Elijah Wood has been visiting the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota this week to talk to students about digital filmmaking, reports the Herald Tribune. Wood entered the film industry as a child and has a wide range of experience in different filming techniques so knows first-hand about everything from working with green screens and motion capture to acting with digital characters. He said “When I was working on ‘Lord of the Rings,’ I was constantly going into the digital department. It was fun to see what it takes to make a character like Gandalf come to life. I don’t just love film or acting, I’m intrigued by every element of it,” adding that “Working with technology is fun and challenging but at the end of the day, the truth of the story is still what’s most important.”
Wood praised the digital and animation facilities at the RCAD. “I don’t think anything like this has ever existed,” he said. “The industry has changed so much and the playing field is so different. You can put in a young person’s hands a much more sophisticated set of tools. It feels like an exciting time to be a young filmmaker.”
In it’s press release the College President said “We are looking forward to Elijah Wood sharing his experience with our filmmaking students. He has been the central lead in an impressive roster of fine film and television projects and his unique viewpoint as one of the younger actors to have worked with our students. Having ‘grown up’ in the business, Elijah has an incredible amount of experience for someone his age and we think he will be a particularly insightful guest for our students.”
Having recently been filming The Hobbit , Wood must certainly be up to date with some of the very newest filming techniques and it must have been fascinating for the students to have the opportunity to talk to him.
