Gladiator - opening scene

From the start we can see that this is an action based film. The establishing shot is of a battle field. This would make the audience think that there will be violence.  We get to know that the main character is Russell Crowe. This is because he has alot of close ups and alot of screen time. Also in the opening of the film all the characters show respect to him. This would make the audience warm to him.

The audience would feel hatred towards the villains. The villains are shown to chop the head off one of the soldiers. This makes the audience feel as if they are disrespectful and that they are the enemy. The army that is lead by Russell Crowe are wearing helmets and have better ammunition compared to the villains. The villains are wearing old and ragged dirty clothing and have a shield and sword. This shows that they are more prepared and are ready for battle. Even though the army that is lead by Russell Crowe is going into battle and will be killing people, the audience feel as if they are doing it for a good reason. This is because the shots at the beginning showing the people being respectful makes the audience warm to them. The non diagetic sound seems to be building up to something. This will build tension and it will keep the audience intrigued.

I believe that the target audience for this film would be men aged 18-40. From the opening two minutes we see that there is a battle occurring. This will suggest that there is going to be violence and deaths which will stereo typically appeal to men. Also the characters in this film are aged 30+, this would attract men who are that sort of age to watch the film as they will be able to relate to it and put themselves in the characters situation.