The filmmakers made the hobbits look small in The Lord of the Rings movies using a combination of forced perspective, stand-in actors, costume design, and sometimes blue screen effects.
- Forced Perspective: This is a camera trick where hobbits were positioned farther from the camera while other actors stood closer, creating the illusion of smaller size. Moving sets were synchronized with the camera to maintain correct perspective throughout shots. This technique involves different scaled props as well to enhance the effect.
- Stand-Ins/Body Doubles: Actors of the right smaller height were cast as stand-ins or "scale doubles" wearing masks resembling the main hobbit actors for wide or long shots, so the characters appeared appropriately small when not showing the main actors directly.
- Costume Design: Hobbit costumes were made intentionally baggy with long shirts and cloaks to hide the real actors' proportions and make them look shorter.
- Blue Screen: Scenes were sometimes shot without the hobbit actors and composited later using blue screen techniques to insert them in the correct scale.
These traditional practical effects combined created the convincing illusion of hobbits' small stature on screen without relying heavily on CGI for the original trilogy.
