Lord of the Rings analysis

In the “Lord Of The Rings, Fellowship Of The Ring” the director Peter Jackson uses a series of different shots to create tension and fear for the characters and the audience. The first shot he uses is a long shot at the start of the Ring Wraith scene. In the shot we see the hobbits restricted to a small area of the shot, despite the shot being so big. This makes the characters seem small and very vulnerable. There is also an empty space above the characters on screen which gives the impression that they are not alone and that there is going to be something to join them in that space, this creates more tension that we as the audience see from the characters and feel.

In the next shot, Jackson uses a low angle shot, which shows the hobbits at the bottom of the screen all very close together, this indicates that they are scared and that they are trapped; the director excludes the view of the rest of the area to show that they can’t escape. The ring Wraith is above in the shot and is made to look really big, therefore making him very scary and intimidating, dominating the screen.

The position of the camera then changes to a close up, low angle shot to show Frodo. This makes Frodo the centre of the shot, indicating to the audience, early on in the film that he is an important character. This also establishes that he is the ring bearer so he has more power than the other hobbits because of this. We can see that Frodo is made to look alone and isolated, as he is the only person on screen. He has been made to seem alone because, despite being with his friends, he’s alone because the power of the ring only affects him. If a two shot was used in this scene, it would have a different affect on the audience because it would remind the audience that his friends are there and he isn’t alone so they would feel less sympathy for him and his situation because he isn’t going through it alone. Still on Frodo, the camera changes to a high angle shot in which we see Frodo in a small section of the screen, blocked by the branches and leaves so that he seems trapped.  His body is excluded from the shot to add the image of him being trapped. The audience can see the fear on his face in the close up shot and that will make them feel the same because they feel apart of the shot because they are so close to Frodo.

In the next shot, the director uses cut ins to draw our attention to the horse and the Ring Wraith. These shots establish that this is the bad guy and highlights the darkness of the character, both visually and metaphorically. The fact that the shots are close up makes it impossible for the audience to get a true sense of the scale of this character, which adds to the tension of the scene because they don’t quite know what it is, or how big and powerful it is. The shots are shot in slow motion, which then places importance on the subject on screen, which tells the audience that this character is key to the scene. The metal of the costume creates a lot of noise and is scary to look at; this was because it was designed to create fear, which the audience will feel.