Before the Cameras Rolled

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Sentence Fluency

The making of a movie takes a lot of work. Read this article about the making of the first Lord of the Rings movie and answer the questions that follow.

Before the Cameras Rolled
by Brian Sibley

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy began with a "storyboard," an aid to filmmaking borrowed from the animation industry. In the earliest days of the movies, animators made rough drawings with which to plot and time their pictures. As those films grew longer and more elaborate, the number of drawings increased, until there were hundreds of sketches lying around on studio floors, propped up on desks and chairs or pinned to the walls. It was one of Walt Disney's animators, in the 1930s, who
came up with the idea of pinning the story drawings onto a board. The storyboard proved a great innovation: it was now easier to read the story of the film and to make editorial changes—moving sequence, changing shots,
altering angles, deleting individual sketches and redrawing others.
Eventually, live-action filmmakers began adopting the storyboard, initially in order to work out the logistics of complex scenes, such as the burning of Atlanta in Gone With the Wind. Some directors, Alfred Hitchcock among them, used storyboards to plot whole films, and today every epic and action movie
will start as a series of detailed drawings on a storyboard. Peter Jackson had full storyboards drawn up for all three films of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and then, before shooting a single frame of The Fellowship of the Ring, he made the entire picture as an "animatic," which is essentially a filmed version of all the

still pictures on the storyboard. One

or two sequences were added in primitive computer animation, a reading of the script was recorded, borrowed music and makeshift sound effects were added and the finished "film" was screened. "The animatic," says
Jackson, "is a wonderful tool and a real help in planning the shooting of the actual movie: you immediately get an idea whether the structure and pacing is right and whether the characters are working."
At the same time, Weta Workshop was gearing itself into action, the films' impressive cast began to be assembled and the actors started preparing for their roles.
"We came to New Zealand," recalls Elijah Wood, "about six weeks prior to filming. We had daily exercises with a personal trainer, learned how to paddle canoes and fight with swords. There were sessions on accents with the
voice coach, a lot of meetings where we talked about our characters and the script and became comfortable with the people we were playing.
But what was important was that we all experienced these things alongside one another, which brought us close together and prepared us for the relationships that we would be portraying in the film."
Preparation for Orlando Bloom began with movement: "That was my way into the character of Legolas. It started with my just walking around a room, finding a walk, a focus, a posture. How does Legolas walk? Or run? How does he sit or stand? I wanted to
find a way of moving that combined elements of martial arts with something almost balletic. Legolas, as I eventually discovered him, is very quiet; he never says anything unless he has to, but he's always there: alert, poised, ready for action, capable of picking up any weapon and using it with the greatest
of ease."
For other actors it was back to the book, or, in Sir Ian McKellen's case, coming to it for the first time: "I hadn't previously read The Lord of the Rings, and when I did, then I was looking at it as source material for the film, so it wasn't really 'reading.' I wasn't sitting down by the fire and getting lost in the world; I was underlining passages,
making notes, thinking 'What does this or that mean for Gandalf 's character?' That is how I prepared for the part, and when we were filming I was constantly referring back to the book. It became my bible and I would have it with me at all times."
Another first-time reader of Tolkien's
epic, Viggo Mortensen, also made extensive annotations. "It's such a big book to plough through," he says. "I needed to make notes in order to keep track of things, to be able to compare the script and the book and make
sense of what we were doing. Although there was no way in which we could put everything that is in the books onto the screen, I knew that there were things in the text that were said by, or about, my character that would be valuable to keep in mind—whether or not they were ever in the script."
Finally, all the preparations that could be made had been made, and—although many challenges were still to be met and many hurdles had yet to be overcome—on October11, 1999, the first take of the first shots of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was committed to film . . .

Essay: Choose two actors mentioned in the article. Compare the ways they prepared for the film, and argue which method you think is best. Support your answer with relevant and specific information from the article.
Remember:

Tell your audience what you’re going to be talking about.

Give specific examples about each actor’s preparation, explain what you think each piece of evidence shows about which method of preparation is better.

In your conclusion, remind the audience of your main points, and why your choice for best method of preparation is superior.

Your essay should be at least 1 page, at most 2 pages.

Ideas
6 (30)

The main message or story is clear and compelling. It grabs the audience’s attention.
The writing shows in-depth understanding.
The piece overflows with interesting details an audience will notice and remember.
The topic is focused with the main points clearly defined.

5 (25)

Makes sense from beginning to end. It is clear and interesting.
The writer knows the topic well enough to write expansively and convincingly.
Many interesting details capture the audience’s interest.
The writer covers one thing well – instead of touching on many things.

4 (20)

The audience can identify the main idea, or make sense of the writer’s story.
There’s enough information for a solid first draft.
The writing includes enough details to make the audience hungry for more.
Narrowing the topic a little would give the writing more focus.

3 (15)

The audience can figure out what the main idea is – or guess what point of the story might be.
The writer knew enough to make a start.
Generalities outweigh specific details.
The topic is too big to cover well – causing the writing to lose focus.

2 (10)

The audience might have trouble figuring out the main message.
The writing fills space without a clear, satisfying message or story.
Details are repetitive, sketchy, or interrupt and distract.
The topic may shift – or the writing turns into a list.

1 (05)

The writer only has first thoughts on paper.

Sentence Fluency
6 (30)

The writing is smooth, natural, and easy to read on the first try.
Almost every sentence begins differently – unless repetition is used for effect.
The piece invites expressive read-alouds that brings out voice.
The writing has an effective, appealing cadence or rhythm.