¡¡¡¡1. Say That Again©t

¡¡¡¡The hobbits' pointy1 ears are made of foam2 latex3 and then glued onto the actors' ears. Uncomfortable? Yes. But another problem arose. Because foam absorbs sound, Sean Astin, who plays Sam, had trouble hearing his cues while wearing his ears! The solution? Makeup artists eventually cut slightly larger ear holes in the pieces so Astin could hear better.

¡¡¡¡2. Tree Tricks

¡¡¡¡Just because a scene is supposed to take place in the fall doesn't mean you have to film in the fall. Director of photography4 Alex Funke and crew created their own autumn! To bring fall colors to the elf5 hangout6 Rivendell, the team dusted the leaves of fake trees with curry7 powder, dry mustard8, and paprika9!

¡¡¡¡3. Concrete10 Eruption11

¡¡¡¡The scenes on Mount Doom were filmed on an actual active volcano12 called Mount Ruapehu, on New Zealand's North Island. But the flying lava13 bombs were filmed somewhere else: in a parking lot!

¡¡¡¡First a basketball-size wire ball was filled with briquettes14¡ªthe kind used in a barbecue15 grill16. "Then someone stood on top of a tall scaffold17, torched18 the wire ball, waited till it burned at the right temperature, then tossed it," Funke says. "They'd crash down19 and explode on the concrete!" Don't try this at home!

¡¡¡¡4. Live Action

¡¡¡¡Gollum is a digital20 character, but he had a human stand-in21 for his fight scene with Sam the hobbit, played by Sean Astin. Actor Andy Serkis dressed in a Lycra bodysuit22 to go one-on-one with23 Astin. That way, the action looked more real when digital Gollum was layered24 over human Gollum on the computer. "On-screen I'm fighting a digital character," Astin says. "But off-screen I had wrist25 burns and fingernail scratches26!"

¡¡¡¡5. Short Stack27¢Ÿ Part One

¡¡¡¡How do you get hobbits to appear two feet shorter than the actors who play other roles, but it looks like Frodo is smaller than he really is? The most common trick was to film hobbits from farther away than the other characters. "We'd shoot Frodo about 14 feet away from the camera. Then we'd shoot Gandalf about eight feet from the camera," Funke says. "When we merge28 the two clips29, they're standing next to each other.¡±

¡¡¡¡6. Short Stack¢Ÿ Part Two

¡¡¡¡Another trick was to use "scale doubles30" for faraway shorts. For instance, when you see Sam from a distance, it's really a three-foot-tall actor wearing a mask. "Artists took a scan31 of my face and created a foam latex rubber mask that my double would wear," Astin says.

¡¡¡¡7. Small Cities

¡¡¡¡Many sets seen from far away are foam "miniatures32," exact replicas33 of cities and landscapes34 only lots smaller. Take the city of Minas Tirith, where a major battle takes place. It's built on a 1/72 scale, meaning it's 72 times smaller than it would be in real life. The set is still almost 25 feet high and 40 feet in diameter35!

¡¡¡¡8. Smaller Streets

¡¡¡¡At first the miniature set for Minas Tirith was going to be used only for faraway shots36. But then director Peter Jackson decided to film scary-looking37 winged creatures flying through the streets. Problem was, the streets were only four inches wide¡ªtoo narrow for a camera. So Funke rigged38 the camera with a snorkel39: an L-shaped tube that connects the camera with the lens40. That way, the lens can be steered41 through the streets while the camera travels above the set.

¡¡¡¡9. Kiwiland42

¡¡¡¡All three movies in The Lord of the Rings series were filmed in New Zealand. The diverse43 landscape, from snowy mountains to lush44 valleys, gave filmmakers plenty of options when it came to scenery.

¡¡¡¡10. Something£§s Fishy45

¡¡¡¡Keep your eyes on the swamp46 in the scene where the Orcs are marching over a bridge out of Minas Morgul. Something, uh, drove(hint, hint!) the set artists47 to half-submerge48 an item in the swamp that really shouldn't be there!