Spartacus Essay- Improved Version

The scene begins with a long shot showing the fighter's living quarters. They are very basic, representing  a low standing and class. Also showing this is the clothes the characters are wearing. The fighters are wearing dirty, grubby robes, again signifying lower standing than the guards who is taking them to wherever they are going.
The camera then cuts to the wealthy, higher class people, sat in their luscious robes, playing with expensive jewellery. This juxtaposes the opposites, with simply their balcony being much better than the fighters' living quarters, as well as the clothes they are wearing and the props shown in the scene. The balcony is also more colourful. The fighters' living area is very mundane, brown and dark greens, whereas the rich balcony is colourful- vibrant colours such as pink and yellow, and a regal white are worn by the characters. This signifies a higher class and status.
The weapons that the black fighter has to use- a trident and a net- represent a fisherman, which gives the immediate impression of a lower class.
When the fighters first enter the arena, their robes are removed. This emphasises their vulnerability- they have nothing to protect them because they don't deserve to be protected. It again shows a lower class and status as they don't deserve armour or even clothes.
In the scene, the doors used are a big signifier of wealth and class. The fighters walk through a creaky, wooden door which hasn't been given any level of attention to detail. On the other hand, you have the guards, who when exiting the arena, use a proper, enforced, crafted door, which has had money spent on it. This shows higher class and status, as the fighters don't use this door, they are deemed unworthy.

There is a shot when the first pair of fighters are just being called out, which the editor uses to show the three levels of class in the scene. At the bottom are the fighters, in the middle, above the fighters are the guards, and above the guards are the wealthy people watching the fight. This is the only shot where we see all three levels of status together, and it does it well, showing them on levels of class.
During the clip, we spend a lot more time with the protagonists. This means we are more likely to side with them as we get to know them better and can see things from their point of view. This makes the audience dislike the wealthy, as they are of stark contrast to the gladiators we have spent more time with.
There is a number of shots where we see the protagonists at their worst- being forced into a small crooked hut type thing, or a body being dragged away, before the camera cuts straight to a shot of the wealthy people. This juxtaposes the opposites and makes us feel even more sympathetic for the fighters as the previous image is still firmly in our mind.
At the end of the clip, the wealthy man kills the black man. It is significant that the rich man delivers the killing blow as it signifies his power over the fighter, and his ruthlessness connotes a lack of care for those below him. At the end of the scene, the blood squirts in the rich man's face. This instantly makes us dislike him even more, as we find this image disgusting.

Towards the beginning of the clip, when the guard is leading them away, there is a camera shot from behind a cage wall. This connotes captivity and shows that the fighters are being controlled by higher powers. This imagery is later repeated with a shot through the black fighter's net, showing that despite them fighting in an open-ish environment, they are still in captivity and under control.
The introducing shot of the four rich people sat on the balcony is a wide shot, so we can see everything of them in one shot, and see their wealth and class in contrast to that of the four poor fighters shown before. The shot itself shows the four characters laid down, relaxed. This connotes almost a lack of care for what they are about to witness, which shows class and status because the rich don't care for the poor, don't care that they are about to fight to the death.
A lot of the fight itself is shown from the high angle of the balcony. Again this symbolises a superiority of rich over poor. This further emphasises that the wealthy are of a higher class and status than the fighters they are looking down upon.
As the rich are sat on a balcony, the camera is often looking up at them with a low angle shot. This connotes superiority and control over what is going on, suggesting that they are of a higher status than those they are controlling.

When we enter the arena with the fighters, the music becomes frantic. We hear the harsh tones of trumpets which build suspense. This represents the horror of the lower class fighters.
Throughout the clip, the fighters do not talk. Whereas whenever we are with the rich, a lot of the time they are talking. Often they are laughing. This emphasises class as when we are with the fighters, the music creates a very tense and anxious atmosphere, whereas that all disappears when we are with the wealthy people. They are chatting, laughing, giggling. The juxtaposition of these emotions emphasises the gap in class between these two sets of people.