‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ is an action fantasy film. It is about two young hobbits’ conquest to destroy a corrupted ring. On their journey they meet many characters, good and evil. To succeed they must battle their way through ferocious monsters and overcome challenging conditions. The fate of middle earth rests on their shoulders.
During the opening sequence the director uses a narrator to give a summary of the plot. The narrator focuses particularly on the history of the ring, this is significant because the whole film evolves around it. In ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ the narrator relays the story in chronological order so the audience can catch up with the story and therefore will be able to understand it. As well as tell us the plot of the story the narrator portrays different themes in the film. To do this the narrator can build up tension and add suspense.
For the opening sequence of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ to effectively infer to the audience of key themes many different devices are used. In this the opening sequence background music is constantly played. At the very start of the opening sequence the music is soft and slow. It sounds enchanted. This tells the audience the film contains magic, showing it is a fantasy. As the opening sequence goes on the soft slow music becomes more intense. The tempo gets quicker and sounds get louder. This builds up tension before the big battle that is to come. As well as using loud sounds to grab the audience’s attention, the sound is muted on occasions. For example when the narrator is explaining vital points about the ring the music is silenced. This is so the audience a concentrate solely on what the narrator is saying. They become aware that this particular period is important. The director also uses changes in colour and lighting. The audience is greeted with total darkness at the very start of the opening sequence. This shows an element of mystery, which grips the audience, as they want to become aware of what is going to happen. The colours are used to portray the evil in the film. The colours used are orange and reds symbolic of fire, which represents hell. These are shown in the volcanoes of Mordor. Black and grey are used particularly in Mordor to show it’s dark side.
From watching the opening sequence the audience gets the impression the film is going to be full of action and magic. Thus making it an action fantasy genre. The huge physical battle at the start of the film sets it up perfectly. Straight away the audience can see the film will contain many battles with swords and shields. The narrator’s explanation of the containing magic tells the audience there will be many happenings in the film where the audience will need to use their imagination.
The opening sequence for ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ gives a brief insight of what is to come. The director uses the devices available to build tension and portray key themes in the film. After the narrators speech the audience is able to understand the plot and is prepared for the rest of the film. These elements combine to make a successful opening sequence.