The Cinematography of the Movies Troy and Gladiator - Essay Example

The Cinematography of the Movies Troy and Gladiator, and Their Effect on the Audience The art of motion picture is very instrumental in making any film or movie impact on the audience as the film or movie producer would envisage (Spencer, 454). The manner in which cinematography has been applied in films determines how well the audiences are able to connect with the film, owing to the fact that cinematography is the actual art of storytelling, only that in form of motion pictures (Spencer, 454). The understanding of the film does not only come out of the manner in which the characters within the film interact, but also the manner in which motion pictures demonstrate this interaction. Thus, the art of motion pictures has been applied variously throughout the movies Troy and Gladiator, and the manner in which each film applies the art of the motion pictures, and how this impacts on the audience, is the subject of this discussion. The film, Troy, is a film that was produced in 2004, but tells the story of the historical wars of the Greeks. In this respect, the film does not only require that its storyline will follow the ancient wars, but that its depiction will be able to take the audience back to history, and give the audience a feel of what ancient Greek wars looked like. Impressive cinematography has been applied as a technique in the movie Troy, to bring out the actual feel of the ancient Greek times to the audience. Impressing cinematography is identifiable in the first scenes of the opening of the movie Troy, especially the opening shots of the map of Greece that is depicted in the film opening (Troy, n.p.). The shots of Greece give the audience an actual depiction of an ancient city with ancient buildings characterized by ancient architecture. This instantaneously impacts on the audience by taking them back in time, so the audience does not only reflect on ancient history, but is also informed that the film will be covering a theme in the ancient times in Greece. In this respect, cinematography becomes effective in that it impacts on the audience immediately the movie opens, by informing the audience on the nature of the story the audience is about to follow throughout the film. The impressive cinematography applied here entails the presentation of the map of Greece in slow moving shots, which allows the audience to get a full glimpse of the beauty of the territory according to the standards of the ancient architecture, such that the audience is sure that the storyline depicted by the film will entail some sort of superiority, simply based on the standards of the sophistication presented by the slow moving shots of the map of Greece. Cinematography in the movie Troy, also plays the role of informing the audience regarding the nature of the storyline they are about to follow in the film, when the slow moving shots of Greece are followed by even more wide perspective shots of the Greece army’s sailing boats on their way to attack Troy (Troy, n.p.). Therefore, cinematography in the opening scenes of the movie Troy impacts on the audience in two ways. First, the cinematography in the opening scene allows the audience to get a clue that the storyline they are about to follow will be concerning the ancient Greek. Secondly, the shots of the sailing boats of the Greek army inform the audience that the film will be about army battles. Similarly, cinematography is applied in the movie Gladiator, as a way of informing the audience the historical context of the story told by the film. The lighting of the early scenes of the film also depict a high level of tension, as a way of informing the audience that the storyline of the film is confrontational, by depicting Maximus in a dark room lit only by candles (Gladiator, n.p.). In the early scenes of the movie Gladiator, lighting is one such element of cinematography that informs the audience of the historical times in which the film represents, especially in the scene where Maximus is praying to a shrine he constructed after his victory in the first battle. The lighting in this scene is based on candle lit and other manmade lighting, to represent the historical context of the film, and thus inform the audience that the film narrates the story of ancient battles. The lighting effect of the candles, coupled with the dark room in which Maximus has made the shrine to which he is playing, also creates the effect of sacredness and church-like environment. This sacredness, coupled with the praying of Maximus makes the death of his family appears more tragic, which in turn impacts on the audience by creating an emotional connection to Maximus. In this respect, the application of cinematography in the early scenes of the movie Gladiator does not only serve to connect the audience emotionally to the protagonist in this film, but also serves to create historical believability of the film among the audience. Further, the concept of lighting in cinematography has also played an important role in changing the settings in the last scene of confrontation between Maximus and Commodus (Gladiator, n.p.). In this final scene, the movie’s cinematography applies a rich lighting contrast to match with the changing aspects of the scenes. The cinematography in this scene makes sure that the lighting is natural, which impacts on the audience by enhancing believability, since the application of natural lighting makes the scene reflect a real world scenario. Cinematography in this scene serves to show that the audience is seeing what really happens in the real world, since Commodus had poisoned Maximus earlier, so that even if he wins the physical confrontation, he was still going to be the loser. Thus, the natural lighting in this scene does not only serve to make the audience see a real-world action, but also impact on the audience by making them reflect on the evil in the real world, where no one is willing to lose fairly. The application of cinematography to create suspense and increase tension is also identifiable in the movie Troy. This is most especially seen in the battle scene between Hector and Patroclus, where the cinematography has ensured to hide the identity of the person fighting with Hector, until the very end of the battle, when the audience is able to identify the individual as Patroclus (Troy, n.p.). The cinematography technique applied in this scene is a sharp contrast to the one applied in the opening scenes of this movie. The opening film of the movie has applied cinematography deliberately in a way that the film seeks to openly inform the audience that the film is shot in the context of Greece and Troy, by opening the film with the open depiction of their maps. In this respect, cinematography in the opening scenes impacts on the audience by informing them the nature of story to expect. However, the scene of the battle between Hector and Patroclus applies cinematography as a way of hiding the identity, in a way that creates suspense in the audience and thus create more interest for them to continue watching the film. Therefore, cinematography in the movie Troy impacts on the audience in different ways. In the opening scenes, cinematography impacts on the audience in an informative way, giving them a highlight of the story they are going to follow, its historical context and its nature as a battle-based film. However, close to the final scenes, cinematography application creates suspense for the audience, thus impacting on them through developing the urge to continue following the film to the end. On the other hand, cinematography in the film Gladiator is applied to evoke the emotion of the audience, more than to create suspense. This is well demonstrated in the final scene of the film, where the film seeks to show a sharp contrast between Maximus and Commodus, as a way of evoking an emotional reaction from the audiences. The audiences have already been informed about the evil nature of Commodus as well as the noble nature of the character of Maximus, through the previous scenes. However in this last scene, Maximus comes out dressed in rags, while Commodus is wearing all-white attire (Gladiator, n.p.). This is meant to depict Commodus in his own blind belief of purity, while the audience already knows that he is evil. On the other hand, through dressing Maximus in rags, the scene seeks to show Maximus as just natural to the audience.This contrast then makes the audience hate Commodus even more, because he is pretending to be pure, yet the audience understands very well that he is not. Thus, cinematography in the movie Gladiator is applied towards evoking emotional reaction on the audience, as a way of keeping the audience still interested in continuing watching the film to the end. The audience is impacted to keep following the story narrated by the film, not through own volition through suspense, but through involuntary wish to see how the evil in Commodus will be punished in the end. Thus, in contrast to feeling bad when Maximus dies, the audience is in fact happy, that he will join his family in heaven. This way, the cinematography technique of evoking emotion in the audience finally achieves its intention, of emotionally connecting the audience and Maximus until his death. Works Cited Gladiator. Dir. Ridley Scott. DreamWorks Pictures, 2000. Film. Spencer, Douglas A . The Focal Dictionary of Photographic Technologies. Focal Press, 1973. p. 454. Print. Troy. Dir. Wolfgang Petersen Warner Bros. Pictures, 2004. Film. Read More