How Peter Jackson Creates a Variety of Moods in the Introduction of The Lord of the Rings.

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How Peter Jackson Creates a Variety of Moods in the Introduction of

The Lord of the Rings

The introduction of The Lord of The Rings is displayed with a wide variety of moods. Peter Jackson, the director of the film, helps to develop these different moods so that they entertain the audience as much as possible by using an extensive selection of various camera techniques.

        The introduction to any film is perhaps the most important and somewhat most difficult part of a film. The opening scenes not only needs to communicate with the audience, giving them an general idea of which sort of genre the film lies under but also needs to the create an interesting and attention grabbing atmosphere which can grasp the audience’s attention. Although Tolkein has intended the trilogy of The Lord of The Rings to be categorized as a fantasy, Peter Jackson has taken a more historical rather than fantasy approach to The Fellowship of the Ring, this enables the director to elaborate enough on the extensive descriptions of Tolkein’s fantasy world but also keep the film moving at the same time. The Fellowship of The Ring begins with a dark screen on which the credits are listed; this is accompanied by the ensemble of a choir singing in a low almost haunting voice. This is an effective opening to the film as it instantly set a calm yet surreal atmosphere, which creates a perfect entrance for a fantasy film. When Peter Jackson is satisfied with the setting atmosphere, he then introduces the voice of a woman speaking in a strange, perhaps elf language. This whispery trancelike voice is purely used to help the dreamlike mood to become more distinct to the audience. A translation of the elf language soon follows, here the voice over is spoken by Galadriel, an elf character from the film. The tone of her voice is composed and at a slow pace which gives the audience the feeling that she is immortal and timeless.  The effect of this is extremely useful to the main genre of the film, the whispery voice in the background combined with the serene tone of Galadriel’s voice directly creates a mysterious and melancholy mood which is what the director is trying to produce. During Galadriel’s short monologue her tone gives off a sorrowful atmosphere. She frequently takes a short pause between each sentence and thus gives her monologue a slow pace. The effect of this immediately presents a feeling of sadness and wistfulness. The surreal and poignant background music soon becomes a motif in the film, which is often used to enhance the mood of sadness and melancholy.

        The director, Peter Jackson moves Tolkein’s long historical descriptions of his fantasy world by having the voice over of Galadriel. Her voice over covers the history of how the rings had come to be, however unlike her short monologue at the beginning of the film her tone here is more narrative-like which is a contrast from her wistful tone earlier in the film. During this scene key lighting is used, especially to express the status of the elves. The lighting used here is very bright and white; however the use of lighting dimmers as the status lowers to men, who are looked upon as the weaker race. The feeling of status is also expressed throughout the tone evident in Galadriel’s voice. She speaks of the elves as ‘wisest and fairest of all being’ with extreme significance while she describes men as people ‘who above all else desire power’. The word ‘power’ is pronounced with a hint of irony, although the mood here is somewhat lighter than the beginning of the film however the effect of the lighting being dimmer and the irony of the word ‘power’ soon replaces the forlorn mood with a hint of anger, which is left for development later, when the audience witnesses the destructions caused by Sauron.

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Before Sauron is first introduced onto the screen, there is a slight pause in Galadriel’s account and during this short pause the screen fades into a black background. Here the director is trying to create a slight suspense in the audience’s mood, which is far more effective than just simply presenting Sauron at the end of a sequence. By dimmering the screen also tells the audience the importance of Sauron in the film, the pause used here gives him additional significance. When Sauron does enter the film, instantly there is an extreme close up of Sauron’s face and because the ...

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