The transition from present to past is linked the ending and beginning both. This shows us even within the first scene it prepares you to see what will happen. In the first scene, at the very beginning, it shows Private Ryan in the present tense with his family. As he walks to Captain Millar the camera pans its way to him and rises upwards showing all the graves in the graveyard. As this point, the music in this bit is patriotic and proud, which gives an effect that he had taken part in something do with the graveyard or something similar. This prepares us to see what happens later in the film. There are a lot of non-diegetic sounds in the background which shows the mood and the sadness of the scene. The non-diegetic sounds are used to make the war more realistic and to give a dramatic effect on the audience. The uses of camera shots are altered throughout the four scenes. As the present changes to the past there is an extreme close-up of Ryan’s eyes while music in the background fades and the waves slowly begin to get louder and louder. Then the camera switches to the past whilst a long shot of boats arriving at a shore which tells the audience that is going to be a long scene. The sounds become diegetic as there are waves, but the soldiers are silent. This shows us the tension upon all the soldiers just about to fight. Then the boat engines along with vomiting and distant explosions can be heard. At this point there is so much tension upon the soldiers that the audience can feel what is going to happen. That’s why the audience shows sympathy to them.
As the second scene begins the boat doors open and the soldiers are shot by the Germans. Here mostly medium and close up shots are used to show the killings of the soldiers which shows the audience that the soldiers had no other options besides getting killed. This brings the audience to feel sympathetic for the soldiers. A long shot followed by a high angle shot are used to show that Germans were in power. The dominant position of the Germans is seen best with a high angle shot; it conveys a feeling of being surrounded by the enemy and also their superior power. The gun shots firing were very loud and overcame the sound of everything else. This applied to horror of the scene. As the Germans began firing at the Americans most of them started to flee underwater. As we can see the soldiers were absolutely terrified. This shows us that they desperately eager to escape. But still the bullets firing zip through the water killing the soldiers. This really shocks the audience. Whilst underwater: close up, medium and panning shots are used to emphasis the feelings of the soldiers. This shows us the realistic effect of a war. Throughout this scene the perspective of the action convention is proved by the fighting. The action of this scene puts sympathy into the audience as there were many innocent soldiers dying. The tension upon the soldiers at this point was unbearable because they were at the lower hand getting killed and they could not stop it. As the chaos continued, the camera panned its way from each dead soldier to another which shows the audience how insignificant the soldiers were as the injured soldiers were left there to die. The devastation of this scene was agonizing.
As the third scene starts captain Millar emerges from the sea. He is extremely shocked by the horrors placed around him. He is oblivious to everything around him and all he can were the bombs blasts and the soldiers dying. Due to the explosions the camera shakes greatly. This tells the audience that there is also a lot of destruction in the scene. The sound is muted to show the audience how Captain Miller felt and also the chaos around him. The colors become quite darker which reflects on the destruction of the scene. Then a close up shot is taken as Captain Miller tips the bloody water from his helmet and replaces it onto his head not caring about what's inside because it was a war. Captain Miller is in total confusion and is helpless as he looks around. The atmosphere shown in Captain Miller’s confusion is the horror of war. This shows all the pain he was going through. As Captain Miller puts his helmet back on, the gunshots and explosions effects return back into the war. The point when he put his helmet back on, Captain Miller reacts to the soldiers and shows his concern to his men. There is a lot of bloodshed in this scene as a soldiers arm had been blown off whilst in Captain Miller’s confusion. This shows the audience how violent the war was.
In the final scene, Captain Miller says, "That's quite a few". He was referring to all the dead soldiers on the beach and at that point melancholy music is played as the camera turns towards the whole picture of was left on the beach. Hundreds of bodies were placed on the battlefield dead. The audience at this point would feel terrible because of carnage shown. The final shot of the scene is the close up on Peter Ryan lying dead on the beach with a bloody tide rushing in. this links the scene at the start and the whole plot of the film. This is why the ending scene was the most effective scene of all because it immediately shows the reality and chaos, war brings to mankind. Finally the war ends.
Overall I think Steven Spielberg has created an excellent film. The way the whole battle sequence followed and linked each other was remarkable. The graveyard, James Ryan crying and the music, really prepared me to expect the next scene to be a battle. Saving Private Ryan was so chaotic that it shocked and surprised me. Steven Spielberg succeeded in putting chaos on the screen because in nearly every scene there was something related to war. Saving Private Ryan was definitely a brilliant film because it really shocks you because it clearly displays how a war was like in World War Two.