How Amazon Brought Middle Earth to Screens Across the Globe3 min read

The Delicate Balance 

The new season of the RIngs of Power is releasing on Amazon Prime. I wanted to take this time to credit the masterful use of VFX and Practical Effects in this show. 

Many people say that VFX is bad and should never be used while others claim that it’s the greatest and should be showcased. I don;t think it’s really that black and white. I wouldn’t have made a website called UNMASKING VFX if I hated VFX. At the same time, I feel that there are elements of VFX that should be treated far more thoughtfully. VFX isn’t a 5 minute hack and shouldn’t be treated as one. 

I think that the way that practical effects and VFX have been balanced near perfectly in the Rings of Power is masterful. The sheer amount of the show that was done in camera is mind-blowing. While this is an epic, let’s not forget that much of the show was full of almost unnoticeable effects.

Check out this great page on the DNEG(Double Negative, a large VFX Studio that worked on the show) website.

Some would probably say that supplementing with CGI ruins the whole idea of using practical sets and effects. What is actually happening with this blending of the real and the digital is that the VFX Artists are taking something truly stunning and enhancing it for our benefit. By taking real horses and riders on the set and supplementing them with CG horses and riders, the VFX team are adding to the spectacle of an already outstanding scene.

People sometimes argue that all VFX doesn’t look good but in the Rings of Power, this idea is refuted. Having actual, high-quality representations of the subjects on set means that the artists have great reference of how everything should look and move(and reference is everything in VFX). This means that they can study a scene with an army of soldiers and see how a soldier would carry himself, how he would interact with the lighting of the scene, or how he would interact with the other people in the scene. Using this, they can add more soldiers to create a more densely populated scene. This adds to the sense of scale and danger during a battle.

Using VFX to fill in extras in crowd scenes is a common practice and was being used as far back as the original Star Wars episodes. It is not a new practice. I believe that it is silly to say a show or a scene from a show is any less because you heard that not every single element was real. 

The Rings of Power does a fabulous job of creating worlds and creatures that are realistic both for the actors and us viewers. This was achieved using practical sets and costumes mixed with a health dose of VFX. I have enjoyed and continue to enjoy watching these masters of filmmaking working their magic. 

I look forward to seeing this continue throughout season 2 of the show.

If you want some fun Rings of Power content, check out the Withywaffle Podcast. I appeared on this season of the show and it was a blast.