Repeated Elements in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings
With the recent release of the Return of the King DVD, many of us have revisited the movie and probably the first two as well. Throughout the trilogy, we pickup certain repeated phrases, visual images, actions or scenes that occur in two or even all three of the films.
It’s possible Peter Jackson uses these to emphasise certain themes through his version of Tolkien’s trilogy. For example, PJ has said one theme of the LOTR books is death, and we see repeated scenes that make us all think a character has died, only to see them return. ‘Hope’ is a word that is repeated in various spoken phrases, and possibly, represented visually as well.
How many of these repeated elements can you spot, and what might they mean? Is there a connection between these repeated elements and story themes? And, do they help to make make the separate LOTR films more cohesive as one continuous movie or was PJ getting carried away with his vision?
Come join us this week in the Hall of Fire as we discuss repeated elements and themes in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.
=== Past topics update:
If you haven’t visited the Hall of Fire page for a while, you might be surprised to see that we recently updated the logs for the last six months. Wander over and check out what everyone had to say for topics such as ‘Little Engimas of LoTR’, ‘Villains in RoTK’ or our fiery ‘Denethor’ chat of late last year.
http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/hall.html
Remember, if you have a topic you’d love to see in Hall of Fire, drop us a line! Or maybe you’d like to see one of the topics we’ve done in the past revisited.
Either way, we’d love to hear from you, and though we might not always reply, all the suggestions we receive go into the topic melting pot. E-mail us at halloffire@theonering.net today!
=== Chat Times:
Saturday Chat: 5:30pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 9:30am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00pm (13:00) ET and 5:00am (03:00) Monday morning AET]
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Merry in Oz writes: I have just returned from the first LOTR Symphony in Sydney. It was fantastic!! The stage in the Opera House was full with the sydney symphony orchestra and the philharmonia choir and the children’s choir. The 6 movements took the whole journey through LOTR–and the Alan Lee/John Howe visuals made it feel like experiencing the whole trilogy in 2 hours.
I thought the soloists were great too–I was delighted to hear the children’s choir sing ‘In Dreams” which is my favourite song. David Bruce really hit those high notes–especially the one when they are crying for Gandalf on the Dimrill Dale! Katie Noonan did an excellent ‘Into the West’–it all sounded so true to the films!! well done Sydney!
My favourite bits were shadowfax’s song and the lighting of the beacons–so stirring!!
Anyway, go see this concert if you can! it was packed out tonight. And checking the program we found a Bracegirdle playing a horn!! will investigate this further!!
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Ozwitch
I took my 17 year old son to the last performance at the Sydney Opera House last night. It was his first symphony, and although he played in a school band, this was considerably higher up the scale in terms of achievement and quality.
He was blown away. Both of us are longtime LOTR fans, and both of us have loved each of the three scores, but seeing and hearing them performed live was a magical and utterly unforgettable experience. The concert hall was packed as it had been for the first three performances. Not your usual opera or classical crowd – I saw everyone from little kids to grandparents to 70s hippies with flowing beards and Harley jackets to chardonnay sippers – all dressed accordingly. A truly great sight and a measure of the wide appeal created both by Peter Jackson’s films and Howard’s music. Concerts like this are great bridge builders – people who love the films go to them and say, hey maybe I’ll just go listen to a symphony one day. I’ll wager many of the LOTR fans had not been to a classical concert before, but that most of the classical goers had seen the LOTR films, another great achievement of Peter Jackson’s.
Anyway as performances go, this was right up there with the very best. It was all I hoped for and more. The SSO is one of the world’s best symphony orchestras and last night they showed everyone why they are so respected. Their playing was intense, emotional and dramatic in all the right spots, and never wavered. It was a long and I imagine for some very draining performance – the horns especially could be forgiven for the odd fluff as they had a lot to do, but they were 99% spot on, as were all the other sections. The flautist who did the piccolo and pan as well as the flute solos, Rosamund Plummer, was absolutely lovely – her wavering, piercingly sweet sounds were perfect and she got a huge round of applause at the end.
The other soloists were just as inspired – the Norwegian hardanger was played by Jenny Thomas, vocal soloists were David Bruce (treble soprano) and Katie Noonan. Katie was a revelation – she sang all the female solo parts including Gollum’s Song and Into the West and I have to say I liked her better than Emiliani Torrini and Annie Lennox. Her voice is very pure and she doesn’t need to yell to penetrate the corners of the hall – it was a truly haunting and emotional performance. David Bruce was also very capable although his voice tended to be lost at times, but this is I think because he was at the far back of the stage. In fact the only criticism I have of the acoustics was that sometimes the choir was a little lost among all the instruments but only sometimes. Most times they delivered, as did the orchestra. My favourite was the tuba – he was absolutely awesome, belting out those Rohan themes especially.
Howard seemed very pleased by the performance and the reaction of the audience who gave him a standing ovation –BUT NOT A SECOND CURTAIN CALL – which I thought was very rude considering how wonderful the concert had been, but then again, maybe that was Opera House rules or something. Anyway he seemed genuinely delighted by the orchestra and soloists, nodding and clapping them in his soft, self-deprecating way. He comes across as a very modest man, a perfectionist in what he demands but his love for the music and his joy in sharing it with the players is obvious.
I was sitting next to an American couple who had been in Australia 3 months and were going back on Monday. They had managed to get tickets at the last minute, and it was very touching to see how overjoyed they were by what they had experienced. They couldn’t imagine going home on a better note (no pun intended.)
I couldn’t have imagined a better evening either. The drawings and imagery projected above the stage took a little getting used to, at first I found it annoying but after a while I realized it was useful as you sometimes did need it to remind you what and who the music was referring to. I didn’t think it was too intrusive either, just there to show you where in the story you were at when a particular piece was playing. The lighting was spot on, though capturing the mood perfectly, from sea green and Lorien blue to hot red Balrog.
So all in all, a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And man, those Opera House acoustics. You think you’ve heard great concert halls, and then you go to the Sydney Opera House. Just awesome. A truly magical venue which showcased a truly magical musical experience.
Director: Costa Botes 2004 87 Minutes Director/Producer: Costa Botes Photography: Costa Botes, Hayley French Additional photography: Stephen Whelan-Turnbull, Jo Luping, Guy Pottinger, Tony Burrows Editor: Jason Stutter Sound: Matt Stutter
Wellington filmmaker Costa Botes, a long-time associate of Peter Jackson and his co-conspirator on Forgotten Silver, assembled a small team in July 1999, three months before cameras rolled on principal photography for The Lord of the Rings, to shoot and compile a behind-the-scenes video record. By the time production of the trilogy finally ended late in 2003, they had over 800 hours of footage. In the first of the three documentary features to be cut from this material, there’s a much fuller and more playful appreciation of activity behind the scenes than you might have seen on the more formal, guided tours provided by the excellent DVD extras or Te Papa show.
“It was never designed to be part of a marketing effort. It wasn’t even meant to be seen for another couple of years, when it and its two companion pieces are provisionally earmarked for release as part of a DVD box set. It is presented here, exclusively to this Festival, as a work in progress, and a taste of things to come.” — Costa Botes
Becky, on behalf of the Cambridge Tolkien Society, writes: Just a quick reminder about our forthcoming charity Lord of the Rings reading which will be happening this Saturday in Cambridge, UK. Joining us on the day will be our very special guest, Brian Sibley! We would love to have as many people as possible drop by and say hello to us, so if you could help us in our goal by mentioning us on TOR.n then that would be great!
“On Saturday 19th June, 2004, members of the Cambridge Tolkien Society will be performing a continuous 13-hour read-through of the BBC’s excellent radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, in Borders Cambridge, with the kind permission of Brian Sibley, Michael Bakewell, and the Tolkien Estate. All proceeds will go to the National Trust.” [More]
Australian Singer Greta Gertler to Record for Documentary Feature, Ringers: Lord of the Fans
Hollywood, CA — June 15, 2004: Singer/songwriter Greta Gertler will arrange and perform a cover of the classic ballad “Leave Tomorrow Till It Comes” exclusively for the upcoming feature documentary, Ringers: Lord of the Fans. The song is familiar to Tolkien fans from the 1980 Rankin & Bass animated version of The Return of the King. Ms. Gertler’s remarkable sense of melody and orchestration breathes new life into a song originally recorded by “The Limeliters” vocalist Glenn Yarbrough. An original composition from Ms. Gertler, the aptly titled “The Ring,” will also appear in the film.
Ms. Gertler was recently praised in Headliner magazine: “Once in a while a voice comes along that really makes you sit up and take notice. Australian born New Yorker Greta Gertler is such a voice.” She recently released her debut album, The Baby That Brought Bad Weather after working on it for three years in New York City with Noah Simon (Jarvis Studios). It has been described as “one of those hoped for revelations that all too infrequently emerge from the never-ending pile of new releases” (Vin Scelsa, WFUV) and “an album of timeless songcraft in the classic pop tradition but with a magic that transcends the genre” (Irwin Chusid, WFMU). The New Yorker magazine raves: “She has a spacious voice and a welcome weakness for lushly orchestrated seventies-era singer-songwriter pop.” Ms. Gertler’s live performances range from solo piano/vocal to a core 5-piece rock band to a 14-piece big band, augmented by classical and jazz musicians. Visit her official website here! http://www.gretagertler.com/
Ringers: Lord of the Fans features a dynamic rock-driven score with many recording artists who were influenced by J.R.R. Tolkien. Many have come forward to provide a new spin on nostalgic favorites from previous “Rings” adaptations. After 16 months of location shooting on three continents, and speaking with dozens of actors, filmmakers, rock musicians, authors, and academics, “Ringers” stands as the most comprehensive film document of the ongoing Tolkien phenomenon.
About the Documentary:
Very funny and often moving, Ringers: Lord of the Fans shows the hidden power behind Tolkien’s books — and how after 50 years a single literary work continues to spark the minds and hearts of millions, across cultures and across time. Ringers explores the real foundations of Middle-earth; a community of true fans who share a common bond. Moving beyond “cult classic” and over several different generations, the film unearths academics, musicians, authors, filmmakers, and a plethora of pop junkies — the people gathered under the banner of ‘Ringer.’
Current “Ringers” Interviewees include:
Actor – Dominic Monaghan, Author/Filmmaker – Clive Barker, Writer/Director/Producer – Cameron Crowe, Actor – David Carradine, Comics Illustrator – Colleen Doran, Author – Terry Pratchett, Author – Peter S. Beagle, Author – Terry Brooks, Tolkien Scholar – Dr. Jane Chance, Chairperson of the Tolkien Society – Christine Crawshaw, Author – Colin Duriez, Filmmaker/Critic – Chris Gore, Screenwriter/Publisher – Forrest J. Ackerman, Actor – Bill Mumy, Author/Broadcaster – Brian Sibley, Great-Grandson – Royd Tolkien, and hundreds of Tolkien fans!
For additional information, contact: Melanie Marquez, Publicist 9220 Sunset Blvd Suite 220 West Hollywood, CA 90069 Office: +1 323-669-1173 Melanie@LitchfieldEnt.com
