The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug vs The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Shot length, color & pacing compared
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies arrived 1 year after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies cut at almost the same pace: 3.5s and 3.5s per shot on average.
Each stripe is the average color of a slice of the film, from the first frame (left) to the last (right).
By the numbers
Metric
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Average shot length
3.5s
3.5s
Total shots
3,195
2,794
Cuts per minute
17.1
17.0
Runtime analyzed
187 min
164 min
Close-ups or tighter
72%
65%
Setup: avg shot
3.6s
3.2s
Middle act: avg shot
3.2s
3.0s
Final act: avg shot
3.8s
5.8s
Shot scale mix
Extreme close-up
4%
5%
Close-up
24%
21%
Medium close-up
43%
39%
Medium shot
15%
16%
Long shot
13%
18%
Extreme long shot
0%
1%
The Hobbit: The Desolation of SmaugThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
What the data shows
01The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has 3,195 shots (17.1 cuts a minute); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has 2,794 (17.0 a minute).
02Both films use close-ups at a similar rate (72% and 65% of shots).
03The most common framing in both is the medium close-up.
04The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the brighter film overall: its average frame brightness is 80% higher than The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug's.
05The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug keeps a steady rhythm across all three acts (3.6s, 3.2s, 3.8s per shot).
06The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies cuts fastest in its middle act (3.0s per shot) and slowest in its final act (5.8s).