The reality of special effects

[Rinfanawen]

I've seen a lot of movie making in my short-lived life, and I pretty much base a movie on how good of effects it has. I mean, just face the fact...a movie can have a great storyline, the best in the world, but the effects of the movie can just really mess it up completely. The Lord of the Rings, though, had both storyline and effects. It was the most remarkable movie I have seen! Just to explain further what I mean, here are different instances in the movie that show just how great PJ's team was at making this movie:

1. This was from a picture I had in a planner of mine from ROTK. The picture was a picture of Frodo as he and Sam are approaching Mt Doom. This picture is taken some time before Sam's line "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!". Anyway, it's an upclose picture of Frodo, looking very horrid with blood-shot eyes and grusome scaps and dirt everywhere. For one, the blood-shot eyes look extravagant! Great movie makeup there.

But the part that really got to me was this scab of his on his neck. It's huge, wrapping around a whole half section of the right side of his lower neck. The chain on which the One Ring hangs is hanging there as well. The scab, for one, looks fresh, for the color is still an apple-red color. But part of the chain that carries the One Ring is actually sticking to the scab! It looks like blood has dried and stuck the chain to the wound as it dried. Part of the chain is red as if blood-stained as well! It's brilliant!! Usually I don't notice things like this, but it's an up-close, profile shot, and it's so realistic!

2. Might I add as well about that picture, the realistic effects to the fake ears! I'm not sure about Elves, but I know this is true about the Hobbits. In this picture, you can see tiny hairs on the ear tips. It's as if it was real human skin! That was great right there.

3. Then there's this up-close picture of Gollum. It's almost creepy how real it is! The different grooves in his chapped lips, and the wrinkles underneath his bulging eyes! They are so human-like that I just have to give special props to all of the CGI guys at WETA for that. This may sound stranged, but I feel sometimes like I'm looking into a soul when I look in Gollum's eyes! It's great.

Well, those are just the few things I could pick out from the pictures in my planner, but every movie is filled with these amazing little effects, whether make-up or computer, that make the movies so much better! I never really realized it before just how great it was. This is just my brief viewpoint on it though. Has anyone else realized things like this that just struck you in awe?