Gladiator media assignment

In the 21st century film, 'Gladiator', the director, Ridley Scott, uses a range of cinematic techniques to express the feelings and emotions of each of the main characters. Gladiator is a historical film, which is based on a true story, however the director has added a love triangle to add interest. Although this is a historical film, it is also a typical Hollywood film in the way that the hero defeats the villain and 'gets the girl'. In the first few shots of the film, Ridley Scott begins to portray the character, Maximus, as the hero.

We can see this in the forth shot with a medium close up shot of Maximus. He is watching a red breast robin flying away, which symbolises freedom. The mis-en-scene in this shot include colours of dark icy blue tones which represents the cold atmosphere of the beginning of the film as he goes to war. Maximus then gazes into the distance with a look of determination in his face.

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This is the first example of Ridley Scott's impression of hero and villain as in this shot you are able to see Maximus's face clearly.

Although it is not a lengthy shot it has a great impact. In the next few shots, Maximus is walking through an aisle, with a line of soldiers on either side of him. Shot 10 is a good example of Ridley Scott's view of how Maximus should be viewed as a character. It is a close up shot of him scanning the many rows of soldiers whilst pacing briskly.

The camera is level with the eyes of Maximus, showing that the viewers are equal to him. Also Maximus is seen also to be 'on the same level' as the soldiers through the point of view shot that Ridley has included.

The soldiers are greeting Maximus by spontaneously showing signs of respect rather than fear. When creating Commodos's image, Ridley Scott used a range of royal colours in the mis-en-scene of his shots. The end shot of Commodos is the most effective for portraying his character, as the viewer is finally able to see his face after a whole scene of him being in darkness. Although his face is visible, Ridley Scott has used extensive make up around his eyes to enforce the intensity of his evilness.

This shot is in slow motion to give an effect of importance also it climaxes the suspense built up in the previous shots where he was in darkness. The camera was at a low angle, showing Commodos to be superior, to the viewer as well as the soldiers. Ridley Scott then has Lucilla reach her hands around Commodos's neck as though to strangle him where as the viewer then sees she is actually removing is royal cloak. To show that Commodos does not have the respect of the soldiers but instils fear in them, Ridley Scott directs Commodos to glare at the soldiers as if to force them to bow down to him.

We can clearly see the intentions of Ridley Scott as shown in the way he has portrayed the two male lead characters. He has depicted Commodos as a cold, fearsome character with no good intentions to others. Whereas he has represented the hero character, Maximus, to be a brave, kind hearted man. As we can see in the shots analysed, Ridley Scott has conveyed these roles by using techniques such as; lighting, complex camera angles, uses of colour etc. These techniques submerged together in the mis-en -scene create the images intended by Ridley Scott.