Saving Private Ryan assessment

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.