Steven Spielberg Interview

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Shoni Vaknin

Friday 4th January 2008

What cinematic techniques are used to grab the audience’s attention in the opening 10 minutes of Saving Private Ryan?

When Steven Spielberg made Saving Private Ryan he aimed to portray "the terrors and triumphs of D-Day as more than just make-believe." He has taught the entire world to view history as he sees it: in black and white, with musical accompaniment. A legend who has stamped his mark on every film genre known to man; and we asked that little boy from Cincinnati how he created one of the most realistic, intense and memorable war movies of our time. Spielberg produced a film that was praised for its authenticity and uncanny likeness to the surviving 1940’s footage and that gritty feeling of reality that runs down your spine is what made this film critically-acclaimed by peers and audiences alike.

The first 10 minutes are the most heralded sequence of the film, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6 1944, but how did he capture the past so magnificently?

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Shoni Vaknin: The opening of SPR was very patriotic, with the overflowing American flag, so why was it saturated?

Steven Spielberg: Well, the flag was there in the first place to show, like you said, patriotism and to give an idea of the film. It was saturated with a reddish tint to show that you can’t wash away the blood of those brave soldiers and to show that they only had black and white in those days.

Vaknin: The score in that scene is very slow, sombre and quiet; why is it not patriotic and loud to match ...

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