The Lord of the Rings: The Sons of Elrond
A Fan Film by Toby and Cody McClure.

Synopsis: The Fourth Age of Middle Earth. The Sons of Elrond have stayed behind—their destinies not yet complete. Their journeys have taken them to the forests of Lorien, where they are reminded of victories of the past and the light of their kin, still sailing the skies.

ORIGINAL MUSIC: We wanted the film to have the same “feel” as the Howard Shore score, but capture it in a unique way we could call our own. Various themes were composed for different aspects of the film, “The Twins”, “Entering Lothlorien”, “A look into the Past” and our favorite, “Earendil” the Elves most beloved star! Our sister, who has great insight into the back stories of Tolkien, helped us write a lyrical journey for the Twins and then translated the lyrics into the appropriate Elvish language. Upon completion we then brought in a very talented vocalist to sing over the orchestra.

DIRECTOR’S NOTES: On Christmas day 2001 our lives were forever changed when we saw The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Since that day the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien have made a tremendous impact on our lives and in everything we do. For all the fans, we hope this film will be at least a small reminder of Middle-earth and the great inspiration it has made in all of our lives.

PRODUCTION NOTES: When this production came about we were going through the most difficult time in our lives. Our older brother, Joe, was in a serious accident in which the doctors gave no hope. We found ourselves in 3 different hospitals and finally a nursing home before we were able to bring him home. This was the darkest time of our lives. We’ve never felt so much fear and hopelessness.

This lasted a total 18 months and then Joe passed away in October of 2005, just 5 days before our birthday. We couldn’t believe it. It’s so hard even writing about it now. We know Joe’s life still has a great destiny and we look forward to seeing him soon.

It was during this time of taking care of him that we happened to celebrate one of our Dad’s birthdays with a Lord of the Rings birthday cake. While picking it up we met the cake decorator who asked us about the logo’s on our shirts (SeaKings). His name was Aubrey Serr and that was the meeting that would birth “The Sons of Elrond.”

DAILIES: We basically had one hour each night to talk with Aubrey, look at the dailies, and work on the movie while tending to our brother the rest of the time. What began as a 12 second SeaKings animated logo turned into an eight-month journey doing things we never dreamed of. All the visuals were created from scratch by Aubrey – from the digital matte paintings to our faces being built in 3D by hand (no scanner available in Oklahoma!). Aubrey put in countless hours including having to purchase a new computer to handle the production. Along with our composing original music to finally finish, we all gave a big sigh of relief when it was uploaded to our website Christmas 2005.

Lyrics from the Sons of Elrond

Twins,
Behold! A star shines
On wings soft as the wind
From the great Sea
Out of the Heavens
On behalf of us
Unto the ending of the world
Hail Earendil brightest of the stars! 

The film was nominated and won “Best Fan Film” at the OneRing Celebration (ORC 2006) celebrating the works of J.R.R. Tolkien by fans worldwide. Special thanks to Catherine Frizat, staff member and now our friend, who made the presentation at the Warner Bros. Studio Lot in Burbank, CA, and of course, to our friend Aubrey who without his dedication and determination made it all possible. Thanks Aub!!