Making of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' panel: Bringing the Balrog to life was ‘like doing a slight of hand card trick'
'We are privileged to be in this world of Middle-earth.'
So proclaims The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power VFX supervisor Jason Smith, who adds, 'There's a lot of pressure and excitement. Power comes from that.'
More from GoldDerby
'Buena Vista Social Club' director Saheem Ali and writer Marco Ramirez on creating 'a joyful experience' out of the 'beautiful' Cuban record
'Final Destination: Bloodlines' eyes record-breaking $50 million opening as the Weeknd and Jenna Ortega fizzle in 'Hurry Up Tomorrow'
'Forever' star Michael Cooper Jr. admits he was 'petrified' going into his first big acting gig
Smith joined director of photography Alex Disenhof, production designer Kristian Milsted, costume designer Luca Mosca, prosthetic designer Barrie Gower, and editor Joel Skinner for our in-depth Making of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power panel. Watch their full discussion above.
The Prime Video series explores J.R.R. Tolkien's imagined world thousands of years before the events in The Lord of the Rings. The second season chronicles the forging of the rings and rise of the evil Lord Sauron. 'Every morning when I get to see yesterday's filming from Middle-earth, it's like being a kid again," says Skinner. "I don't need to take a jug of coffee. I want to delve right in and see what these guys have been up to.'
Spanning the environments of elves, dwarves, humans, and orcs provides exciting challenges for the team. 'Each and every different universe has its own look,' explains Disenhof. 'I felt like I was working on four feature films at once.' Notes Gower, 'It's very rare to work on a show with makeup effects where almost every character has some form of rubber glued to their face.'
To create this expansive world the team relies on a strong spirit of collaboration. 'Everybody can do things at such a high level of sophistication. Going to work becomes like going to a museum that you have never seen before,' says Mosca. Gower agrees that 'we get our power from the creative people around us.'
In the Season 2 finale, titled "Shadow and Flame," the dwarf King Durin comes face to face with the menacing Balrog in the Mines of Moria. It's the first time the beast has been depicted on screen since its iconic appearance in The Lord of the Rings films. It was a moment that highlighted the way this creative fellowship worked together.
Prime Video
'It's this 40-foot tall fire monster. Kristian and I had to figure where we were going to build the set and how to give the photography that Jason and Joel needed to bring the Balrog to life,' Disenhof explains. 'On the lighting side, we built 40-foot towers of lights which we could control remotely. When the Balrog was lower, the lights could be lower. Then the lights would climb up the towers and get brighter. We had six different cues for where the Balrog was in space. It gave interactive lighting to set it in the real world, to help best show Barrie's prosthetics and Luca's costumes.'
Adds Smith: 'It's like doing a slight-of-hand card trick where each one of us is one finger on the hand. We're all trying to be in concert with each at just the right time. There's more creative problem solving than I'm used to and it's generally cross-discipline. I don't know why Tolkien's world is so suited to this nice combination of practical things and the imaginary, but it makes it a lot of fun.'
The first season of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power received six Emmy nominations (costumes, main title theme music, main title design, prosthetic makeup, sound editing, and visual effects). So far, the second season has garnered award nominations from the Art Directors Guild, Costume Designers Guild, Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild, and Visual Effects Society.
This article and video are presented by Prime Video.
Best of GoldDerby
TV Animation roundtable panel: '#1 Happy Family USA,' 'Secret Level,' and 'Arcane'
'Secret Level' creator Tim Miller explains how he gets writers to create short stories based on video and role-playing games
'#1 Happy Family USA' cocreator Ramy Youssef reveals how animation was the perfect way to capture the middle school experience
Click here to read the full article.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
2025 Tony Awards Predictions: Which Shows and Performers Will Win?
The Broadway season that just ended was the most robust since the pandemic, with record-setting grosses, a plethora of profitable plays and celebrities galore. Serious challenges remain — vanishingly few new musicals are making money — but there is a rich subject and stylistic diversity of offerings. Now, industry insiders face a lot of tough choices as they determine which shows to honor at Sunday night's Tony Awards ceremony, which airs at 8 p.m. Eastern on CBS. Over the last few days, I asked Tony voters which productions, and which performers in leading roles, they deemed the best. After consulting with more than one quarter of the 840 voters, these are my predictions. Expect wins for 'Maybe Happy Ending' … Tell people the plot summary for 'Maybe Happy Ending,' and they immediately think they don't want to see it: It's about two lonely robots in Seoul who go on a road trip and find, well, each other. But over the last seven months, the show has steadily won over fans thanks to strong reviews and excellent word-of-mouth; it has clearly won over Tony voters too. The show has what I believe to be an overwhelming lead over its closest competitors, 'Buena Vista Social Club' and 'Death Becomes Her,' both of which are based on existing material. That's one part of what's working for 'Maybe Happy Ending': Voters over and over say they appreciate that, in an era in which Broadway is dominated by big-brand titles adapted from movies, books or popular song catalogs, this musical has both an original story and an original score. There are, of course, detractors, who find the four-performer show twee, but there are significantly more admirers, many of whom praise the way all the elements of Michael Arden's production cohere — the performances, the direction, the story and the lavish set, with state-of-the-art automation and technology. 'It's delicate and intimate and engaging,' one voter told me, 'and the scenic design came together to support the story in a very unified way.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
7 great TV shows to watch if you loved 'Overcompensating'
Overcompensating, the Prime Video show created by and starring content creator and comedian Benito Skinner had all the perfect ingredients to hook a young audience. The show featured an ensemble cast comprising internet stars like Holmes, Caleb Hearon, and Owen Thiele, as well as A-listers such as Charli XCX, Kyle MacLachlan, and Connie Britton, all set to a fast-paced, joke-filled tone. It centered around a group of young adults figuring out life together with a few hijinks and side quests sprinkled throughout. The show became an instant smash, shooting straight to number one on the platform's most-watched TV shows list less than a week after it aired. Skinner plays a college freshman named Benny, who decides to attend the same college as his sister, Grace (Mary Beth Barone), and forms a quick, co-dependent bond with a young woman named Carmen (Wally Baram). The two figure out college life together and navigate sticky relationships, Benny uncovering his sexuality, and figuring out who they really are. The eight episodes go down easily, and it's one of those shows that if you blink, you'll realize you already finished the season. To help with the post-show hangover, here are some other shows about young people stumbling through early adulthood and figuring it out. - YouTube Adults was released two weeks after Overcompensating, so it's no surprise that two shows with somewhat similar premises are being compared to one another. Some people are even calling the show "cousins," related by way of casting internet personalities with different premises. The FX show follows a group of co-dependent 20-somethings living in Queens, New York, as they navigate various situations, including health insurance, interpersonal relationships, and the complexities of citizenship. It stars a group of actors and comedians who have a few acting credits to their name, consisting of Malik Elassal, Lucy Freyer, Jack Innanen, Amita Rao, and Owen Thiele. - YouTube Sort Of is a show on HBO Max that deserves more love from Americans. This Canadian sitcom follows an acerbic nonbinary South Asian millennial named Sabi Mehboob (Bilal Baig), who is based in Toronto. Audiences watch as Sabi navigates embracing their identity while working as a bartender in a queer bar and babysitting a young couple's kids, all while dealing with a somewhat understanding family. The heartwarming show won a Peabody Award and ran for three seasons. - YouTube Almost everyone agrees that they would not want to relive their middle or high school days. However, it may not seem applicable to Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, who decided to play fictionalized versions of themselves in their early teenage years in the early 2000s. At first, PEN15 is a cringe-fest of uncomfortable yet relatable moments that most young people experience in middle school; however, these moments ultimately bring the two main characters closer together. We watch, over two (very) quick seasons, as Maya and Anna maneuver (physically and figuratively) through unpleasant moments of excruciating awkwardness that come with growing up and learning about yourself. The show delicately addresses more complex topics, such as race and sexuality. - YouTube Three seasons of Derry Girls isn't enough, but we can understand quitting while you're ahead. This Netflix show centers around a group of misfits in 1990s Northern Ireland during the final year of the Troubles. Audiences are treated to a hilarious romp featuring a truly stellar cast that portrays young kids in an all-girls Catholic secondary school, figuring out life amidst political unrest. The group features Erin (Saoirse-Monica Jackson), her cousin Orla (Louisa Harland), their friends Clare (Nicola Coughlan), Michelle (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell), and James (Dylan Llewellyn). - YouTube The title sort of gives away the show's premise. Sex Education follows the show's protagonists, Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield) and Eric Effiong (Ncuti Gatwa), as Otis accidentally becomes an expert on sex at their school. He is not particularly well-versed in that department, but his mother, Jean (Gillian Anderson), is a sex therapist. Having grown up speaking openly about the topic (and being surrounded by videos, books, etc.), he teaches his classmates what he knows. The Netflix series doesn't primarily focus on heterosexual sex, nor does it only focus on intercourse. It has an afternoon special/public service announcement sort of lilt without sounding too preachy, and it substitutes that for interpersonal drama. - YouTube We will never forgive HBO Max for canceling Our Flag Means Death after it released the show's second season. While it may not be a coming-of-age show, it still feels like one. Audiences follow Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) as he becomes the captain of the Revenge. Bonnet, however, is not like other pirate ship captains; he is dubbed "the gentleman pirate" for a reason — he's actually very lovely and a great boss to his underlings, listening to their concerns and allowing them to voice their feelings. The Revenge encounters the infamous pirate, Blackbeard (Taika Waititi), who is initially at odds but quickly forms an unbreakable bond. When Our Flag Means Death announced it wasn't returning for a third season on Max/HBO Max, its creator expressed interest in finding a new home for the show — alas, to no avail. BlackBonnet will live on in our hearts. - YouTube Yes, we know this is a kid's show, but this kid's show has heart. It has themes of love, acceptance, and chosen family, all wrapped into a program that feels like a big, warm hug. Steven Universe follows the story of the Crystal Gems, a group of intergalactic magical beings who are tasked with taking care of the titular character. Steven, a half-gem half-human boy, is figuring out how to use his powers, protecting his town — Beach City — from alien attacks, and learn more about himself. This kids' show is not just a silly, fun time; it also features depictions of queer relationships and made history as the first children's animated show to feature a same-sex wedding. If you're looking for another show about young people discovering more about themselves, we can't recommend this one enough.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
The Wabash Valley Regional Arts and Culture Plan is underway
WABASH VALLEY, Ind. — An effort is underway to help shape the Wabash River Regional Arts and Culture Plan. Today, a second public forum took place at the Vigo County History Center. According to The Wabash Valley Regional Development Authority, they need local voices to help build a vision that reflects the identity of our region. The Wabash Valley River Regional Arts and Culture Plan hopes to not only guide future investments but also create opportunities for connection and growth across West Central Indiana. Bill Rennels, member of the Regional Development Authority Board, said people who are visiting or moving to an area, look into what it has to offer outside of work. 'And for employers to attract businesses, that is one of the amenities that they're looking for. What do people do when they're not working. What do the kids do when they're not in school. So, we need activities that will help develop them culturally,' said Rennels. Garbrielle Smith, Urban Planner with Designing Local said they were looking to see where the community thought funding should go and where the community would like to see more activities. 'Where they are doing things now or where they would like to be doing things. Where we should be bringing programming and facilities to. and what kinds of art they are interested in. So, large- or small-scale performing spaces, different types of specific placemaking,' said Smith. Smith and her team, along with Wabash Valley Regional Development Authority, hope to have the Arts and Culture Plan created sometime this year. The Arts and Culture survey is open through the month of June to share your ideas. You can find the survey here Wabash River Regional Arts & Culture Plan . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
