Analyzing The Movie '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 of him and see that he is holding the messengers head. He throws it and we hear a thud as it rolls down the bank which shows complete disrespect.
The camera cuts to Maximus and he is squatting down rubbing the earth into his hand he may do this because he thinks if he gets acquainted with the earth it will be on his side. In this shot you see that Maximus is in focus but the fire behind is blurred this is a good shot because if you ever look at anything in detail up close the background becomes burred because you are not focusing on it. The music then becomes more fast pace because you know that the battle is
imminent.
When Maximus says to the cavalry ‘3 weeks from now I will be harvesting my crop'. The start with him and his hand in the crop becomes more significant as we know he is now a farmer. He also says ‘I will be harvesting my crop' in that sentence inferring that he will still be there which motivates the other soldiers because they are thinking they will win. He also says to them ‘if you find yourself lying down in a field with the sun beating down on there backs to fear not because you are in alyssum'. So he is also saying even if you die you will be going to heaven.
We then cut back to the roman army they have a lot of mechanical machines. Where as there opposition have nothing like them. The Romans use common sense in there fighting. They use a line of fire and simply get there archers to dip the arrows into it. The use there trademark tortoise movement when arrows rain down on them.
Before Maximus road off to join the cavalry he say to the second in command ‘on my signal unleash hell'. There is a lot of fire when the catapults are fires this could relate to the unleashing hell because we have the idea that hell is a firry place.