Lord of The Rings

Lord of the Rings Analysis

The scene begins with Frodo entering the cave where a long shot is used to frame the huge cave and Frodo in the middle; because of the framing of the cave, Frodo is made to look very small which shows his weakness and makes the audience aware that he is very vulnerable. The cave has been shown with low key lighting which makes us think that Shelob could be hiding anywhere, this create tension as it makes the audience concerned for Frodo’s safety. As an audience, we are drawn to the spot of light in the centre of the shot, this light is blue and very gloomy giving an impression that it is dangerous and asking us ‘what is beyond the light?’

The next shot shows a silhouette if Frodo in a very low key light contrasting to the high key light used as a back light of Frodo, this suggests to the audience that he is moving from light into darkness and escaping the safety of outside the cave. The framing in this shot shows that the further in the cave, the darker it gets, this creates an illusion that the walls are closing in on Frodo and that he is entering some sort of trap; it also shows that he is now enveloped by darkness and that no good is going to come out of entering the cave.

A later shot uses the point of view of Frodo and using tracking shots, panning the camera from left to right, shows the audience the mise-en-scene used in this shot such as the tomb-like walls and spider webs. These features added into the scene tell us that Frodo knows something is there but he can’t see it making Frodo just as clueless as the audience. The webs may have also been added into the scene because arachnophobia is very common therefore this prop would frighten the majority of the audience. A bright spot of light has also been added to the scene, this could be a potential escape however the light inserted looks unnatural. The light has been made to look unnatural so that the audience in the position of Frodo are drawn to this specific spot in the shot, this makes the audience think it is a trap and makes them fear for Frodo’s safety.

As Frodo moves further in the cave, the set becomes almost completely dark however with a tiny spot of light in which Frodo is standing telling us that Frodo is the good person in this film making him more vulnerable. This spot of light also shows that Frodo is in a very tight space and his chance of escaping is gradually decreasing as he moves further on; as we are no longer in the point of view of Frodo but instead watching him, the audience gain privileged information that he is in danger which increases the tension and suspense as we know that Frodo is being hunted however he doesn’t. The camera moves slightly as it films Frodo, this tells us that we ware watching Frodo from the point of view of Shelob and shows that Frodo is being stalked by him which also builds tension.

A low angle mid shot of Frodo is then shown with a back light on Frodo, this back light lights up the background of the scene which shows more spider webs keeping the audience interested and making the tense atmosphere remain. Furthermore, framing is used in the shot to see an extreme close up of part of an object in the corner however we cannot make out what the object is as it is blurred out and the camera is focusing more on Frodo and the background; it is not until the camera begins to focus on the foreground that we realise the object in the corner of the frame was actually a human skeleton. This makes it clear to us that humans have been here before and foreshadows that something bad is going to happen to Frodo, which builds tension and suspense.

The next shot is filmed with a handheld camera; as Frodo moves forward he begins to fill the frame more and more, this suggests that Frodo is becoming more trapped and the back light on Frodo shows that he is moving away from safety; these two features both build tension.