Gladiator Open Sequence Analysis

We watched the open sequence to the film Gladiator and we had to analysis 2 of the main aspects, i picked the Cinematography and Sound

Cinematography 
 The film opens with a close up of someones hand running through a corn field, we see he has a wedding ring on which starts the audience to have emotion for him, we do not see his face so we dont know who it is so this is a enigma that have created. They used a tracking shot for this scene as it tracks his hand through the corn field. We later find out this shot is for shading the man and what his background is as a farmer.

The next shot is close up of a man which we now presume is a main character in the film, His head is looking at the ground to show he is thinking/day dreaming, this shows the audience that the mans hand could be his from the first scene. He then looks up and comes back to reality and where he is which is in a battle field, There is a shot reverse shot where he looks at a robyn, The robyn could be a sign of freedom for whoever wins the battle.

There is then a long shot (establishing shot) which shows the audience the setting which the battle will be taken place in, it is a wood that has been knocked down and tree stumps are left and it is all muddy and is a gloomy shot which links into the bloodiness of the battle.

There is a tracking medium shot of Russel Crows character walking passed all of his men while they bow down to him and they all turn their heads to look at him which shows he is high up is class and to show he is the leader of the army. His status is also shown through low angle shots looking up at him which shows he is superior.

When the battle starts there is a medium close up of a guy getting hit with a arrow while behind him there is a tree set on fire, this shot is used to show the craziness of the battle.

At the end of the Scene there is a close up of a guy who we do not know yet but by the low angle shot and the way he is dressed we can tell he is important and it shows his facial expression which shows he is disappointed which is another enigma code as we don't who is or why he is feeling like this.

The fight is between The Roman army and The Barbarian army. The romans are Invading the Barbarians Territory but the way it is filmed and as most of the shots are with the Roman army we are on their side even they are the ones invading.

Sound  
The film starts of with a man running his hands running through the cornfield, in this scene non digetic music is played which sets the time period of the film as it is medieval music.

It then cuts to to where we see the close up of the Russell Crows character, The non digetic music from the pervious is scene is still playing but now there is abeyant sound of the wind blowing which may tell the audience that he is not day dreaming anymore and we are actually in reality at the battle.                  

Then when the establishing shot it shown to show the audience where we are ( a battle field ) we hear the digetic sound of the horses again, along with the shot, setting the scene for the audience.

Then when they are preparing to fight each other we hear the non digetic music pick up tempo and we have the digectic sounds of people marching and sharping their weapons and getting ready.

Then their is digetic sound of the army cheering us the leader throws a head onto the ground. This shows the army is ruthless and has no fear.

Then it all goes silent as they are just about to charge at each other and there is non digetic music played to add the tension to the scene.

Then as soon as they charge at each other the non digetic music is loud and fast to get across the action of the scene