At the bottom of the screen it says “Omaha beach in Normandy June 6th 1944 American invasion”.
It shows us a daughting deep image focus shot of the beach with all the metal iron hedgehogs they look frightening and threatening. The sound track then turns into crashing waves and the deep sound of the engines on the boats. It does a long shot of the boats as the boats approach shore.
It then cuts to a close up of Miller’s hands shaking. This image is showed over and over again in the film. This shows that even hero’s get scared. The only time we see Miller’s hand not shaking is when he is dead.
It then does a pan shot across the soldiers faces they all look terrified, it makes the audience feel sorry for the youths. You see some the youths throwing up and trying to load there guns but cant because they are trembling, they fear for there lives.
As the boats get closer towards the beach you can hear explosions and gunshots this creates fear in the audience. You can hear commandments getting shouted but you cant understand what they are saying all the soldiers are confused. The shouting instruction adds a lot of confusion.
The water is a horrible miserable grey and blue color but you get big bold patches of red in the sea this is all down to the blood from the men who have been killed.
The old man makes you think that he is the hero of the film he makes us think that he is Tom Hanks.
Steven Spielberg quoted “The last thing I wanted to do in this picture was use the war simply as a springboard for action-adventure. I was looking for realism all the time”. I think Spielberg got what he wanted when he said he wanted realism the opening battle scene was something out of this world it was something I’ve never seen before in war time history. I thought the opening battle scene was fantastic.
The second scene starts with a man who whistles. As soon as the man whistles the chaos begins. As soon as the boat doors open people are just getting shot left right and centre people aren’t even getting off the boat this is because the boats were built wrong. Only a handful of people get of the boat the men struggle to get off. The men that make it off the boat try and make it towards the beach but there are a few obstacles to get through first. The soldiers try and hide behind metal hedgehogs. Miller tries to hide behind an iron hedgehog with an injured man the man is just floating, the current picks up a bit, and pulls the man from just behind the hedgehog and the man get shot but Miller did his best to pull him back though. Lots of men were drowning due to heavy equipment or getting shot. The sea is a bold dark red blood is everywhere. At the end of the second scene Miller makes it to the beach.
The camera work in this scene starts with a head and shoulder shot of a man who blows a whistle and then all the boat doors open ready for battle. Also in this scene Spielberg gets underwater cameras you see the men drowning and getting shot underwater. The camera is a handheld camera that can go under water but it can shoot scenes on top of the water. It also does a shot of the German soldier shooting all the American soldiers. The camera shot is called an over the shoulder shot its proper name is an F.P.P.O.V shot. This is what it does over the German gunman’s shoulder.
As the camera is looking over the German gunman’s shoulder you can see the camera trembling even though the German gunman is safe he still has fear he really doesn’t want to be killing young people.
The soundtrack in this scene is loud. It all starts off with a whistle. As the whistle is blown the chaos begins. There are big explosions and gunshots going of repeatedly. There was water crashing on the big rocks. There were people screaming, people shouting random commandments. As the waves come more rapidly and louder people start to drown. As the waves go over peoples heads the sound muffles and mutes. You can hear the bullets whizzing through the water and ripping through people’s skin. You can hear people trying to grasp for breath. The sound of the bullets hitting the iron hedgehogs all adds to that confusion.
It was a socking effect on the audience in this scene. You see people getting killed in huge numbers. It shows the audience that the Americans had very little chance. The shocking sites of watching peoples legs getting blown off and loads of people getting washed up with blood everywhere has a very disturbing effect on the audience. The footage looks very realistic and very chaotic.
In this scene Captain Miller is staggering towards the beach. Miller has a man connected to his arm he is trying to hide him behind the metal iron hedgehogs, then the current picks up and pulls the man out a little bit and in that split second he gets shot. Miller slowly makes his way to the shore he staggers in on to the beach, out of the bloody red sea. He is very floppy and cold when he reaches shore. Then an explosion blows up behind his head and Miller goes concussed. He is shocked by the imagery of horror around him. He sees young men crying behind iron hedgehogs trying to hide from the gunshots they fear for there lives. He sees people just being blew up, he watches a man look for his arm like he has just dropped his keys and he watches a boat go on fire and men burning to death. He puts his helmet back on and his helmet has a mixture of blood and water in it, it all gushes down his face like a fast flowing waterfall. He eventually snaps out of it when another soldier shouts him for help.
The camera work in this scene starts with a shot of Miller staggering in out of the sea. It then zooms in to Miller and does a head and shoulder shot of him. The film slows down; it goes into a slow motion to make you think you have got concussion. Using handheld cameras makes you think you are a soldier running for your life trying to hide behind the metal hedgehog. It does a head and shoulder shot of Miller it shows you what he can see then it keeps referring back to Miller this is meant to mean that we are looking from Millers eyes. The camera shows us images of horror. Miller is side lined he is not part of the main action. It does a close-up of miller putting the helmet on and all the blood dripping down from it and then the soldier shouts him and then Miller snaps out of it and comes back.
The soundtrack in this section starts with a big explosion which then makes Miller concussed from it and the sound is muffled. This gives us an idea of what being concussed is like. Miller comes back from a trooper shouting “What do we do Captain”. But when the sound returns it’s with a deafening effect.
This has a horrific effect on the audience. Watching young boys cry trying to save there lives trying to hide. Watching people go up in flames and burn. This scene gives you an insight on what war is really like. You can see what war was really like through a soldier’s eye.
This is the end battle scene. In this scene we see Sergeant Horvath collects mud in a can. It then shows Miller’s hand shaking. Miller then reaches for the beaker full of water and then drinks it. When you see his hand shaking this shows that even heroes get scared. Then you hear Sergeant Horvath say “That’s quite a view” then Miller repeats his words. It then goes into Miller’s eyes and he sees all the men’s bodies washed up on the sea. The water is red there are objects everywhere. There are dead fish all dead surrounding the dead bodies this shows that everything is affected by war. It then goes up to Ryan’s brother’s bag pack with hi name on it then it shows you that he’s dead.
In the camera work in this section you see a close up on Sergeant Horvath collecting mud putting it in a can. It then zooms in to a close up Of Miller’s hands shaking. Next the camera zooms into Millers eyes and it pans across the beach with all the dead bodies washed up ashore. It does a long shot of the beach. It makes you think that you can see through Miller’s eyes. This connects back to Private Ryan in the grave yard at the beginning of the film.
The sound track in this section is huge explosions going off then you hear a man collecting soil and putting it in a can. Sad music is played it gets introduced slowly to the film it then gradually gets louder. You then hear Sergeant Horvath say “That’s quite a view” and then you hear Miller echo him. The music eventually fades in. Bombs and gunshot’s fade away less of them are getting shot and the music plays louder. The waves gently lap against the bodies. The phrase to use for the opening battle scene is ‘Calm after the storm’
This section makes you feel like you can see through Miller’s eyes. It makes you feel sorry for all the families that have lost there children or dad for nothing. You know that kid have lied about there age when one of the Privates find a kids knife. The thing to take from this is war is a horrible thing and is unnecessary everything gets affected by war. Mother Nature gets ruined.
The opening sequence was great. It was so realistic. You could tell that the film was going to be gruesome and violent. It was chaotic and shocking. I couldn’t wait to watch the rest of the film it was fantastic. The film was an anti-war film and made us think about how war really was.
The film was realistic it was gruesome and shocking. You see men getting killed left, right and centre. You see men trying to stuff there guts back into there bodies. Men going hunting for there arms. You see men drowning due to heavy equipment that weighs them down. You see men fearing for there lives. Mother Nature is wrecked by war. Everything is affected by war.
Spielberg 100% achieved what he wanted to. As he quoted “Chaos up on the screen” he defiantly bought chaos and more to my screen. The whole film was just confused in the opening battle scene I think the actors were confused as well.
I think it is a good film because it shows you what war were really like. It was the best war film I have ever set my eyes on but there is one down side to the film the opening battle scene went on for to long. But apart from that this was the best war film I’ve ever seen.
