Analyse the methods used to make the opening battle sequence of 'Saving Private Ryan' both shocking and realistic, and say how effective you find it as an introduction to the film.

Mitchell Ward 28/11/06

Analyse the methods used to make the opening battle sequence of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ both shocking and realistic, and say how effective you find it as an introduction to the film.

‘Saving Private Ryan’ is a war film directed by Steven Spielberg. It was first released on September 11th 1998. The film lasts for two hours and fifty minutes. ‘Saving Private Ryan’ won five Academy Awards (Oscars) including best director in 1999. The film has got a few well known actors starring in it including Tom Hanks who plays Captain Miller, Matt Damon who plays Private Ryan and many more. Steven Spielberg tried to get across the realistic view of the war rather than a typical heroic war film, where it all ends happily. Steven Spielberg said, ‘The last thing I wanted to do in this picture was use the war simply as a springboard for action and adventure. I was looking for realism all of the time’. Rather than being a heroic adventure film, you see a lot of deaths including some of the main characters which never really happens in the typical adventure war film. The deaths are very high detail, as you see soldiers lying on the floor with guts hanging out and soldiers getting limbs blown off, very close up and graphically. This makes you very shocking and the gory images stay in your mind a lot longer.

To higher the sense of realism, handheld cameras was used in a lot of the scenes. This makes you feel as if you are actually there and are part of the war and watching fellow soldiers die by your side. The reason this works so well is because they are constantly shaking and following the path of a soldier, looking from a soldier’s point of view and his vision. In some of the more gory scenes, blood splatters onto the lenses of the cameras which shocks you also and adds even more to the realistic effect of the film.

During the film, de-saturated colour is used in some of the scenes when blood is present. They pick out a specific colour so that most of the scene is de-saturated but one colour stands out. The colour they usually picked out is red so that the blood stands out even more than usual. The de-saturated colour also gives a sense of the footage being slightly old and more realistic. All of these techniques they have used to make the film realistic make the film almost seem like real footage of the war, which makes it so much more touching and shocking.

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I have studied the first 24 minute battle scenes and I have split this into four sections. The first part I studied is the present day and when the soldiers on the boats are approaching the shores of the war. An old man who I do not know is walking with his family through what looks like a park. The camera pans along as the walk and switches between this shot and an over-the-shoulder shot as if you are walking with them. At this time music is playing in the background, it seems slightly royal type of music with trumpets and other brass instruments. As they continue walking, some grave stones come into the shot as a long shot is used with the graves in the foreground and the walking family in the background. They turn into the graveyard and the old man walks ahead of the family and the camera zooms and focuses on him, the music slightly loses volume and his family come into the background again but unfocused. Images of the graves from very different angles alternate on the screen. The camera pans back to the old man, and slowly zooms into his face; this made me feel as if he is a big part of the film. As it continues to zoom closer to his face, sounds of waves and boat engines come over the music. As the wave noises get louder and the music gets quieter, there is an extreme close up of the old man’s face. This made me feel as if something is about to happen. For the whole of this scene, there is no dialogue, just music and sound effects. The colour of the extreme close up de-saturates and the scene switches to a long shot of the war beach with the iron crosses and the waves lapping against the shore. It then switches to a boat full of soldiers. The first dialogue comes now as the captain shouts to the rest, preparing them for the war. A close up of the captains hand shaking is shown, and later on in the film this happens, it is a recurring image. It shows his nerves and un-sureness to me as the image is shown before a big event happens in the film. The camera moves along down the boat past nervous soldiers being sick and almost losing consciousness, it made me wonder what it would have been like and how nervous and scared they must be because for a lot of the it was there first time. The only person talking is the captain shouting at them. This scene is very tense and prepared me for what I knew was coming, the big war scene. The use of very little dialogue in these scenes builds up the tension, but you can still understand what is happening just from watching.

The second part I studied is the instant chaos as the soldiers get off the boat. The boats reach the shore and stop. Just before the doors open, I could not hear much except the waves lapping against the shore and the boat walls. As the doors open, the sound hit me as bullets are fired and bombs go off. There is no music in this scene which makes the sound of bullets and bombs stand out. Instantly soldier after soldier is shot and drops to the floor. At this point I felt shocked and I felt the sense of madness as I watched so many soldiers die. Soldiers who haven’t been shot yet struggle and do anything to get out. At this point handheld cameras are being used. Soldiers jump over the edge of the boat into the deep sea and the camera follows. At this point, I felt like a solider as the camera dunks in and out of the water. As the camera goes under the water the sound is muffled as the soldiers would be, but I could still slightly make out the sound of bullets hitting targets and bombs exploding. The camera the goes to an over the shoulder shot from the German’s point of view shooting the soldiers. The sound of the guns is ear piercing. The handheld cameras are used again as it proceeds up the beach, going past soldiers getting shot and half dead soldiers lying in pain. I felt shocked as I saw some horrific sights of soldier’s injuries. The sounds continue and they don’t stop. The scene is very lengthy but there is continually something pulling you back in as every time you feel the slightest bit bored, something really interesting happens to make you alert again. There is also very little dialogue in these scenes apart from towards the end. There is no chance to fit in a conversation because it wouldn’t work right in the middle of a battle scene. This is the most chaotic scene of the film and having it at the beginning of the film is a good idea so the audience get pulled in early and do not get bored watching a something boring and having to wait until the end for the big battle scene. They also get the idea of the film at the very beginning.

The third part I studied is the confusion of Captain Miller. In this scene, Captain Miller staggers out of the blood filled crimson sea. Hand held cameras are being used for this scene. They are shaking as he stumbles and falls up the beach. This is a sign that Captain Miller is not fully conscious. Also at this point, the sound is muffled and muted, slow and out of time; this also shows he is not fully conscious. There is then a close up of Miller as he gets himself up and tips the bloody water out of his helmet and drops it onto his head. Shots of his puzzled and confused face alternate on the screen. A soldier is speaking or shouting at him, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. Suddenly, the sound jumps back as an explosion goes off and you finally hear half of what the soldier was saying. This shows Miller has regained some of his conscious. So far in this scene, we have been seeing and hearing what Miller heard and saw, apart from when we was looking at him. Over the shoulder shots are used to show this. He looks around at the carnage of the war. The camera pans across as he looks around. I was plunged into his horror and felt as if it has all gone wrong as all of the dead bodies lay on the floor. We feel as if something bad is going to happen. The whole of this scene emphasised to me that he is a main character in this film. This scene is still hectic, but is a bit more relaxed from the previous scenes.

The fourth and final scene I studied is the end of the battle. Although the film hasn’t finished yet, the madness has; for a while, the war has settled down. At this point, blood and dead bodies are everywhere. Captain Miller and the remaining soldiers are resting, and calm, gentle music slowly fades in. The waves lapping against the shore are a relaxing sound now compared to the bombs and gunshots earlier on. The peace is a relief to the audience after the chaos and exhaustion of the war. A close up of Miller’s hand shaking returns to the screen. This is a recurring image as we saw in the first scene. After seeing what happens after each time his hand shakes, I think that this is a sign of nerves and shows he is unsure about something. A soldier comments, ‘That’s quite a view.’ Instantly after, Miller echoes this phrase. A long shot of the beach then pans across the screen. I was struck by the amount of deaths caused by the event. The sad, slow, gentle music adds to the solemn images on the screen. I felt the emotions of the soldiers as they have lost some of there fellow cadets. As the camera pans along the beach, it focuses and zooms on one of the soldier’s bodies. As it gets closer, it goes towards the backpack which I saw had a soldier’s name on. The name is ‘RYAN. S.’. This is linked to the title; ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and we presume that this is the soldier on the title, which gives us a sense of doubt that they have failed to save him. It also gives us a link to the plot of the film. This scene relaxes the audience after the lengthy battle scene and prepared me nicely for the rest of the film.

These four scenes put into the sequence that they are in, work very well as an introduction. You are pulled in at the beginning, and at the end of the fourth part, you know the main plot of the story and you realise what the soldiers are trying to do. You feel involved in the story because of how realistic it is. You are prepared for the rest of the film, and after watching the first twenty-four minutes of the chaotic and extremely detailed and emotional scenes, you cannot bare to miss the rest as you want to know what happens and if they save Private Ryan successfully. The war scenes are exceptionally realistic and shocking. This is because Steven Spielberg didn’t aim for an action-adventure style war film, he went for the full on ‘real footage’ type. At a few points in this film, you forget you are watching a film and think you are watching a history program with real footage of the film. This shows how well Steven Spielberg’s techniques worked. His attempts to ‘put chaos up on the screen’ have also worked very well. Rather that just showing solider’s getting shot, you see legs getting blown off and soldiers lying on the floor with their guts hanging out, crying for their mothers, which is quite emotional to the audience. This also makes it so shocking that some people cannot stand to watch it.

After watching the first twenty-four minutes of the film, I feel that I could not have gone away without watching the end. This film is incredible and it holds you in your seat for the whole time. All of the way through the first battle scene, you are on the edge of your seat as soldier after soldier is killed, and with the use of handheld cameras which make you think you are there, this is made so much more realistic. In my view, I think Steven Spielberg has created the perfect war film and it is everything he wanted it to be. After the introduction, you are not let down by the quality and seriousness of the rest of the film.