Textual Analysis of Gladiator

Editing: Title sequence- CGI because it is text that has been inserted through the editing suite. Text explains the historical background to the conflict in the Roman Period. It is about the Barbarians in Germania trying to resist the German conquest. It is there because it is useful. It provides background information to the audience regarding the plot of the film. This is a convention in historical and documentary films. This is a historical AA film.

Sound: We hear orchestral music that sounds ancient and foreign with a chorus singing wordlessly. The mood of this is melancholy and romantic. It is mingled with what appears to be ambient sound- the gentle laughter of children. The combined effect of the sounds evokes the protagonist’s home-life, which is far away from the battlefield.

Mise-en-scene: There is a man walking through a cornfield, brushing his hand through them, fondling them. He is romanticizing home as he runs his hand over the golden corn. He is thinking about his more personal side. In his mind, he wants to be running his hand through the cornfields, but he can’t as he is on the battlefield. The music is slow and it matches both the protagonist’s feelings and the pace at which he is walking through the field

Editing: A straight cut takes us to reality- the battlefield. It is like waking up from a dream. There is a close up on the protagonist’s face to show the emotions he is feeling in this particular scene. There is a deliberate contrast between the soft, vibrant atmosphere of the cornfield, and the extremely grey, violent, fearful atmosphere of the battlefield. The cornfield is full of growing life, whereas the battlefield is full of life being taken away.

Sound: There is a sound bridge between the cornfield and the battlefield in which the sound and music from the hopeful, gentle domestic scene, shifts over to the next scene, which is tense and grey. The protagonist then turns to see a bird fly away, and smiles when he looks at it. This is contrast to the current setting as it is depicting life and innocence on the battlefield, but also represents life being taken away on the battlefield, the loss of hope and also the transition between scenes

Camerawork: Establishing shot of the battlefield. We saw a wide shot of a dark, gloomy solemn forest. This suggests the mood of trepidation, apprehension, fear, anxiety, foreboding, the unknown; we know the enemy is hiding there so it creates a sense of tension and fear. Tracking shot of Maximus is important because it shows him to be a strong, powerful and courageous person. He is directly in the centre of the shot and the effect of the tracking shot is that it leads us to believe that the protagonist is very dominant and praised due to him riding through the crowds with ease

Antagonist: The antagonists are hairy and ragged, whereas the romans are polished, clean shaven and sport clean, strong armour. This contrasts the antagonists, who are portrayed as ruthless barbarians who love nothing more than to chop some heads off. The clothes they wear are ragged and ripped, symbolising that they are much less advanced than the protagonists. This lack of perfection in their ragged and dirty features represents them as villainous as they are completely contrasting their clean shaven and disciplined counterparts.