[wordup] Interview with the LOTR armorer

[Adam Shand]

From: http://boingboing.net/2002_12_01_archive.html#90028357
More: http://www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0211/Byko-0211.html

LOTR's armorer and obsessive attention to detail

Rhys sez: "The Journal of Metallurgy interviews Peter Lyon, sword- and 
weapon-maker for The Lord of the Rings films. Possibly the only academic 
journal in which you'll find a discussion of the material properties of 
Ringwraith weaponry."

     So for four years, in an on-site foundry, Lyon focused his skills 
on Middle-earth weaponry. From artists' drawings he crafted swords that 
were designed to reflect their own histories. Those that had seen many 
battles were forged, then aged by applying acid and other chemicals to 
create a pitted, corroded effect (Figures 2a and 2b). The damaged 
surfaces were cleaned to give the appearance of an old blade that was 
still cared for. Swords used by elves were elegant and curved to 
represent their more evolved culture (Figure 3). Orcs who were barbaric 
fighting creatures, carried crude, chunky weapons...

     Such details—the metalsmiths hand-forged more than 10,000 buckles 
for the Orcs alone—pass by so quickly they are nearly impossible for the 
average viewer to notice.

     "Unfortunately, so much of it isn't actually seen in the film, and 
so people would argue, why do it then? Why on earth would you go to that 
trouble?" Taylor said. "Because the real world has a level of subliminal 
detail that supports a cultural inheritance through graphic design that 
gives you the feeling that what you are looking at in the present is 
predated by a huge cultural influence that goes back hundreds, if not 
thousands of years. . .Therefore, every single actor, every single 
character, had a different buckling system, a different belting system, 
a different level of cultural integrity built into the variety of 
detailing on the armoring, to emulate the feeling of this process."