The hobbit film opening

The start of this trailer is completely black and we hear what we assume is the protagonist begin talking. This creates a sense of tension as the viewer is eager to find out who it is speaking. This is followed by a hand with a match lighting a candle to make the darkness fade. This is an effective shot because it makes the viewer thing we’re about to see the protagonist. This has importance as The Hobbit is in the same universe as Lord Of the Rings which has a lot of hard-core fans who will be excited to see if the original hobbit will be playing the protagonist in this too as they’re based on the same person.  This tension makes the opening scene very good as for a lot of people this could be the make or break on whether they’re going to watch the film or not. The next shot is a very quick one of the protagonist walking down the hallway, this mid shot shows us the height of the protagonist letting us know he is indeed a hobbit but we’re yet to see the actors face. The following scene is black followed by the opening of a box (the camera was inside the box) to see an older looking hobbit showing us this movie is going to be based around a flashback. The hobbit gets a very big book out of the chest giving the impression this is a kind of diary and the flash back is going to be told through this book. There is non-diegetic music in the background to make a more effective atmosphere, from the music we understand this is a very calm scene with no action involved in it showing us that the hobbit has changed from what he used to be which further backs up the idea of this movie being a flashback. The next shot is a close up of a feather going into ink and then writing “ a long time ago” whilst writing this the protagonist is reading aloud showing us this movie is going to be based purely around a flashback. During the flashback there is a shot of a town which is being described as nice, there is a long shot of a group of people all wearing white clothes. The colour white connotes freedom, peace and purity giving the impression the town also follows those morals. They’re also cuddling which shows they’re friendly. The mise-en-scene in the opening is very good, looking around the room the props are very well made and it allows the viewer to be immersed in the film as everything looks as it should. As for the actor his facial expressions are normally quite bland and not very telling setting the idea of the film being quite serious rather than a parody or a comedy etc. His clothing is very old and fits well with the rest of the mise-en-scene.