Why Lord of the Rings’ Fantasy Environments Feel So Convincing
It’s because we always see Middle-Earth from the characters’ point of view.
The shots aren’t just there to make the audience feel awe/wonder/horror, they convey the awe/wonder/horror that the characters feel. When the audience sees an Important Landmark for the first time, it’s through the POV of a character who’s ALSO seeing it for the first time. You’re put in the characters’ shoes (or…feet??? Because hobbits are barefoot???? ok that was a terrible joke mOVING ON)
A good example is the intro to Rivendell in the Fellowship of the Ring, shown through Frodo’s POV. Frodo is badly wounded on the riverbank (fade to white…..) then wakes up in a bed. We don’t know exactly where he is (bc we’re seeing things from his perspective), all we see is this little room.
There’s a scene where Frodo talks to Gandalf and Sam, then Elrond welcomes Frodo to Rivendell. AND IT’s ONLY THEN– as Frodo gets up to explore– that we get the Big Reveal Shots of Rivendell in all its glory. Because that’s when Frodo sees Rivendell in all its glory.
We’re not just seeing Rivendell, we’re seeing Rivendell through Frodo’s eyes. We’re seeing Rivendell for the first time WITH Frodo, feeling awe and wonder WITH him.
Like–think about how insanely different (and less impactful) those big gorgeous shots of Rivendell would feel if they came before the scene where Frodo wakes up in bed. If we got those huge Iconic Rivendell Shots™….and then cut to Frodo waking up.
Technically we’d be getting the same information (we’re in Rivendell, Frodo wakes up in bed, we can assume Frodo thinks Rivendell is beautiful) but we’d feel completely disconnected from the Emotion of both moments. We’d feel disconnected from Frodo (because he hasn’t seen Rivendell and isn’t feeling what we’re feeling) and disconnected from Rivendell (because we’d still be in “worrying about Frodo” mode and wouldn’t feel the fantasy-awe that the cameraman wanted us to feel.)
And basically all the major Landscape Intros in Lord of the Rings follow this setup? Character A will announce the name of the Cool New Environment to Character B, who has never seen it before (Elrond welcomes Frodo to Rivendell, Aragorn tells Frodo they’re at the Argonath, Gandalf tells the Fellowship they’re in the great city of Dwarrowdelf, Haldir welcomes the Fellowship to Caras Galadhon, Gandalf tells Pippin they’ve arived at the White City, Gollum tells Frodo they’ve arrived at The Dead City, etc.) Character B will look up in Awe and Wonder (or sadness/horror, or whatever emotion this environment makes them feel). And theN we’ll get the iconic dramatic money-shots that don’t just show us the place, but also show us how the characters feel about seeing this place for the first time.
Again, I’m not saying the camera is literally…at their eye level, shooting things from their first-person-POV. I’m saying that the camera-work is aiming to capture how the characters feel.
A perfect example of a fantasy environment that feels unconvincing because of that exact problem I just talked about– because we’re not shown the environment through anyone’s point of view, making us feel disconnected from both the landscape and the characters– is the Woodland Realm from The Hobbit.
The dwarves are captured by Thranduil and enter the Woodland Realm. Then we get a bunch of beautiful spinny shots designed to make the audience feel wonder and awe…. Except none of the characters feel that way.
The dwarves don’t feel wonder and awe (we don’t even see their faces or emotional reactions to their entrance at all!!!!) And Bilbo– the character who isn’t a prisoner/dwarf, the character who genuinely loves elven culture, the character who WOULD feel wonder and awe at seeing Thranduil’s kingdom for the first time— we never see his reaction to it!!! We never even see him enter the kingdom at all!!!
As a result, the Woodland Realm never really feels there (because none of the characters have any emotional reaction to it) and we’re disconnected from the journey of the characters (because the characters aren’t feeling what we’re feeling, and we have no idea how THEY feel about the Woodland Realm.)
(This happens a lot throughout the Hobbit films?? We’re introduced to Cool CGI environments, especially in the Woodland Realm and Erebor, but the characters never react to them so they never feel convincing. Everyone loves to gif that scene in the end of the first movie where the Company are all riding the Eagles, and it’s beautiful and the score is swelling with Wonder Music…..but none of the characters themselves have any emotional reaction to flying on the eagles at all. The audience is feeling wonder, but the characters aren’t. You’re not experiencing things with the characters, so you feel completely disconnected from their journey.)
I’m not trying to pick on The Hobbit films (ok yes I am). I think some moments, like Bilbo’s arrival at Rivendell, are handled very well. I just think it’s interesting that… the scene where Thorin first enters Erebor ends up being one of most awe-inspiring moments in the film, not because the hallway he enters is very interesting, but because his reaction MAKES it interesting.
We believe this place is important and beautiful because the characters do. We believe in it because we’re seeing it through the eyes of characters who feel strongly about it.
Because fictional worlds are….fictional….the audience connects with them through the characters. The characters’ feelings towards to their world is what gets us to relate to and understand it.
If the characters don’t react to the world they’re in, the audience won’t either. For fantasy to feel believable, we need to see it through the eyes of the characters we’re travelling with, feel what they feel when seeing these places, and experience what it would be like to be there.
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