Rome - how is rank/status represented in the opening TV series rome?

The scene starts of with a close up of an officer who looks over to his left. The camera follows the direction   of where he's looking and comes across Titus and zooms in on him. This immediately highlights the two main characters in this scene. The officer is wearing a different helmet to the rest of the soldiers surrounding him which makes him stand out; his helmet has red frills which is seen as an important colour and usually symbolizes blood and royalty, which immediately suggests that he is of higher authority than the other soldiers.
Shortly after there's then a close up of the officer blowing a whistle, giving orders to his soldiers. This furthermore incinuates that he is of much higher authority than his other soldiers. This is followed by a very quick edit lasting about two seconds, of the soldiers front line getting into formation and then another very quick edit lasting lasting for only one second, of the enemy barbarians running towards the roman soldiers.
A mid shot is next used of Titus and it zooms into a close up of him, which focuses the audiences attention on only him. The fact that Titus is in a standard roman soldiers outfit means that he is of no higher authority than any of the other soldiers however the continuous camera shots between him and the officer, suggest that they are the main characters in this scene.
The next few shots are fighting scenes, yet again the camera cutting between very quick shots of Titus and the officer. These shots include a mid shot looking up at Titus stabbing a barbarian soldier, a long shot of the action taking place, and yet again another shot of the officer blowing a whistle telling his men to switch formation, exercising his authority furthermore. A birds eye view shot is then used to show the soldiers changing formation, showing that they are responding to the officers orders. There are a few mid shots shots of Titus fighting showing him breaking formation. There's a mid shot of the officer shouting at him to get back in formation followed by a mid shot of Titus carrying on fighting oblivious to his orders. when the officer goes to get Titus there's an over the shoulder shot looking at Titus punching the officer in the face which shows complete defiance and lack of care for the officers higher authority. However the punch seems like it doesn't effect the officer, which gives him a high sense of power parallel to his rank.  This is followed by a mid shot of two soldiers carrying Titus away for the officer showing their lower rank and lower authority. There is then a close up of the officer ordering his soldiers to 'reform' while he blows a whistle.

The next scene is a shot strafing left as it views the camp and eventually focuses on Titus getting whipped as a punishment. It is set in the roman camp as we can tell from the soldiers as they are all wearing the roman costumes. Yet again this shot shows the officer exorcising his authority by preaching to his soldiers of lower rank. There's a quick close up of a soldier looking upset, which suggests that the soldiers of lower rank are maybe not as hardy as the ones of higher rank. There's a mid shot of a man standing between two soldiers with a smirk on his face. It is obvious that this man is of much higher authority as he is guarded by two soldiers standing either side of him while he eats an apple smiling at Titus getting whipped. He is also wearing a very different costume to everyone else; he's not wearing a helmet and is wearing a red cape which symbolizes royalty. Two soldiers eventually untie Titus and he replies with "Is that it, i was just about to enjoy myself", which shows even after he's been punished he still defies the authority of the higher ranking officers.

The last scene is also set inside the roman camp. The first shot is a long shot showing many soldiers gathered around Caesar on his higher stage than everyone else, which shows how he flaunts his power and rank. There are many shots cutting between Caesar and the barbarian kind who is made to kneel on the floor, showing how he is stripped from his rank. The shots are always looking up at Caesar with the camera below him, and always looking down at the barbarian king with the camera above him. This gives the audience an insight into the two characters as it gives a first person view of them looking at each other from their point of view. The barbarian gets stripped of all his clothes which shows the romans disrespect for him. Although he has the highest authority with his people, here he is subjected to mockery. There is a long shot of Caesars servant come forward and lower Caesars standard for him to kiss it and show his complete surrender. Once he does, the same officer from earlier draws his sword and shouts "Caesar" which is shortly followed by the rest of the soldiers. This shows that he demands respect which comes with his rank.

I think rank/status is represented as a very segregated system, as very few are high ranked. I think it's also represented by Titus to be a force to be defied as we see when he shows his lack of respect and doesn't follow his orders; and by Caesar a force to be respected and followed as we see when flaunts his power and he feels he is of such high authority he doesn't need to even speak.

lock stock analysis

In the opening scene of lock stock and two smoking barrels, character X is selling stolen goods accompanied by his friend, on a street corner in a run down community, untill inturupted by two policemen and a chase begins leading into the end of the sequence im studying.

The first shot in this scene is of text with white lettering reading 'summit entertainment' in an old typewriter font, accompanied by a black background. This immediatley gives the audience a glimpse of its genre-crime.The second shot is a medium shot of character X selling his stolen goods to potential buyers gathering around. The camera is zooming towards character X while he is speaking, giving the audience the impression that he is one of the main characters in this scene. The metal shutter shown behind character X indicates that this area is run down and the thick over coat he is wearing gives the impression that it is cold.

It then cuts to a close up of character X speaking about some products he's trying to sell to the crowd, which is followed by another shot of white lettering in type writer font with a black background saying 'the steve tisch company' this furthermore clarifies the genre of the film - crime. It then cuts back to the close up of character X and a shot zooming out from him which takes the attention away from him gradually while the camera is still focused on him.

The next shot is yet another shot of white text in a type writer font with a plain black background, this time reading 'ska films' followed by yet another close up of character X, this time holding a long gold chain trying to persuade people to buy his stolen goods. The same type writer font with the black background is then used again this time saying 'presents', which hooks the audiences attention as it doesn't give any information away as it builds up towards the title.
Shot reverse shot is then used in when it cuts to a mid shot of character X talking about the stolen product he's holding, and then a mid shot of his friend coming forward from the crowd and accepting his offer, although the audience does not know they know each other at this time; followed by a close up of character X again.

Yet again the white type writer font with the black background is used next, this time saying 'a matthew vaughn production'. This is followed by a mid-shot of character X with some of the crowd in the shot; character X is quickly bagging his products and selling them. This is followed by a mid shot of his friend looking at something off screen to the left and then a close up of character X again talking to his customers. The next shot is another shot of introducing credits using the same font this time reading 'a guy ritchie film' immediately accompanied by the start of a jumpy high energy song which conotates to the audience that something exiting is about to happen. This then leads into another shot of character X bagging up his products and selling them.

The next shot is a medium close up of his friend followed by a medium close of him, yet again showing that there is some sort of relationship between them although they are trying to cover it up. In the next shot the camera is to the right of character X strafing further to the right with one of the crowds head in the way, while character X puts a product in a plastic bag. While the song picks up the pase a medium close up shot of character X's friend comes forward again this time shouting at him in panic incinuating that police are coming, the fact that he uses character X's name/nickname 'Bacon' shows that they know each other.

The following shot is of character X packing his stuff away in a hurry followed by a close up of the products getting thrown quickly into a suitcase. The next shot is a mid shot of character X and his friend running off camera to the left, with two policemen appearing from the right hand side of the screen running after them and disappearing off to the left as well. This is all in one shot. The policemen are wearing traditional london police costumes which further confirms the setting and clearly differs them from the rest of the characters.

For the next shot the camera is already around the corner looking at the friend followed by character X running around it and towards the camera. As they run towards the camera it tracks backwards and follows them running past the cameras right hand side. It follows them as they hop a fence and run off but stays there as the policemen do the same.