The Night Watch is colossal. In its original dimensions it measured approximately 13 by 16 feet and contained not only the 18 guardsmen but 16 other figures added by Rembrandt to give still more animation to an already tumultuous scene. It was by far the most revolutionary painting Rembrandt had yet made, transforming the traditional Dutch group portrait into a dazzling blaze of light, color and motion, and subordinating the requirements of orthodox portraiture to a far larger, more complex but still unified whole. In Rembrandt’s hands what was, after all, a commonplace affair became filled with Baroque pictorial splendor, loud with the sound of drum and musket, the thud of ramrods, the barking of a dog, the cries of children. In the forefront Captain Banning Cocq – in black, with a red sash – and his lieutenant in yellow lead the forward drive of the still unformed ranks. The sense of movement is reinforced by converging diagonal lines: on the right, the foreshortened spontoon in the lieutenant’s hand, the musket above it and the lance still higher; and on the left, the captain’s staff, its line repeated above by another musket and the banner. The effect on the viewer is direct; he feels that he had best get out of the way.
I chose this painting for its unusual size 13by 16 feet, I can only imagine how grand it is to stand before this mass painting. It has three main characteristics, its massive size, the use of light and shadow (chiaroscuro) and it shows motion. Amongst the crowd one’s eye is drawn to three people. the first two gentleman are in the center, note there is a small girl wearing the yellow dress near the center left in the background. In reading, about this famous painting I learned that the color yellow meant victory. A total of 34 figures are in the painting. The painting seems to have a celebratory atmosphere, I was drawn to the rich red colors and the use of the light and dark shadows that create a sense of movement. Notice the direction of the shadow on the Captain’s hand crossing over to the lieutenant and then the shadow of the Captains foot is at a different angle.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch
http://www.rembrandtpainting.net/rembrandt%27s_night_watch.htm
penandpaperak 
I appreciate the research you did to present this topic accurately.
Something interesting I found was that in 1975 this piece was vandalized by an unemployed school teacher. The culprit used a bread knife and made several zigzag slashes through the painting. It took 4 years to fix the painting and the damage is still visible up close.
I also found it interesting that there are well constructed rumors that the night’s watch was an extremely disliked, failure of a painting that lead to Rembrandt’s struggle toward the end of his career. Again this a rumor which may have no factual basis, but it is still interesting.
Cheers,
Frank A. Jordano