Gladiator

Gladiator

Even before the first scene of gladiator you see the universal logo in a sandy colour and the DreamWorks logo in a sandy colour as well this tells the audience that it will be a film set in a dry country and there is potentially going to be a lot of sand in the film because they do not change the colour of the universal logo that frequently in films.

In the first scene we see somebody’s hand (shortly we find out that it is maximus’s) toughing corn as he walks through a field. You can see he has a wedding ring on which means he is married. He has a leather bracelet on which is a form of armour so we draw the conclusion that he is a solider. Later in the film the corn becomes more significant. You can hear a voice as he is walking through the field, but it is not his voice because of the pitch of them, it is a child’s voice this also becomes more significant as the film moves on. The director then cuts to maximus he is looking down on a robin and the robin fly’s away this could symbolise his dream which is to be in that field flying away. As soon as the director cuts to maximus there is no sand at all in fact it is a very dark grey colour and sets quite a gloomy mood this is a big change compares to him running his hand through the corn. He then turns around and starts to walk towards his army. At this moment the camera pans out from maximus’s close up so you have a whole overview of the army. As the camera is panning out you hear some extremely powerful music which is like a ‘I am hear and I am going to win this battle’

He walks along the ranks of his men and you see the world through his eyes all the men are saying ‘general’ to him but because the audience are seeing the world through his eyes, they feel like they are there which makes the audience more involved. The second in command says to one of the soldiers to move back some cannon balls. Maximus quickly buts in and says ‘the range is fine leave them where they are’. The second in command then questions him but the solider does not this shows he is a very assertive general.

We then see a horse galloping toward the roman ‘fort’ this was the messenger that was sent out to try and talk to the opposition. The horse comes into the ‘fort’ and we see that the messenger has been tied to the horse and had his head cut off. This is very dramatic and proves that these people that they are about to fight have absolutely not respect for the rules of war. The point of the messenger is that they should be able to travel there and back and take messages safely. As the horse rides in we hear a foreign voice (probably German). Then a worrier dressed in dark greens and greys emerges from the woods. We then get a medium close up