Lord of The Rings

On Friday evening I watched the first film in the 'Lord of the Rings' series.



I thought this clip had some interesting cinematic aspects to it.

At the start of the clip, Gandalf the Wizard bends over as if he is going to pick up the ring. The camera angle then changes to the ring's point of view with a close up of Gandalf's face. When he tries to touch the ring, Gandalf sees the iconic flaming red eye of Sauron. The shot is an extreme close up that appears to fill the flame with fire, and we can tell it was something Gandalf sees due to the close up and expression that follows.

Later on when Frodo enters the house, there is a shot-reverse-shot and a close up of the ring.

After Gandalf leaves, the scene cuts to a black and storming castle. We hear some sound effects, but primarily we hear Gollum screaming: "Shire, Baggins!" which is an example of Diegetic Sound (we do not see him).

Near the end of the clip, Gandalf is reading old documents to try and learn more about the ring. There is only music to be heard, until he comes across something useful, at which point he begins a voice over (non-diegetic sound) stating what he reads in his head.

These films often have an iconic magical object which has significance and/or a life of it's own - I would like to aim to use this concept in my own film opening.