How Peter Jackson Creates a Variety of Moods

The introduction of The Lord of The Rings is displayed with a wide variety of moods. Peter Jackson, the director of the film, helps to develop these different moods so that they entertain the audience as much as possible by using an extensive selection of various camera techniques. The introduction to any film is perhaps the most important and somewhat most difficult part of a film.

The opening scenes not only needs to communicate with the audience, giving them an general idea of which sort of genre the film lies under but also needs to the create an interesting and attention grabbing atmosphere which can grasp the audience's attention.Although Tolkein has intended the trilogy of The Lord of The Rings to be categorized as a fantasy, Peter Jackson has taken a more historical rather than fantasy approach to The Fellowship of the Ring, this enables the director to elaborate enough on the extensive descriptions of Tolkein's fantasy world but also keep the film moving at the same time. The Fellowship of The Ring begins with a dark screen on which the credits are listed; this is accompanied by the ensemble of a choir singing in a low almost haunting voice.This is an effective opening to the film as it instantly set a calm yet surreal atmosphere, which creates a perfect entrance for a fantasy film. When Peter Jackson is satisfied with the setting atmosphere, he then introduces the voice of a woman speaking in a strange, perhaps elf language. This whispery trancelike voice is purely used to help the dreamlike mood to become more distinct to the audience.

A translation of the elf language soon follows, here the voice over is spoken by Galadriel, an elf character from the film.The tone of her voice is composed and at a slow pace which gives the audience the feeling that she is immortal and timeless. The effect of this is extremely useful to the main genre of the film, the whispery voice in the background combined with the serene tone of Galadriel's voice directly creates a mysterious and melancholy mood which is what the director is trying to produce. During Galadriel's short monologue her tone gives off a sorrowful atmosphere. She frequently takes a short pause between each sentence and thus gives her monologue a slow pace.

The effect of this immediately presents a feeling of sadness and wistfulness. The surreal and poignant background music soon becomes a motif in the film, which is often used to enhance the mood of sadness and melancholy. The director, Peter Jackson moves Tolkein's long historical descriptions of his fantasy world by having the voice over of Galadriel. Her voice over covers the history of how the rings had come to be, however unlike her short monologue at the beginning of the film her tone here is more narrative-like which is a contrast from her wistful tone earlier in the film.During this scene key lighting is used, especially to express the status of the elves. The lighting used here is very bright and white; however the use of lighting dimmers as the status lowers to men, who are looked upon as the weaker race.

The feeling of status is also expressed throughout the tone evident in Galadriel's voice. She speaks of the elves as 'wisest and fairest of all being' with extreme significance while she describes men as people 'who above all else desire power'.The word 'power' is pronounced with a hint of irony, although the mood here is somewhat lighter than the beginning of the film however the effect of the lighting being dimmer and the irony of the word 'power' soon replaces the forlorn mood with a hint of anger, which is left for development later, when the audience witnesses the destructions caused by Sauron. Before Sauron is first introduced onto the screen, there is a slight pause in Galadriel's account and during this short pause the screen fades into a black background.Here the director is trying to create a slight suspense in the audience's mood, which is far more effective than just simply presenting Sauron at the end of a sequence. By dimmering the screen also tells the audience the importance of Sauron in the film, the pause used here gives him additional significance.

When Sauron does enter the film, instantly there is an extreme close up of Sauron's face and because the character of Sauron is of malice and cruelty, his face is concealed by a mask.This allows the audience to use their own imaginations to picture the image of Sauron, it also create a mysterious mood as the character which is full of so much malevolence is left hidden. By this point in the film the colours of the lighting used in much darker compared to the introduction of the elves. Whilst the colour of the lighting used to present the pureness of the elves were mostly bright white light, the lighting used to present Sauron is bright yet there is a dark background with flames created by special effects moving across the screen.The effect of this is to tell the audience that for each of the group of people receiving the ring, their desire to power becomes more passionate and fervent.

The gradual change of the contrast of lighting also helps to build up to the point suspense of Sauron's entrance. Here the fierce red flames, produced by special effects, moving the screen helps to depict a hint of anger as well as evilness in the atmosphere. Panning is used to follow the ring moving across the screen.Here the pace is slowed down and the ring moves across the frames in slow motion and it is here where Galadriel tells the audience that Sauron poured his 'cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate every living thing" into this one ring. This combined with the fact that the ring enters and leaves the screen via the flame at the side of the screen, this suggests to the audience the significance of the ring and also the wickedness of it's owner which it carries.During the scene in which Galadriel describes the doings of the dark lord Sauron, there is a slow sequence of dull and pale scenes of people screaming and running from their homes in terror.

The sequence of scenes is rather paleness, with the desaturation of colour, and each frame dissolves slowly into another frame and together with the shortness of pace, Peter Jackson is able to create a mood of sadness and misery for the audience. Panning is used across the map, which darkens from one side to the other, showing the audience how the power of Sauron quickly dominated the people's villages.This helps to speed up the sad and slow pace so that the film is moved along, yet still keeping the audience interested at the same time. The next scene is of how a large army of men resisted the power of Sauron and here the pace is quicken by the panning of the camera across the large army of men marching across the field with the march-like music in the background. Immediately here the mood has been changed into one which involves hope and determination.To help enhance the fact that there is hope, Galadriel's narrative speeds up as well to support the pace of the film.

During the fighting scenes the music climaxes with a gradual crescendo which suggests that Sauron will be defeated however at this point there is complete silence in the music to create an atmosphere of high tension, as Sauron is about to enter into the scene. Due to the works of special effects, the director has been able to present Sauron in a particular way that suggests to the audience that he is much more powerful and malicious.Here Peter Jackson presents Sauron to be much more taller than the men surrounding him; this is purely to suggest to the audience the power he possesses. This is also supported by the zoom up to the ring worn on his finger. Panning is used to follow Sauron's axe and of men falling as a result of being hit by his axe.

The fast pace adds increasing tension to the mood as the audience doesn't quite know whether Sauron will be defeated or not.Silence is also used in the music where tension is most extreme; it is evident just before Isildur picks up his father's sword in attempt to kill Sauron. Silence is then used again in the music; here it carries high significance as it maintains the tension and intense mood to the climax of Sauron's death. Silence appears again to end the intense atmosphere just before Sauron's helmet lands on the ground with a loud heavy thud. This suggests that this is a significant point in the film and that victory to the people is final.

At this point the audience's mood develops into a much joyful one as victory is earned. The next scene is of Isildur wearing the ring and riding down a narrow road. Here there is a long shot of the road as the camera moving across the screen to face the direction in which Isildur to traveling. Extreme lighting is also used, which sets a blue lit scene suggesting to the audience that something is going to happen and thus creates a low but expecting mood. Suddenly the pace of the film speeds up as panning is used to show orcs jumping out of the trees and attacking Isildur.Here tension is withheld by the director by making the short sequence of the attacking orcs slightly blurred and almost in slow motion however the abrupt cut from one motion to another is at such a pace that the film keeps on moving.

The poignant and melancholy music at the beginning of the film returns as Islidur dies and the ring slowly falls into the dark waters. The screen fades gradually into darkness as the ring disappears from the screen and Galadriel's returns back to a wistful tone as she tells the audience that the ring being 'something that should not have been forgotten were lost'.Together with the deceleration of pace and the poignant music, which has become a motif to express sadness, Peter Jackson has created a mood of despair as the ring is lost. Special effect is used again to produce Gollum, an unnatural creature as a result of the poisonous power of the ring.

Peter Jackson has decided to present Gollum as a slim and bony creature to signify how such a ring can destroy any person who carries it. This almost makes the audience feel sympathetic to Gollum and so a mood of disparity and sympathy is created.There is establishing shot of the dark cave in which key light in shone onto Gollum sitting on a rock in the distance, the colour which is given off in the lighting used in the caves is blue which enhances the mood of misery and isolation surrounding Gollum. The screen then fades into a black screen in which the audience sees the panning of the ring falling in slow motion.

Dubbing is used to enhance the sound made by the ring, which implies the weight and power the ring carries.The screen then fades into a black frame and at this point sound effects establishes a definite change in the mood, as the music becomes much more optimistic. There is an establishing shot of green scenery where a long shot of Frodo reading a book under a tree is presented. Immediately Peter Jackson has developed a happy and harmonious mood, simply by using much more vivid colours which is an immense contrast to the beginning of the film where colours are desaturated and lifelessly pale.In the distant the audience hears light hearted singing and birds twittering in the trees, which generates a mellow as well as a happy mood.

The director also focuses on the change of expression on people's faces as an extreme close up of Frodo breaking into a smile is presented to the audience. This instantly sets a firm contrast between the horrified expressions on the army of men facing Sauron at the beginning of the film. Reverse shot is seen for the first time in the film which makes the conversation between Gandalf and Frodo much more personal.And despite that the fact that both characters attempts to pull a serious and angry face, the mood of happiness is sustained by the birds singing in the background as well as the return of the synchronised sound of light-hearted and witty music. The mood of harmonious is maintained throughout the scene by the long shot of the shire where people are laughing and joking as they work as well as the use of bright lighting and synchronising music.

There are short cuts of the shire carrying on with their daily businesses and preparation for the party between Gandalf and Frodo's conversation of the outside world.Here the director as manage to build a different kind of tension and excitement in the atmosphere as the two characters speaks of a secret involving Bilbo, which is to be revealed later on in the film. Peter Jackson also brings in suspense into atmosphere. This is done by the panning of the camera, which follows a group of excited children running towards Gandalf. The suspense is created by the slow pace of a drum in the background as well as a slight pause in music, here tension increases as the audience waits to see whether or not Gandalf sets off any fireworks for the expecting children.

The tension is broken by special sound effects as well as special effects of fireworks being set of at the back of Gandalf's wagon, which instantly recovers the comical mood which is accompanied by synchronising music. Peter Jackson has been able to develop all these different moods from a very melancholy atmosphere into a much more happy and harmonious atmosphere by using sound effects, lighting and contrast in colour of each scene as well as numerous camera techniques.