Analyse the methods used to make the opening battle sequence of 'Saving Private Ryan' both shocking and realistic, and say how
Analyse the methods used to make the opening battle sequence of 'Saving Private Ryan' both shocking and realistic, and say how effective you find it as an introduction to the film.
The Oscar winning wartime epic, Saving Private Ryan, produced by Steven Spielberg was set in 1998, with an opening half hour sequence that was shattering in its realism and ruthless in its depiction of violence. Saving Private Ryan breaks some of the traditional conventions of the war film genre as hand held cameras operating at incredibly fast shutter speeds, capture the chaos and confusion dozens of soldiers undergo whilst battling for their lives and nation at Omaha Beach, giving the footage a startlingly quality, which is improved by the use of de-saturated colours, which gave the images an almost surreal, silver-grey look, which had the effect of making events that were saddening and disturbing seem more so colourless, lifeless and cold. This also put the audience not only on the beach but into the perspective of the men of the American forces on that day. This film portrays realism as we witness scenes of death the way it was, actual weaponry used and the setting in Normandy where the war really did take place. The film is strongly brought together by the actors of the film; the main character of the film is Captain Miller, played by Tom Hanks, who plays a very important role in the storyline of the film, leading his squadron on a mission to find the private Ryan. The role of Private Ryan is played by Matt Damon, he is a soldier whose three brothers have died in combat and as such has been requested by a higher authority to be pulled out from the war and sent back home to his mother.
The film opens showing an elderly man walking ahead of a group of people, whom we immediately assume to be his family members. We see both American and French flags at this scene symbolizing a peace between the two. The music accompanying this scene is a calm patriotic melody which would make us, the audience feel calm. We're then shown that the man is rushing towards a grave site as we see an establishing shot of a breath taking number of graves, rows and columns which we recognise to be the gravesite of those whom had died in a war. The elderly man reaches a particular grave, at which he falls to his knees before. The camera at this point is perfectly still from a higher angle view down upon the man and showing his family several feet behind him. The camera just at a still portrays a calm mood. Then the camera focuses on the elderly man's face and slowly progresses into an extreme close up onto his eyes. His eyes seem to fill with thought and possibly memory and the patriotic music seem to rise dramatically. The transition form pat to present then takes place and we are brought to a scene of ocean waves crashing up against iron hedgehogs. The sound had gone from calm to violent crashing, this gives an impression of a turn of events and we recognise that we must have been brought into the past by the fact that the man was elderly.
Through most of this opening scene we notice that there is little to no dialogue at all. This has an effect of enhancing the visual occurrences and background music as they are all there is to concentrate upon. The image of an endless row of iron hedgehogs signifies a long line of danger. We then have e a long shot of several soldier boats, the camera acts hand held, as an intruder shaking with the boats upon the oceans surface. There is no music but the sound of waves which come across as loud and aggressive accompanied by ...
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Through most of this opening scene we notice that there is little to no dialogue at all. This has an effect of enhancing the visual occurrences and background music as they are all there is to concentrate upon. The image of an endless row of iron hedgehogs signifies a long line of danger. We then have e a long shot of several soldier boats, the camera acts hand held, as an intruder shaking with the boats upon the oceans surface. There is no music but the sound of waves which come across as loud and aggressive accompanied by the sound of the boats, also a coarse and rough sound, so the audience is feeling a bit nervous about what these sounds may be building up to as they seem far from peace and tranquil.
We then see an extreme close up on Captain Millers hand which is shaking somewhat. We then see Captain Millers face in a close up and the camera begins to alternate to the other soldiers faces one by one. It is steady and smooth, quite close to their faces. Their faces show fear amongst other mixed emotions. We hear soldiers vomiting, most probably from the nerves and their reactions to bombs going off which is stern fear.
As the boats reach the shore of the beach their doors are opened and the soldiers begin to jump out into the water going under, some being instantly shot and some being killed. There is no music but only the sound of gunshots, rifles, explosions, battle orders, screaming and shouting. This high mixture of sound effects instantly makes the viewer think 'chaos' accompanied by the camera actions which seems to speed through multiple scenes of soldiers being attacked , we have close ups and both low and high angle shots. The camera at this point becomes very shaky; fully enhancing the 'handheld' effect. This has the effect of making the viewer feel as though they were right there amidst the battle chaos. This further enhances the effect of 'chaos' upon the viewer. This entire chaotic scene is quite a contrast to the previous scene in which the camera seemed to be steady and calm, the affect of this contrast is shocking the viewer as it seems so sudden and abrupt, that mixed with the high level of violence.
As the camera falls underwater with all the infantry that were jumping in we immediately notice how the sound is fogged by the water; it becomes quieter but the sounds are still there, here we see gunfire bullets piercing through the water and seemingly slowed down but still with enough force to take the lives of many soldiers. As a bullet makes contact with an underwater soldier, everything is muffled and distorted, it also changes as you go in and out of the water, and we hear a sort of pressurized splashing noise as a sound effect. This scene feels realistic to the audience because we hear what we think they will hear.
As some of the soldiers die the camera loses focus on them and moves onto those who are still alive, this continues awhile showing that the horrific aspect of war that when some die, even then war will continue. The camera continues to follow the soldiers who remain alive until they reach the shore and rise out of the blood drenched ocean waves. There are many dead bodies just lying on the beach and some being drifted still on the waters surface, sliding up against the shore. In a sudden, when the camera comes out of the water accompanying the soldiers, everything seems to speed up again and there is a burst of sound effects including gunfire, shouting, explosions, battle orders and 'tingling' sound of bullets as they hit the iron hedgehogs. The soldiers arriving at the beach take cover behind these and we see Captain Miller now, staggering up onto the shore. This shot starts a few feet away form Captain Miller. It then gently moves in towards him and becomes a long angle shot. The camera then goes jerky as it moves into a close up of his face. Himself and his squadron come together and they begin to converse amongst themselves about possibilities of what to do next. Captain Miller however hasn't been paying much attention and at this moment he begins to look around the beach, the sounds disappear almost entirely, similar to the underwater sound loss but his time it isn't water that is fogging the background sounds it is an effect almost to say that as Captain Miller is looking around the beach; seeing people dying, so much blood and people being show down all around him, that in that moment the chaos is so much to contemplate at once that all the other thoughts and senses occurring around him seem to stop.
The sounds are muted and just barely able to be heard, they seem to slow in speed, and any sound effect occurring normally is heard as though being dragged out twice as long in length, explosions and gunfire for example. We see one man walking around aimlessly and is missing an arm, he finds his arm on the ground, picks it up and rushes off in a random direction abruptly. We also see a group caught in an explosion, possibly caused by a grenade. It would also seem that the effect of having no sound at this point makes us concentrate more fully on what we see, increasing the horror of these visual occurrences. The colour becomes slightly de-saturated during this event and the camera becomes less jerky, although moving through the images speedily still. These give the effect of showing how life is drained in the moment that these people are dying, the colour being 'drained' the camera being slow, all these effects relate to one another in some way.
As there is another explosion the sound we can hear, the muffled 'wind-like' sound begins to get slightly louder and speeds up and breaks in a sudden, and we can hear the explosion in full which seems huge as the sound returns to normal.
One of the soldiers had been asking Captain Miller a question which he only heard being repeated as the sound returned to normal and camera the resumed the hand held effect, beginning once again to shake. The soldier questioning "what the hell do we do now sir?" seems concerned that Captain Miller hadn't been paying attention or giving any indication on what to do as he 'blanked' out for that moment, this is worrying to the audience as we can understand how this soldier must feel not knowing what to do.
From here there is more battle chaos, Captain Miller and his infantry make a rush forward, and the battle ensues.
The end of the battle begins with Captain Miller standing on a hill, drinking from a water bottle. There is much contrast here with the previous scenes as before the camera shots were shaky and jittering but now its movement seems slow and steady. This shows a calmness in the mood and calmness in the overall atmosphere too.
The camera then begins to do a close zoom in on Captain Miller's eyes and as it does the background gunfire becomes muted. We are then taken to an image of the seawater which is tainted red with blood, we immediately know that from the previous close up on Millers eyes, we are seeing the red water as just as Miller would be, as if being shown by his eyes. The deep redness of the water is a total contrast of the surrounding unsaturated colours such as the pale grey sky and whitish-yellow sand which makes this scene more horrific. The oceans water is considerably calmer, from before when its waves crashing against the beach was much more violent showing another contrast. This simply shows that the earlier situation has in fact calmed and that the violence had stopped. These contrasts in all have the effect of giving the viewer a better realization that the horror of what was happening, was in fact there.
Now there is a long shot over the beach showing all the bodies that are just laying motionless, clearly dead, the bird's eye shot of the beach helps us to perceive the amount that are lying there dead, the camera moves over these bodies very slowly giving an effect of us contemplating the amount that must have died; again the dreadfulness of this event.
To accompany the scene of the water and the bodies there is a break from the muted gunfire into music, a serene melody which would seem to have the effect of making the viewer more thoughtful about what they are seeing. The camera then begins to pan over to the beach, as if it was searching for something in particular, trailing over the bodies; the sound of the ocean against the beach also seems calm and serene, and helps to portray the effect of making the viewer more thoughtful about what they are seeing as mentioned earlier. The camera stops at one particular body and does an extreme close up of this soldiers bag pack as it lying face down in the sand, it's bag reads the name 'Ryan S'. This then concludes the battle.
Steven Spielberg had commented he was looking for realism within the movie, and I feel that he certainly achieved it. It was a truly remarkable opening that placed human characters in the midst of the horror of WW II, through its imagery, characters, sound effects, camera effects and conception of war. The opening itself captured realism wonderfully although to achieve this it did seem somewhat horrific and disturbing at times. I personally think the opening set up the film perfectly showing the viewer a glimpse of the horrors of war and making them feel sympathetic towards the soldiers that died during it. This film was the best portrayal of war I had ever seen.
Saving Private Ryan: Media Coursework
Saira Javed