Amon Hen: You choose!

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

In the LOTR serial I have come to the scene where Frodo looks out from the Seat of Seeing on Amon Hen and sees events unfurling across Middle-earth. It is a difficult scene to capture visually and I don't have the time within the episode to devote a lot of space to it but it has the possibility of being a distinctive cinematic moment.
I have thought of several different treatments but haven't plumped for any of them yet and I wondered if it would be fun to give people a chance to contribute.
I've put up a poll but don't feel obliged to fill it in. All suggestions are welcome. My limited imagination has so far come up with 5 alternatives. Put very briefly, the way I have visualised the Spirit-world is a background of mists and hazy distortions BTW.

#1 An extreme and rapid zoom to the scene in question.
#2 A break in the mists revealing a scene in miniature with or without a zoom.
#3 The mists solidifying and morphing via CGI into the scene.
#4 A vision of the scene suspended in the sky.
#5 A false perspective, 'sit-up-and-beg' half map/ half panorama where events are all taking place at once like those large-scale late mediaeval narrative paintings where battles and martyrdoms are going on all at once. Again with an optional zoom to a particular event.

You don't have to take this too seriously but by all means have a go.

[Primula Baggins]

I voted #1 because it's easy to comprehend: it conveys motion, so we understand that these aren't visions or hallucinations—Frodo is seeing things that are actually happening at that moment elsewhere in Middle-earth.

A scene in miniature might seem uninvolving or confusing. The CGI solution and the scene in the sky don't convey the feeling of distance and could be seen as dream sequences. The map/panorama could again seem confusing and uninvolving. Only the first solution lets us understand what is actually happening in each place and understand that Frodo is seeing reality.

[Crucifer]

I chose #1, for all the same reasons as Prim.

[Inanna]

I went with 5, but would make the optional zoom a priority.... the reason I liked 5 was because it would give the feeling of "seeing all", not just one particular thing like Galadriel's mirror.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I voted for #1, too. For the same reason that Prim already explained.

[narya]

We got a rapid zoom in the Movie, and it wasn't clear whether it was a vision of what could be, or a sudden telephoto sight ability on the part of Frodo. I'd prefer something mistier, and other-worldly.

[Rowanberry]

I'm for #5, the way you present it. But, it would be good if the visions were shown as somewhat misty, so that it's Frodo "seeing with the mind's eye" rather than an actual vision.

The first thing that came up to me was none of your alternatives, though: a fast-moving collage of the visions. If you've seen Yellow Submarine, you might remember the scene where the submarine "flies" from Liverpool to London; that's quite close to my idea.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

Thanks for the replies. I haven't seen the poll results because I haven't decided myself yet! I did try and put in an option for 'other' but it didn't appear.
Here is my thinking so far: Speeded up, exagerrated zooms are the simplest idea but I have used one already though you haven't seen it yet and I will probably use it again for a similar purpose later on. It already borders close to a film cliche and I want to make this treatment seem visually fresh.
Moereover the Spirit-world is 'magic' and this event ought to have some sense of altered reality if that is possible. The mists solidifying and becoming the elements of the scene was one concept I considered but I am not too fond of it.

He seemed to be in a world of mist in which there were only shadows....... Then here and there the mist gave way and he saw many visions.

This prompted me to consider the breaks in the mist. Any scene would look small in this way and would need some magnification.
But then again:

small and clear as if they were under his eyes upon a table

and I thought of a map-like panorama where many things are happening at once that the camera could pan or track to and then concentrate on. The map might be an amalgam of the drawn map and photographic landscape.
I am not wedded rigidly here or elsewhere to reproducing Tolkien's descriptions exactly so I am open to different otherworldy treatments. I was going to say that I don't want novelty for its own sake but then realised that I do. But only if it serves the narrative.

You will at least see from this that I have been giving the story a little thought.

[ToshoftheWuffingas]

Just an update. I wrote the final version last night. Thanks for your thoughts. You will have to wait to find out. I have now finished The Fellowship of the Ring!

[Primula Baggins]

Congratulations, Tosh! Can't wait to see it.