The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King vs The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Shot length, color & pacing compared
Both films are directed by Peter Jackson, 11 years apart. The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies averages 3.5 seconds per shot, while The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King holds each shot 18% longer, at 4.2 seconds.
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 Return of the King
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Average shot length
4.2s
3.5s
Total shots
3,796
2,794
Cuts per minute
14.4
17.0
Runtime analyzed
263 min
164 min
Close-ups or tighter
76%
65%
Setup: avg shot
3.9s
3.2s
Middle act: avg shot
3.6s
3.0s
Final act: avg shot
6.3s
5.8s
Shot scale mix
Extreme close-up
10%
5%
Close-up
35%
21%
Medium close-up
31%
39%
Medium shot
11%
16%
Long shot
12%
18%
Extreme long shot
1%
1%
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the KingThe Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
What the data shows
01The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has 3,796 shots (14.4 cuts a minute); The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has 2,794 (17.0 a minute).
02The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King frames faces more tightly: 76% of its shots are close-ups or tighter, against 65% for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.
03The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King relies most on the close-up; The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies on the medium close-up.
04Average frame brightness is within 10% between the two.
05The 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).
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).