The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring is the first film of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy
The film retells the adventures of the Fellowship of the Ring, taking its story from the first part, The Fellowship of the Ring, and the first chapter of The Two Towers.
It was produced as the first of three films, filmed simultaneously on location in New Zealand with a budget of U.S. $180 million, the most in moviemaking history, with principal photography taking 14 months and postproduction continuing long after that.
Cast
Synopsis
Sauron, the dark lord, has awakened and threatens to conquer Middle-earth. To stop this ancient evil once and for all, Frodo Baggins must destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom. Men, Hobbits, a Wizard, an Elf and a Dwarf form a fellowship to help him on his quest.
Scenes
- "Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All..." **
- "Concerning Hobbits" *
- "The Shire" **
- "Very Old Friends" **
- "A Long-expected Party" **
- "Farewell Dear Bilbo"
- "Keep It Secret, Keep It Safe"
- "The Account of Isildur"
- "At the Green Dragon" *
- "The Shadow of the Past"
- "The Passing of the Elves"
- "Saruman the White"
- "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"
- "Bucklebury Ferry"
- "At the Sign of The Prancing Pony"
- "The Nazgûl"
- "The Midgewater Marshes" *
- "The Spoiling of Isengard"
- "A Knife in the Dark"
- "The Caverns of Isengard"
- "Flight to the Ford" **
- "Rivendell"
- "Many Meetings"
- "The Fate of the Ring"
- "The Sword that Was Broken" **
- "The Evenstar"
- "The Council of Elrond" **
- "Gilraen's Memorial" *
- "Bilbo's Gifts"
- "The Departure of The Fellowship" *
- "The ring Goes South" **
- "The Pass of Caradhras" **
- "Moria" **
- "A Journey in the Dark" **
- "Balin's Tomb" **
- "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm"
- "Lothlórien" **
- "Caras Galadhon" **
- "The Mirror of Galadriel" **
- "The Fighting Uruk-hai"
- "Farewell to Lórien" **
- "The Great River" **
- "Parth Galen"
- "The Breaking of the Fellowship" **
- "The Departure of Boromir"
- "The Road Goes Ever On..."
- Credits
- Official Fan Club Credits
* denotes a scene only available in the Extended Edition cut of the film.
** denotes a scene which includes extended content only available in the Extended Edition cut of the film.
Special effects
The Fellowship of the Ring makes extensive use of digital, practical and makeup special effects throughout. One noticeable effect that appears in almost every scene involves setting a proper scale so that the characters are all the proper height. Elijah Wood, who plays Frodo, is 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) tall in real life; but the character of Frodo Baggins is barely four feet tall. Many different tricks were used to cast the hobbits (and Gimli the Dwarf) as diminutive. Large and small stunt doubles were used in certain scenes, while entire duplicates of certain sets (especially Bag End in Hobbiton) were built at two different scales, so that the characters would appear to be the appropriate size. At one point in the film Frodo runs along a corridor in Bag End, followed by Gandalf. Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen were filmed in separate versions of the same corridor, built at two different scales, and a fast camera pan conceals the edit between the two. Forced perspective was also employed, so that it would look as though the short hobbits were interacting with taller Men and Elves. Surprising the makers of the film, kneeling was used to great effect.
For the battle between the Last Alliance and the forces of Sauron that begins the film, an elaborate CGI animation system, called Massive, was developed that would allow thousands of individual animated "characters" in the program to act differently. This helped give the illusion of realism to the battle sequences.
Filming locations
A list of filming locations, sorted by appearance order in the movie:
| Fictional Location |
Specific Location in New Zealand |
General Area in New Zealand |
|---|---|---|
| Hobbiton | Matamata | Waikato |
| Gardens of Isengard | Harcourt Park | Upper Hutt |
| The Shire woods | Otaki Gorge Road | |
| Bucklebury Ferry | Keeling Farm | Manukau |
| Forest near Bree | Takaka Hill | Nelson |
| Trollshaws | Waitarere Forest | |
| Ford of Bruinen | Arrowtown Recreational Reserve | Queenstown |
| Rivendell | Kaitoke Regional Park | Upper Hutt |
| Eregion | Mount Olympus | Nelson |
| Dimrill Dale | Lake Alta | The Remarkables |
| Dimrill Dale | Mount Owen | Nelson |
| Lothlórien | Lake Wakatipu | Queenstown |
| River Anduin | Rangitikei River | |
| River Anduin | Poet's Corner | Upper Hutt |
| Parth Galen | Paradise | Glenorchy |
| Amon Hen | Mavora Lakes | Milford Sound |
Deviations from the source material
See: Book vs. Movie: Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring
Linguistic elements
Some fans also felt that movie producers missed the linguistic basis of the work (as Tolkien invented the world to bring his languages alive and not the other way around):
In particular, Namárië, Galadriel's lament in Lórien that begins "Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen", did not appear in the film, although Tolkien considered it one of the highest points of The Fellowship of the Ring. A few lines of the poem do, however, make it into the soundtrack at the departure from Lórien. Other samples of Elvish language from the books are treated similiarly. However, Elvish (most often Sindarin) is spoken extensively in the film, with and without subtitles. The Elvish lines were, for the most part, devised specifically for the film version, sometimes based on English text written by Tolkien.
The movie features numerous books and artifacts with Tengwar inscriptions. Even though they were researched for accuracy, they still show a couple of peculiarities and inconsistencies not found in Tolkien's own Tengwar samples.
Another idiosyncrasy of the films is that Hobbit writing is shown in the Latin alphabet, while the books state that the Hobbits used the Tengwar. However, the Latin calligraphy is written in such a way that it bears resemblance to the Tengwar, including tehtar above their corresponding vowels. This refers visually to the Tengwar while allowing the audience to immediately recognise the text.
Score
Awards
In 2002 the movie won four Academy Awards out of thirteen nominations. The winning categories were for Best Cinematography, Best Effects, Visual Effects, Best Makeup and Best Music, Original Score. The other nominated categories were Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Ian McKellen), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Music, Song (Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan for "May It Be"), Best Picture, Best Sound and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published.
After the close of its theatre run, it ranked in the top ten highest grossing movies worldwide, with takings of $860,700,000 USA dollars from world-wide theatrical box office receipts (movie ticket sales). (Source: IMDB Top Movies Chart).
The movie has also been released on videotape and DVD, with some editions having additional footage and commentary not included in the theatrical release edition. Notable among the restored scenes is additional footage of a smiling Galadriel bestowing gifts on the members of the fellowship. In the theatrical version, she appeared dark and brooding. On Tuesday, November 12, 2002, Special Extended DVD Edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released, containing 208 minutes (3 hours, 28 minutes) of footage.
The extended editions of The Fellowship of the Ring and the second movie, The Two Towers had limited theatrical runs in selected cities worldwide in late 2003, during the run-up to the release of the final film, The Return of the King.
Reviews
- Combustible Celluloid - 3 out of 4 stars. (DVD)
- Eye Weekly
- MSNBC (Newsweek) - A 'Ring' to Rule the Screen
- Ross Anthony 2 out of 4 stars
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer One 'Ring' to bring them all ... into the theater
- Palo Alto Online
- Peliculas (Geocities) (Spanish)
- ReelViews
- SPLICEDWire
- Film Stew
- Shane Burridge
