Lord Of The Ring - Return of The King

The clip begins with Gollum convincing Frodo that he needs to go into a dark and unnatural cave. We see that there is a light beyond a corner, which gives us a feeling that there is something supernatural within. A wide shot has been used to make Frodo seem small inside the cave and gives us the impression that as he ventures deeper inside, the more dangerous the environment and the more vulnerable he gets. The light is dim and has a blue tint to it, adding a gloomy feel.

We then seen Frodo’s silhouette against the opening of the cave, this represents how he is leaving safety behind and entering the darkness, the unknown. The low-key lighting means that Shelob could be anywhere, adding suspense. The walls are becoming closer in, symbolising how as Frodo moves, he is becoming more trapped and in more danger. The next shot is POV. This means that the audience are forced to move into the cave with him and allows us to empathize with the character. The cave has unnatural holes in the walls similar to the holes found in hives warning us of the creature inhabiting the cave; there are also webs on the wall, which is what spiders use to catch their prey.

We then see a POV shot of what is presumably the monster, watching Frodo. The frame is almost completely black besides the small light used so we can see Frodo; he is very confined within the walls almost as if he is the target. This creates tension as to when the predator is going to attack. The audience has privileged information as we know he is being watched, although Frodo does sense something is incorrect.

As we get deeper and deeper into the cave, the walls become more confined as if they are closing in on Frodo and the webs are growing denser, telling us that he is becoming more trapped.

The next shot is a mid-shot with Frodo in the background in focus, the focus then moves to the skeleton that look human like, foreshadowing what is to come for Frodo should he stay in the cave. The director uses a low angle to make the bones seem almost more dominant that Frodo suggesting that this is his inevitable fate.  The bones act as visual signifier, warning us that there is something very dangerous with him. Frodo begins to panic and as he moves further into the cave the camera closes in on him so the shot becomes a close-up, this also gives the audience a chance to see the fear in his face. The camera tracks backwards into the cave with Frodo, which once again puts the audience in a place of being forced into the trap.  We see a POV shot with an obscured view showing that something is watching Frodo and the webs are continuing to grow thicker.

Frodo shouts for Gollum but he doesn’t reply which puts him in a place of vulnerability and loneliness. The camera tells us this by positioning us, the audience, closer to Frodo, which adds a sense of confined space and also shows fear.  The light that seemed to be quite a distance away when first entering the cave is now lighting up Frodo’s face, which tells us that we are closer to ‘the end’ of the cave and closer to whatever supernatural thing was causing it.

A POV shot shows us Shelob’s view using a pan to the right; his view is once again obscured by something – a web. This tells us that there is a trap waiting for Frodo. Frodo’s POV is the camera panning from left to right as if he is in a hurry and panicking, because of the POV we are put into his position and it feels like we are the ones making the decision whether to go left or right which adds a sense of insecurity as we don’t know which way is the correct way. Frodo sees more skeletons of creatures that are about the same size or even bigger than Frodo, which tells us that Shelob, is perfectly capable of killing him. We see cut in’s of the different preys that Shelob has killed including a human. We can see that its face is incredibly distorted and looks as if it is in pain; this tells us that they died a long and painful death. Frodo has a realisation and we want to get out of the cave.

Frodo runs to the entrance and Shelob follows, we can see from Shelob’s POV that he is climbing all the walls confirming that he is in fact a spider. The light seems to have almost completely gone out during these shots, which tells us that we have discovered the mysterious and supernatural thing that was in the cave. It also signifies that the hope that there was of Frodo’s death is gone and he has escaped his fate.