ECE225: Intro to Film Blog 2 Lighting The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

by whitetigerzunni

The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has a large variety of examples of how a film can use both high-key, and low-key forms of lighting. Most film use both high-key and low-key lighting during the course of the film, and many scenes fall in between the two forms of lighting (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has many scenes that are in between the two forms of lighting, but there are also specific scenes that fall directly into each of the two categories of lighting which helps develop and create a certain effect for these scenes. In this blog I will identify a scene from each category that is found in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

 

High-key lighting is when the lighting is designed to be very bright over the entire scene (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). The high-key lighting is used from the very beginning of the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in the shire. The shire is where the hobbits of the film live and come from. There life is a simple happy life, and this is shown in the movie. As the wizard Gandalf first comes across the hobbit Frodo he is seen in a bright patch of wood. As Frodo and Gandalf meet up and travel toward Bilbo Baggins home they are seen traveling by cart in a bright community of hobbits. This scene is one of the best examples of high-key lighting. The scene was brightly lit the entire ride. The benefits of using high-key lighting is that it portrays happiness, and contentment helping the audience to understand the peaceful way of living that the hobbits are used too. This contributes to the overall theme of the movie, because the hobbits set out to save their beloved home from the evil that follows the ring. During the course of the film the hobbits find it hard to leave the boundaries of their home for the rough and wild world beyond. The film is classified as fantasy, and the shire is a world outside the world that the remainder of the film takes place in. The shire is like a little piece of paradise that seems a fantasy even to those in the film. The high-key lighting allowed this peaceful world to seem like a piece of fantasy to the audience. The scene would not have been as effective in showing the audience how hobbits live without the high-key lighting.

(Jackson, 2001)

Low-key lighting uses extreme dark and shadows with often only one source of light in the scene (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). One of the best examples of low-key lighting in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is when the new-formed company of the ring is forced into the mines of Moria. The mines are filled with dead Dwarfs, and appear to be abandoned. There is no natural light in these mines, and so as the company travels through they are in a low-key light setting using lanterns and often Gandalf’s staff as light. During their journey one of the characters Pippin accidently sends an old bucket down a well and inadvertently awakens the mine, which was actually filled with orcs. The orcs immediately attack and the company is forced to fight their way through in order to try and escape. The orcs eventually surround the company, and the only source of light in this one place is Gandalf’s staff. This is one of the best example of low-key lighting. The form of low-key lighting benefited the scene, because it created a dramatic effect as you see all the dark creatures form around the company in the near darkness. This form of lighting contributed to the overall theme because these evil creatures surrounded the company, and the low-key lighting helped create the illusion of the continued growing darkness that the ring was spreading through out the land. As the fantasy world begins to grow darker so does the lighting that is used in the film. There is a big difference between the high-key light of the shire, and the continued darkening of the world using low-key lighting in the other parts of the world. Had the lighting been different the scene would have lost some of the drama and mystery that is built in the shadows and depths of the low-key lighting.

 

(Jackson, 2001)

Bibliography

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film:From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education Inc.

 

Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Motion Picture]. Retrieved from http://www.theonering.com/galleries/the-lord-of-the-rings-movies/the-fellowship-of-the-ring/moria-orcs-surround-fellowship-new-line-cinema

Jackson, P. (Director). (2001). The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Motion Picture]. Retreived from http://periannath.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/shire2.jpg

 By: Dusty Blossom