The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Opening Scene

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

The scene starts with a fade in of fire and something being created, and cuts to two different angles of the rings being made. It then cuts straight to the elves hands, and gives a close up of the rings on the hands. This shows the power that the rings have, and indicates that they are important.  It then cuts to the dwarves being given the rings, using a crane shot from above to show all the seven rings. It then uses several different cuts of the dwarves admiring the rings, and of them celebrating it. This shows that the rings are items that are important to the different races in Middle Earth, and indicates the possible dominance and power it gives to the people who bare them. It then shows the nine men who received the rings of power, and fades out them. This shows that the rings are bound to make the men corrupt, and shows that they are only taking the ring so that they can achieve more power over others. All of the shots in the scenes are low key lighting to show how secret the rings are, and indicate that they are possibly evil objects.

It then cuts to a high angle view of the land in a map form, showing that the rings are powerful all over the land of Middle Earth. It then fades out of the map and cuts instantly to a close up of the land of Mordor, and it then cuts to a establishing shot of the land. The darkness of the land shows that it is an evil place, and only the darkest things live there. A close up is then shown of Sauron from a low angle, to show he is evil and powerful. It then dissolves from Sauron’s face to fire shooting across the screen, and then to a medium long shot of Sauron crafting the most powerful ring of them all. It then dissolves again using the fire shot, and shows the ring on a black background with fire around it. This shows that the ring is a thing of destruction and evil, and shows us that the fire that surrounds the ring is the thing that made it, and could possibly be the thing that destroys it. Another dissolve is used by using the fire across the screen, and an extreme close up of the ring on Sauron’s finger is shown. This shows that Sauron is the person in control of all the power of the ring, and the fire surrounding him and the ring shows that it is going to be used for evil and destruction. It then cuts to the map of the land again, with darkness spreading around it. A dissolve is used while the darkness is spreading, and we are shown things such as orcs destroying the land in Middle Earth. This shows that the ring is advancing across the land with Sauron, wanting to take control of the land that the other rings that control the land. It then fades out again into black, and cuts straight away to an army attacking Mordor in an attempt to destroy the ring. Many cuts are used in this scene to show that attacking is going on, and its fast paced to show that the warriors in battle are skilled. Tracking shots are used while we are shown a long shot angle as it shoots across the battlefield to show that a major war is going on between good and evil. It is also used to show the scale of the war, which indicates that it is going to be a battle that decides the fate of the land. More fast paced shots are used to show that the battle is intense, but then is all slows down as it cuts to several people looking at the ring, as they are attracted it the power of the ring, A close up of the ring is shown to indicate that the whole battle is based around the importance of the ring, and it is shown on the finger of Sauron which shows us that its going to be tough to get it. The whole battle slows down as Sauron advances into it, and a very high angle is shown of Sauron as he looks down on all the warriors surrounding him. This shows that Sauron is incredibly powerful compared to the people around him, and the faces of the warriors are shown to be scared as they are seen as low compared to Sauron’s power. Another close up of the ring is shown, to show that it is the thing that gives Sauron is incredible power.  A high angle shot is then used above Sauron to and a tracking shot follows his powerful swings. The angle shows how powerful he is when swinging the mace, and the tracking shot follows it quickly to show how fast it is being swung. More close ups are being shown of the ring to show that it is the thing that is giving Sauron his immense power. Fast paced shots are used when Sauron strikes down Isildur’s father, and the pace of the cuts used slows down to show the importance of the scene, and to grab the audience’s attention.  The scene slows down in speed too when Isildur strikes Sauron, cutting his arm off. This is shown in slow motion to capture the audience’s total attention, as it is a vital part of the montage and film. A close up of the ring in the foreground with Isildur in the background shows how he is now in control of the ring, and that he now has the power of the ring to himself. Sauron is then shown in a low angle as he explodes, with several long-range shots to show how the explosion reaches out to the whole battlefield. A close up of Sauron’s helmet is shown as it falls to the ground to show that he had truly been defeated. Isildur is then defeated, and he is shown in a lake to be dead. The camera stays on the lake, and then it dissolves into the lake to show that the ring had fallen off Isildur’s hand and into the bottom of the lake, showing us that it is lost. The scene then fades out and back in to the lake, to show that a lot of time has passed. The lake is then shown again, and it dissolves into the lake to show the ring at the bottom of the lake. This shows that the ring has stayed there, unfound for years. A hand then grabs the ring at a close up angle, and it cuts to a dirtier hand holding it. This shows that the new owner only cares for the ring, and has forgotten about everything else that mattered. An establishing shot is then used to show where the ring has gone, and shows us that it has moved to a new location. The new holder is Gollum, and he eventually loses the ring to Bilbo Baggins. He loses the ring when the scene fades out of him achieving it, to show more time has passed, and then when it fades back in to Gollum dropping the ring and Bilbo finding it. This scene is important as it shows that a new holder of the ring is found, and the use of camera angles shows how important is it. The falling of the ring is shown in slow motion is fast cuts of it falling to show that it had left Gollum, and then a low angle shot of Bilbo finding the ring is shown to show that he was the person who wasn’t expected to find the ring, and this shows that he is a weak person who is finding a lot of power.  A close up of Bilbo pocketing the ring is shown to indicate that he had kept the ring to himself, which then leads to a shot leaving the mountains in which Gollum lived, showing that Bilbo had left the place with the ring. Another fade out is shown to indicate that even more time had passed, and the scene ends.

The use of sound both skips from diegetic and non-diegetic. It starts with a non-diegetic narration about how the rings are being formed, and the rings being shown when being created. We can hear fire in the background and from the hot metal going into the mould. The use of this noise makes the rings sound more powerful and goes with the future creation of the one powerful ring that is made around fire. A sound of wind is used when one of the elves looks at the ring, and the ring seems to blow her hair back. This shows that the rings are powerful and makes it seem like they can control the elements themselves.  Music is also playing in non-diegetic and the sound of the music changes as the landscape does. It starts with an eerie feeling to emphasise the mysteriousness of the rings, and cuts to a darker feeling when the map zooms in on Mordor. Diegetic sounds are used when Mount Doom is shown, as the fire that shoots out the mountain can be heard as well as seen, and then the fire sound is used along with the fire dissolve. This makes the place seem more destructive and evil, and informs the audience that it is a dark place filled with raging fire. When a close up of the ring is shown, we can also hear whispering. It makes it feel like the ring is actually talking, and gives the ring an even more mysterious feeling. We are shown the towns burning and the sounds of fire are joined by the screaming of people, informing the audience that the ring is the reason of mass killing and destruction in the land. More diegetic sounds are used when the army is marching onto Mordor to show the vast scale of the war that is about to happen. The march of the people can be heard loudly along with the roar of the orcs, and it grabs the audience’s full attention to the scene, informing us that it is about to be an important scene in the film. The music drastically slows down once Sauron moves into the battlefield, and this implies that Sauron is powerful and a person of ultimate attention. The swings of his mace are diegetic, and this shows the audience that he is stronger than everybody else on the field, and informs them that he is unstoppable with the power of the ring. The strike of the mace is almost like lightning striking, and this shows us that the ring is giving him unreal power over everybody else on the battlefield. The explosion of Sauron is diegetic because we see it happen and we see the blast of the explosion flash across the land. The noise of it informs us that Sauron is truly defeated and has lost possession of the ring, and also informs us that it is the most vital part of the battle, along with the dropping of his helmet to show that he is truly gone for now. Non-diegetic music is used throughout the whole scene along with the talking of the elf, but diegetic sound is used when Gollum speaks to inform us about the new bearer of the ring, and the gritty sound of his voice informs us that he has been corrupted by the ring. When the ring is dropping and leaving Gollum, the sound of it bouncing on rocks is amplified to a louder noise to show that the ring has chosen to leave him, and shows that it is about to make an impact on the world again as we know that it will be found by another bearer who will take it out of the mountains. The sound of Gollum screaming is important as it tells us that he had been majorly corrupted by the ring, and will miss it dearly since he had lost it. This informs the audience of the connection Gollum and the ring had, and indicates that Gollum will be a vital part in the life of the ring. The scene ends after that with the narration and slow mysterious music still playing in non-diegetic that had run throughout the whole scene.