Gladiator - Sound and Cinematography
By Connor Sadler
The film started with an extreme close up of a persons hand, it is not explained whose hand this is but it is believed to be the Russell Crowe, the eerie music in the background and the way he moves through the fields while feeding his hands through the corn field could imply that he is either remembering back to a time when he was once tending to his fields or he is thinking towards to the future and that would be his own version of Elysium.
The shot is then cut to a medium shot of Russell Crowe, very few dietetic sounds can be heard and it feels as though he is in the middle of an empty field, before walking off Russell looks towards a robin and smirks at it, which could mean that he almost wishes that he was as free as the bird and that he wants to just fly away from everything. As he walks away there is a wide shot of the Roman army he has to command but as he walks through it a lot of the dietetic sounds are muted and all focus is on Russell as he walks through his men, this could be as a way to not drown him out in the noise or as a way to show the real importance of the character by making him the only real sounds that are heard.
As the looming threat of a fight gets closer the music also gets more intense and powerful and keeps building up from when the horseman rides back with his head cut off, it is also important to add that the music dips as Russell goes over to give the cavalry their talk where he says "if you find yourself in a Field of green, you are in Elysium." This could be referencing that first scene that was shown where he runs his hands through a Field.
After when the armies are readying their weapons and lighting their arrows the music progresses, this could be reflected in the movement of the soldiers, as they run around and get themselves ready the music gets more intense with bass notes with some brass coming in when they engage the bandit, for a short moment the music changes and sounds like the theme from 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' As they get ready the cameraman takes a lot of establishing shots so the viewer can really get a feel for how big this conflict really is in comparison to the location. The bass notes give the feeling that a large force is coming towards them while the brass give more of a uniformed feel like how the soldiers stand together unwavering
As the soldiers start to fight the bandits Russel Crowe and his horsemen charge in from behind, the fire illuminating their surroundings in a reddish glow which could show how fierce and dangerous they are at that moment. The camera takes more close shots showing some emotion form the troops and for the remainder uses hand cam as a way of showing how unrefined and hectic the battle is now getting and as a way of trying to get the viewer in the fight itself so they can relate more to the soldiers.
After the battle is over there is a momentary victory chant with brass and horns which is then changed to long and mellow tunes of strings as they remember what they have also lost in this fight, all dietetic sounds are turned down almost as if Russel Crowe is having a hard time of hearing or if it is just to show his relief that it is now over.
In conclusion the opening few minutes of the film 'Gladiator' is very well executed with some very subtle parts which the viewer may never actually understand fully, an important point which i picked up on is that in initial fight in the opening sequence plays out a lot like the movie does but just condensed down, Russel Crowe starts off on his horse as a proud and high ranking person but is soon taken down and left to fight with the rest of the soldiers, after fighting off a few of the bandits he then has his back on his own ally and is about to fight with him but stops himself, a few moments later he is pinned to the ground as a bandit covered in fire runs at him which could be about the religious views at the time with the devil represented with fire and flames which he is spared by later, finally at the end as i mentioned before the chants of the soldiers around him as they had won are faded out which is as if he is having a hard time at hearing or as if he had died which in the movie he dies after accomplishing his final goal and ultimately 'winning the fight.'
After when the armies are readying their weapons and lighting their arrows the music progresses, this could be reflected in the movement of the soldiers, as they run around and get themselves ready the music gets more intense with bass notes with some brass coming in when they engage the bandit, for a short moment the music changes and sounds like the theme from 'Pirates of the Caribbean.' As they get ready the cameraman takes a lot of establishing shots so the viewer can really get a feel for how big this conflict really is in comparison to the location. The bass notes give the feeling that a large force is coming towards them while the brass give more of a uniformed feel like how the soldiers stand together unwavering
As the soldiers start to fight the bandits Russel Crowe and his horsemen charge in from behind, the fire illuminating their surroundings in a reddish glow which could show how fierce and dangerous they are at that moment. The camera takes more close shots showing some emotion form the troops and for the remainder uses hand cam as a way of showing how unrefined and hectic the battle is now getting and as a way of trying to get the viewer in the fight itself so they can relate more to the soldiers.
After the battle is over there is a momentary victory chant with brass and horns which is then changed to long and mellow tunes of strings as they remember what they have also lost in this fight, all dietetic sounds are turned down almost as if Russel Crowe is having a hard time of hearing or if it is just to show his relief that it is now over.
In conclusion the opening few minutes of the film 'Gladiator' is very well executed with some very subtle parts which the viewer may never actually understand fully, an important point which i picked up on is that in initial fight in the opening sequence plays out a lot like the movie does but just condensed down, Russel Crowe starts off on his horse as a proud and high ranking person but is soon taken down and left to fight with the rest of the soldiers, after fighting off a few of the bandits he then has his back on his own ally and is about to fight with him but stops himself, a few moments later he is pinned to the ground as a bandit covered in fire runs at him which could be about the religious views at the time with the devil represented with fire and flames which he is spared by later, finally at the end as i mentioned before the chants of the soldiers around him as they had won are faded out which is as if he is having a hard time at hearing or as if he had died which in the movie he dies after accomplishing his final goal and ultimately 'winning the fight.'
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