Friday 30 October 2015

Gladiator opening scene analysis

Close up of main character
From the opening scene we learn that the film is set in the ancient world. We can tell this because they are roman legionnaires fighting old Germanic tribes men. In the scene we learn that the main character is a general in the roman army. We can tell this because he is the only one dressed in furs. Furs are normally a sign of power or authority. He is also not standing in the ranks of the infantry and is standing  and moving at his own will, not something that is done by ordinary soldiers in a disciplined army like the Romans. We can tell that he is the main character because he is the first person that we see in the film. A close up is used for this so we can see his face and the fact that he is played by Russell Crowe, a popular actor. The scene opens with a sad but calm piece of music. This suggests that there is about to be a battle, like the calm before the storm. This is reinforced by the fact that the main character that is shown on screen at the time is a soldier in Armour, which is only worn when thy are expecting to fight. the editing of the scene is slow. This adds to notion that this is the calm before the storm as the slow editing is calm and does not induce excitement in to the audience. the music changes when the Germanic tribes men arrive for battle. The start of the war chants is used as a trigger for this change in the music to a deeper, more tense tone. this is to signify that the battle is about to begin and that many people are likely to die.

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