?: Thanks for taking time from your busy schedule. Lets start with the lenses you used on the Lord of The Rings.

Andrew Lesnie: I used Zeiss Standard Speeds and Zeiss Ultra Primes, plus Cooke and Angenieux zooms. In addition we had a couple of Canon 150-600 zooms and some Canon telephoto primes. We started with the Zeiss Standards and some Ultra Primes, but I knew that there were more Ultra Primes coming, and ARRI was nice enough to provide us with prototypes of the new lenses, so we had a full set. I like to shoot with new lenses, as the coatings are better and I knew that we would put the gear through some hard times, so I wanted to start at the best possible point - with brand new lenses.

?: Why did you choose the Ultra Primes?

Andrew Lesnie: I had early on decided that I wanted a soft look to the LOTR, but I did not want to compromise resolution. The Ultra Primes have great resolution and very little distortion on the wider lenses. Plus, I knew that Peter Jackson had planned all kinds of photographically challenging setups, so I needed a lens that can handle that. I shot extensive tests with various lenses, and decided to use the Ultra Primes. Unfortunately they were so new that a full set did not exist, so we supplemented with the Standard Speeds, but swapped the Standard Speeds for Ultra Primes as soon as more Ultra Prime focal lengths became available.

?: Was your lens choice influenced at all by the fact that you had planned to put a large portion of the trilogy through the digital intermediate process?

Andrew Lesnie: No, not at all. I did of course a lot of testing, and I knew that it was crucial to deliver a healthy and sharp negative to the process, but otherwise I just used the lenses I thought appropriate for the project.

?: Did you end up with a favorite lens?

Andrew Lesnie: Definitely the Ultra Prime 40 mm. Ironically, it was the last to arrive, but it quickly became the close up lens of choice. Peter's idea of a close up is essentially just the eyes and the nose, and the 40 was perfect for those shots. We often ended up taking the matte box off since it was cutting the light from the actors, we were so close. These films are a testament to the fantastic close focus performance of the Ultra Primes. The problem, of course, when shooting so close is that your depth of field is very small, so I would try to build up the stop to give my focus puller a fighting chance. Another problem was that during hand held shots we kept bumping into the actors with the support rods. So the assistants made rubber bumpers out of hard foam for the rods to protect the actors.

?: Did you use any kind of filters?

Andrew Lesnie: Almost none. One of the problems was that we had so many units shooting at the same time that keeping a filter based look consistent would have been hell. Once I had defined the basic look of the film, I told the other units to keep it as simple as possible and to not use filters unless I specifically ask for them. I also gave them a basic rating; we shot 200 ASA film at 160 ASA, and the 500 stock at 320. For color correction we used 85B and 81EF filters. For the beauty shots on Liv Tyler and Kate Blanchet I used a black net.

?: That was attached to the back of the lens?

Andrew Lesnie: No, I had done some tests previously and found that it does not make any difference if you have the stocking in front or behind the lens, except it is a lot easier to put it in front of the lens. I like to use good silk stocking, and pull it really, really tight over the lens and then fasten it with a rubber band. The effect is very subtle and people are not really consciously aware of it. It is better than putting a piece of glass or acrylic in front of the lens, since those are prone to flaring. Obviously you have to keep an eye on the ambient light and use a matte box to keep stray light out, otherwise that can light up the stocking, and you should watch out for halation when you have a candle or other light sources in the shot.

?: Was that also used for blue screen shots?

Andrew Lesnie: We started out not using it for blue screen, but then we did some tests, and the special effects supervisors told me that they prefer the net on the lens. Even though the net makes it harder for them to get a clean matte, it is ten times harder to replicate the net's effect. Subtle diffusion effects have not been successfully replicated digitally. So we ended up shooting life action as well as blue screen beauty shots with the net on.

?: How important is the lens choice these days when you can do so much in post?

Andrew Lesnie: It is the most important choice you make in the whole camera system. First, different lenses give you a different feel, a different style. And second, some lenses are more user friendly, more practical, and thus allow you to work more efficiently.

?: Thank you for the Interview