Gladiator fits into the epic genre. An epic is usually based on a historical event or a myth from the distant past. Often set within a great civilisation such as the Roman Empire or ancient Egypt. Epics are always done on a grand scale, with large-scale action involving huge casts in historically accurate, vast sets and with all the cast wearing costumes that typify the period. Epics have a hero who is inspirational and is almost super human; every man wants to be him and every woman wants them. The hero fights evil with heroism, bravery and nobility. A common theme that runs through all epics is that of personal or political freedom. This is included in Gladiator; Maximus has become a slave and the only way he can regain his freedom is to become Rome’s best gladiator.
The epic genre was at its peak in the early to mid 1950’s; this was because the major studios used them as a last line of defence against the drop in cinema audiences; due to the rise in popularity of the television. They believed that epics were better suited to the big screen, than televisions. However, since then the epic genre has been almost completely ignored by major film studios. I think the studios shied away due to the enormous costs involved but with Gladiator they managed to keep the costs down using relatively new CGI (computer generated imagery) technology. One example of this is that only one third of the first tier of the Colosseum was actually built the rest was added in post-production.
The trailer comprises of 51 shots over 50 seconds. This fast rate of cutting is to allow as much of the film to be shown in the shortest possible time. It is also used to convey the action contained in the film. The trailer is in four distinct sections: the first shows a very simplified version of the plot; the second shows the power and glory of Rome as well as showing Maximus’ struggle for power; the third shows Maximus becoming more powerful than the emperor and the fourth reinforces the main themes of the film as well as giving the director and the release date; which is the reason the trailer was created.
The first section starts of showing Maximus walking through Germania, the goes to Africa and then to Rome. These locations instantly tell the view when the film is set and that it is about a Roman so will include ideas and situations that the audience will have some prior knowledge of. The subjects of these shots seem very still and are with out any dialogue, I feel that this is to create a strong image of Maximus being in control even if he is not. The use of desaturated colour in the shot of Maximus walking in Germania is quite important. The lack of colour shows how Maximus sees the battles as being dull or maybe pointless but in Rome, the saturated colour is used; this shows that Maximus is taking more interest in what is happening because he feels he will be able to avenge the murders of his wife and son. Throughout the first section a variety of camera distances are used ranging from long to medium close-ups. The medium and long shots are used to show action without revealing too much about the subjects thoughts and feelings (although some of this information is shown through their actions, body language, or posture). The close up is used to introduce Maximus as a general; this is important because he was the general who became a gladiator.
Most of the angles used during the first section are eyelevel this makes the viewer more comfortable with the images presented to them. Nevertheless, two shots use a low camera angle. The first is low angle because in the full-length film, there is a powerful character on screen just before the shot shown in the trailer but due to camera movement, he is not on screen in the trailer. The other at low angle is to show the size and scale of the collosseum; which is a symbol of roman power and achievement.
