saving private ryan

Steven Spielberg has made the battle scenes seem realistic by using desaturated colours to show the misery in the films. By showing the blood splattering everywhere when explosions take place in the sea he shows the realistic nature of war and what really used to happen during war. The use of the close up shots on the soldiers coming out of the boats showed the terrified expressions on their faces. This made the scene seem more realistic as it showed what the soldiers would be feeling. The blood and limp bodies in the scene on the beach and in the sea symbolised the horrors of war which made the scene seem realistic as this is the type of thing we would expect to see during battle. The mid angle shots with the camera provided us with a side view, and front view of what was happening, drawing us in to make us feel like we were there, actually viewing people dying. The battle scenes showed chaos, which is what Spielberg wanted to show in these scenes to show people that were watching how it really felt to be one of those "green recruits"; "I wanted to put chaos up on the screen. I wanted the audience to feel the same as those green recruits that were just off those Higgins boats and had never seen combat before. Ninety-five percent of them hadn't. It was complete chaos (Steven Spielberg). "

The use of the hand held camera helped people see the battle scenes as if watching over some ones shoulder, or watching from a soldier's perspective. The hand held camera shots make us feel that we (the audience) are running around on the beach within that chaos, following soldiers, running to save our lives and to show us the panic that people fighting in the wars would have felt; "I wanted to hit the sets much like a newsreel cameraman following soldiers into war (Steven Spielberg)." The hand Held cameras "jerk" and "duck" throughout the film with the soldiers giving the audience the feeling that they are one of the soldiers. The use of the hand held camera shows the limps and intestines that are blown up by the explosions clearly, giving us a realistic view of war.

The transition from the present day, in the cemetery, to the past in which the setting and the mood of the play is established, I believe is effective. This scene establishes a connection between the elderly man in the graveyard and D-day. The date and setting are established and a mood of fear and tension is created. The audience is given a superficial introduction to some of the main characters. The scene begins with a panning shot which follows the old man through the path into the cemetery, where he is shown walking through masses of white, cross shaped grave stones. The shape of these gravestones, I believe shows religion. The colour, white, is used for the gravestones which symbolises purity, religion and sacrifice. I Think the camera angles in the cemetery, which are mid angle shots, close ups and panning shots, are deliberate to show the symmetry of the gravestones. The graves also show repetition as there are so many of them all in rows. As the old man walks through the stones, we are given the impression, by the way he is moving, that it symbolises him dodging death, that he has dodged death or that something to do with death will take place in the following scenes of the play. The American flag, which is shown at the very beginning of this film, is zoomed into to show us the faded colours of the flag and the sun shining through. I believe that the faded colour symbolises a downfall for the Americans and the sunlight shining through the flag, that there is or was still hope, whatever the problem. All through, we hear a soft, orchestral piece of music playing, symbolising the peace and silence of the cemetery. The camera then slowly zooms in on Ryan's (the old man) face, which then becomes a big close upon his eyes. The sound of waves is gradually increased as the shot of his soft, blue eyes cuts into a deep focus shot of the beach with iron hedgehogs both in the foreground and in the background. This makes us think we are about to see something peaceful, but we are shocked when we (audience) see that it is a scene which erupts into instant chaos which contrasts with the peaceful opening to the film. This shows us the beach and the incoming boats. There is then a long shot of the boats as they approach the shore. The camera moves in to a close up of Captain Miller's hand shaking, a recurrent image, which could symbolise fear, power or just nerves. As we see the soldiers moving around, we are then given a close up of the terrified expressions on the soldiers faces. This makes us see that the soldiers were scared, which makes the film more realistic. As I have already stated, the scene begins with soft wave sounds which increase in volume as the camera zooms in on Ryan's eyes. This then becomes a shot of the sea, with the waves rolling over the beach, as the sound of the waves increase. There is no dialogue as we are shown the incoming boats filled with scared and nervous soldiers, only the sound of the engines. This builds tension in the film. We are then shown a close up of men vomiting, with clear sounds of vomiting after which we hear shouted instructions from captain miller and other captains.

As soon as the boat doors open the soldiers are shot and killed. The sequence is lengthy as soldier after soldier is killed within seconds of leaving the boat. Once the doors of the boats are opened, we are given close up and medium shots of the soldiers being killed. The effects of this camera work make it seem like we are in front of the soldiers, watching these things happening, which gives us a sense of horror and tension. We are then given an over the shoulder shot which gives us the German perspective. This is done to give us the impression of power, the sense of power and advantage over the Americans on the beach. We are then taken underwater with a hand held camera as the soldiers plunge into the sea. This gives the audience their perspective, as they struggle below and above the surface. The hand held camera shots suggest we (the audience) are making our way up to the beach, or struggling under water as if as one of the soldiers. The beginning of this part of the scene is dominated with very loud gunfire. We hear the sounds of bullets being fired and hitting their targets. This builds tension in the audience as it makes us feel, or see the terror in the soldiers' eyes. Again, we hear shouted instructions which are sometimes indistinct which tells us that there was some sort of organization even in that chaos. As we plunge into the sea with the hand held camera after the soldiers, we hear muted sounds of bullets zip through the water, still hitting and killing soldiers even below the surface. This makes the scene seem realistic. Everytime the sound mutes and the camera sinks below the surface, it gives us a soldier's perspective of what was happening. In this scene various perspectives give overviews of the carnage. The camerawork brings the audience closer to the action most of the time, allowing us (the audience) to see things from a soldier's perspective. Furthermore, we are also given a change of morale in this scene. The German perspective in this scene suggests that the Americans were fighting a lost cause which indicated the immense difficulty of the mission. The different camera angles and the hand held camera shots give us a sense of confusion and hopelessness. It makes us feel as if no one could survive.

In scene three, Captain Miller staggers out of the bloody sea. He stumbles and falls. We witness his shock and confusion at the massacre all around hi, which is where we see events from his perspective. The camera gives us a close up of Captain Miller as he emerges from the sea which gives us an image of the shock and horror on his face, as he stares around him in disbelief. Jerky slow motion shots and shots of Miller's expressions edited alternately with the horrors taking place all around him. This portrays his feelings which makes the audiences tension rise and feel the shock and horror that he is feeling. There is a close up on Miler as he tips bloody water out of his helmet and replaces it, making him look blood splattered. This shows that he has been in combat, but has lost many men and will fight for his men. The blood represents the pain and shock he was feeling as it splatters over his face. The muted sound accompanies the slow motion of the soldiers plunging into the sea; however, the explosions heard on the sound track in the background are muted to suit the scene but can still be heard above other sounds. Here we see a young soldier shouting silently asking Miller for instructions after which the sound returns noisily. Here, we can hear the soldier's words above the loudness of the gunfire and explosions. The muted sounds and the hand held camera underwater, makes the scene seem realistic as it is the type of views we would expect under water. The hand held camera helps the audience see the war from the soldier's viewpoint, showing us the fear, shock and horrified expressions on their faces, and what they had to go through. The sound of the explosions in the background makes it seem as if the soldiers are safe for a while, as the explosions and gunfire are muted, but then we get a sudden shock of bullets zipping through the water, still killing many soldiers. In this seen we see a silent scream, a soldier's screaming underwater, but no noise coming out. This symbolises the fear of the soldiers.

Scene four is the end of the battle. This is the first time that captain miller rests. Sergeant Horvath comments "That's quite a view", an attitude which is echoed by Miller. The view he describes is then shown to us; we are shown vast numbers of dead soldiers as the bloody sea washes over them. Here we are again given a close up of Captain Millers shaking hand. This again, shows us some sort of fear or maybe nerves. The cameras then zooms in to a big close up of his eyes then cuts to show the audience Captain Miller's viewpoint. We are shown a long shot of bloody water washing over the limp, dead bodies. This gives the audience the feeling of defeat, and makes us feel that the war has been won by the Germans and there is nothing else the American troops can do. We are then given a close up of the soldier's boots and as we are shown this, we also see that the waves are bright red. The camera pans slowly left, then gradually zooms in on the wording on the backpack of one soldier - Ryan which is one of the brothers that are killed in action. This image sets the story, as we see that this must have some sort of importance in the film, so we expect what we see in the next scene. At the end of the scene, gentle music which is playing in the background fades in. In addition to this, the wave sounds that were heard in the background at the end of the battle scene sounded very peaceful which made a contrast to the violence and prolonged noise, chaos and destruction. Furthermore, the melancholy music adds to the solemnity of the images. The effects these things have on the audience are that the peaceful ending is a relief for the audience after the exhausting tension and horror of the battle. We (the audience) are struck by the enormity of the event - the sheer number of deaths shock us. The final shot which shows the name "Ryan" in the backpack of one of the fallen soldiers establishes a link between the sequence we have just seen as well as both the title and the plot of the film.

I think the opening scene prepared me very well for what was coming as I had expected something very violent and chaotic. This is because I new that the actual film would be a contrast to the opening scene which was peaceful and showed purity and religion by using cross shaped grave stones. Furthermore, the fact that the opening scene was set in a grave yard also gives the impression that something horrific was going to be shown.

I found this film realistic and shocking as it showed what life was really like during the war, showing all the action and the horrors of the battles. It also shows us how the soldiers really felt unlike traditional war films which only show the soldiers being brave and dying for their country with no fear. The sound affects gave it a further touch to make it seem realistic. This is because the sound effects are realistic and match the sequence of images being shown in the film. The hand held camera also had a part in the realistic affect as it was like watching from a soldiers view which gave us more of an idea of what it was like and what this would look like from a soldiers perspective. I think it was a little shocking as I didn't expect it to be as graphic and show all the blood and body parts flying around.

In my opinion, yes, Steven Spielberg did succeed in putting "chaos up on the screen" as his film was very realistic, which was also helped by the hand held camera's, and "chaos" is how I would describe the opening battle scenes as no-one was confident or very brave and knew what they were doing; people were just scrambling around trying to save their lives, like it would have been in real life.

I think "saving private Ryan" is a good film as it is interesting, realistic and surprising. I think the main reason that made me enjoy it the most was the fact that it was realistic because it made a difference to traditional war films, which really caught my eye and pushed me to watch the rest of the film as I enjoy realistic things, rather than films that just seem fake, and don't have much action and shocking "chaos" and terror included in it.