A typical job description for a teenager usually does not include handling chain mail, sharing workspace with orcs and interacting with a quarter of a million people over a three-month span. However, such tasks were all in a day's work for youth volunteers at the "Lord of the Rings" exhibit at the Indiana State Museum.

Y-Press recently spoke with ISM volunteer Ben Gurin, 15, about his behind-the-scenes experiences at the exhibit, which closed Tuesday evening.

Ben was a regular museum volunteer for about four months before the exhibit's arrival. A sophomore at Hamilton Southeastern High School, he usually works weekends, leading hands-on activities from a "discovery cart" in the historical exhibits. But when he learned that "Lord of the Rings" was coming, he asked for the special assignment.

Ben's job was to oversee a discovery cart with reproductions of medieval armor, which included a helmet, breastplate and chain mail. Patrons were able to handle, try on and compare the armor to that used in the movies, "which actually wasn't made out of real metal -- it's all plastic, but it's still pretty heavy," he said.

Armor had authentic roots

Ben liked the interactive aspects of the exhibit and enjoyed talking with patrons. "We talk about how armor related to 'Lord of the Rings,' like how it affected the plot, and also about what real armor was like," he said.

Working with the armor had its own set of perks and challenges. "My favorite part is just looking at the armor they used for the movie and how similar it is to real-life armor, and how it progresses through the movies. Like in the prologue of the first movie, they've got armor that looks almost Greek and Roman, but later they've got more Renaissance armor, so they really did their research," Ben said.

"The hardest part is lifting the armor. It's 28 pounds. . . . I'm not exactly very tall, and then there are a lot of huge people, so I have to essentially throw it over [their heads]. You get very tired lifting it after two hours," he said.

Indiana was the exhibit's last stop before it returned to New Zealand. It attracted thousands of visitors to the museum, including guests from Peru, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Italy. Many of the patrons were also big "Lord of the Rings" fans -- there was a marriage proposal in a room that features a display of the One Ring, and replicas of Gandalf's cloak, priced at $800, were sold in the gift shop.

Contagious enthusiasm

Ben enjoyed seeing visitors' enthusiasm. "The best part is just to see the people dressed up," he said. "I see people from my school that look very normal walking in the hall, but then when they come, they're, 'Oh my gosh! Do you see what this is!' They're very freaked out about it, and it's kind of interesting to watch them."

Some costumes worn by the visitors appeared to be a little too authentic. "I couldn't tell if (people) actually made them or took them off the exhibit and just wore them, that's how intricate they were," Ben said.

Volunteering for the exhibit made Ben understand the movies and their fans better. While he had seen the movies before the exhibit opened, he doesn't consider himself a "diehard" fan. "You can appreciate (the movies) more when you see how long it took them to make it and how hard it is."

Construction of the exhibit entailed a three-and-a-half-week installation effort. Four people came from New Zealand to help unload and take inventory of 18 trucks filled with more than 200 items. As a volunteer, Ben was able to see this process before the exhibit opened to the public.

"I just like the back scene places, where they prepared some stuff. . . . People would come by and would work on (parts of) the exhibit that you wouldn't normally see," he said.

Like all of the exhibits at the state museum, the "Lord of the Rings" combined learning with fun. "It still goes by the museum's purpose to educate Indiana. You learn a lot about medieval armor, set design and the technology that went into the movie," Ben said.

He stressed the importance of the educational side of the exhibit. "It's very fun, but I think people should realize that there's some history behind it and you can actually learn something. It's not just a really cool movie; it's based on some factual stuff."

Ben said the "Lord of the Rings" exhibit appealed to everyone. "Even if you don't like "Lord of the Rings," you're still going to appreciate it. . . . If you're a big movie fan, you can see how much work it takes. And if you just like the history of it and medieval armor, there's a lot of special stuff about it," he said.

Ben's interest in the museum goes beyond the exhibit. He says volunteering there allows him to dabble in his future career. "What I really want to do is be a history teacher, and it's kind of like a start for that. I get to talk to people about what I really like and ask questions, and I feel like I'm helping the community," he said.

For more information about volunteering at the Indiana State Museum, check out www.in.gov/ism/JoinOurTeam/volunteer.asp. You also can contact Debbie Specht at (317) 232-8351.

ASSISTANT EDITORS: David Glass, 15; Luke Hovee, 16; Mary Hovee, 15.

REPORTER: Colleen Drew, 13.