<P> In the Middle - earth storyverse, Hobbits are 3 ft 6 in (107 cm) tall, Dwarves are taller at about 4 ft 6 in (137 cm), and Men and Elves are average human height, about 5 to 6 ft (150 to 180 cm). However, the films used two scale sets instead of three by casting taller than average actors to play Dwarves, then combining Dwarves and Hobbits into one size scale . For example, John Rhys - Davies, who played Gimli, is taller than Elijah Wood, who played Frodo . Thus in the ending shot of the Council of Elrond scene when all nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring are standing together, Rhys - Davies and the four Hobbit actors were filmed all at once, then the human - sized characters (Gandalf, Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas) were filmed in a second take, then the two shots were composited at different scale to make one image, with the initial Dwarf / Hobbit character shot made smaller . A practical upshot of not creating a third scale for Dwarves is that in a scene in which only Dwarves and Hobbits interact, no scale doubles are needed . For example, when they are entering Lothlórien for the first time and Gimli claps Frodo on the shoulder and says "stay close, young hobbits", the entire scene employs no size doubles, because Rhys - Davies is naturally the proportionately taller height needed between Dwarves and Hobbits . </P> <P> Weta coined the term bigature for the 72 large miniatures produced for the film, in reference to their extreme size . Such miniatures include the 1: 4 scale for Helm's Deep, which alongside Khazad - dûm and Osgiliath, was one of the first built . Most sets were constructed to allow compositing with the models and matte paintings . Notable examples include the Argonath, Minas Tirith, the tower and caverns of Isengard, Barad - dûr, the trees of Lothlórien and Fangorn Forest and the Black Gate . Alex Funke led the motion control camera rigs, and John Baster and Mary Maclahlan led the building of the miniatures . The miniatures unit worked more than any other special effects crew, working over 1000 days . Often they held parties to celebrate each landmark, such as day 666 . Their final shot was one of the Black Gate for the third film in November 2003 . </P> <P> Creatures such as Trolls, the Balrog, the Ents, the fell beasts, the Wargs, the mûmakil, and Shelob were created entirely within a computer . Creatures would spend months of creation and variation as sketches before approved designs were sculpted into five - foot maquettes and scanned into a computer . Animators would then rig skeletons and muscles before animation and final detailed colouring scanned from painted maquettes . Treebeard had a digital face composited upon the original animatronic, which was scanned for the digital model of his longshots . </P> <P> Along with the creatures, Weta also created highly realistic digital doubles for many miniature longshots, as well as numerous stunts, most notably Legolas . These doubles were scanned from having actors perform movements in a motion - capture suit, and with additional details created using ZBrush . There are even morphs between the doubles and actors at times . Horses also performed with mo - cap points on them, although deaths are keyframe animation . </P>

How did they make gandalf look so big in the lord of the rings