The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring vs The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Shot length, color & pacing compared
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King arrived 2 years after The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King cut at almost the same pace: 3.6s and 4.2s 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 Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Average shot length
3.6s
4.2s
Total shots
3,776
3,796
Cuts per minute
16.5
14.4
Runtime analyzed
228 min
263 min
Close-ups or tighter
81%
76%
Setup: avg shot
3.3s
3.9s
Middle act: avg shot
3.2s
3.6s
Final act: avg shot
5.4s
6.3s
Shot scale mix
Extreme close-up
14%
10%
Close-up
34%
35%
Medium close-up
32%
31%
Medium shot
10%
11%
Long shot
9%
12%
Extreme long shot
0%
1%
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
What the data shows
01The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has 3,776 shots (16.5 cuts a minute); The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has 3,796 (14.4 a minute).
02Both films use close-ups at a similar rate (81% and 76% of shots).
03The most common framing in both is the close-up.
04The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is the brighter film overall: its average frame brightness is 59% higher than The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring's.
05The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring cuts fastest in its middle act (3.2s per shot) and slowest in its final act (5.4s).
06The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King cuts fastest in its middle act (3.6s per shot) and slowest in its final act (6.3s).