The mise en scene is a noisy, busy street with too many things happening , contrasting
to the credits background. Tim Burton’s uses many contrasts to perplex the audience.
Diegetic sounds now are sirens and screams ;this is chilling.
There is a panning shot that shows many people. All of them are wearing depressing
black/dark colours. Black connotes mystery, death and evil. Here it suggests the film will have some horror.
There’s a high tilt angle shot , making the people appear small and conquerable.
Everyone is busy which gives you a feeling of danger – something can happen and no one will care or notice. On the other hand you could feel protected being around a lot of people.
Steven Spielberg has a black background with, simple Times New Roman, white font
for the credits in Saving Private Ryan. It is serious and formal. The colours are
funereal.
Next, we see the US flag as though it’s been through a lot, because of the grey colour.
It’s blocking the sun, which connotes happiness. The flag blocking out sun is like bad
memories blocking the path to happiness.
Next, we see a group of people following a man who’s slowly walking. The audience
is intrigued about why there is a gap between them. The gap shows importance and
respect. They are near the ocean and there are a lot of grass and trees ; it’s peaceful.
The weather is cloudy. There are only neutral, somber colours. We can hear classical music, birds and the ocean. All this makes the audience feel calm.
Then we see a clean American flag high up by a low angle shot. This makes flag look
important. Straight after we see the French flag, in the same way, suggests some sort
of friendship between to the countries. Alternatively , it could be that they’re enemies, fighting to be the most important.
We see a close up shot of the man’s sad face, once he’s in the cemetery. We now hear
sad, solemn music. Audience can now figure it out he’s obviously lost someone.
There is a composition in debt shot with the background in focus and cross in front. I
think this means that beyond the cross/grave there is a story that needs to be heard. An
establishing / high angle tilt shot shows us the many crosses.
As the man walks, trees and crosses come between the camera and him. Its as if they
are preventing us from knowing what’s going on with him . There’s also a gap
between him and the camera as though we need to give him space now, for respect.
Once the man is at the grave we suddenly hear waves crashing like “cold”, rough
memories have come back to the man. So far, no one has uttered a word, which is
enigmatic. The camera zooms in the man’s eyes as the sound of the waves get louder.
This is a signal that flashback is coming up from the man’s point of view.
In BM straight away there is a problem ; a family is struggling to get a taxi . The
family is ignored and shoved by people . This suggests the film will have hateful people.
Everyone is wearing dull , dark colours apart from one woman (a prostitute) who is
wearing striking red. I think Burton decided to have her stand out is so the audience
knows there are bad people around. People were being shoved around, there is prostitute and only diegetic sound this makes the city seem more realistic.
There is a long shot/high angle tilt of the family in the alleyway. This makes them look vulnerable.
The angle shot looks as though its from someone’s point of view which is enigmatic . The shadows and the mist make the situation more eerie.
The music goes high and dramatic , before the bad guy lashes out at the man to alert the audience . Once the man is attacked, we see a window with a glowing red light.
Red connotes danger, medical emergency ( red cross ) , ambulance lights , blood etc. . I think here it mostly connotes the anger of the soldiers/the two countries.
The two bad guys are wearing what seem like rags, they’re not talking in proper English and one of them is smoking. All this helps them achieve their villainous image.
Batman first comes into view through smoke. This shows importance and is
intriguing. Batman does not say anything he just starts to hit. This makes him seem unique.
They are fighting on top of a high building, which makes its more dangerous. They
are also very confined. There are quick cuts so we can see the fight more clearly.
When Batman is going to throw the man off the building, we see the red light again from a building.
At the start of the flashback in SPR, there is a composition in debt shot to show many
brown mines in the sea. These remind me of all the crosses. We see soldiers in some
boats. There is a close up shot of the soldiers’ faces to show their sad mood. There is
also, a close up shot of a soldier’s shaking hand .This tells the audience that he is
scared. So we know something bad is going to happen.
One of the soldiers has a silver mark on his helmet so we know that he is an
important character. The camera is hand held so its wobbling a lot. This gives the
impression that we are there with them . We hear bombs in the distance but cant see
who’s causing them ; this amplifies the fear.
When the shooting starts blood is splattered on the camera which tells is there is a lot
of blood . The blood stands out because it is the only bright colour. It’s as though the
blood has been splattered on our faces which makes the all thing more terrifying . We
hear yelling and see soldiers fallen over . A soldier falls in the water and the camera
also “jumps” in the water. Because of this we can understand better what the soldier is
going though. Its as though we (the audience) are drowning with him. There is a
medium shot of a bullet entering the water, near the camera. . This is frightening
because its though the bullet nearly killed us .
There are mostly black/white/washed out colours. Its as though this is real war
footage because of monochromatic colours. It reminds us of war photographs and authentic war footage.
When we see a man lose a leg the camera quickly “turns away” . It is likely we would
do this if we were there .
Once we see Tom Hank’s the music goes quiet. Now everything is in slow motion. Its
as though this is how Hanks is seeing everything; it seems like a dream to him.
Strangely there is of mood tranquility when see a man burning alive. Again the camera
quickly moves away as though its too disturbing to see. The yellow fire is contrasted
to the rest of the colors, therefore it grabs your attention.
The diegetic sound is breathing and screaming. There is no music. So the screams are
a lot “ louder” there’s nothing to cover them up . There are long cuts this makes
everything seem more real and horrific.
There is a lot of graphic detail to really show you what’s happening. When the men
are on the ground its as though we are too because of the low angle shots .
There is a close up shot on Tom Hank’s eyes .This reminds us of the man back at the
Graveyard and that Hanks will survive.
The two films are very different but their technique, in telling us the genre of the film, is the same.. In BM there is an attack in the first 15 min this is a big sign about the film’s genre. In SPR it’s not so obvious but there are lots of subtle hints. For an example, the washed out flag. I think Tim Burton did a better job of the beginning because his use of colours is more effective and so is the plotline . The beginning Private Ryan has the audience think it will be a calm, somber film. As it’s began in a cemetery. Thus, a beginning of a film can tell you all about its genre and narrative.
