Opening Scene
In the opening scene the power of the ring is conveyed by showing some horrific images and some basic images of the ring, the music is gradually becoming faster and louder in the background causing tension for an atmosphere.
The film begins with a female voice over; this has already set a serene and tranquil atmosphere describing the history of the ring. It begins with a prologue which tells us about the ring and what it is capable of, as the film goes in further in, the music becomes more violent, there is more loud drumming than calm violin strokes, this sets a Hunting type theme and the atmosphere becomes more intense.
When the ring is shown, the camera focuses on it using a close up shot, the music is shown as calm but dramatic, this gives the impression that the ring is intimidating and overwhelming.
The ring appears to be blurred as it is first shown; the colour is faded a bit but it is still brightly shown and there is a fiery background to show the how much rage and fury there is in the ring. When it comes to a significant part of history about the ring, the female voice over becomes louder and clearer, she speaks slowly to make it more intriguing. This would give the viewers the impression that the ring can do many evil things.
The background skips from bright orange and red fire to dark clouds floating in the air and a black sky, there is no clear blue skies and white puffy clouds, this symbolized that evil is spreading rapidly.
The movie has also used colour filters to blur out images and to make lighting not so bright, they use this filter to emphasize danger and to create a mood and atmosphere, the lighting gradually goes from dark to light symbolizing evil and good and this would create a menacing mood for the viewers.
The camera shots zoom in to show facial features, such as a close up shot to show the emotion of people, the big close up shot would be used to make something small look big and powerful, such as the ring because it is small and the big close up would make it more important and it would focus the audience on it more.
On one scene it shows a village being terrorized by Orks sent by a evil Fiend called Sauron. The scene was shown slightly blurred to symbolize fading memory, the atmosphere changes as the village is being burnt down and the people fleeing, this atmosphere is obliterate and scary, the colours turn dark and dim then fading as you hear the villagers screaming as they flee.
The Arrival of Gandalf
On this scene Gandalf arrives in Hobbiton and enters ‘The Shire’.
The mood at this point is optimistic and cheerful, the birds are singing and the sky is blue, the country side grass is pure green and you could hear laughter and cheering. All this symbolizes peace and the atmosphere is joyful.
As Gandalf goes further in, there are hobbits preparing for a party for Bilbo Baggins, a strong sense of community has gathered for the celebration of Bilbo’s birthday.
The music makes this scene more delightful, there is light drum playing and strong violin type strokes, the colours are bright and clear and everything present here symbolizes goodness and happiness.
The camera had used close up shots to show the facial expressions of the hobbits of which they are smiling continuously. Another camera shot is the Medium shot, this was used to show the laughter shared in there community and how joyful they all were, this was also used to show the pleasure of setting up Bilbo’s party.
To show more excitement there were fireworks being fired and loud accelerating party music, the fireworks had patterns on them and they were brightly shown, they had used Bright shining colours to lighten up the darken and dim black sky, especially the biggest firework that Merry and Pippin set off, that had bloomed the sky with orangey red light.
When Gandalf had arrived, everyone in the small village were supervised to see him, the calm music was still playing but more quieter, the hobbits stopped talking and stared at Gandalf has he went passed in his horse wagon, a low angle was shot to show the hobbits looking up to him. The hobbits all whispered ’oh look its Gandalf’ and then the music resumed to its normal volume. Gandalf and Frodo are shown as good people by music, image and mise-en-scene.
The music makes them the goodies by playing calm classical music; they make it seem peaceful and welcoming at times. When they are in danger, the music makes it seem that they are requiring help by playing an escape theme.
The image makes them the goodies by making them bright and cheerful, they make them have friendly faces and innocent actions.
The mise-en-scene makes them the goodies by giving them bright clothing whereas you can tell straight away if a person is a baddy by looking at what they where and what there actions are, for example, the ring wraths, they wear hooded black robes and ride on horses that look half dead with red eyes.
The Castle of Mordor
The castle of Mordor is a forbidden place to be. It stands tall and dark, with many towers and has flickering candle light around the stronghold. Black clouds float over this unpleasant pigsty.
The Music makes this place more frightening by putting on menacing music that freaks out viewers; it makes them seem that they are in a completely distinctive place because of the sharp contrast.
Comparing this scene with the scene with the hobbits, the music converts from light, pleasant music too heavy and loud, it has turned from peaceful to pure wickedness. The director uses the music to reflect the depressing and morbid atmosphere.
The director uses fast movement on the camera to show the terrible castle, with its tall overlapping towers, this gives the impression that the place shouldn’t be viewed for a long time and that you should get out of there as quickly as possible. The camera views, maneuvers from a long shot to a high angle shot to a medium shot then to a low angle shot, this gives us a good idea of what the place looks like and how big it really is.
It shows us a whole view of the castle afterwards, this gives us an intimidating point of view, the place is dark and dim, the background has grassy hills, but instead of lush green grass it is dead, infected grass which is dark, muddy green.
The camera gave us a quick glimpse of what the inside of the castle looks like. It has busting out lava and destructive fire, as the camera zooms back out, you could hear bloodcurdling screeching and screaming saying ‘BAGGINS’ and ‘SHIRE’, this sets a ghastly atmosphere and a gloomy mood.
You could also see that the weather is corrupted because it is cloudy and the whole sky is black, it is as if there is an eclipse over that certain place because it is obnoxious and that it deserves to be unseen.
We know straight away that the castle is a bad place because, the director uses dark and dull colours for an intimidating feel, there is also grass in the background that seems to be lifeless because of its colour which is dark green. We also know it’s a bad place because the weather shows it all, the sky turns black and the clouds aren’t white and puffy they are black and motionless.
Time to Move on
On this scene Bilbo Baggins has been persuaded to give up the ring to Gandalf.
Gandalf came to this decision because he could tell that the ring was manipulating Bilbo, he was loosing control of himself and his personality had changed dramatically. The effect of the ring had a change in Bilbo’s appearance, he became over possessive and protective over it, every time Gandalf talked to him, Bilbo immediately grabbed hold of the ring tightly, he was scared that someone would take it off him. Bilbo also calls the ring ‘my precious’, this signifies that the ring has over powered his mind with it over whelming powers. When Bilbo holds the ring in the palm of his hand, his face screws up, it seems to be addictive like taking a drug that changes your whole personality.
The camera uses a big close up shot to show the small ring in Bilbo’s hand, it makes it seem that the ring is powerless because it is plain when its not been touched by fire. The camera also goes into a close up shot when he goes into a trance.
