Can anybody explain me why each of the films in the trilogy have different tones? The one in Fellowship is just normal, but The Two Towers has a more greysh tone and Return of the King is more colorful than the first two films.
shareI don't mean this in a rude vein: are you looking for a more detailed explanation than "Because the director wanted it that way"?
shareI would agree that PJ seems to love color grading (as do a number of other directors) and, to my eye, it is often taken too far. This seemed even more so in The Hobbit.
To the OP.
In the book, the sky gets progressively more dark the more the power of Sauron rises. I think some of the ramping down in color for TTT was an attempt to portray or suggest this.
I would disagree that the ROTK has more color. It is also heavily color timed towards different purposes.
It's interesting to go here : http://framecaplib.com/lotrlib.htm
and click on the 'chapters' link for any of the movies, then 'thumbnails', then scroll through the scenes by hitting 'next section'. It's easy to see the different tones for scenes. Meduseld scenes are warm and yellowish. Ephel Dúath scenes are gray and dim. Minas Tirith scenes look light and silvery and a bit cold. Minas Morgul scenes are a sickly green.
But these aren't indicative of 'more color'. And the tone for each of these locations is created artificially by turning a dial in the software. It looks unnatural to me but perhaps because I used photo-editing software so I recognize it for what it is. (Wider ranges of color reappear after the Hobbits return to the Shire but even those scenes feature over-saturation of green so the color has been monkeyed with a little.)
Why? I think one reason is to create mood. We want to feel a sense of comfort at Meduseld. The party is relaxing in a safe place for the moment. We want to feel a sense of dis-ease at Minas Morgul.
Also, the change in color tone helps the viewer keep track of all the switches between locations. If one scene is yellowish and the next is greenish... we know we're in a new place.
I'm sure the use of color grading has been discussed in the commentaries found on the extended edition DVDs. Especially important would be what was said in the post-production team's commentary. Perhaps your library has copies you can borrow.
Here are some links that might be useful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4zRMLbZZxw (RIP Andrew Lesnie... such a loss)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J71VpB3ooMI&t=15s
Thanks, M. To the OP: I asked a similar question a while back but didn't get this much information.
FWIW, I agree with the OP for the most part. My feeling was that Fellowship had richer-than-natural colors overall but still within the "normal" range of tones. 'Towers', being set primarily in the world of the Race of Men had colors that were less vivid - the world is less "magical". To my eyes RotK had unnaturally exaggerated colors - we are reminded that this is a mythological world and it's about to pass. When we end up back in the Shire, though, the colors look more "natural". Middle-earth is becoming the world that we know.
In between there are, of course, lots of variations. Tolkien uses the cold white marble of Minas Tirith to represent the lack of life force and contrasts it with the rough but lively life of the Rohirrim. As Magpie points out the film does the same.
I don't have the technical language so thanks again, M, for the information.
I notice this too and it's definitely intentional.
FotR is designed to be more archetypal mythic fantasy. There's an otherworldly, heightened appearance to the lighting. Lots of golds, green and occasional blinding white (Arwen's appearance, Lothlorien).
TTT is medieval folklore. Colours are muted and rustic. Alot of the film also takes place in navy blue night lighting as this is the darkest most desperate chapter.
RotK is a bit of a mix of both. I think this film suffers more from obvious green screen over location work which gives it an artificial look though.