"Middle-Earth Soundscapes: An Exploration of the Sonic Adaptation of Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings' Through the Lens of Dialogue, Music, Sound, and Silence"

This thesis examines the complete soundtrack within Peter Jackson’s film trilogy The Lord of the Rings and discusses the sonic adaptation between the films and the original source material, J.R.R. Tolkien’s written trilogy by the same name. Adapted films are a popular avenue for filmmakers, and consequently theoretical film scholarship has been undertaken to study the components unique to cinematic adaptations. However, one component of adaptations has been neglected within film studies: the sonic adaptation. This thesis will focus specifically on the sonic adaptation in the popular fantasy film franchise The Lord of the Rings by discussing the dialogue, music, sound effects and silence. Through an examination of these components, the importance of each towards creating authenticity will become clear. This thesis will argue that the study of the sonic adaptation is a necessary future direction for film studies, and particularly studies that examine dialogue and sound.