Analyse the methods used to make the opening sequence of 'Saving Private Ryan' both shocking and realistic, and discuss its effectiveness as an opening to a film

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Analyse he methods used to make the opening sequence of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ both shocking and realistic, and discuss its effectiveness as an opening to a film

The film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ was released on September 11th 1998; the film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and was produced by Paramount pictures along with DreamWorks. Steven Spielberg has directed many films, such as: Jaws in 1975, Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 and Minority Report in 2002. Spielberg had never directed a war film before, and this one showed that he had the ability to do so. In 1999 the film won five awards including best director justifying his achievement!

Spielberg had various goals he wanted to reach when he made this movie. He did not want to just use the World War II as a basis for the movie; he actually wanted to bring out the realism within the movie, to make the viewer  could see what war was actually like; Spielberg said ‘‘I wanted to the audience to feel the same as those Green Recruits’’. The ‘Green Recruits’ were totally new to this whole battle scene and so they must have felt extremely scared and he really put this forward in the movie. Also another main challenge for Spielberg was to make this movie like the stories his father told him about WWII; he wanted to capture the true horror of war.

The first scene is as James Ryan is walking up towards the grave yard, he is with his family, but he walks separate from them; this is maybe because of his bad memories he wanted to be alone in a sense. Then he walks along past the gravestones and he stops at one, he then crouches down and this is when it transfers from present to past.

At the start of this scene, as James is heading toward the graves it is mainly close up shots of James, and then it begins to include shots of James’ family as well. These shots indicate that his family are supporting him and the shots of him show that he is the main subject. As James and his family are walking along the path towards the graves a very patriotic orchestral music is being played, the rhythm is based on their footsteps,

every step James takes there is a beat of a drum. As they enter the grave yard the camera rises up above the grave stones and shows the vast number of graves. The camera then moves to the graveyard and whilst this is happening the music is still the same orchestral music but the beat of the drum is heavier. As the camera moves over the grave stone American flag, this shows how patriotic this event is.  The effect of this is it hits you as to how many people have died pointlessly and a feeling of empathy for James because of the loss of his friends. Then James Ryan falls to his knees in front of one gravestone and he begins to cry. This is a close up shot of him then the transition begins. The camera falls into James’ eyes and then you can hear the ocean, the waves crashing and the sound of engines. This gives you a feeling of what it is like to be where they are. This sets the scene for this moment; the camera comes onto a troop carrier, the camera moves around from person to person, as it is moving from person to person it shows the fear of the men as they vomit and pray. At this point there is not much dialogue, it is mainly orders and the shots of Miller’s face show his confusion and himself not understanding what to do as an experienced soldier. The orders seem to be ignored as the soldiers are so afraid and because the men are so scared of what is ahead; these men were green recruits so they had never been in this kind of situation before. As they came close to the beach crosses were held tight in men’s hands and then you hear the spinning door seal opening.

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The next scene is as the men are being let out of the troop carriers, about three quarters of the men are killed in seconds, many do not make it out of the boat, and this scene shows the soldiers trying to get out of the sea and onto the beach. Overall it is very difficult, a great struggle getting onto the beach. As the front of the troop carrier opens there are close up shots of the soldiers as a barrage of bullets hits them, there is just the sound of bullets and artillery fire as the men ...

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