Filming of Tauriel's scenes began in September 2011 in New Zealand, and was expected to last a year. Lilly said that she enjoyed the calm atmosphere of the set, and the familiar experience of filming with a cast of mostly men, which reminded her of working on "Lost" and "The Hurt Locker". However, she said that the experience of having had her first baby in May 2011 made some parts of filming the fighting scenes harder than she expected, saying, "Recovering from labor is like recovering from a full-body injury, and I didn't realize to what extent that was true until I started training for elf fighting. My hips don't move like they used to move, my back doesn't move like it used to move, my shoulders are sore every day. But it's fun."