Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring Acting and Directing Styles

The three actors I am going to classify are from the film of Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. Elijah Wood who plays the character of Frodo Baggins. I believe he would be considered a character actor He does not really fit into any other category. The films that I have always seen him in are usually based on drama or a fantasy genre. He would not be considered a star because his personal is not publicized outside of the films. Viggo Mortensen, who plays the character of Aragon, would also be considered a character actor. His personal life is also not on display for the world to know about. I believe he is the type of actor that adapts to the needs of the scrip. I have only seen him play in dramas and in fantasy films. I have never seen or heard of him playing in a romantic comedy. The next actor in this film is Orlando Bloom, who plays an elf named Legolas, I believe he would be considered a star. He is in movies like: Pirates of the Caribbean films, Troy, The Lord of the Rings films.

The actor I am going to focus on is Orlando Bloom who played Legolas in the Lord of the Rings trilogies. According to the website of IMDb.com, Orlando Bloom is one of the most busiest and sought-after actors in the industry after his role in the Lord of the Rings (Braun, J.W.). Mr. Bloom is often cast in historical or fantasy based “costume epic” type roles (Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings), he often plays experts in weaponry, whether it is a swordsmen or and archer. I believe Mr. Bloom will always fit in this particular category. With this category that Orlando Bloom has been put it I think that he will do well as an actor in that category as it was said by Mr. Braun, he is one of the busiest and well sought-after actors today in the industry.

References:

Braun, J.W IMDb.com

IMDb.com

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Sound Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

The three basic categories of sound used in a film are:

A) Dialogue: Characters talking to one another in a film. There are three basic reasons to use a dialogue. 1. To further the development in a plot. 2. To enhance characterization 3. To establish very quickly important information the audience needs to know to understand the action (e.g. names, location, dates, motivations, and backstory). (Goodykoontz & Jacobs 2011)

Sound effects: what a sound editor or foley artist uses to make sound in the film (ex. explosions)

Music: music is played in the film to set the mood in certain scenes of a film.

The different kinds of sound that is used in The Lord of the Rings is dialogue, sound effects, and music. Dialogue is used by the characters to speak to one another to see what each are planning to do.
Sound-effects are used by foley artist and sound editors. They use things behind the scenes to make noises like explosions. Music is played in the film to set the mood for certain scenes of the film (ex. when they are in battle they use a fast-paced dramatic music and they also use this music when they are running away from something.

The sound from the film makes it more interesting the sound effects they use in battle makes you feel that they are fighting for their lives.
The sound that they use more often in the film is music. They are always fighting something or running away from something they cannot fight.
I would categorize the sound in the Lord of the Rings as unexpected. If you have not seen the movie the sounds of explosions can be very unexpected.
If they removed a key category of sound the movie I believe wouldn’t make any sense.

References:
Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2011) Film: Watching and Seeing

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

Identify the type of lighting used in the film (traditional three-point, high-key, or low-key lighting).  The type of light that is used in the Lord of the Rings I believe is the traditional three-point lighting.

Assess the impact of the lighting use to establish the theme: What are the benefits of the style of lighting used?  The benefits of the three-point lighting that is used in the film is that this style of lighting is based upon the careful control of the shadows (Goodykoontz, and Jacobs) when the fellowship is walking toward Mordor the sky has a somewhat darkness to it, so the control of shadows would be best for the scenes.  Three point shadowing uses three main points of light to get the feel of the places that they are in.  When they are walking through the mines of the dwarfs it is dark and they use torches to get around so there would be some shadows in the mines because of the torches shining their flames off of the walls.  When the fellowship is outside there really are no shadows maybe a couple of shadows because there is a limited amount of sun shining on them.  How did this technique contribute to the theme?  This type of lighting contributed to the theme because when they where in the mines it gave the place an eerie glow to it and it made you wonder what is in store for the fellowship while the are in the mines.  When they are outside the type of lighting showed how the sky was getting darker the more that the walked toward Mordor.  Compare how the scene would play if different choices had been made.  I believe the film would not look right if a different type of lighting was used in it.  With the three-point light it made the place to me seem more realistic even when I new the were not.  How the lighting controlled the shadows when they were outside gave the place a eerie gloom to it making you feel that there was danger up ahead for the fellowship.  When they were in the mines if a different kind of lighting was used it would probably be to much light inside of the mines and it wouldn’t seem like they were even in a mine.  It would also not seem as dangerous of a place to go into as much as with the three-point lighting in place.

References:

Goodykoontz and Jacobs </Film: Watching and Seeing Lord of the Rings:Fellowship of the Ring

Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

Title: Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring

Writer: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson

Director: Peter Jackson

Year: 2001

Actors: Eijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Austin, Cate Blanchett, John Rys-Davies, Billy Boyd, Dominec Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, and Hugo Weaving

Story: The Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring is a movie about a hobbit named Frodo Baggins that embarks on a journey to destroy the ring of a dark lord named Sauron.  If the dark lord reclaims the ring that Frodo is carrying then Middle-Earth will be destroyed.

Plot: This movie starts off as a war between the dark lord and the middle-earth.  The dark ring of Mordor that the dark lord holds on to was cut off of his hand and it was supposed to be destroyed but it wasn’t.  Now Bilbo Baggins (Frodo’s uncle) finds the ring in the cave of Gollum.  Now Bilbo has given the ring to Frodo to keep because Bilbo has left the Shire.  Now the ring has woken up and is trying to find its master Sauron.  The ring must be taken to dark lords home of Mordor to be destroyed.

The journey has begun for Frodo and his friend Samwise Gamgee to return the ring to Mordor to be destroyed.  During this journey to Mordor Frodo and Sam pick up a lot of people to accompany them on their journey.  The first the pick up were Merry and Pippen, cousins of Frodo.  Then the go in the Prancing Pony to wait for Gandolf the grey to meet them their to help them with their journey.  But Gandolf get captured by another wizard and is unable to meet with Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippen at the Prancing Pony.  At the Prancing Pony they meet Arogon, who helps them get to the Elves home but during their journey to the Elves home Frodo gets stabbed with a blade that only elf magic can save him.  Rivendell the elves home is where they meet the rest of the fellowship that helps him return the ring to Mordor.  They are being hunted by wraiths that are slaves to Sauron to kill the person that carries the ring and kill whoever is helping him.

Frodo finally gets well enough to walk again and they are holding a counsel meeting to see who would take the ring all the way to Mordor to be destroyed in the fires of mount doom.  Frodo volunteers to take the ring all the way to the fires of mount doom to destroy the ring.  All of the fellowship volunteer to accompany him to mount doom.  The fellowship of the ring consists of a wizard, elf, dwarf, four hobbits and two men.

Once the fellowship leaves Rivendell, they try to find the quickest and quiet way to get to the fires of mount doom without being detected by any wraiths or any orcs the Sauraman has set loose to destroy them.

Was this film presented chronologically or non-linearly? This film was present in a non-linearly form. How did this aesthetic choice contribute to the general effect of the audience? It contributed to the general effect because it was a movie with a lot of action and the cinematographer used the lighting and moved the camera in perfect sequence to the movement of the characters.
How are the elements like character development or foreshadowing impacted by the choice of storytelling methods? The elements are impacted by the choice of storytelling by the characters it seems like this story could be realistic by the way that the characters play their parts.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, how would the general effect on the audience have been different? If the film had followed a different presentation style, I believe that the film would not interest anybody it would be to boring.

References:

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring