National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

New Line Cinema released Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring in December 2001, launching one of the most ambitious fantasy trilogies in Hollywood history. The theatrical trailer arrived earlier that year, building anticipation through carefully chosen imagery that introduced audiences to Middle-earth on a grand scale.

This cell, titled Frodo, captures an extreme close-up of Frodo Baggins in an intense, wide-eyed moment against a dark background. The three adjacent frames preserve the same brief instant from slightly varying exposures, offering a rare look at how a single heartbeat of performance was recorded on 35mm film during the making of the trailer.