Lord of the Rings
The Shire and Isengard are two very different parts of middle-earth. An array of different camera techniques, lighting and sound effects are used to control the viewers reaction.
The first shot of the shire is a LS of Frodo sat amongst the shade of the trees reading his book. The whole area around him is intense with colour. The grass is a perfect green and the sky is a cloudless blue. As the camera zooms in on Frodo, the theme music for the shire dies down leaving the raw sound effects left. This adds to the naturalness and idealistic portrayal. Frodo then runs across the grass at the sound of an old friend's song to meet Gandalf by the road.
In appearance and by character Gandalf and Saruman are almost complete opposites. The first appearance of Saruman in the Isengard scene is of him stood over an orb.
Elijah Wood as Frodo in Peter Jackson's live-actio...
Frodo in Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lo...
Gandalf was keen on the strollerFrom his stance you can see his power and with it his burning cold aura as the light filters round is head in a kind of frozen halo. Whenever you see Gandalf it is easy to relate to him and see his smile but Saruman has no such features. His straight hair passes his long face and ridged shadowed eyes and distinctive smile less mouth. When Gandalf is imprisoned on top the tower it goes from a LS to a CU. making the sky looks even greyer. Despite his powers, Gandalf looks small, and vulnerable on the tower huddled in the corner. As the camera comes in for a CU at eyelevel you can see the real hurt in his eyes and the humanness. The music at this point is very sombre and stilling. Another great discrepancy between the two wizards is their staffs. Gandalf's is plain...