Question: did they film the lord of the rings all at once

Answer: Yes, Principal photography for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was conducted concurrently in New Zealand for 438 days from October 11, 1999 through to December 22, 2000. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2003. The trilogy was shot at over 150 different locations, with seven different units shooting, as well as soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. Peter Jackson directed the whole production, while other unit directors included Alun Bollinger, John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie Osborne, and Rick Porras. Jackson monitored these units with live satellite feeds, and with the added pressure of constant script re-writes and the multiple units handling his vision, he only got around 4 hours of sleep a night.