Amara Eno 12T1

Saving Private Ryan Opening Sequence Textual Analysis

Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 war film directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon. The film follows the journey of a group of American soldiers on a mission to find a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed by crossing the boundary between their land and the enemy’s land. This pursuit takes place after the Normandy Landings.

Several conventions typically found within the war film genre can be recognised in this film, evidently telling us that Saving Private Ryan falls into this film genre. One of the first examples we can pick up in is shown in the opening scenes; Spielberg uses mise-en-scene to alert the audience to the war-like setting through costumes.

The costumes being worn by the actors are evidently war uniform, telling us that the characters being played are soldiers. This is emphasised through the use of a close-up camera shot, effectively making the audience pay particular attention to this, in turn allowing

them to gauge a better understanding of what is happening or is about to happen in terms of the plot.

Another technique the director uses to alert the audience to the genre that the film belongs to is through use of sound. Gun shots and war artillery are typically sounds we as global audiences, associate with war. This screenshot highlights a specific moment within

the sequence in which we can hear a variety of gunshots, explosives and war-associated machinery. The director’s use of diegetic sound is one of the main aspects of this particular scene – it is very loud in terms of volume and empowers the whole scene, in the way that for a while, it is the only type of sound we can hear despite the fact that there are soldiers in the scene that we would typically expect to be expressing some type of vocal sounds. This is effective as the audience becomes less aware any other distractions outside of the scene and instead, the audience’s attention is channelled to specifically to the logistics of the scene itself. It also provides the audience with a better understanding of the setting and genre of the film.

Spielberg’s use of mise-en-scene, specifically iconography in this scene is effective in alerting us to the genre and target audience for this film in the way that is presents several scenes in which blood is a key factor. Blood typically connotes pain and loss. Pain and loss are two of the main themes that are

presented within the war genre. This is because of the idea that life and death are at battles with each other and there is such a thin line between the two mediums within wars that feelings of pain and loss are almost omnipresent. We can gather that the target audience for this is most probably mature in age – ages twenty and above – based on the types of heavy themes that this film deals with. The sanguinary graphics shown in this screenshot are evidence of these themes.

Spielberg uses editing to create a disjointed atmosphere for the audience through use of fade out to black shots. This, in combination with quick straight-cut shots, the audience becomes aware of just how frantic the scene is and

allows them to ‘feel’ exactly how the soldiers are feeling. The urgency created from Spielberg’s choice of editing of shots evokes feelings of panic and angst within the audience – perhaps the same type of feelings that Spielberg is has

directed the actors to feel as soldiers.

The director’s use of editing can again be seen through another series of screenshots. He uses cross-cutting between two mediums in combination with medium shots and sound to provide the audience with an idea of just how vast war can be – the idea that war has several different facets; not one central point. Spielberg’s use of quick cross-cutting shots between underwater and above the water communicates the idea of the two actions happening simultaneously, showing the audience that war is a very complex happening that has several contributing factors. Spielberg’s use of sound is very interesting in these alternating scenes, in the way that there is a very evident volume and content contrast – underwater, the volume almost appears almost completely muted and minor sounds are muffled, whereas above water, sounds such ad gunshots, movements and splashing of water can all be heard clearly and loudly. Use of medium close-up shots is maintained through both mediums creating a link between the two separate ideas for the audience,

The use of cross-cutting is also effective in this scene as it could be seen as utilising Levi Strauss’s narrative binary opposition theory – the idea that a given value cannot work structurally without an opposite value in a media text. Through Spielberg’s use of cross-cutting between such contrasting mediums,

he validates the idea that one medium cannot exist without the other – the commotion, violence and danger that the soldiers above water are experiencing is a stark contrast with the idea of peace and ‘rest’ that the soldiers underwater are experiencing. Strauss’s theory can also be applied to the film on a larger scale in the way that the soldiers are fighting in a war. They are living in one extreme and it is common knowledge - although it’s not necessarily presented up front in the film - that there is another world of people living in an opposite extreme to war: peace.

Bibliography:

IMDB: Saving Private Ryan - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/