From: Leo
I went up to the farm were the crew build a few sets not so long ago. I wasn’t able to look around freely because it’s all private property. I talked a bit with the people who live there and asked them if they’d mind if I took a look around, this was not a problem although they didn’t want me to take any pics on the sets, I assume because they were asked to by a guy named Barry Thompson, I believe he’s head security for LOTR.
They were kind to draw me a map of the area and point out the largest sets (they filmed all over the land, but mainly short shots). One of these sets was called Lothlorien Forest. It was a ten minute walk from the houses and looked like a normal forest, according to the owners the crew had brought in big fake trees to fill up the empty spots, in these trees were the flets on wich the Fellowship (I pressume) hid themselves from the orcs. There was nothing left of course apart from some sprinklers used to keep everything green. The trees brought in by the crew looked like ordinary trees, they weren’t white or something.
The other set was a 15 minute walk from Lorien, and it was hard to tell what it was, it was just a forest so they could have shot almost anything there. On the way I passed three water tanks in wich they kept the water to sprinkle the entire area. According to the people living here the crew stayed here for about three weeks to do all there shooting. I didn’t take any pics of the area (I swear) for some reasons, first of all it was private property and I didn’t have the permission from the owners, second because they trusted me on the ground alone (with my camera) and didn’t ask me to give it to them while I was looking around. And last but not least they gave me some information wich I couldn’t find out myself, they drew me a map and all, I could have walked there for hours and not knowing what I was looking at if I wouldn’t have that. All together, its a trust thing.
