Saving Private Ryan VS The Longest Day - How do these two representations of the same historical event differ from each other?

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Saving Private Ryan VS The Longest Day.

How do these two representations of the same historical event differ from each other?

Both of these films, Saving Private Ryan (1999) and the Longest Day (1962), are representations of the D-day landings on Omaha beach in France.

The war film genre was chosen due to its popularity, historical interest and the excitement and adventure involved in battle.

The longest day could have easily been an English propaganda film, as it gave a very un-realistic view on the D-day landings, glorifying the British, and making the Nazis look incapable of winning the war. In contrast Saving Private Ryan was an attempt to make sense of history, which was as realistic as it could be. Also the creation of a heroic figure gave the audience a character to follow the film with.

Saving Private Ryan was far more realistic than the Longest Day. I will be looking at how all the different factors of making a film make the films more realistic. I will be commenting on, shots and angles used visual effects, sound effects, mise-en-scene and lighting.

In Saving Private Ryan and the Longest Day camera shots and angles are totally different. In Saving Private Ryan the director chose many different camera shot to bring different effects, like the underwater shot, this shot brings the effect of fear, struggling and panic; it is in slow motion whilst under water, and when the camera comes out of the water, to exaggerates the soldiers need for air, everything speeds up again to exaggerate how serial it is to be trapped under water.
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You can see many dead bodies floating around, as well as soldiers fighting in the struggle of men and bullets to stay alive. Extreme close ups (XCU) are used to show the soldiers emotions, like close ups of fearful eyes and soldiers physically shaking with fear.

In the Longest Day the camera shots and angles obviously were not as advanced as Saving Private Ryan, this is because of the technology of that time. In the film, due to the technology available to him, the director used mostly long shots (LS) and a few low angled shots.

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