númenor]

...You fear to go into those mines. The dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dûm. The shadow and flame."

The Mines of Moria were far and away my favorite sets in the movies: a perfect mix of horror, darkness and faded grandeur - a glimpse into the 'vanished past' that I found disappointingly rare in the rest of the movies. The Dwarrowdelf evoked in my a sense of pure wonder, and the music (complete with haunting doom-doom incantations) and lighting at the Bridge of Khazad-dûm were magnificent. The vision of a 'higher' past that I (inadequately) described above lingered with me into the scenes in Lothlórien, but I lost it after the Fellowship sailed down the Great River past the Argonath, and never regained it in the second and third films. (This is, I suppose, due at least in part to the fact that The Two Towers and The Return of the King focused almost exclusively on the realms of Men.)

[drigel]

Son,
agree with you totally. Most of FOTR was wonderfull. I would have loved to seen the firehall though. I agree w/Rim's accessement of Edoras - too small, but the set of the insides of the hall was richly done. The location itself is wonderfull, but too bad PJ couldnt have found a bigger hill for Edoras. What we saw could have house mabye a few hundred..?..?

I didnt like (its been observed before in another thread - sorry) the compressed location / view of Osgiliath and Mordor as seen from MT. I dont have a map with me, but surely the curve of the earth would have prevented this..?..? I imagined that if you could have seen anything, you would have seen possibly the foothills of the mountains way, way off in the distance. But surely not the river and Osgiliath... a small distant glow from Mt Doom, not the firery eruptions. I think I know what PJ was doing there, but to me the scale he presented diminished the effect of hiding the fact it was cgi, instead of enhancing it.

[Lalwendë]

The most awesome spectacle in the films for me was the lighting of the beacons - this to me conveyed a sense of the size of Middle Earth, and was, well, simply visually stunning. The sets for Hobbiton were good - I liked the use of vegetation and the bridge (even though it's an odd thing to spot) was pleasing to me, very village-like. The only reservation about Hobbiton for me was that as they are gardeners and farmers, the Hobbit gardens and fields should surely have been neater? I also liked the interiors of Meduseld (it was a shame that the tapestries were quite difficult to see) Fangorn and Isengard.

I did not like the Grey Havens, mainly as I always envisioned the place to be more practical as a harbour. And I had in mind a much greener place for Rohan; it appeared quite rocky and bleak, while I had a place like the Lambourn Downs in mind, rolling green hills, lush, and maybe with a White Horse or two, and the odd barrow.

But, in my mind, Middle Earth was a more intimate place, and to some extent, my personal small-scale vision was wiped out by all the grand vistas! But I do realise that this is a personal viewpoint and for many (most?) the scenery was all awesome.

[The Only Real Estel]

A little trivia - that's not the first time that Minas Tirith appears in the movies. In the Two Towers EE (maybe the theatrical release, but I'm not sure) there is a scene in Osgiliath where, if you look closely, you can see Minas Tirith wayyyyyy off in the distance

You also see it in FotR. Gandalf goes there in search of information on Isildur & The Ring.
A post about the 'settings' will follow later, I'm off to Oklahoma City now.

[Boromir88]

I must say this a wonderful thread and everyone has brought up great things. There's not much for me to add, I'm afraid I might repeat what others have said. Anyway, my thoughts...

Saphire you are so right, the first view of Minas Tirith, oh my, just amazing, words can't describe it.

Edoras was also superbly done, I love the village on top of the little hill, and the Golden Hall sitting on top it's peak. I actually felt as if PJ stuck fairly close to the book.

The King of the Golden Hall
The Dark gates swung open. The travellers entered, walking in file behind their guide. They found a broad path, paved with hewn stones, now winding upward, now climing in short flights of well-laid steps. Many houses built of wood and many dark doors they passed. Beside the way in a stone channel a stream of clear water flowed, sparkling and chattering. At length they came to the top of the hill. There stood a high platform above a green terrace, at the foot of which a bright spring gushed from a stone carved in the likeness of a horse's head; beneath was a wide basin from which the water spilled and fed the falling stream. Up the green terrace went a stair of stone, high and broad, and on either side of the topmost step were stone-hewn seats.

I think one scenery place that was off, but doesn't bother me much was pelennor fields. Since it does mean "fenced land." But, that I have no complaint about, just pointing out that it wasn't like that in the movie .

I don't know if I am considered one of PJ's tougher critics on this forum, and I very well maybe. I give PJ credit for doing an excellent job with the scenery, it was splendid, and I thought he captured it well. In fact in some of his commentaries he speaks about studying the chapter of Helm's Deep for years, just to get down the layout of the fortress. (Silly PJ just look in the Atlas, oh well, you did GREAT!!!!!)

[drigel]

lots of okie contributers to this website