The Lord of the Rings: The fellowship of the Ring is the first in a trilogy. There are a large number of cast members and 40 scenes in this one movie. For this blog post I will concentrate on Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamee, the troll and the remainder of the group known as the fellowship as I discuss the lighting in various scenes and the incorporation of different colors and tempos of music that impacted the overall outcome of each scene.
To critic all 40 scenes in one post would be an astonishing feet; therefore, I will focus on only three scenes. The fist scene after the opening prologue in the movie is where we are first introduced to Frodo Baggins and the Wizard Gandolf the Gray. This scene opens with Frodo sitting under a tree reading a book. In the distance the field is brightly lit with the sun. This is the high key light which provides a natural look amongst the trees casting shadows properly and giving Frodo the appearance of sitting in the shade. Shortly into the scene music begins to play and a man is heard singing in the background. The music is upbeat peaceful tone which gets slightly louder as the man approaches on horse and buggy. As he rounds a bend in the road we see a beautiful light shining through the trees as if to light the path for the traveler. It is a very peaceful and serene scene. As the man approaches the tiny hobbit, Frodo scolds him telling him he is late in which Gandolf replies, a wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he intends to. This leads to two to stare questioningly at each other momentarily until they burst into laughter and Frodo jumps into Gandolf arms letting us see just how small the hobbit man really is. The two then travels into the town, the way is lit with normal light of the day showing the immaculate green, yellow and white colors of the countryside, and the beautiful rich blue colors of the sky. As the two enter into the town the bright colors seem to intensify.
The lighting in this scene produces a calming tranquil feel for the viewers. Coupled with the colors it leads us to believe that this is a peaceful town with peaceful townsfolk. Green often symbolizes health and harmony (Incredible @rt Department) as does the rural setting of the small hobbit town. The brightly colored costumes worn by the hobbits signify that these are creatures of vibrancy and that they are full of life. These aspect presented by the cinematographer, director, and actors contributed to theme being presented in way that we as the audience could understand. The theme being one of peace and togetherness as they arrived in the town for the townsman member Bilbo Baggins’ birthday party.
The theme of peace and togetherness goes on for only a short time in this movie where it adjust to the struggles the fellowship of the ring must endure on their quest to the infamous Mount Doom to destroy the ring of power. About half way through this epic fantasy we encounter the troll scene. In this scene the fellowship is in the dwarf caves where they encounter first orc’s and then the massive troll. This scene is almost all shot, or so it appears, in black and white with a hint of gray hues. The lighting is very low key and as they fight the orc’s and then the troll the music is very ominous and dreadful. Close to the end of this scene Frodo is stabbed by the dagger of the troll and the music switches to a very somber tone and the light gets even darker, the remainder of the group works together to concur and kill the troll. Once it is dead the focus returns to Frodo, they flip him over and to all of their surprise as well as the audiences, Frodo lives. The Scene brightens and the music lightens to a normal tone, if only momentarily till the scene switches to the next in the series.
The shift of music in this scene coupled with the lack of color and the low key lighting provides the audience with the dreadfulness the makers intended us to have. The almost lack of hope for the wirier travelers and then the utter happiness for the survival of our protagonist.
The final scene I will discuss is the last scene in this movie. In this scene the fellowship goes their separate ways. This scene provides us with a bit of situational irony. As the audience we expect the fellowship to reach the fire pits of mount Doom and destroy the ring. They however do not, instead they have reached the western shores the lighting in this scene is somewhat dull. The color begins mostly white as Frodo deals with his internal struggle to push forward alone. The music begins in a normal tone then all we can here is the hollow sound of the wind as we see Sam racing through the trees to reach Fordo and we begin to hear him call out for him. Frodo at this point jumps into the boat and the color in the scene become brighter as Sam races into the waters, unable to swim, refusing to let Frodo continue on without him. As Sam sinks in the waters we see him going down and Frodo’s had pulling him to safety at which time they embrace and the music shifts from a somber tone back to a normal tone and the colors brighten to show the beautiful greens of the trees and the blues and whites in the water. Later we see Sam and Frodo standing on the edge of the cliff with Mount Doom in sight as Frodo expresses concern and compassion for his friends that have gone on a different way. The music is somber and the lighting here is dim yet again. As the two small hobbits begin the next part of their journey we see them walk into the distance surrounded by brown cracked and dry earth, mountains and a river in the distance. The music switches here to a more upbeat tone as the two become smaller and smaller and the movie ends.
The lighting, music, and colors as well as the camera angel produce a scene that portrays the ideal of hope, friendship and leaves the audience full of compassion for the two small hobbits. It is my opinion that the writer, cinematographer, director and actors made the best choices in these factors. If any of the techniques had been different I don’t feel we as the audience would have come away with such a profound feeling toward the characters nor their situations. The universal themes, which are experience that we can all relate to, really pull you into this movie(Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. 2014.)
Goodykoontz, B. & Jacobs, C. (2014) Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA. Bridgepoint Education Inc.
Incredible @rt Department. http://www.incredibleart.org/lessons/middle/color2.htm
http://movieclips.com/4dD9Y-the-lord-of-the-rings-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-movie-cave-troll/
Middle Earth 