The Micro Elements Of Film Making Lord Of The Rings
Uploaded by Appleman on Dec 27, 2007
Micro Essay
Discuss how the micro elements of film making create meaning
Meaning is created in film through the use of the micro elements. These elements include cinematography, editing, mise-en-scene and sound effects. Different moods and atmospheres can be created by using different sound affects and different camera angles. The use of low key lighting can make a scene feel like it is set in the night; this is most commonly seen in horror movies. If a director wishes to create a feeling of suspense, there will be close ups of characters faces, to show their anxiety, and the sound will die down until it's silent, so that the slightest noise can be heard by all. On a number of occasions after a chase scene, when it appears the action has died down, the director cuts the dramatic music and zooms in on the protagonist’s face. We can see is he is exhausted and we can hear him breathing heavily. And then suddenly, he looks up and sees the person that was chasing him and sprints off again, accompanied by the dramatic music.
I'm going to analyse the way that cinematography and sound effects create meaning in a scene called The Bridge of Khazad-Dûm, which occurs in Peter Jackson’s 2001 fantasy epic, The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.
The sequence begins with the Fellowship sprinting through a large, dark hall in the underground caves of Moria. The only lights are those of Gandalf's staff and 3 torches held by other members of the Fellowship. The darkness is frightening- they can see only a short way ahead of them in all directions, and they know they are being chased. Huge shadows are cast by the huge pillars that are scattered all over the hall. The size of the hall is shown to the audience through the use of long establishing shots and high angled shots. They show us that there are hundreds of Orcs chasing the Fellowship, but they cannot see them. As they run, we can hear the non-diegetic theme tune playing. This orchestral piece of music gets played throughout the trilogy of films whenever the Fellowship are about to do something heroic. It tells the audience that something important is about to happen. We can also hear the Orcs shrieking as they chase the Fellowship.
They stop running, the music stops playing. There is almost complete silence, but we can hear...