Assessment
Saving Private
Ryan's opening scene begins with a short clip of a calm beach, with some text
showing the audience where this is taking place, this short clip of the beach
here is used to create calmness in the audience. A straight cut is then used
and a hand held camera is used showing the roughness of the water and makes the
audience feel as though they are actually on a boat with these men, this is to
engage the viewers, we see that the costumes being used are army costumes, they
are also well worn and dirty, showing us that these men seem to have been
through a lot. There is then a close up on one of the soldiers hands, the hands
are shaking showing us how nervous this man is and what he is feeling at the
moment, the camera then pans up and we see that the man is Tom Hanks, the
audience will immediately recognise the actor and so know that he will have a
main role in this movie, the cameraman then begins moving backwards showing the
audience more of the men on the boat and how they feel at the moment, two of
the men are being sick, this shows that they are scared, and also starts to
create tension in the audience.
As the soldiers
are approaching the beach digetic sound is used not only in Tom Hanks giving
orders, but also we hear explosions in the background, proving what the
audience already assumed at this point, that they are entering a war zone. We
also hear the sounds of more men being sick and heavy breathing, these sounds
all show that they are scared and nervous for what is about to happen, a whistle
noise then blows and gun shots star firing and special effects are used as the
men in the boats are being shot dead, there is then a jump cut and the camera
shows the backs of the men firing the bullets, it is a high angle shot showing
that these men have much more power than those that are on the beach. Fast
paced editing is mainly being used at this part apart from when the hand held
camera is underwater, the camera movement is very lethargic at this point, I
think it is used to represent how these men feel when they are under the water
as their army uniforms and gear weigh a lot and so they wouldn't be able to
move quickly under water and so feel sluggish and begin to panic.
The editing is
extremely high paced by now and there is a scene when the high angle camera
angle is used again behind the Nazi's to show how merciless they are, and
showing the audience how much of a massacre this was, and the complete chaos of
what is going on. There is a lot of special effects being used here to add to
the realism of the scene, especially when we see a man have his leg blown off
by one of the bombs, straight after this we see a close up of Tom Hank's face
and the editing slows down, this is showing the audience exactly what Tom
Hank's character is seeing, he is seeing his men dying and the violence and
death all around him, he seems lost in all of it and does not know what to do,
he then puts his helmet back on, this is a sign of him taking charge again and
the editing picks its pace up again and the sound returns back to normal, the
sound of the explosions and gunshots, the change in pace of editing shows the audience
that he is now back to normal and ready to fight and give orders.
