dGladiator
The role of the director, Ridley Scott, is to create an ambiance by influencing how the audience foresee the characters he achieves this by dictating; camera angles, sound and lighting.
In the opening credits the universal and DreamWorks colours are a golden brownish colour compared to the usual colours. This relates to richness as gold symbolises wealth and power. Furthermore the golden brownish colours is also symbolic of the Roman Empire as gold and brown creates an elder atmosphere of things and the Roman Empire is century’s old. Also gold is the colour of his land and his corn in the next scene and relates to the burning down of his land and house at the end of the film. This is effective as there are other similar circumstances in the film. In addition to the unusual colours of the opening credits the soundtrack is very reflective compared to the usual up-beat tone of the DreamWorks opening. This is effective because it helps builds up atmosphere and makes the next scene (the farming scene) a lot more effective.
The gold colour is followed up in the next scene with Maximus’ caressing his corn in this shot there are three things that sum up who he is and what is important to him; the corn, he is stroking the corn and this shows that he is a man of the land, the ring, this shows that he is married and possibly has children and the leather strap on his wrist which shows he is a soldier, has a high ranking and shows he fights for his country. This works because it sums up who he is and shows you what type of character he is, shows his priorities and sums up most roman soldiers. The sound track is still that of the opening credits and is slightly depressing and makes you feel as if he will never return in this life.
As the film moves into the battle scene the mood changes. The colours change from the glory of gold to duller, cold colours such as grey and dark blues. This creates a miserable, depressing atmosphere this is emphasised as the...