Return of the King Analysis

Return of the King Analysis

The scene begins with Frodo entering Shelob’s cave. The first shot sees Frodo in the shadows, walking away from the only source of lighting, being consumed by darkness, as if he is walking into a trap. The wide shot places Frodo in the middle of it with lots of space around him, promoting the audience to feel like information is being withheld from them. The next wide shot has most of the frame being obscured by the cave walls. The low-key lighting during the whole scene creates suspense and tension, as not only Frodo but also the audience cannot see everything. In this particular scene there is only a small source of lighting off to the left but if you can see Frodo, he is crawling away from it. He is very small in this shot, looking very isolated in a closed space almost like an insect crawling into a web.

The third shot is from Frodo’s point of view, tracking where he walks and what he sees. As it is of the little hobbits point of view the camera is obscured and we, as the audience, don’t get to see what is happening around him. Frodo is currently looking at a wall formation that looks suspiciously like spider eyes, making everyone feel uncomfortable as if Frodo is being watched. The formation its self is gauged out holes that looks very supernatural. As Frodo walks further and further away from light, it is as if the scenes are getting darker as his character is.

This shot begins as a frame within a frame of Frodo’s silhouette in a small, closed off space. The hand held cameras movements are very supernatural and so leads us on to believe this is of Shelob’s point of view. The slight high angle shot makes the hobbit seem weak and vulnerable. Frodo’s ignorance of being watched foreshadows the danger he will face later on.

The mid shot of Frodo that then goes on to a close up of a skeleton gives the audience a visual connection between Frodo and death and makes us fear for the hobbits life. In this scene the audience gets privileged information as Frodo doesn’t see the skeleton and therefore we know something dangerous is lurking in the dark were Frodo doesn’t.

The next mid shot sees Frodo falling into a web; the shot then becomes tighter as the camera is trained of Frodo’s reaction, blurring out the background. After Frodo realises that he is in immortal danger the camera track backwards giving the audience a wider shot of what is in the cave.

The next shot is a mid shot of Frodo that tracks around him to become a close up, filming his reactions as he hears a noise. The cameras movement makes us, the audience; feel that Frodo is being circled by something unnatural. This shot also gives the audience more of a view of the cave and shows the environment to be empty and full of webs.

The next shot is a quick pan of the chamber Frodo has stumbled into and then goes to close up of Frodo as he murmurs Sam’s name, this tugs on the audiences heart strings as we feel for Frodo’s panic and feeling of utter loss. It then turns into a point of view as Frodo looks down and sees a orc like skeleton at his feet.