As the subject of my Essay, I've chosen to write about Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. I want to focus on the 'Epic' landscapes and narrative and analyse. I want to break my essay down to the key sections.



Editing
I want to look at how the shots are held for quite long periods of time, as there is a lot of detail to take in. I also want to analyse how the pace of the film is reflected in the editing, with the tranquil travelling scenes with long shots and peaceful editing contrast the battle-scenes which have a lot of short, sharp shots. The editing also is very important to the story, usually showing several locations at once throughout the film.

Camera Movement
In analysing the camera movement I want to explain the large sweeping shots, panning across the landscapes, and the very-long shots, showing the characters moving through large caverns and mountains, which emphasises their journey and shows the size of their surroundings. The camera movement also shows the brutality and devastation of the battles, getting very close to the action and using a lot of slowed footage to allow the viewer to see the detail and build suspense.

Order of Scenes
The storyboarding and order of scenes is another focus, I want to analyse how the story is told and explained to the viewer as there are many sub-plots and extensive detail which needs to be presented. I want to also show how the order of scenes emphasises the 'journey' that is being taken, with montages of travel. There is also a suspenseful build up, with the main characters being pursued by the 'Ring-Wraiths' I want to explain how the film's structure builds this threat and shows the danger.


Contextualising
I want to put my film into the context of other 'Epics', showing how such a large story is being told, and who have told others before this. I'm trying to deicde which films to 'link' to Lord of the Rings. The ancestors of the film. One I would say was the religious biblical epic: Ben-Hur from  1959. I would also like to mention Star Wars (1977), Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and perhaps Gone with the Wind. For an updated look, I may talk briefly about Avatar.

PHIL: If you have any ideas about more films I could use to compare and other subjects I can include then that would be really helpful.