The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring vs The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Shot length, color & pacing compared
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers arrived 1 year 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 Two Towers cut at almost the same pace: 3.6s and 4.0s 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 Two Towers
Average shot length
3.6s
4.0s
Total shots
3,776
3,509
Cuts per minute
16.5
14.9
Runtime analyzed
228 min
236 min
Close-ups or tighter
81%
78%
Setup: avg shot
3.3s
3.7s
Middle act: avg shot
3.2s
3.7s
Final act: avg shot
5.4s
5.2s
Shot scale mix
Extreme close-up
14%
11%
Close-up
34%
34%
Medium close-up
32%
33%
Medium shot
10%
10%
Long shot
9%
12%
Extreme long shot
0%
1%
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the RingThe Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
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 Two Towers has 3,509 (14.9 a minute).
02Both films use close-ups at a similar rate (81% and 78% of shots).
03The most common framing in both is the close-up.
04The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the brighter film overall: its average frame brightness is 29% 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 Two Towers cuts fastest in its setup (3.7s per shot) and slowest in its final act (5.2s).