Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Opening

Release: 2001
Director: Peter Jackson
Studio: WingNut Films, The Saul Zaentz Company
Box Office: $871, 530, 324
Critical Aclaim: Won oscar for best cinematography, best effects, best makeup, best music.
BAFTA for best film.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Narrative:
The film begins with a voice over giving a background to the story. The story is focused around one corrupt ring that has the power to turn innocent people evil. The scene shows how the other rings were made to keep peace and power among the different races. However the bad ring was created in the fires of Mordor for an evil purpose. The opening scene later shows people fighting over the ring and it causing destruction which proves that the ring has the power to provoke evil.

Camera Shots and Angles:

• The opening starts with the idents of the studio that produced the film, this was New Line Cinema.
• The clip starts with a plain black screen, the black screen stays plain for a long time whilst the voice over is being spoken over the top.
• The typography then fades in on the black screen, the typography is golden and it appears on the screen like it is glowing. I think this glowing is meant to represent the ring and it ties in well with the films narrative. The font looks like writing from an ancient scroll. This style of font is stereotypical of the adventure genre as it looks quite like writing from an old map and many adventure films are based around the idea of going on some sort of quest. 
• The font fades in on a black screen and out from the black screen. The golden colour stands out on the black background and helps exaggerate the glowing effect on the writing. 
• The first proper shot is of fire. Fire represents danger and danger is a connotation of action adventure films. 
• Medium close up shot of woman wearing ring. Her hand is in the foreground of the shot, it is the focus and is showing the importance of the ring in the story line. 
• Group shot of men all wearing their rings and moving simultaneously. This shows the connection between this group and gives the audience an insight into the narrative. 
• The shot of the men fades to a black screen and then it cuts to the shot of an old looking map. Maps are a connotation of the adventure genre and the idea of going on a quest to achieve something. This indicates to the audience that the main characters in the film may have to go on some sort of quest and it will most likely have something to do with the ring.
• Minimal slow track over map shows the whole image and gives the sense of movement around different locations on the map. This also backs up the idea of having to travel on some sort of journey.
• Close up shot of the location of "Mordor" on the map indicates that this is a main part of the narrative. The close up represents the importance of it in the story line.
• From the map it cuts to a shot of a foggy spooky looking mountain. The mountain is dark and smokey and there is fire blazing all around it. This has connotations of danger and represents to the audience that this may be the location the characters have to travel to on their journey. This shot of the mountain gives connotations of danger and represents stereotyped opinions of what 'hell' looks like.
• Close of of masked figure with metal mask and sharp points. Extreme close up of eye holes, they are thin and slitted. The eyes look dark and evil, this shows the audience that this character is likely to be the antagonist in the film.
• The antagonists face is then engulfed in flames. The flames are used to cut to the next shot.
• Long shot of the antagonist standing on the edge of a ledge below a sea of lava. The figure is represented as being powerful and not afraid. This shows the audience that he is hard to defeat.
• Slow motion shot of ring being thrown into fire and sustaining burning. The idea that the ring is associated with fire shows evil and strength. This is a key part of the narrative.

Sound:

• The first sound begins with a voice over. The voice over starts with quiet whispering. This whispering creates build up. Whispering indicates signs of tension and anxiety. This could signify some of the narrative.
• The voice over then cuts between whispering in a different language and talking at normal volume. The voice is slow and calm. As the voice is describing the story line it increases in volume when describing the crisis in the narrative. This increase of volume makes the voice sound more panicked and serious, this represents the seriousness of this bad thing happening. The voice over is used to explain opening narrative to the viewers but also to increase tension and excitement when it is needed. 
• Non diegetic music begins playing in the background of the voice over. The music has an old ancient style to it which helps represent the films narrative. 
• The non diegetic music gets louder and more intense as the shot of the antagonist is shown. The antagonists importance is significant and the volume increase in the music helps to point this out.

Mis En Scene:

• The antagonist is wearing a metal suit with sharp spikes. This shows him to be dangerous and feared which are typical traits an antagonist should have. 
• The characters are wearing long robes which indicates to the audience that the film may be set in the past because people no longer dress in long robes.
• The woman is wearing a long posh dress showing her to be wealthy. This costume makes her look important and high class. 

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