Extreme long shots of Frodo and Sam travelling through different locations allow the appeal of audience awe. The colours of nature: green, brown and blue are intensified as the two lonely characters pass the countryside and trees. The soundtrack supports the long journey as the sound of violins and other classical instruments suggest travel, time and endurance. The frame shows how vulnerable and small the hobbits are compared to the locations. This is why mise en scene is so important in Lord of the Rings. These locations are stunning picturesque quality and are defiantly there to wow the audience. No dialogue is spoken as if it was, it would ruin the dream-like atmosphere.
Another item, which was shown in the Narnia film was the computer generated map, which features in this film as well. This allows “Mordor” mise en scene to be introduced.
Another similarity of the mise en scene location, I have found between Narnia and Lord of the rings, is the small scaled houses (Bilbo Baggins home and Mr & Mrs Beaver). When Bilbo welcomes Gandalf in the hobbit house, it creates a light hearted comical value to the location. Gandalf appears as the stereotypical wizard from his long grey robe and wizard hat to the long walking stick. Also, his long grey hair and beard, suggests his wisdom and knowledge. The eye level long shot makes Gandalf appear very tall and Bilbo very small, which places the audience in a very surreal position. Also, the décor of the house with its light yellow colours, rounded windows and doors, carries the whole concept of “the ring”. The wood gives the house historical value and gives some indication of time. Sound effects were used as well to create the sound of the door closing shut, which suggests the heaviness of the thick wood.
New Line Cinema Lord Of The Rings and The Fellowship Of The Ring (2001)Directed by Peter Jackson
The audience are greeted to a black screen and off screen dialogue (recitations and translations).The dialogue sounds like a prophecy, which sets the fantasy agenda as mysterious. Being a lady’s voice, the dialogue sounds enticing and encourages the audience to watch on as the soundtrack echoes violins and choir.
The title frame of “The Lord of the Rings” centres itself within the black frame as its gold and appears royal and rich in plot.
The set up is clearly indicated as the lady’s voice continues, informing the audience of the “Lord of the Rings” story. There are many close ups of metal burning, the making of the rings and hands with rings. In one scene particular, the medium close up of the elves admiring their rings. The lady elf appears at the front within the depth of field, it could be seen as sexual alluring towards the male audience. It also could be seen as a stereotypical representation of fantasy, with the lady’s long curly blonde hair, white dress and pale pink lipped face.
The low key lighting establishes this introduction as it creates a mysterious shine onto the character’s faces and becomes quite surreal. Also, the editing technique of dissolving transitions allows the story to move quickly and still carry the dream-like sequence.
Fantasy is heavily influenced in this sequence as the mention of “Dwarf Lords of receiving seven rings“, creates a fairytale plot. Once again, a rare birds eye view can witness them celebrating with their goblets high in the air, which links with the common iconography. The low key lighting within this frame allows the candles to be intensified and therefore gives the sequence a historical value.
Another example is the 9 rings “gifted to the race of men”, which is shown through an eye-leveled medium shot of men wearing robes and crowns, suggesting their royalty and important status.
So over one minute into the film, the fantasy elements are already heavily suggested during the set-up and there is a rather deep meaning and historical value to this plot than in the Chronicles of Narnia. This maybe one of the reason why the male adult audience prefer the Lord of the Rings franchise as it is treated seriously and hard core fantasy.
CGI can use be used as a transition as the map comes alive and allows the next frame to be the actual battle location. It also suggests this will be apart of history as the map looks old and handwritten.
There are many aerial shots to show how many people and creatures are on each side. A choir soundtrack is used and amplified to suggest this is the final battle and who is victorious for peace for Narnia. This final scene can send audience’s hearts thumping due to the volume of soundtrack, sound effects on and off-screen from the animals and creatures.
There are many extreme long shots that have a depth of field to allow the main characters to be spotted amongst the millions. Also, the tracking along the fields suggest the distance that will need to be travelled for the two camps to battle out. It also allows the audience to see who is on the protagonist and antagonist side.
When the characters finally arrive at Aslan camp, the audience are suddenly brought into powerful and rich colours. Also, a triumphant soundtrack is played to suggest victory will be here. The tracking along the children and the fantasy creatures suggest the barriers between humans and creatures, but they are all coming together to fight evil. The tracking allows the director to show all new fantasy creatures in one or two frames and for the audience to take the atmosphere in. This gives you an idea on the amount of imagination there is in the fantasy genre. The colours that seem to be amplified are the red and gold in a sign of glory and honour. It also suggests a serious battle will take place in the climax.
Whilst comparing the protagonist to the antagonist camp. There is a clear difference, which allows the child audience to fully acknowledge who is who. Many cuts of close ups of weapons and an Ox character clearly points to danger and violence. Also, the darkness suggests they are evil and there is no hope for Aslan and his team.
As the introduction greeted the audience with large scale countryside, this scene clearly portrays the importance of mise en scene by amazing the audience. The amount of CGI work used to achieve this is incredible. The tracking extreme long shots at high angles show how vulnerable the characters are and how they are dominated by the White Witch due to the amount of snow. Dissolves are used to allow the story to continue at a fast pace as this ‘is a fantasy road movie, travelling through different locations’ (described by the director in commentary). However, confrontation is achieved as the protagonists spot the White Witch on her slay. Many cuts reflect this adrenaline junkie action spectacular. Extreme close ups on the reindeers’ feet and bells suggest they are gaining closer. Also, the changes of soundtrack from being utter silence to breaking out with jiggle bells and galloping creates tension. The unsteady camera captures the action and creates an uncomfortable atmosphere. This scene did give me shivers down by spine from the true beauty of each frame.
Weapons given: Lucy= juice of the fireflower. One drop will cure any injuries and a dagger Susan= a bow and arrows. Trust in your target and a horn to call for help Peter= sword and shield
These characters have been given gifts/tools for battle and suggest that they are becoming adults.
Subjective camerawork is used quite a lot in this film as audience involvement is important towards fantasy genre to make the story believable. In this scene, the audience are greeted to a frame of reindeers and the familiar sound of jiggle bells, which are normally, connected to (every child’s favourite hero) Santa Claus. However, the sound effect of whipping breaks the positive connotations. I believe there has been too much use of CGI in this scene as the running reindeers seem to look unrealistic due to their head movement and appearance.
The audience are aware that the Narnia world is made up of protagonist fantasy creatures such as a talking faun (Mr Tumnus), but during this scene we meet the antagonists: a dwarf and the White Witch. The tilting medium long shot of the White Witch with her black eyes and white, cold draped fur, indicates she is the antagonist. Her appearance follows the stereotypical villain character as she looks emotionless and serious.
However, their dialogue, costume and props make these fantasy creatures real and believable as they interact with the children characters so acting is also key.
Also, the medium close up two shot between the White Witch and Edmond becomes rather iconic as this moment shares every child’s dream. The close up of the Witch’s hand dropping magic potion onto the snow and the Edmond’s eye match of a goblet of hot chocolate and Turkish delight appearing seems to fascinate the child audience. This level of magic allows the audience’s imagination within this Narnia world to be extremely high and fulfils the child’s dream of getting anything they want.
In the film commentary, it was discussed by the director that being friends with so called magical creatures within big epic scenes can be technically challenging, but what’s really difficult is capturing true genuine human emotion.
The talking beavers (Mr and Mrs Beaver) become believable and comical characters due to CGI and dialogue (as they have human personalities and characteristics). The mise en scene of the Beaver’s house was to scale, which was said to be extremely difficult to film in as everything was at beaver scale. It was described to have an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ atmosphere.
This scene is where the beavers reveal the prophecy to the children and a panning medium long shot of the children’s reactions suggest their shock. The colours of orange and red seem to be amplified here as a sudden sign of hope and glory for Narnia. Words such as “Two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve are to defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia”. However, the children reply “We aren’t heroes. We are just from Finchley”. This becomes a stereotypical element within fantasy genre as ordinary people become the heroes within the plot. This makes the film so fascinating to watch as the audience can witness their journey towards the climax.
