The movie Gladiator is about a Roman citizen who has been betrayed and his family murdered by a corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. The director and editor collaborate to create a meaningful message; through the micro elements they are able to make the audience feel as if they were living that situation.
From the scene that we watched in class I was able to analyse the different methods and technique used by the director and editor to make the scene realistic and vivid as possible:
That Gladiator scene that we watched was set in Italy at Rome in the Colosseum. From this basic information I acknowledge that the film is not in a modern day era. The props create a significant meaning in the film. The scene was introduced with drams and horns. The Barbarian’s enter the Colosseum assertively on chariots as an advantage of winning the battle, whilst the Romanians gathered together in the centre of the Colosseum holding shields and surds guarding themselves. The fact that the Barbarians are on horses it emphasizes the vulnerability of the Romanians as they are looking up on them. The audience is able to distinguish who is who in the battle because the Barbarians are in gold armor and the Romanians are wearing silver armor.
Caesar wore gold and purple clothing, in those day gold was a royal colour, this suggests that in high status then other character. The natural light from the sun give emphasis to the hot sticky weather, the way in which the sun poisoned it creates shadow underlining the negative vibe. The overall colours used are vague and dark.
The diegenetic sounds of drams and horns being played is to let the audience know that the battle is about to start, the horses galloping toward the centre of the Colosseum emphasizes how defenceless the Romanians were compared to the Barbarians on the actual horses. The combatants falling on the hard surface, Cracking scales and the sounds of surds digging into their bodies draw attention to the cruelty and the harsh deaths, making the audience cringe. Towards the end of the scene the people in the stadium were shouting and cheering, idolizing the victorious moment.
The once they entered the Colosseum an Establishing shot of the inside of the Colosseum was used to indicate where the action is going to take place. When the Romanian stood in the middle of the Colosseum a High angle shot was use - camera is looking down at them to emphasize how big the Colosseum is in comparison to the competitors who were fighting. Before the fight started many close up shots and mid shots were used on mainly the empire and Maximus so that the audience is able to see their facial expression in details and to show their importance as they were the only characters making speeches. As Caesar was making his speech Maximus made a hand movement and a shot reverse shot of him and the little boy Lucius was uses to tell us that they are communicating via eye contact. The fight then begun and more mid shots were use of to get hold of the action, they were close enough to see it in details. A Point of view shot of the woman in the chariot aiming at her enemies helps build tension- the eye line match of her aiming for the enemy automatically glues the viewers eye to the movie as they question them self whether she will hit her target or not . later on in that scene the Romanians follow Maximus’s command to work together as a team so they gathered together and they managed to make the Barbarian’s chariot buckle- the editor uses the slow motion technique to ‘mark that moment’, showing that the roll of who is winning the battle has reversed. During the battle panning was use so that the views are able to see from the crowd’s point of view, drawing our attention of what they are watching. As the scene got more violent Continuity editing was used to smoothen the action and to make it look realistic. I am estimating that 400 to 600 cuts were used.
Both the director and editor succeed to create meaning to this scene using the micro elements. The art of editing keeps the viewers entertained the editing of this scene is done so smoothly that it makes it unpredictable and mystery but interesting to watch, allowing the audience to participate bringing their imagination to life.
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