This English course is “An Introduction To Film”, and I have chosen the movie “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings” to write about for this assignment.  I have attached the essay in a word document below.

Running head: ANALYSIS 1 The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Film Analysis ENG 225: Introduction to Film Instructor: June 8, 2016 ANALYSIS 2 THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS FILM ANALYSIS Most of us probably grew up with either The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, or both. So when it was announced that there was going to be a movie made of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, some people were skeptical. Would they be able to capture the images that we saw in our heads or would they be able to successfully do justice to such a long story and keep the elements that everyone fell in love with? Suffice to say, the outcome was what every Tolkien fan could have hoped for. With the sound, editing, and special effects, the audience was able to fall in love all over again with this story.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in theaters on December 19, 2001. On its opening weekend it made $47,211,490 and by the end of December it had reached $174,119,499, making it an instant blockbuster (IMDB, 2015). The fantasy film was directed by Peter Jackson, who also helped write the screenplay and the cinematography was done by Andrew Lesnie, who is responsible for the overall look of the film. There is a long list of major actors in this movie, such as Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins, Sir Ian McKellen as Gandolf, Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee, Billy Boyd as Pippin, Dominic Monaghan as Merry, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn, Orlando Bloom as Legolas, Sean Bean as Boromir, and John Rhys-Davies as Gimli. In ancient times, there were nine rings of power crafted by the Elven-smiths. Then, Sauron, the dark lord, forged one ring to rule them all, by imbuing the ring with his power. During a battle the ring was taken from him and even though he searched all over Middle-Earth, the ring remained lost to him and forgotten by most. Until one day, many ages later, it was found by chance, by a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins.

On his birthday, before his departure, he left the ring to his nephew, Frodo. After learning of the threat the ring poses, Frodo sets out with ANALYSIS 3 a fellowship made up of a human, a dwarf, an elf, and fellow hobbits, to guide and protect him, in order to destroy the ring in the only place it can be destroyed, the fires of Mount Doom. But, as the power of the ring grows, the armies and evil of Sarumon and Saron are also dispersed across the lands. As Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014) say, “If story is what happens in a movie, the plot is how it happens” (p. 3.2). So if the story is about a hobbit who must make the journey to destroy a ring before it destroys their world. The plot would be the adventures and trials he goes through to accomplish this. One example of the plot would be when Frodo is leaving the Shire and is to meet Gandolf at the Inn of the Prancing Pony.

As Frodo is on his way to the inn, Gandolf goes to meet an old friend Saurmon to get his advice, but once Gandolf gets there he shortly learns that Saurmon has flipped sides and is now working with Saron and is caught and held captive. Meanwhile, at the inn Frodo and gang are sitting at a table talking and waiting for Gandolf. They notice that a stranger in the corner has been watching Frodo. Then, while at the bar, Pippin starts telling everyone that he knows a Baggins and pointing in Frodo’s direction. Frodo then freaks out and runs over to Pippin to quiet him and ends up tripping and loses his grip on the ring, in which it falls on his finger and he disappears and everyone gasps. This, in turn, alerts the Ringwraiths to his location.

The stranger, known as Strider, grabs Frodo and drags him upstairs where he tells him that they can no longer wait for the wizard because they are coming. It then cuts between shots of the Ringwraiths entering the inn, to shots of the hobbits sleeping and finally to the Ringwraiths stabbing what appears to be the four beds the hobbits are sleeping in but turns out to a diversion. This it called parallel editing. While the story is what happens overall, the plot is the adventures and trials the characters go through to meet their goal. ANALYSIS 4 One of the main components that help determine the theme of friendship and community in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is sound, or more specifically, dialogue. With such friendships as Frodo and Sam, Bilbo and Gandolf, Merry and Pippin, Aragorn and Arwen, and Gimli and Legolas, it is easy to see, through the dialogue, how much these characters care for one another.

There are so many moments with great dialogue between the characters that show their love and dedication to one another. As Valente (2004) says, “Frodo’s quest to destroy the ring depends heavily on friendship: that of Gandalf, Merry, Pippin, Aragorn, and above all, Sam” (p. 37). There is a scene in the film where the dialogue really shows the friendship between Frodo and Sam. It is at the end of the movie when Frodo is in the boat about to venture out on his own and Sam comes running out of woods and charges into the water after Frodo. Sam, who is unable to swim, begins to sink and Frodo grabs his hand and helps him into the boat. It is there that Sam says, “I made a promise, Mr. Frodo. A promise. ‘Don’t you leave him Samwise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean to. I don’t mean to.” Then Frodo says, “Oh Sam,” they hug and Frodo says, “Come on then.” It is such a heartfelt moment and really makes the audience understand the commitment and bond that these two have for each other.

Another bit of dialogue that shows the friendship between some of the other characters and not just Frodo’s friendships is, between Aragorn and Boromir, when Boromir is dying. Aragorn: “I do not know what strength is in my blood, but I swear to you I will not let the White City fall, nor our people fail.” Boromir: “Our people, our people. I would have followed you, my brother… my captain… my king.” Aragorn: “Be at peace, Son of Gondor.” The exchange between the two really gives the audience an understanding of how much this quest has brought them together. ANALYSIS 5 Another component that aids in defining the theme of the film, is the editing, or to be more exact, the close-ups. Grace (2005) notes that, “Much of the immensity of the whole film derives from the use of close-ups and the emotional dynamism of the face” (p. 34). Towards the start of the film, when Gandolf knocks on Bilbo’s door and Bilbo answers and runs to Gandolf to hug him, the camera cuts to a close-up of each of the characters in a shot/reverse shot sequence, where the viewer can really see the friendship, warmth, and how much they missed each other.

Even though, there are only a few instances where we see them interact with each other and we don’t know the history these two have or what adventures they have been through, we are still able to feel and see the adoration and affection, with the use of the close-ups and the focus put on the facial expressions of the characters. One of the elements that adds to the overall narrative, is the special effects, or more specifically the forced perceptive and animation. Since all the actors that played a hobbit or a dwarf are over five feet tall and hobbits are on average about three feet and six inches and dwarfs are about four feet and six inches, they had to use a technique called forced perceptive. Forced perceptive is a technique that uses optical illusion in order to make objects or people appear larger, smaller, closer, or farther away than they actually are.

There were large and small scale doubles that were used in particular scenes, while complete duplicates of other sets were built at two separate scales, in order to make the characters seem to be the proper height. Then, there were creatures, such as the trolls, the wargs, and the Balrog that were created completely by CGI. There is no way that a human could have played these creatures and made them convincing. Especially the Balrog, which we meet in the Mines of Moria. It is a creature that is extremely large, with big horns, and seems to consist of a living fire. It is very demonic looking. Without ANALYSIS 6 these special effects the audience would have had a hard time believing the characters and the world the film is set in. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, along with the other Lord of the Rings movies has had a huge impact on New Zealand, which is where all the movies were filmed. According to Pinchefsky (2012) there has been a “50% increase in arrivals to New Zealand since Lord of the Rings” (para. 2). People are able to go to New Zealand and visit the Hobbiton Movie Set. The set remains the same as it was seen in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and The Hobbit Trilogy. “During your tour you will see Hobbit Holes, The Green Dragon Inn, The Mill, double arched bridge and other structures and gardens built for the films” (hobbitontours.com,2014).

Who would not want to walk through the beautiful countryside where The Lord of Rings stunning and striking scenes were filmed? It is evident that these movies have had a positive effect on New Zealand’s economy. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring story is taken from the book of the same name by J. R. R. Tolkien, who witnessed some of the effects that industry had on the environment. Industrialization and pollution is one of the ways that society affected this film. Valente (2004) comments, “Jackson captures eloquently one central theme of The Lord of the Rings: the beauty of nature and the threat posed by industrialization” (p. 36). One can see Tolkien’s concern for nature threaded throughout Jackson’s rendition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Evil individuals of Middle-Earth dominate and abuse nature to strengthen their own power. One example is Saruman, who destroys an ancient forest in order to build his army.

Then there are the Elves, which in contrast, live among nature in harmony, understanding the power and beauty within. They exude a sense of wonder and enchantment. ANALYSIS 7 In conclusion, the theme and overall narrative are enhanced by the feeling of community in the stunning set designs, especially the shire, the use of close-ups through editing, that give the audience a look into the feelings of the characters, while also giving them the sense of closeness and companionship, and the spectacular and impressive special effects that brought the creatures to life. All the while, the audience sees Tolkien’s concerns about industrialization and pollution and the whole Lord of the Rings franchise has helped boost New Zealand’s economy. Looking back at my week one introduction, I realized that when asked about what movie had made an impression on me, I wasn’t thinking of impression as something that made me think or feel strongly about.

I was only thinking of a movie that I just really enjoyed, because as I said when I watch a movie I just try to enjoy it and not overthink it. But, I think by just watching it and not paying attention to editing, cinematography, sound or music, I was missing out on a lot of what the director meant for the audience to experience during the film. There are many things that can be gained through analyzing a film, such as, the message within the movie and by paying attention to such things as editing or lighting, one can get a completely different impression of the movie than if they had not. As Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014) points out, “Armed with the right tools, specifically the knowledge of the different elements that go into creating a film and how they affect its outcome, you can better enjoy the experience” (p. 1.2). I have noticed since taking this class that I view movies and even television shows differently. For example, when watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring again for this analysis, there are so many things that I didn’t notice, like how the set design adds to the overall theme and feel of the movie or how society affects and is effected by movies.

Like how a movie can help improve the economy for countries and places around the world and how events or environmental concerns can metaphorically make their way into the movie. ANALYSIS A few of the skills that I have learned in this class are to pay attention to detail, to think critically about those details and what they mean, and being able to look at the bigger picture by putting all the little details together. This will help me in my profession and everyday life by giving me the tools to look at things a little more closely and think before jumping to conclusions, which is always helpful. 8 ANALYSIS 9

References Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Grace, H. (2005). The life fantasy and cinema: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Australian Screen Education, 39(30), 30-35. Hobbiton Movie Set Tours. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.hobbitontours.com/Home/tabid/38/Default.aspx Iannella, A. (2002). Lord of the Rings: insight into a marvellous mode. Australian Screen Education, 29(12), 12-18. Jackson, P., Osborne, B., Sanders, T., & Walsh, F. (Producers). Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Cinema. IMDB. (2015). Box Office/business for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120737/business?ref_=ttrel_ql_4 Pinchefsky, C. (2012, December 14). The Impact (Economic and Otherwise) of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit on New Zealand. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2012/12/14/the-impact-economic-andotherwise-of-lord-of-the-ringsthe-hobbit-on-new-zealand/ Valente, C. (2004). Translating Tolkien’s Epic: Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings. Intercollegiate Review, 40(1), 35-43.