Synopsis:

Lord of the Rings: The War of Shadow and Fellowship refines the story of the Fellowship themselves and their touches with fate and destiny. Their quest is a tale of war and chaos, driven by a sense of hope, but one that often feels senseless as the war to end all wars, rages across all Middle-earth. War has come to Middle-earth, and it is in an unlikely union, between men, dwarves, elves, and hobbits, that we must place our trust. Experience the brutality of the great war, refined for maximum narrative impact, and emotional consequence.

Intentions:

My task was to take the masterful story of the Lord of the Rings and refine it into a 6 hour war epic, centred on the emotional trajectories of its characters, and reducing the series by 50% of its runtime. What the trilogy emphasises, in those goosebump inducing moments, is that only when we come together, regardless of race or where we live, only then can we truly fight the tyranny of evil. Told in large part through the people of Rohan and the power held in the hands of Théoden, King of the Horse Lords, The War of Shadow and Fellowship juxtaposes the passive nihilism of Denethor, and the burden of a king struggling to match his ancestors: meanwhile, caught in the middle is the heir to the throne of the largest kingdom in the world, Aragon - a ranger from the north. What has been created is a fully coherent and powerful adventure of hope... and sacrifice. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is a true feat of cinematic excellence, however, as the years have gone on, I find myself drawn to the Fellowship of the Ring as the best of the three, with its pace, wonder, and sense of true adventure, there is something indelible about its charm. Two Towers and Return of the King, are masterpieces, but I wanted to create one streamline experience, expanding upon the emotional toil of the Fellowship, the sense of change for dynamic characters throughout, and ending on a true sense of accomplishment and hope. The one aspect of the trilogy that can not be avoided, is that this is a story of war. There are some remarkable sequences, but there were large sections of the story which either seem frivolous, needlessly extended, or could be minimised to create a greater sense of catharsis. That is my intention.

Change List:

There have been over 2500 individual edits, through cutting, splicing scenes, repositioning scenes, using split edits to help transition, and streamlining scenes, or removing some altogether. A great deal of effort has been made to maintain theatrical integrity, whilst also being able to streamline the narrative to its emotional core. The biggest task was handling the music, and transition of scenes to not break the viewing experience. I hope you will be satisfied. Biggest changes: - Streamlining scenes by split editing dialogue/action, tightening sequences, and interconnecting different sequences through subtle changes to dialogue/audio/cutting on action. There are several hundred of these slight of hand edits. - Reducing the time spent at Bilbo's party - Removing Galadriel's appearance in Fellowship - Shortening the opening montage and repurposing the footage of the original battle against Sauron, later included in Elrond's flashback, with the voice over removed, and music manipulated to match. - Increasing the presence of Boromir and his relationship with Faramir - Reducing the role of the Ents - Developing Legolas' and Gimli's relationship - Using repurposed footage to emphasise Boromir's desperation, in particular the lack of empathy shown by Aragon when Boromir invites him to Gondor, to ride in together. - Using Théoden to illustrate the power Rohan, and their sacrifice - Aragon no longer grabs the king of Rohan, and stops him from executing Grimer. - Removing the revisiting of Aragon and Arwen's relationship - Removing the long journey to Helm's Deep - Removing the romantic interest between Eowyn and Aragon whilst simultaneously increasing her role and significance - Developing Saruman's role in shaping the army of Mordor - Staying within the battle of Helm's Deep, as opposed to cross editing - Emphasising the scale of the battle using repurposed footage and cut scenes - Removing chunks of Frodo, Sam and Golem's journey, when possible, in particular their approach to Mordor which is significantly different. - Removing the journey through Shelob's cave - Removing the false deaths of Golem - Removing Frodo and Sam's separation - Creating a narrative mirroring from Boromir's introduction and death, and Faramir's journey, up until his near death and his father's suicide, using memory and dream sequences, repositioning them and using it to parallel the divide between Théoden and Denethor, and the consequence of their actions. - Removing the inclusion of the Ghosts in the Battle of Minis Tirith - Including Aragon, Gimli and Legolas in the battle of Minis Tirith, arriving with Théoden - Removing Legolas taking down the Olyphant - Using cut footage to create a greater sense of violence and struggle during the battle of Minis Tirith - Ending the battle of Minis Tirith with the death of the Witch King - repurposing footage, and creating a parallel with his death and the end of the battle - The Mouth of Sauron and Elrond's scenes with Aragon had to be delicately cut to remove mention of Frodo's capture, and the Ghost king, both remain in the film - Saruman's death remains, although recut to minimise the overtly comedic death - There is no mention of the Eagles, or "flying" at any point in the film - they do not show up. - The film ends on the Hobbit's being honoured by King Aragon in Minis Tirith.

Additional Notes:

I hope you enjoy, and this edit becomes your new go to LOTR viewing experience. I would greatly appreciate any reviews - and please message me for the edit. Thank you.