is inspirational so he provides sex appeal and fantasy appeal. All of these are also key properties of a film of the epic genre.
The trailer seeks to capitalise on the audience’s cultural knowledge of the genre by setting it in Rome; Rome is known for its grandeur and gladiator fighting until death. Arenas and coliseums. Rome is also known for its destroying of empires.
This is because the Romans ruled about a quarter of the globe gladiator wars played a huge part of life in the roman time.
The producer Ridley Scott was famous for Blade runner and Alien films which were a huge success so Ridley Scott is known for his success.
The gladiator trailer is fifty one shots long and lasts for fifty one seconds. The high cutting rate is typical of trailers because it can give the scene more energy and urgency or can impact lots of information in sort of time. Music videos and trailers often use this.
The trailer has been structured into four sections the first section starts at shot one and ends at shot fourteen. The function of this section is to set the story it tells you that Maximus was a slave who became a gladiator who then went to defy the empire. The section starts at shot fifteen and ends at shot thirty the function of this section is to see what Maximus had to do and the fierceness and grandeur of Rome
The third section starts at shot thirty one and ends at shot forty two the purpose of this section is to tell you more about Maximus and how he gets Rome on his side. The finale section is from shot forty three until shot fifty one. It reinforces the main themes, title and director.
The four sections of the trailer each bring its own aspects.
Section one the first few shots have desaturated light, there is a heavy beating drum which almost gives you the idea of soldiers marching or even slaves marching in a very powerful beat with a heavy rhythm the
slaves come into the arena/coliseum the beat creates a very intense mood. in shot four the method used is tracking this makes you feel as though you are near Maximus and you are following his every move following this there are a lot of eyelevel shots then a mixture of medium close ups and long shots. When the intertitles appear in this section uses lap dissolves these are:
‘the general’ ‘who became a slave’ ‘who became a gladiator’ ‘the gladiator who defied the empire’ the chanting crowd in shot six shows the excitement of the crowd ands this will make a link in your brain to roman times because gladiator wars played a huge part ion roman times. in shot fourteen there is a very grand music showing pride and glory this is the shot when the emperor is waving and this is to show how grand and powerful the emperor is and you get the feeling he has a lot of power and respect from the audience that is in the coliseum. I think the music in this section has a great affection the audience because the military effect and the solemn feel it brings anticipation and excitement. There is various character establishing shots. Maximus they show him to be determined heretic respected and commanding. On the last shot if this sections it is a shot of Commodus the emperor the shadows on his eyes this has a very menacing affect. the cinematography in this section ranges from a series of medium close ups to medium shot this has a very positive inpact,there is a range of sound such as the non diagetic sound in the opening shots the heavy rhymed music such as the drums beating is very powerful and gives the shots/trailer a military feel to it. Where as in shot six there is the diagetic sound of the crowd cheering this shows us how popular gladiator wars were and that they played a very important part in the roman times for every day life.
In section two there are medium close ups right up to shot twenty three and then there is a set of close ups.when Maximus says
‘from this life or the next I will have my vengeance/ this gets louder and you immediately get to feel the sense of anger and begin to wonder what will happen next creating suspense
On shot twenty three when the light comes down on to Commodus there if desaturated light. Towards the end of section two there are a series of extreme close ups.when twenty six with the tiger in is a point of view shot and it is a match cut and a telephoto shot. There area few long angled shots and the sot with the emperor (shot 22) there is the use of a steady cam. The silver masked man who brings a sense of mystery to the trailer it shows the mystery of Rome he appears a lot in this section to express the mystery of Rome. The cinematography in this section has a very powerful impact to the trailer and in my opinion this section is the most important because it shows you what Maximus ahs to do to get to where he wants to go and show you the fierceness and grandeur of Rome. there is diagetic sound in the first shot of this section the sound of horses this makes you feel as if you are there and leaves you wanting to no what is happening and what is going to happen next in the next few shots and in the actual film gladiator there is a range of medium close ups and extreme close ups also this section has the point of view shot in it shot twenty six which is a telephoto shot and you get the feeling you are there and the tiger is coming up to you as if you are there because the producer has used a extreme close-up. When in this section commodus shouts am I not merciful you get the sense of irony and there is light shinning in his eyes which gives you as a viewer a way of seeing what he is really like the light makes him look evil and shows him as a menace. The soldiers are greeting Maximus by spontaneously showing signs of respect rather than fear.
When creating Commodus’ image. Ridley Scott used a range of royal colours in the mise-en-scene of his shots. The end shot of Commodus 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. like shot twenty when Maximus is standing there with roses dropping from above and a gospel choir singing as if they are rising up to heaven; the camera is close up until they go out of view and then pans out to see a wooden structure that resembles a cross. This may symbolize that someone is going to die. As they rise to the top platform the viewer is shown the whole of the floor of the coliseum covered in rose petals; this shows that this is a very emotional occasion .So the director and producer has only used diagetic sound not non diagetic sound The camera then cuts to a close up of each person of significance to give the effect of a showdown.
During the period of most of the fight there is no music, only other sound effects such as swords clashing; this is because there is no music that could state every emotion that the characters would be feeling and so there is no need because the event almost speaks for its self as it is of such emotional significance because it would affect so many people.
In section three there is a really heavy rhyme drum beat round shot thirty nine when Maximus is coming though same flames on a horse this crates tension and pressure and draws you to the sot wondering what happens next .the loud cheering in this section along with a few eye level there is a mixture so wide angle shots and long angled shots .there is a pattern of long distance and jump shots. The man with the silver mask who appears in the previous sections shows mysterious identity. between the titles there is a sound of swords swiping there are a range of low angled shots high angled and eye level shots/shot number thirty six is a point of view shot it is a low shot with diagetic sound. There is loud cheering going on in shot thirty one .The inter titles. The cinematography in this section is very effective and there is a pattern of long shots and jump cuts used.
In section four the intertitles when it says:
‘Summer 2000 ad’ you feel as though you are over looking it.
The intertitles;
'From director Ridley Scott’ the shot goes from white to black this is very effective. Shot forty one is eyes level and shot forty five is an extreme close up on shots forty six and forty seven there is panning going on.
You get a very immense feeling on shot forty eight when the intertitles come on the screen ; as it comes onto the screen there is the noise of swords slashing this is impending doom it makes you sense the feeling of impending doom and creates suspense. Between the titles you hear the swords slashing so you get the feeling of impending doom.
The diagetic sound in these sections is the cheering of the crowds because this is a natural sound also the movement of the setting such as the swords slashing against one another. And the non diagetic sounds in these section is the music over the top and the voice over etc.The cinematography in this section ranges from close up shots to extreme close up shots they are all eyelevel and the whistling in shot 48 when;
‘gladiator’ comes on to the screen this is non diagetic sound and gives you the feeling of impending doom this is the shot when it also sounds like two swords slashing against one another so you can sense that in the distance there is a gladiator war going on or there will be on soon so you feel as you are on the set but in the distance to the arena. In this section the camera method panning is used so when the camera pivots from side to side you see the vastness of the arena etc it draws your attention and we begin to follow the progress of the battle.
I think this trailer is very effective because of the use of music: the beating drums give you a military effect: a marching rhythm .Also the way in which they have edited the shots is very effective way of getting your attention because there is so much action/.The trailer makes you go to see the film no matter what film you usually like because there is a bit in there for everyone. So all sorts of audiences are drawn to the film gladiator i.e. people that like love/romance films, action films etc. I think a weakness of this trailer is the length because it is a very short trailer some people may be put of by this but this could also be a strength because people may see this as a film that they need to no what happens next. Also I know that the idea of the trailer is you make the film look good but because they have only shown the ‘best parts’ of the film you may be disappointed when you watch the film because there may be shots/scenes that you don’t like in the film that have been edited out so you didn’t know that unsuccessful parts of the film.
The muse en scene of these sections is very effective the was filmed and produced but only half of the coliseum was actually made by hand where as the rest was computer generated. this was set in the roman times it helps reveal Maximus is a hero because he is in the coliseum and Rome and that would indicate brave etc.the action and dialogue in this is used fro the introduction of character e.g. adieus Maximus. Maximum’s body language shows he is stung in mind and body trailer / appearance. Physically and mentally. The only possession he owns is the costume and his home which because he has become a slave he is unable to go back there until he proves he is worthy enough that the emperor may think about setting him free. In most of the shots the camera is either directly inline with Maximus (eyelevel) like for example in the shot when he is lying on the floor in pain the camera looks at him right in the eye as if to show that he is in pain but still string minded and you get to see the world through his eyes in a sense. when Maximus say I will have my vengeance it is a theme of revenge and you can sense this not only from the tone of his voice the anger in his expression but the lens in which they use for this shot. The shot when Maximus says;
‘I will have my vengeance’ this is a voice over and when Commodus says;
‘Am I not merciful?’ U gets the sense of irony because you actually you know that Commodus is not at all. When Maximus jumps threw the flames and super imposition the inter title a hero will rise use for a very powerful affect. The gladiators show the connotation of the Roman Empire, the monosyllabic the one syllable words show the emphasis of each word. These are all strengths of the trailer I think the main strength of this trailer that has the most impact is the music because the military feel of the drums shows the emotive of the film and how powerful feel it gives a feel of anticipation and excitement the acoustics give a clue to the genre and the fan fare brass adds to the military feel the minor key in which is used gives the music a solemn feel. Also the use of lighting is very effective like when the light is shinning on Commodus’ eyes you see how menacing he is and when he shouts:
‘Am I not merciful?’
You get the sense of irony because we know that he isn’t.
So in conclusion and after careful consideration I think this trailer is very successful for all of the reasons I have explained above because the only fault I can find is the length but from another point of view this is seen as positive because it isn’t too long in order to bore you it is just long enough to leave you wondering what will happen next. this is a very simple yet clever method of production a trailer with this method you are guaranteed to get a range of audiences because the way in which the trailer’s shots have been edited shows more than one genre combined in to the epic genre these include : romance, action etc.
