Designing good and evil environments in The Lord Of The Rings

<p dir="ltr">When J.R.R Tolkien wrote a series of fantasy books titled The Lord Of The Rings, he created a universe called Middle Earth, which included several races, each with an ancient past and significant differences between each culture. Tolkien’s level of detail on each character and which environment they belong to is nothing short of extraordinary. It is extremely rare for a fantasy writer to have the ability to illustrate their ideas which have originated from written form, but Tolkien is the exception.</p><p dir="ltr">The purpose of this thesis is to examine the steps taken to arrive at a final set design for The Lord Of The Rings films. In particular, I will be investigating three sets from Middle Earth. I will attempt to decipher what makes a set a utopian or a dystopian environment. Additionally, I will conduct enough research to determine the particular elements in set design, that make it good or evil. There is a particular focus on the original text by J.R.R Tolkien being translated into a visual medium and how director, Peter Jackson used the primary resources available as the basis of the overall set design.</p><p dir="ltr">My research will primarily come from the online behind the scenes videos which offer first-hand accounts from the heads of each department involved in the film, as well as examining interior and exterior stills from the film. I would like to identify specific historical architectural styles, artistic movements and techniques that were applied to each design. I will look for influential theorists, who can assist my understanding on architecture, for example Steen Eiler Rasmussen. In order to support my arguments, I will also find suitable journal articles, like W.H.Auden’s ‘Good and Evil in The Lord Of The Rings’. I will look for websites such as Tolkien Gateway that will give me a more comprehensive grasp of the history of the many different worlds in Middle Earth.</p>