The camera cuts to a mid-shot of the son taking a picture. This is then shown from behind and the viewer sees the old man walking in front and the son taking a picture of the scenery. The younger woman looks across at the son and in their quick eye contact the audience understands that the family are trying to be respectful towards where they are, and she doesnt feel him taking pictures is appropriate. This combined with the memorial music which is still playing creates an atmosphere of loss and upset. The viewer feels like they are walking along with the family and they too can feel the hurt that this man has suffered in his life.
When Tom Hank's character reaches the graves he stops to lean on a tree. This is because he is overwhelemed by the sight in front of him. A medium shot is used to convey his emotion to the audience. This is very effective as the audience see the shock take over his whole body, aswell as the facial reactions of his relatives. He is begining to cry as he sees the graves. Seeing this old man cry makes the audience feel slightly awkward. They cant comfort him as too much terrible stuff has happened in his life, they feel like how his family that are around him would feel.
The Music becomes more continuous and slowly louder as he walks through the graves. The camera is tracking along with him. It slowly zooms out to reveal the intensity of just how many people are burried there. The graves go on as far as the audience can see. This amount of graves is a shocking sight to the audience and may upset many people who never really understood just how many lives were lost.
The scene end with a slow zoom into the old man eyes. He does not say anything or have drastic facial reactions, all his emotion is conveyed through his eyes. This makes the audience realise that the things he have seen is his life have not been pleseant and have haunted him everyday since the end of the war. Also because he is just staring at the grave it gives the impression that he is thinking back in time. This then cuts into the past, so we are watching his thoughts. The sound also adds to this illusion becuase slowly the sound of the waves can be heard aswell as the music. The music slowly blurrs out so that when the cut to the sea happens it isnt a massive shock.
In the second scene the audience are told the date "6th June 1944". People who have some knoledge of the war will already be aware of what happened on this date. This could make the viewer tense as they know what it is they are about to see. The boats are then seen with crashing waves on them. This is very loud and a huge contrast to the gentle music hear several seconds ago. It almost awakens the audience out of there state of sadness and dibelief.
Throughout the second scene the camera is very jumpy and makes the audience feel like they are part of the action. It is moving alot when on the boat which gives the impression of how horrible the boat journeys are. The atmosphere is very tense. This is created my the soldiers facial expressions. They are all terrified of what they are about to do. A couple of men are sick on the boat and none of the other men seem to bother. This implies to the audience that the men are used to these circumstances and they just dont bother anymore. As they get closer to the beach there is a close up of several of the soldiers. One of which kisses the cross that is around his neck, another makes a cross with his hands on his body. These images of crosses remind the audience of the graves from the previous scene and brings back the emotion of sadness as they realise these men are going to die.
As the men make their way to the beach, many are shot within seconds. The images of these men that they have just seen shock the viewer, as does the loud gun-shot noises that appear. This makes the audience feel scared for the soldiers who are running for their lives. This is made more intense when a shot is seen from the germans point of view. The shot is from above and the viewer can see their machine guns firing. The high-angled shot suggests their power and makes the audience feel more tense.
The camera follows Tom Hanks chacter as he makes his way up onto the beach. He stop to hide behind one of the mettle X's as he has lost his hat and become very vunerable. As he is there the sea can be seen in the background, the small wave coming in next to hime is dark red. This is showing the audience how many men have just died in those short seconds. Again creating a mood of tension and sorrow. The action is taking place in slow motion, as we are now seeing the events happening as Tom Hank's character is seeing them. The slow motion and muffled sound indicate how his character is feeling. His hearing is impaired due to the loud explosions and he is in dis-belief about what he is seeing.
These two scenes make the audience react very differently because of the change in atmosphere from one to the other. In the first scene the only word spoken is "dad" and this doesnt get any verbal reaction. The entire scene is created by the music and the images shown to the audience. This is very effective as it doesnt disturb the mood of saddness. However the second scene is completely different. The sound effects are extremely loud and the images shown are very disturbing. This makes the audience go from feeling sad to feeling shocked and scared.
