How tall is Gimli and what is John Rhys-davies height?

[PipaHappyHobbit]

How did they make acter - John Rhys-Davies appear short like a dwarf?

Pip

 

[lilhobo]

cut him off at the knees

 

[Kiroshar]

Well you see, they have this sort of Ray Gun shrinking thing ...

Actually, most of the time you see Gimli as a dwarf, it isn't John Rhys-Davies; it is a stand in.

 

[Theoden_king]

They used a lot of force perspective shots as well as stand ins, this is where one actor will be stood a couple of feet behind everyone else but the camera will make him appear next to everyone else but shorter

 

[GuardianRanger]

Originally posted by Theoden_king
They used a lot of force perspective shots as well as stand ins, this is where one actor will be stood a couple of feet behind everyone else but the camera will make him appear next to everyone else but shorter

In my opinion, I think one of the best examples of the above is when Gandalf visits Bilbo in the early scenes of The Fellowship Of The Ring; especially when the shot is behind Gandalf, looking down at Bilbo as he comes out of his house. There are other spots in the movie where this occurs, but in my opinion, this is the best.

 

[lightingstrike]

Ah you guys are all wrong. You know they used mirrors or something!

 

[Mirabella]

It was done with a combination of camera trickery and body doubles. If you can get hold of a copy of the FOTR EE dvd, there's an excellent documentary on this topic. Ironically, John Rhys-Davies is actually the tallest member of the cast.

 

[Éomond]

Originally posted by Mirabella
It was done with a combination of camera trickery and body doubles. If you can get hold of a copy of the FOTR EE dvd, there's an excellent documentary on this topic.

That's the best place to get info on it

 

[Mirabella]

I adore my FOTR EE....I sleep with it under my pillow

 

[JoS Metadi]

Originally posted by Mirabella
It was done with a combination of camera trickery and body doubles. If you can get hold of a copy of the FOTR EE dvd, there's an excellent documentary on this topic. Ironically, John Rhys-Davies is actually the tallest member of the cast.

They pretty much used every trick in the book, depending on what would work best for a given scene.

And it was a good thing that Rhys-Davies was so big because the height difference between him and the hobbit actors matched the height difference between dwarves and hobbits, so they only had to do 2 scales for everything instead of 3.

JoS

 

[joxy]

Originally posted by JoS Metadi
And it was a good thing that Rhys-Davies was so big because the height difference between him and the hobbit actors matched the height difference between dwarves and hobbits, so they only had to do 2 scales for everything instead of 3.

There's something like this on the FOTR EE; I didn't understand it there, and I don't understand it here. How much difference in height IS there between dwarves and hobbits?

 

[???]

I think it is some camra trick. They did it on the Hobbits, too. I think they...well I don't know. I think it is just made a small person do it. Yeah, I think it might tell you on the EE.

 

[Gil-Galad]

Originally posted by Theoden_king
They used a lot of force perspective shots as well as stand ins, this is where one actor will be stood a couple of feet behind everyone else but the camera will make him appear next to everyone else but shorter

Yes that was one of the most used ways of shooting Gimli,but not only him.The Hobbits were shooted too in such a way in some scenes and in others small boys play their roles.

 

[Kiroshar]

Four ways:


1) Forced Perspective with closed aperture camera for a longer depth of field.

2) Stand in doubles with masks of the characters for back shots, side shots, and long shots. (Only one was a boy, as I recall, the others were adult little people).

3) Kneeling with cinematics that didn't show the hobbits and Gimli below the thighs.

4) Computer animations for some of the distant shots in Moria.


Oh yes, and the Dr. Shrinker Ray Gun mentioned above.

 

[JoS Metadi]

Originally posted by joxy
There's something like this on the FOTR EE; I didn't understand it there, and I don't understand it here. How much difference in height IS there between dwarves and hobbits?

I'd have to check to be sure, but I believe dwarves are around 4'-5' tall while hobbits are closer to 3'6" tall. Human men average 5'10", and Numenoreans a bit over 6'.

JoS

 

[C496]

I think that they used computer editing software and different camera angles.

 

[Emowyn]

Gimli's scale double was a guy called bret. lol! Orli nearly drowned him when they where filiming going down the aduin!