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90-631: Lindsay Ellis (born November 24, 1984) is an American science fiction author, video essayist , film critic, and YouTuber . Her debut novel , Axiom's End , published in July 2020, became a New York Times Best Seller . Ellis received her BA in Film Studies from New York University in 2007, followed by an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2011. Along with her friends Elisa Hansen and Antonella "Nella" Inserra, Ellis wrote Awoken ,

180-535: A Great Eagle . That night, Strider reunites with Arwen, and they affirm their love for each other. Learning of Saruman's betrayal from Gandalf and now realising that they are facing threats from both Sauron and Saruman, Arwen's father, Lord Elrond , decides against keeping the Ring in Rivendell. He holds a council of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, also attended by Frodo and Gandalf, that decides the Ring must be destroyed in

270-483: A paranormal romance parody of Twilight , about a woman falling in love with Cthulhu , under the alias Serra Elinsen. In 2010, Ellis wrote and directed the documentary short film The A-Word about women's experience with abortion . From 2008 to 2014, while also studying for her MFA, Ellis was selected to host The Nostalgia Chick as part of the Channel Awesome production company, a web series based on

360-439: A Painting (a series on the grammar of film editing by Tony Zhou and Taylor Ramos) and Lindsay Ellis (an American media critic, film critic, YouTuber, and author formerly known as The Nostalgia Chick) who was inspired by Zhou and Ramos's work. Websites like StudioBinder, MUBI , and Fandor also have contributing writers providing their own video essays. One such contributor, Kevin B. Lee, helped assert video essays' status as

450-511: A Patreon perk. In October 2022, Ellis posted her first video essay in nearly one year on streaming platform Nebula, discussing the Lord of the Rings film trilogy . In 2024, Ellis returned to YouTube, while still continuing to publish video content on Nebula. In early 2020, Ellis co-founded MusicalSplaining , a podcast in which she, accompanied by director and illustrator Kaveh Taherian, discussed

540-597: A Ranger named Strider , who promises to escort them to Rivendell ; however, they are ambushed by the Nazgûl on Weathertop , and their leader, the Witch-King , stabs Frodo with a Morgul blade . Arwen , an Elf and Strider's beloved, locates Strider and rescues Frodo, summoning flood-waters that sweep the Nazgûl away. She takes him to Rivendell, where he is healed by the Elves. Frodo meets with Gandalf, who escaped Isengard on

630-520: A band of Uruk-hai to save their companions, Merry and Pippin , entering the kingdom of Rohan. The Uruk-hai are ambushed by a group of Rohirrim , allowing Merry and Pippin to escape into Fangorn Forest. Meeting Aragorn's group, the Rohirrim's leader Éomer explains that he and his men have been exiled by Rohan's king, Théoden , who is under the control of Saruman and his servant Gríma Wormtongue . Éomer believes Merry and Pippin were killed during

720-522: A burning tree . Gandalf deduces that the enemy plans to attack Gondor 's capital Minas Tirith ; he rides there to warn Gondor's corrupt steward Denethor . Pippin, who accompanies him, swears fealty to Denethor, whose now-dead heir Boromir had saved his life; on Gandalf's instruction, Pippin triggers the lighting of the beacons , which call for help from Rohan. Frodo , who carries the Ring, and Sam continue their journey towards Mordor , unaware that Gollum, now their guide, plans to betray them and take

810-707: A cameo. Gimli was going to swear throughout the films and Arwen would join the Fellowship in Rohan and share a nude scene with Aragorn in the pools of the Glittering Caves. Jackson hired long-time collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetic makeup , creatures, and miniatures. At New Line's request, animation supervisor Jim Rygiel replaced Weta Digital 's Mark Stetson . In November 1997, famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined

900-541: A cave troll . They hold them off but are confronted by Durin's Bane : a Balrog residing within the mines. While the others escape, Gandalf fends off the Balrog and casts it into a vast chasm, but the Balrog drags Gandalf down into the darkness with him. The devastated Company reaches Lothlórien , ruled by the Elf-queen Galadriel , who privately informs Frodo that only he can complete the quest and that one of

990-527: A chasm after a scuffle. Shelob discovers, paralyses, and binds Frodo, but is wounded and driven away by a returning Sam. Sam mourns Frodo's apparent death and takes the Ring, but then realizes his mistake when Orcs take Frodo captive. He rescues Frodo within Mordor and the two continue towards Mount Doom . Denethor sends his younger son, Faramir , on a suicide charge. Faramir returns gravely wounded; believing him dead, Denethor falls into madness. Gandalf marshals

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1080-466: A different musical every two weeks. It was included in O, The Oprah Magazine ' s top 20 new podcasts of 2020. Ellis' debut novel, Axiom's End , a science fiction novel set in 2007, planned as the first book, of five, in the Noumena series. was published by St. Martin's Press on July 21, 2020, and entered The New York Times Best Seller list at number 7 on August 9, as well as appearing on

1170-553: A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities , and under the auspices of Middlebury’s Digital Liberal Arts Summer Institute, Professors Jason Mittell , Christian Keathley and Catherine Grant have organized a two-week workshop with the aim to explore a range of approaches by using moving images as a critical language and to expand the expressive possibilities available to innovative humanist scholars. Every year

1260-521: A great part of his power to dominate the other Rings and conquer Middle-earth. A final alliance of Men and Elves battles Sauron's forces in Mordor . Isildur of Gondor severs Sauron's finger and the Ring with it, thereby vanquishing Sauron and returning him to spirit form. With Sauron's first defeat, the Third Age of Middle-earth begins. The Ring's influence corrupts Isildur, who takes it for himself and

1350-623: A legitimate form of film criticism as Chief Video Essayist for Fandor from 2011-2016. Other video essayists include pioneering African American documentary filmmaker Marlon Riggs , Korean-American filmmaker Kogonada , British film scholar Catherine Grant, American experimental filmmakers Thom Andersen and Mark Rappaport (the latter known as the "father of the modern video essay") and French media researcher Chloé Galibert-Laîné. In 2020, curator Cydnii Wilde Harris, along with Will DiGravio and Kevin B. Lee, collaboratively curated The Black Lives Matter Video Essay Playlist , highlighting

1440-735: A little of the visual magic of Legend . [...] It should have the historical authority of Braveheart , rather than the meaningless fantasy mumbo-jumbo of Willow . Production designer Grant Major was charged with converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, while Dan Hennah worked as art director , scouting locations and organizing the building of sets. Ngila Dickson collaborated with Richard Taylor on producing costumes, while Peter King and Peter Owen designed makeup and hair. Most of these crew members (and others) returned to work on The Hobbit . Jackson and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie considered shooting in large format like 65 mm film and/or to master

1530-441: A narrator reading an essay. From another perspective, an essay film could be defined as a documentary film visual basis combined with a form of commentary that contains elements of self-portrait (rather than autobiography), where the signature (rather than the life story) of the filmmaker is apparent. The cinematic essay often blends documentary , fiction , and experimental film making using tones and editing styles. The genre

1620-518: A new peer-reviewed academic journal, [in]Transition , was created to have a platform for scholarly videographic work and video essays. [in]Transition is a collaborative project between MediaCommons and the official publication of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies , Journal of Cinema & Media Studies . The goal of [in]Transition is to bolster videographic work as a legitimate and valid medium for scholarship. Since 2015 under

1710-399: A print collection of his video essay scripts in 2024. Academics, especially in regard to film, find video essays great for critique and analysis. Academics also believe that video essays are an excellent way for students to explore creativity whilst being scholarly. Professors have found that students benefit and become better writers after learning how to make video essays. In 2014,

1800-404: A single trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit and, if that would prove successful, two Lord of the Rings films shot back-to-back. Jackson began rereading The Hobbit , looking at illustrations and commissioning concept art from the book, but the rights eventually proved unattainable, having been split between Zaentz and United Artists. Weinstein tried to buy the studio's share of the rights, but

1890-578: A small team of part-time staff. In addition to covering film topics, she has also created videos on being a YouTube content creator. Ellis also co-hosts the It's Lit! web series, alongside fellow YouTuber Princess Weekes, for PBS Digital Studios , which explores trends in American literature as a companion piece to The Great American Read on PBS itself. The three-part documentary The Hobbit Duology (2018), which Ellis wrote and edited with Angelina Meehan,

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1980-486: A three-part series about the production of The Hobbit trilogy and its effect on the New Zealand film industry . Her Loose Canon series explores derivations of literary and film characters over time. Since 2017, her focus on her channel has been on video essays about films. Ellis says she most enjoys thinking about "things that are deeply flawed but have this really interesting potential". Her videos are created with

2070-467: Is bisexual and a vegetarian . Ellis and her husband Nick Hansen live in Long Beach, California . They wed in 2019 and have two children together, one born in 2022, and another, Julia, in 2024. Video essay A film essay (also essay film or cinematic essay ) consists of the evolution of a theme or an idea rather than a plot per se, or the film literally being a cinematic accompaniment to

2160-566: Is being watched by Saruman's spies. They instead set off over the mountain pass of Caradhras, but Saruman summons a storm that forces them to travel through the Mines of Moria , where a tentacled water beast blocks off the entrance with the Company inside, giving them no choice but to journey to the exit on the other end. After finding the Dwarves of Moria dead, the Company is attacked by Orcs and

2250-519: Is later killed by Orcs . The Ring is lost in a river for 2,500 years until it is found by Gollum , who owns it for over four and a half centuries. The Ring abandons Gollum and is subsequently found by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins , who is unaware of its history. Sixty years later, Bilbo celebrates his 111th birthday in the Shire , reuniting with his old friend, the wizard Gandalf the Grey . Bilbo departs

2340-487: Is not well-defined but might include propaganda works of early Soviet filmmakers like Dziga Vertov , documentary filmmakers including Chris Marker , Michael Moore ( Roger & Me , Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 ), Errol Morris ( The Thin Blue Line ), Morgan Spurlock ( Super Size Me ) and Agnès Varda . Jean-Luc Godard describes his later works as "film-essays". Two filmmakers whose work

2430-709: The Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Ellis was subsequently shortlisted for the Astounding Award for Best New Writer , which is given out during the Hugo Award ceremonies. In July 2022, Ellis made a guest appearance on MusicalSplaining . She also appeared in the final episode of the podcast in December 2023. Ellis grew up in Johnson City , Tennessee . She

2520-555: The Nostalgia Critic . She went on to create over 100 videos as part of the series before leaving in 2014 to focus more on long-form video essays . On her YouTube channel, Ellis has frequently made videos about Walt Disney Pictures films. Other works include "The Whole Plate", a long-running series examining the Transformers film series and the work of Michael Bay , which has received more than 4 million views, and

2610-523: The Misty Mountains and becomes known as Gollum. Centuries later, during the War of the Ring , Gandalf leads Aragorn , Legolas , Gimli , and King Théoden of Rohan to Isengard , where they reunite with Merry and Pippin . Gandalf retrieves Saruman 's palantír , and the group returns to Edoras to celebrate their victory at Helm's Deep . Pippin looks into the palantír, seeing Sauron and

2700-544: The elf Legolas , the dwarf Gimli , Merry , Pippin , Boromir , and the wizard Gandalf , unite to save the Free Peoples of Middle-earth from the forces of Sauron and rally them in the War of the Ring to aid Frodo by distracting Sauron's attention. The three films were shot simultaneously in Jackson's native New Zealand from 11 October 1999 until 22 December 2000 , with pick-up shots from 2001 to 2003. It

2790-700: The pass of Emyn Muil , journeying on to Mordor. Awakening from a dream of Gandalf fighting the Balrog in Moria , Frodo Baggins finds himself, along with Samwise Gamgee , lost in the Emyn Muil near Mordor . They discover that they are being tracked by Gollum , a former bearer of the One Ring . Capturing Gollum, Frodo takes pity and allows him to guide them, reminding Sam that they need Gollum's help to infiltrate Mordor. Aragorn , Legolas , and Gimli pursue

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2880-539: The Company will try to take the Ring. She also shows him a vision of the future in which Sauron succeeds in enslaving Middle-earth, including the Shire. Meanwhile, Saruman creates an army of Uruk-hai in Isengard to find and destroy the Company. The Company travels by river to Parth Galen . Frodo wanders off and is confronted by Boromir, who, as Lady Galadriel had warned, tries to take the Ring. Uruk-hai scouts then ambush

2970-712: The Company, attempting to abduct the Hobbits. Boromir breaks free of the Ring's power and protects Merry and Pippin, but the Uruk-Hai leader, Lurtz, mortally wounds Boromir as they abduct the Hobbits. Aragorn arrives and kills Lurtz before comforting Boromir as he dies, promising to help the people of Gondor in the coming conflict. Fearing the Ring will corrupt his friends, Frodo decides to travel to Mordor alone, but allows Sam to come along, recalling his promise to Gandalf to look after him. As Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli set out to rescue Merry and Pippin, Frodo and Sam make their way down

3060-507: The Ents decide not to take part in the coming war. Pippin asks Treebeard to take them in the direction of Isengard , where they witness the deforestation caused by Saruman's war effort. Enraged, Treebeard and the Ents storm Isengard, trapping Saruman in his tower. Aragorn arrives at Helm's Deep, warning Théoden of Saruman's army approaching. Théoden prepares for battle despite being vastly outnumbered. A company of Lothlorien Elves arrives to aid

3150-808: The King . In 2021, the Library of Congress selected The Fellowship of the Ring for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In the Second Age of Middle-earth , the lords of Elves , Dwarves , and Men are given Rings of Power . Unbeknownst to them, the Dark Lord Sauron forges the One Ring in Mount Doom , instilling into it

3240-548: The Rangers. Learning of the One Ring, Faramir takes his captives to Gondor to bring the Ring to his father Denethor . Passing through the besieged city of Osgiliath, Frodo tries to explain to Faramir the true nature of the Ring, and Sam explains that Boromir was driven mad by its power. A Nazgûl nearly captures Frodo, who falls under the Ring's power, but Sam saves him and reminds a disheartened Frodo that they are fighting for

3330-508: The Rankin and Bass TV specials. In 1995, while completing post-production on The Frighteners , Jackson and Fran Walsh discussed making an original fantasy film, but could not think of a scenario that was not Tolkien-esque, and eventually decided to look up the film rights. They went to Harvey Weinstein from Miramax , who got the rights from Saul Zaentz. Jackson knew it would take multiple films to do Tolkien justice, but initially pitched

3420-462: The Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films , the films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood , Ian McKellen , Liv Tyler , Viggo Mortensen , Sean Astin , Cate Blanchett , John Rhys-Davies , Christopher Lee , Billy Boyd , Dominic Monaghan , Orlando Bloom , Hugo Weaving , Andy Serkis , and Sean Bean . Set in

3510-480: The Ring for himself. The trio witness the Witch-king of Angmar , lord of the nine Nazgûl , setting off towards Gondor with his army of Orcs . Gollum frames Sam for eating food supplies and desiring the Ring; Frodo is deceived and orders Sam to go home. As King Théoden gathers his army, Elrond tells Aragorn that Arwen is dying, having refused to leave Middle-earth. Elrond gives Aragorn Andúril , reforged from

3600-451: The Shire for one last adventure and leaves his inheritance, including the Ring, to his nephew Frodo . Gandalf investigates the Ring, discovers its true nature, and learns that Gollum was captured and tortured by Sauron's Orcs, revealing two words during his interrogation: "Shire" and "Baggins." Gandalf returns and warns Frodo to leave the Shire. As Frodo departs with his friend, gardener Samwise Gamgee , Gandalf rides to Isengard to meet with

3690-476: The Video Essay Podcast, featuring interviews with prominent video essayists. The Lord of the Rings (film series) The Lord of the Rings is a trilogy of epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson , based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by English author J. R. R. Tolkien . The films are titled identically to the three volumes of the novel: The Fellowship of

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3780-566: The Witch-king with Merry's help before Théoden dies in his niece's arms. Aragorn arrives with his Army of the Dead, who overcome Sauron's forces. Their oath fulfilled, the Dead are released from their curse. Aragorn decides to march on Mordor to distract Sauron from Frodo and Sam; all of Sauron's remaining forces march to meet Aragorn's diversion , allowing the hobbits to reach Mount Doom. Gollum, having survived his fall, attacks, but Frodo enters

3870-590: The Witch-king, departs Middle-earth for the Undying Lands with his uncle Bilbo , Gandalf, and the Elves. He leaves Sam the Red Book of Westmarch , which details their adventures. Jackson began abstract discussions on casting during the development of the scripts with Miramax. Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens compiled a casting wishlist, which included Cate Blanchett for Galadriel and Ian Holm for Bilbo. Wondering whether Patrick Stewart would be right for

3960-529: The books. To allow the story to be clearer for viewers, Jackson took a more chronological approach to the story than Tolkien's complex interlacing of storylines . During shooting, the screenplays continued to evolve, in part due to contributions from cast members looking to further explore their characters. Earlier versions of the script included additional characters like Fatty Bolger, Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir, Erkenbrand, Imrahil, and Forlong. At one point, Jackson even considered reintroducing Tom Bombadil in

4050-558: The defenders, but the enormous Orc army breaks into the city. Denethor attempts to burn himself and Faramir on a pyre , but Pippin alerts Gandalf and they rescue Faramir. Denethor, set ablaze, jumps to his death. Théoden arrives and leads his army against the Orcs. Despite initial success in the ensuing battle , they are decimated by the Oliphaunt -riding Haradrim and the Witch-king mortally wounds Théoden; however, his niece Éowyn slays

4140-643: The entire period, amounting to over 1,000 shooting days. Weta Digital developed new technologies to allow for the groundbreaking digital effects required for the trilogy, including the development of the MASSIVE software to generate intelligent crowds for battle scenes, and advancing the art of motion capture , which was used on bipedal creatures like the Cave Troll or Gollum . With Jackson's future films, motion-capture technology came to be pushed so far that it became referred to as "digital makeup", although it

4230-466: The erupting Mount Doom and are saved by Gandalf with the help of eagles . The surviving Fellowship is happily reunited in Minas Tirith. Aragorn is crowned King of Gondor and marries Arwen; they and everyone else present bow to the hobbits. The hobbits return home to the Shire , where Sam marries Rosie Cotton. Four years later, Frodo, still plagued by trauma and the pain of his wound inflicted by

4320-612: The extended version of the films. Previous attempts to film J. R. R. Tolkien 's works were made by William Snyder , Peter Shaffer and John Boorman . These attempts resulted in a couple of unproduced scripts, concept art and an animated short. Other filmmakers and producers to have had an interest in adapting Tolkien are said to include Walt Disney , Al Brodax , Forrest Ackerman , Denis O'Dell (who considered Richard Lester to direct, but instead approached David Lean , Stanley Kubrick , and Michelangelo Antonioni ) and George Lucas . The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through

4410-541: The fictional world of Middle-earth , the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Company of the Ring embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring to defeat its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron . The Company eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and, eventually, the treacherous Gollum . Meanwhile, Aragorn , heir in exile to the throne of Gondor , along with

4500-541: The films at 4K , but both were cost-prohibitive and could not be done on New Zealand soil. They decided to shoot on fine-grain Super 35 mm film and subject the films to rigorous digital grading. Principal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in many locations within New Zealand's conservation areas and national parks . Filming took place between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The series

4590-590: The fires of Mount Doom. Frodo volunteers to take the Ring, accompanied by Gandalf, Sam, Merry, Pippin, the Elf Legolas , the Dwarf Gimli , Boromir of Gondor, and Strider—who is actually Aragorn, Isildur's heir and the rightful King of Gondor. Bilbo, now living in Rivendell, gives Frodo his sword Sting, and a chainmail shirt made of mithril . The Company of the Ring makes for the Gap of Rohan, but discover it

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4680-495: The first half of The Lord of the Rings . While profitable, the film did not make enough money to automatically warrant the sequel which would close the story and an argument with producer Saul Zaentz led Bakshi to abandon the project. Rankin/Bass then followed in 1980 with an animated TV adaptation of The Return of the King . Several other Tolkienesque fantasy films were produced at the time, including Jim Henson and Frank Oz 's The Dark Crystal and Lucas's Willow . At

4770-521: The fortress of the Hornburg at Helm's Deep . Gandalf departs to find Éomer and his followers, hoping they will fight for their restored king. Aragorn befriends Théoden's niece, Éowyn , who becomes infatuated with him. When the refugees travelling to Helm's Deep are attacked by Saruman's Warg -riding Orcs, Aragorn falls from a cliff and is presumed dead. He is found by Théodred's horse Brego and rides to Helm's Deep, witnessing Saruman's army marching toward

4860-623: The fortress. In Rivendell , Arwen is told by her father Elrond that Aragorn will not return. He reminds her that if she remains in Middle-earth, she will outlive Aragorn by thousands of years, and she reluctantly departs for Valinor . Elrond is contacted by Galadriel of Lothlórien , who convinces him that the Elves should honour their alliance to men, and they dispatch a company of Elves to Helm's Deep. In Fangorn, Merry and Pippin meet Treebeard , an Ent . Convincing Treebeard that they are allies, they are brought to an Ent Council, where

4950-531: The good still left in Middle-earth. Impressed by Frodo's resolve, Faramir releases them. Feeling betrayed by his capture, Gollum decides he will reclaim the Ring by leading Frodo and Sam to Shelob upon arriving at Cirith Ungol . The hobbit Déagol discovers the One Ring in a river while fishing with his cousin Sméagol . The Ring immediately ensnares Sméagol's mind, and he kills his cousin for it. Increasingly corrupted physically and mentally, he retreats into

5040-406: The hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt Films before being sold perpetually to United Artists . In 1976, UA passed the rights to The Lord of the Rings (and a part of the rights to The Hobbit ) to Fantasy Films . In 1977, an animated adaptation of The Hobbit was produced as a TV special by Rankin and Bass and in 1978 Ralph Bakshi made an animated feature of

5130-511: The medium (or as film scholar Eric Faden called it "media stylos") has its roots in academia , it has grown dramatically in popularity with the advent of online video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo . In 2021, the Netflix series Voir premiered featuring video essays focusing on films like 48 Hrs and Lady Vengeance . Fellow video essayist Thomas Flight observes videos about popular media receiving more clicks as part of

5220-437: The medium's activist potential. Because the video essay format is digestible yet often emotionally impactful and can be created without requiring expensive equipment, it has served as a crucial tool for filmmakers and community organizers who have been marginalized from mainstream film criticism and media production. Youtuber and critic Jacob Geller has received acclaim for his videos on art and social justice , and published

5310-489: The mountain. There, he succumbs to the Ring's power, putting it on his finger. Gollum bites Frodo's finger off and reclaims the Ring, leading to a scuffle before they stumble off the ledge. Frodo clings to the ledge and Sam pulls him up while Gollum falls into the lava with the Ring, destroying it and vanquishing Sauron once and for all. The lands of Mordor collapse into the earth, destroying the Orc army. Frodo and Sam narrowly escape

5400-604: The part (both declined). When von Sydow inquired for the part later, his agent told him they were looking for an English actor. While casting, Jackson looked for backup options for the various parts, including Lucy Lawless and Nicole Kidman for Galadriel; Anthony Hopkins or Sylvester McCoy (eventually cast as Radagast in The Hobbit trilogy) for Bilbo; Paul Scofield , Jeremy Irons , Malcolm McDowell , or Tim Curry for Saruman. For Gandalf, they looked into Tom Baker , Tom Wilkinson , Sam Neill , Bernard Hill (who

5490-594: The part of Gandalf, Philippa Boyens drew a tape of him performing opposite Ian McKellen, only to suggest the latter to Jackson. McKellen became Jackson's first choice for Gandalf. Christopher Lee sent Jackson a photograph of himself in a wizard's costume, wanting to play Gandalf, but Jackson decided Lee would instead be better as Saruman. Miramax wanted a recognisable name for Gandalf and suggested Max von Sydow or Paul Scofield and, wanting an American star, even mentioned Morgan Freeman . When New Line took over, they suggested Christopher Plummer or Sean Connery for

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5580-455: The people of Rohan, shortly before Saruman's army attacks the fortress. The Uruk-hai breach the outer wall with explosives and during the ensuing charge, killing the Elves' commander, Haldir. The defenders retreat into the keep, where Aragorn convinces Théoden to meet the Uruk-hai in one last charge. At dawn, as the defenders are overwhelmed, Gandalf and Éomer arrive with the Rohirrim, turning

5670-498: The personal voice of a guiding narrator (often the director) with a wide swath of other voices". The University of Wisconsin Cinematheque website echoes some of Gray's comments; it calls a film essay an "intimate and allusive" genre that "catches filmmakers in a pensive mood, ruminating on the margins between fiction and documentary" in a manner that is "refreshingly inventive, playful, and idiosyncratic". Sources: While

5760-481: The project; but Jackson also relied on the work of Ted Nasmith, who later turned down an offer to join Alan and John. Jackson wanted realistic designs in the style of historical epics rather than fantasy films, citing Braveheart as an inspiration: It might be clearer if I described it as an historical film. Something very different to Dark Crystal or Labyrinth . Imagine something like Braveheart , but with

5850-530: The raid but leaves the group with two horses. In Fangorn, Aragorn's group encounters Gandalf, who, after dying in battle fighting the Balrog, was resurrected as Gandalf the White to help save Middle-earth . Gandalf leads the trio to Rohan's capital, Edoras , where Gandalf frees Théoden from Saruman's control. Aragorn stops Théoden from executing Wormtongue, who flees. Learning of Saruman's plans to destroy Rohan with his Uruk-hai army, Théoden evacuates his citizens to

5940-586: The scripts took shape, it became clear that the budget required would exceed Miramax's capabilities. The Weinsteins suggested cutting the project to one film. Jackson inquired whether it could be around four hours in duration, but Miramax insisted on two hours, suggesting major cuts to the story, which Jackson refused. Harvey Weinstein threatened to replace Jackson with screenwriter Hossein Amini and directors John Madden or Quentin Tarantino . Jackson believed this

6030-447: The series with Christian Rivers , Fran Walsh , and Philippa Boyens in 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time. Jackson, Walsh, and Boyens did not write each film to correspond exactly to its respective book, opting instead to write a three-part adaptation with some sequences missing, some sequences created from scratch, and some sequences moved from one area to another, regardless of its placement in

6120-454: The shards of King Elendil 's sword Narsil , and urges him to claim Gondor's throne, to which he is heir. Aragorn travels the Paths of the Dead with Legolas and Gimli and pledges to release the ghosts there from their curse should they come to Gondor's aid. Gollum tricks Frodo into venturing alone into the giant spider Shelob 's lair. Frodo narrowly escapes and confronts Gollum, who falls down

6210-552: The short story " The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas " by Ursula K. Le Guin ), she announced her retirement from YouTube and content creation, citing cancel culture and online harassment. In June 2022, Ellis resurfaced publicly at Vidcon, where she discussed her life following her online retirement and the impact it had on her own mental health. Ellis announced through her Patreon that, while she still intended to never return to YouTube, she would be releasing new content exclusively through Nebula, with her patrons getting free access as

6300-435: The studio deemed too young. After shooting began, Jackson agreed and decided to recast the role. They approached Viggo Mortensen , but also spoke to Russell Crowe (who auditioned for Boromir previously), as a backup choice. Patrick McGoohan , their first choice for Denethor, proved "quite grumpy" when they met, and they instead looked into Donald Sutherland and John Rhys-Davies , and ultimately cast John Noble . Davies

6390-537: The themes of deception, "fakery", and authenticity in general. David Winks Gray's article "The essay film in action" states that the "essay film became an identifiable form of filmmaking in the 1950s and '60s". He states that since that time, essay films have tended to be "on the margins" of the filmmaking the world. Essay films have a "peculiar searching, questioning tone ... between documentary and fiction" but without "fitting comfortably" into either genre. Gray notes that just like written essays, essay films "tend to marry

6480-563: The tide of the battle. The surviving Uruk-hai flee into Fangorn Forest and are killed by the trees. Gandalf warns that Sauron will retaliate. Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes to the Black Gate , but recommends they enter Mordor by another route. Frodo and Sam are captured by Rangers of Ithilien led by Faramir , younger brother of the late Boromir . Frodo helps Faramir catch Gollum to save him from being killed by

6570-537: The time of the release of Bakshi's film, a teenaged Peter Jackson had not read the book, but "heard the name", and went to see the film: "I liked the early part—it had some quaint sequences in Hobbiton, a creepy encounter with the Black Rider on the road, and a few quite good battle scenes—but then, about half way through, the storytelling became very disjointed and disorientating and I really didn't understand what

6660-499: The top 50 creators on the platform. Throughout her career online, Ellis has been subject to multiple campaigns of online harassment . One such campaign occurred after she compared the film Raya and the Last Dragon to Avatar: The Last Airbender on Twitter , which detractors perceived to be a racist generalization of media featuring Asian people . In a 2021 Patreon blog post titled "Walking away from Omelas" (an allusion to

6750-478: The trilogy would be successful, which led them to sign on. Final cut rights were shared contractually between Jackson and Bob Shaye, but there was never any interference in Jackson's cut. Initially, each film had a production budget of $ 60 million, but New Line accepted Jackson's request for an increased budget after a 26-minute preview of The Fellowship of the Ring was presented at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival . Jackson began storyboarding and screenwriting

6840-616: The video essay economy. In 2017, Sight & Sound , the magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI), started an annual polls of the best video essays of the year. The 2021 poll reported that 38% of the essayists whose work received a nomination are female (which implies an increase of the 5% from the previous year), and that predominantly the video essays are in English (95%). Frequently cited examples of video essayists and series include Every Frame

6930-531: The wizard Saruman but discovers his betrayal and alliance with Sauron, who has dispatched his nine undead Nazgûl servants to find Frodo. Frodo and Sam are joined by fellow hobbits Merry and Pippin , and they evade the Nazgûl before arriving in Bree , where they are meant to meet Gandalf at the Inn of The Prancing Pony. However, Gandalf never arrives, having been taken prisoner by Saruman. The hobbits are then aided by

7020-405: The workshop is attended by 15 scholars working in film and media studies or a related field, whose objects of study involve audio-visual media, especially film, television, and other new digital media forms. In 2018, Tecmerin: Revista de Ensayos Audiovisuales began as another peer-reviewed academic publication exclusively dedicated to videographic criticism. The same year Will DiGravio launched

7110-527: Was a finalist for the 2019 Hugo Award for Best Related Work . Ellis was one of the founders of the Standard creator community along with Dave Wiskus, CGP Grey , Philipp Dettmer , and many other creators. Through Standard, she has released most of her content on Standard's Nebula streaming video service, including an extended cut on Tom Hooper 's Les Misérables . She releases content early on Patreon , where she has over 9,000 patrons, making her one of

7200-446: Was an empty threat to get him to concede to making a one-film version himself. Harvey Weinstein eventually relented and agreed to put the project into turnaround , but his onerous conditions were meant to prevent the project from being taken up by another studio. Jackson got an audience with New Line CEO Robert Shaye , who accepted the project, but requested that it be expanded into a trilogy. New Line had many promising reasons that

7290-412: Was going on. However, what it did do was to make me want to read the book—if only to find out what happened!" Jackson bought a tie-in paperback edition. He later read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion and listened to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation. Assuming someone would one day adapt it to a live-action film, Jackson read up on some previous attempts to bring the piece to the screen. He had not watched

7380-414: Was instead cast as Théoden), and Peter O'Toole , and into several older actors who auditioned for other parts, such as Patrick McGoohan and Anthony Hopkins . Miramax and Jackson discussed Daniel Day-Lewis for Aragorn, starting "fanciful internet speculation" that Day-Lewis was approached for the part numerous times, although Jackson eventually inquired about him. Jackson cast Stuart Townsend , whom

7470-540: Was later clarified that during The Lord of the Rings period, it was still fairly reliant on the CG animators. Each film had the benefit of a full year of post-production time before its respective December release, often finishing in October–November, with the crew immediately going to work on the next film. Jackson originally wanted to edit all three films with Jamie Selkirk , but this proved too much work. The next idea

7560-836: Was one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken , with a budget of $ 281 million (equivalent to $ 514 million in 2023). The first film in the series premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001; the second film premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 5 December 2002; the third film premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on 1 December 2003. An extended edition of each film

7650-554: Was recast as Gimli, instead of Billy Connolly (later cast as Dáin in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ), Robert Trebor , and Timothy Spall . In conversations with Miramax, Liam Neeson 's name came up for Boromir, but he declined. New Line suggested Nicolas Cage , but the filmmakers declined and cast Sean Bean . The following are the cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in

7740-529: Was released on home video a year after its release in cinemas. The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made . It was a major financial success and is among the highest-grossing film series of all time , having grossed over $ 2.9 billion worldwide. Their faithfulness to the source material was a subject of discussion. The series received numerous accolades , winning 17 Academy Awards out of 30 total nominations, including Best Picture for The Return of

7830-413: Was shot at many different locations, with seven different units shooting, and soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown . Along with Jackson directing the whole production, other unit directors included John Mahaffie , Geoff Murphy , Barrie M. Osborne , Rick Porras , George Marshall Ruge , and any other assistant director, producer, or writer available. Miniature Photography took place throughout

7920-511: Was the antecedent to the cinematic essay include Georges Méliès and Bertolt Brecht . Méliès made a short film about the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII , which mixes actual footage with shots of a recreation of the event. Brecht was a playwright who experimented with film and incorporated film projections into some of his plays. Orson Welles made an essay film in his own pioneering style, released in 1974, called F for Fake , which dealt specifically with art forger Elmyr de Hory and with

8010-431: Was to have John Gilbert , Michael Horton , and Selkirk, respectively, editing the three films simultaneously, but after a month that proved too difficult for Jackson, and the films were edited in consecutive years, although Selkirk continued to act as "Supervising Editor" on the first two entries. Daily rushes would often last up to four hours, and by the time The Fellowship of the Ring had been released, assembly cuts of

8100-467: Was unsuccessful. With The Hobbit postponed for a later prequel, Jackson proceeded with making two or more Lord of the Rings films: "We pitched the idea of three films and Miramax didn't really want to take that risk, but we agreed on two." He began writing the scripts with Walsh and Stephen Sinclair , storyboarding with Christian Rivers , and discussing casting ideas with the Weinsteins. As

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