The Text continues after the shot of slaves, and “The Slave” appears, once again in the centre of the screen. Now Maximus is not ‘The General’ but ‘The Slave’, this increases the viewer’s curiosity to know how this man lost all of his power. So Far, Russell Crowe has always been in the main viewer’s focus, I think this is to show that he is the most important character in the film. From this point, we hardly see him. It is a mid-shot of three silhouettes; however we can distinguish two soldiers on each side, as they have a weapon in their hands, and Russell Crowe walking into the light. The lighted area is the arena, where we hear a lot of cheering noises and shouts. So the viewer is already thinking of what is happening and why ‘the slave’ is in an arena. Now, “Who became a Gladiator” appears in text. This answers the viewer’s thoughts from the previous shot but raises more questions, on how he became a Gladiator from being a slave. As the shots last between one and two seconds, the viewer’s questions pile up. After, we see a low angle shot of Maximus in the light and other soldiers in the background. This low angle, makes the viewer feel inferior to ‘the gladiator’, also, we hear cheering noises for Maximus, this shows that he has won something or did something for the whole public to cheer him.
The Text continues by showing, “The Gladiator”, and a close up of Maximus appears. He looks worried and angry and is half in light half in shadow, which I think shows his anger at someone or something. This is followed by “Who defied an Empire”, and a mid-shot of Caesar and another person, waving at the crowd, they are in shadow which enables us think that they must not be the ‘nice characters’. The most important part at this point, is the music change. All the way through it was the same music but now, more brass instruments come in and the pace builds up as well as the volume of the music. We need to remember that the trailer keeps going, increasing its pace, so the viewer has less and less time to think what is happening, all he knows is that a general became a slave, a slave became a gladiator, a gladiator defied an Empire. This is very effective because as the viewer sees all this information in such a short time, his will to know why it happened and what has happened increases. His curiosity builds up as the pace builds up.
From now, all the shots appear at a much quicker speed. Most of them are action shots and on each one ‘The Gladiator’ looks more determined. We hear a lot of background sounds such as swords hitting, chariots crashing, and cheering. Our attention is taken on a shot which lasts longer than the previous ones. A close-up of a man, pulling a tiger mask down, the viewer then questions himself, whether it is ‘The Gladiator’ or someone else. This is followed by a shot of the colosseum from outside. The sky is very shadowy with dull blues and greys, and a lot of crows pass by. The crows usually remind of death, as they are often present on battlefields, so it lets the viewer think that someone might have died or is going to die. From the shot of the tiger-mask man, we could hear someone saying: “In this life or the next, I will have my vengeance”, now we see that it is Maximus, and looks very serious, so it shows it is a matter of life or death. After, we see several shots of the emperor, one where he looks very angry and ready to kill somebody and another one where the strong light and rose petals falling on him give him an angelic look. Then a shot of him shouting, “Am I not merciful?” to a lady crying. Three contrasted shots, which again confuses the viewer on Caesar’s position. After two quick action shots, we see “This Summer” coming up in the centre. A high-angle shot is taken of the colosseum from outside where we see that it’s very crowded, and another long shot of a man (the slave-trader, but the viewer does not know that) saying: “Caesar is proud to give you, Amius Maximus”. As that sentence is being said, a series of shots are shown very quickly so the viewer only gets a glimpse of what is going on. Most of them are action shots, which tell us that the genre of the film is mainly action. Before seeing a very low angle shot of Maximus, “A Hero will rise” comes up. In that shot, we see rose petals falling on him, and it reminds the viewer of the shot shown previously of Caesar, where he too, had rose petals falling on him. It lets the viewer think that ‘The Hero’ has become as powerful as Caesar himself. Once more we hear the crowd cheering Maximus. Afterwards, we see the name of the film’s director, followed by many quick action shots, and as we hear louder sound effects, the music stops in a flash and the title, ‘Gladiator’ comes up, in orange colors, which reminds the viewer the historical aspect of Rome.
All the camera shots and angles, music, pace building, sound effects and lighting affect the viewer. Camera shots focus mainly on the character’s expressions or pose, so for example, the viewer asks himself why a certain character looks angry and who at. Camera angles in this trailer show mainly the importance of the characters, such as the shot of Maximus from a very low angle. This affects the viewer because although the general has become a slave, he is still as powerful, and that will confuse the viewer on why that is. The Sound effects show that the film contains a lot of action and suspense, and the lighting shows a lot the atmosphere of parts of the film, such as death, poverty or malicious plans or thoughts. The Music and pace building are very effective, because they mix up all the viewer’s questions and thoughts as the text goes on.
In all, this trailer is very effective to ‘Gladiator’. By giving limited information of the film, the trailer raises many questions in the viewer’s mind, which leads to increasing their will to see the movie. It shows that the film is not only action but also historical, and the suspense grows throughout the media text. All the effects and shots are put in a way that will attract the viewer to see more of the film. So the trailer is indeed very effective to the film.
