SSC Film Studies

The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring Analysis – opening montage

The beginning of the montage begins with only a black screen and the start of a non-diegetic voice over, which narrates the happenings throughout the montage. The voice is speaking partly English and partly Elven, which immediately identifies the genre of the film as fantasy. The title of the film fades in, before fading back out to leave us with a plain black screen. The first picture shot shown is the making of the rings. This is a close up, and immediately shows that the rings have full focus of the film. The voice over talks about how the rings are distributed, “three were given to the elves”, “seven to the dwarves” and “9 were given to mankind”, and shows a series of wide shots of these creatures receiving their rings and inspecting them. The men are significantly the most intimidating of all, moving very slowly and taking the rings tight-fistedly.

The screen fades out from this image, before fading back in with a map of Middle Earth. This establishing shot is used to show where the events being described are taking place, in a fantasy world. This shot is followed by yet another establishing shot, this time focusing on Mordor, the more refined setting for the on-goings in the film. The scene then cuts to a shot of Mordor, a very wide establishing shot. In this shot, Mordor is very dark, shadowy and surrounded by flames. These flames are symbolic of the danger that is Mordor.

The following shot is an extreme close up on Saurons face, surrounded by fire. This theme linking fire and danger is a recurring one that continues to show throughout the scene. Saurons mask is metal, and his eyes merely black holes, so where the audience is supposed to see emotion, eerily enough, there is none. This shot is done with all light, to show that Sauron is not hiding anything, and does not have another side, but is pure evil. This shot is wiped by an engulfing splash of flames, leading into a wide shot of Saurons full body. Sauron raises his arm in victory, showing the audience that the ring has power, and that the ring is a success.

Flames, to reveal the ring of power in its entirety, again wipe the shot, linking the danger of Sauron the threat that the ring poses too. This, combined with voice over saying “one ring to rule them all”, demonstrates to the audience the danger that the ring and Sauron combined will impose.

After this, we are returned to the image of the map of Middle Earth, focused again on Mordor. This time, Mordor darkens on the map, as if the paper has been burned. This is to show that the threat once posed by Sauron has now been imposed, and Mordor is in trouble. The map then dissolves to show Middle Earth, in a montage of war and tragedy. There are shots of weapons, children screaming, and more fire before this montage finally ends, and the scene fades out.

When the scene fades back in, it is a wide shot of an army marching, with the voice over confirming to us that this is the army of elves. This is shown by the light colours and silver of their armour, compared to Saurons army of Orks, which are very dark based, with dirty armour, surrounded by shadows. There is again flashes of fire in the scene, used to represent the danger present, and the Orks are seen from a low angle mid shot, to make them seem intimidating.

The next shots show the entrance of Sauron to the scene. This is a mid shot, and everyone around him looks startled and intimidated. Lots of cut away shots are used to show the ring on Saurons finger, showing his ultimate source of power. And also to show his height and mass amounts of armour. All of this, combined with the next low angle shot of Sauron, work together to portray him as a huge threat to the whole of Mordor. Throughout this shot, glimpses of the ring are continuously shown to reinforced to remind the audience that it is the ring that poses the greater threat here. 

The next shot shows the death of the king, and cuts to a close up of his face before Isildor runs to his fathers side. Isildor is shown from a mid shot, as he cut off Saurons finger and the ring, effectively destroying his power. The ring is still hot and flaming, another re-enforcement of the danger the ring can bring and will bring to Isildor. 

After Saurons death, we see a close up of the mask landing on the floor, showing that Sauron is truly defeated. Isildor then takes the still flaming ring, which is surrounded by ash, and keeps it for himself. The fact that the ring is surrounded by ash shows that all danger is gone. The ring is the only threat left.

The next shot is a very wide shot of Isildor striding on his white horse with the ring on a chain around his neck. This put juxtaposes the good in Isildor with the evil. Low key lighting is used in the forest to surround Isildor with shadows, possibly to connote that he is surrounded by evil now that he had obtained the ring, or to show that he is being followed by the unknown. The latter seems more likely from the following shot, when Isildor is killed and we see a wide shot of his body floating in the river, with arrows in his back. The shot then dissolves to a shot of the ring at the bottom of the lake. This connotes that now that the war is over, the ring is forgotten. 

The shot fades out an remains black for a few seconds. This is done to show the passage of time without having to display physically the many years that have passed. The shot fades back in to a mid shot establishing the lake, again dissolving to show the ring, remaining at the bottom of the lake, still forgotten, until a hand sweeps down and takes the ring. Low key lighting is used again to show that the unidentified individual who has claimed the ring could be a darker character.

The shot then cuts to show a very wide shot of Gollum in the cave, who has a very odd silhouette and is surrounded by shadows. The low key lighting in this case is used to keep the audience from knowing what kind of creature Gollum is. The shot then fades out again, to show more and more time passing. When it fades back in, an image of the moon is shown, possibly to show that the ring is dormant and out of use at the moment. There is then a short montage of the forest, before a cut away of the sun is shown. This is paired with the narration saying “it's time had come”, to represent the rings inevitable rise back to power.