Troy is an interesting and enjoyable action movie. The main music played in the movie is “ Remember me” by Josh Brian. It is a rich song featuring relevant and illustrative lyrics accompanied by instrumental music that captures the attention of the audience. The director uses a unique style in featuring this kind of music as to many viewers it can be a gamble that one may believe that the core subject matter is entirely about love and relationships. This is a part of the movie, but David Benioff intertwines the pieces of instrumental music to suit the epic war tale, told in the movie. On the same note, music and the visual elements such as motion, images, background color, structures, costumes, quick activities and sexual content match to relay the themes as required by the author. The movie features Hector and Paris on their verge to establish a peace treaty between Troy and Sparta. Benioff creates this film to bring back the almost forgotten history about Troy city, which is both legendary and factual, situated in Northwest Anatolia, currently Turkey to the southwest of Hellespont and northwestern side of Mount Ida. Just the same way the city is best known in history for the occurrence of Trojan war, so Benioff clearly portrays an instance of Trojan war in the well made movie by featuring a number of visual elements, to depict the historical aspect of the movie and love music, to show the relevance of the film even in the contemporary society. For instance, Helen who is the wife of Menelaus falls in love with Paris. Menelaus is the brother to king Agamemnon. He uses his brother’s power and position to get back to Paris to take his wife. They then plan a war against Troy. This love relationship sets everything on fire for the audience, who waits to watch as the man fighting with the main purpose of rescuing the love of his life and not winning thus becoming more of a dramatic irony. Therefore, this paper gives a detailed and illustrative analysis of the use of visual elements in the movie in fostering the plot as well as an analysis of the main music; “ Remember me” regarding the relevant application and use in conjunction with playing of a particular scene or video of the film.
The movie is meticulously written and choreographed. The setting is an ancient one and probably that of 3200 years ago. The ancient buildings, the characters’ costumes and the environment in which it is set all support the fact that it is set in old timing. The writer also uses music in this movie to heighten the mood in certain scenes. The music used relates well to the scene being played. The main music in this movie is called “ Remember me”. This paper will focus on analyzing the visual elements in the movie troy and also analyze the music (“ Remember me”) in relation to the visual elements used in the movie. When analyzing visual elements in a movie, a number of things are looked upon. These include the use of color, lines, space, motion, emotion and a texture. These elements are well used and blended in the movie.
The use of texture is adequately achieved in the film. When the movie opens, it is in the old Greek setting. It starts off with music and drum beats. The bright color of the shining city of Troy creates an appealing texture at the beginning of the movie. The ancient buildings also give a drop on to the special texture of the movie. The characters’ costumes are also carefully designed and made. They resemble those of ancient Egyptians or Greek soldiers. They are in earthly warm colors. This aso adds to the texture of the movie. The filmmaker also uses the scenes where the Troy and Greek soldiers are fighting to create texture well. The fighting of the army and slashing of swords creates a busy and piled up texture. The soldiers are shown to be in a bloody fight, for instance when the Troy soldiers attack Greek soldiers unawares. This is also shown when Achilles attacks Hector and kills him. The director also brings out texture by the use of the wooden horse given to the Trojans by the Greeks. The texture of the wooden horse looks rough and rugged. This is done to symbolize the situation in which the Greeks were. The element of texture is, therefore, important as it helps to focus on the actual setting of the movie and evokes interest of the viewers to watch the movie.
The element of color is important in a movie as it sets the mood. The director uses this element quite skillfully. At the beginning of the film, instead of a dull opening, he shows a bright and shining city of Troy. This gives the movie a warm and active start. Music is also used here, at the start, and it also sets the tone of the movie. The coloration of the buildings and that of the environment that the movie is set in also builds on the element of color. The buildings are ancient. The environment set also alludes to the fact that the setting is old and ancient. The earthly and warm colors used here are able to bring out the war scene. The soldiers’ costumes are also in warm colors like brown, beige and some black. These are perfect colors for war costumes. There are also some bloody and rough scenes. This includes when the Greek and Troy soldiers face each other in war. It is also shown when Hector kills Porticulus; when Achilles faces Hector and kills him and finally when Troy is captured and left in ruins. The various colors used, play an important role in enhancing the scenes. Color is, therefore, an important element in a movie.
The visual element of the line is achieved through the soldiers’ costumes and the wooden horse. The soldiers’ helmets are well lined out and defined by the use of lines. Their armor and dresses are also articulating the use of line. Their swords and shoes are also properly outlined by lines. The wooden horse, on the other hand, also shows the use of line. Its shape is well defined and figured. It is huge and wide. Its body is defined and well curved with lines. Space is achieved through the vast field where the soldiers fight. The field is made in such a way that it looks wide and unending. The use of the cove where the Greek soldiers hide their boats also shows space. The sea where the Greeks sail to Troy also shows space. These give width, length and define boundary and direction of the movie. The Greek’s town and Troy also depict this element of space. Troy is shown as a bright shining town at the beginning of the movie. The two towns’ structures show their full area and breadth. The use of the line and space helps to picture and illustrate the small details, thereby making a movie more interesting.
The writer also uses the element of motion and emotion in this movie. Motion is depicted in a number of scenes especially involving fighting and running. This is well illustrated when Achilles and Myrmidons first arrive in Troy. They get to Troy by use of a boat. They are seen, and a chilly atmosphere is created by music, to exemplify motion. They then go ahead and attack the people of Troy before the rest of the army arrives. The night that Achilles gets his soldiers ready to leave, they are given a surprise atttack by Trojans. On this night, Patroclus is killed. Later on, Achilles faces Hector for the murder of his cousin and kills him so as to get back at him. Towards the end of the movie, the Greeks get into Troy and capture it. There is a bloody war and many people are killed. All this scenes show motion in the movie. Motion is, therefore, important in creating form and movement in the movie.
Emotion is another important element used. It helps to create the mood of the movie. For instance, Menelaus is raged with anger by the fact that Paris took his wife, and he is determined to seek revenge. Menelaus goes to his brother, the king Agamemnon to help him seek revenge. This is actually the main cause of war. Achilles is also infuriated when he learns of his cousin’s death. He goes ahead to seek revenge against his death by killing Hector. Briseis, the lady captured from Troy falls in love with Achilles, and they make love. At the end of the film, Paris kills Achilles as a revenge for his brother’s death. All these scenes show the element of the emotion. Music is also used in some of these scenes of emotion, to heighten the scenes’ mood. The element of emotion evokes a viewer’s interest, and curiosity to continue watching the movie. It also makes the movie lively and interesting. It is, therefore, important to use this element in a movie.
As earlier stated, the use of music is also evident in the movie. The main song in the movie is “ Remember me”. The movie starts with the sound of beating drums, playing strings and screaming chants. This heightens the mood of the movie, makes it lively and even increases a viewer’s interest to watch the movie. The beatings of drums are mostly used in dramatic scenes for instance, the face-off between Hector and Achilles. The drum beats give the scene a tense air and fast movement. The lyrics and voice of the song “ Remember me” and its musical invocation make it appropriate for the various scenes. The song is played in the background for different scenes for instance when the Greek soldiers are defeated by the Trojans. This creates a somber mood. It is played when Achilles takes care of Briseis and later on makes love to her. This creates a much perfect love mood and in a way shows what they both feel, “ remember, I’ll never leave you if you will only remember me.” The song makes the scene livelier and interesting. The song plays in the background towards the end of the movie as Troy is conquered, and as Achilles is killed and dies. The song acts as a finalization of the whole movie and all its actions. It brings the movie to finality and shows that all is done. It sets a nostalgic mood; sad because Achilles is dead and happy because the movie has come to an end. It also makes the viewers have a flashback of all the events that have occurred. Therefore, it is evident that music spices up a movie by enabling easy comprehension of the unfolding events and captivating the minds of the audience. Apart from handling boredom, the song complements scenes and themes in the film with different segments with relevant lyrics played to match the video.
In conclusion, David Benioff with the film director Wolfgang Peterson succeeded in connecting appropriate visual elements and music to build intended themes and mark the historical richness. The color, texture, motions, emotions, lines and spacing are significant in entertainment and revealing of the plot in connection to the selected music. Therefore, Troy was excellently written, edited and directed.
