Analyse the methods used to make the opening sequence of 'Saving Private Ryan' both shocking and realistic, and say how effective you find it as an introduction to the film

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Analyse the methods used to make the opening sequence of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ both shocking and realistic, and say how effective you find it as an introduction to the film

In  Analyzing  Steven  Spielberg’s  movie  ‘Saving  Private  Ryan,’  I  realized  that  I can  not  base  a  movie  only  on  realism. I think a  good  movie  has  to  have  some kind  of  character  or  formalism  to  carry  the  viewer  through  these  realistic   scenes. In  my  critique  I  wish  to  point  out  some  uses  of  realism  and   camera  effects  in  the  movie  saving  Private  Ryan.  In  my  eyes  saving  Private  Ryan  is  a  masterpiece.  Although  the  movie  is  nearly  three  hours in  length,  it  is  evenly  distributed  and  takes  on  a  powerful  subject. I  think ‘Saving  Private’  Ryan  was  not  another  war  movie;  I  really  felt  it  caught  the  soul  of  war.  The  film  begins  with  a  half-hour  sequence  of  the  landings  at Normandy  on  D-Day.  Many  films  have  portrayed  this  D-Day  scene,  but  have  failed,  to  me,  in  realism. In ‘Saving Private Ryan’, realism portrayed  in  near  perfection. The film contains such actors as Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns and Matt Daron. In  the  film  Spielberg  took  a  documentary approach   and  in  doing  so  got  5  academy  awards  and  the  Best  director award.

In  the  opening  scene  of  the  battle  the  camera  shots  are  dull  and  gritty which  create  the  sense  of  realism  as  the  glossy finish  has  been  taken  away.  This  represents  the  old  newsreel  cameras  which  followed  the soldiers  in  to  war.

As  people  are  advancing  up  the  beach  two  different camera angles are used  The  first  is  the  de- saturated  and the other  is  a  hand-held  camera  which grips  the  audience  when  they  see  these  types  of  shot  because  it  puts  us  in  the  place  of  an  American  soldier.

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In  the  opening  scene  of  the  film  we  witness  a  old  man who we  come  to  find  out  is  private  Ryan  walking  down  what  seems  to  be  a  path  with  a  group  of  people  with  cameras  walking behind  him.  As  the  man  reaches  the  end  of  the  path we  see  a  large  war  cemetery with  all  the  crosses  lined  up  in  a  row.  Soon  after  we  see  him fall  to   his  knees  and  break  down   in  tears.  This  whole  scene  is  very powerful  and  gives  off  a  great  deal  of  shock  to  the  audience  as  the ...

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