Videos Demonstrating Teamwork and Transition
For my observation, I’m including the link to a scene from the Lord of the Rings. Obviously, the entire trilogy took a lot of teamwork to complete. Remember, they filmed all three movies one after the other, even though the movies were all released in separate years. The cast of what seems like thousands would have been difficult to manage, including all the separate scenes. And then there’s the costumes. Can you remember the level of detail in each character’s costumes? It was easy to really feel like you were transported to another world.
The particular scene I’m focusing on for this blog is the one where Gandalf comes to the hobbits’ village – the Shire – for Bilbo’s birthday party. Right off the bat, you’ll see a Bokeh shot with the background blurry as the focus is on Frodo reading a book. Watch the camera angles about forty seconds into this clip. They’re very effective at making Gandalf look large while he’s sitting in the wagon and Frodo looks quite small. The camera angle is shot high on Frodo (from below) and on Gandalf, it’s eye level. There’s lots of close-up shots on both characters. When Frodo joins Gandalf in the wagon, the camera follows the wagon’s journey into the village, drawing the viewer along for the ride.
There’s an interesting shot about 2.2 minutes into the video clip where we get to peak on Bilbo as he’s preparing to leave for his party. Because of the way it was shot, through a doorway, it almost makes you feel like an intruder into an event maybe we’re not supposed to see. The rest of the screen is almost black until the chair shows up when he tosses something down. At that point, the whole shot opens up into the entire room.
Notice the difference in color as well. This shot has a warm, almost antique look to it, as compared to the outdoor shots where everything ‘s very green and sunny.
The music in the background is very tranquil, which works with the panoramic shots of the countryside. Doesn’t it make you want to live there????
