SAVING PRIVATE RYAN Essay Example

Introduction

The movie Saving Private Ryan is a an action video exhibiting the plight of the American Soldiers as they were trying to invade the lands inhabited by their enemies especially the Germans. The Movie was published in the year 1998 and its setting dates back to the 1944 (during the World War I period). The movie was directed by three stars; Steven Spielberg, Toms Hanks, and Matt Damon and has since received close to five academic awards for the best presentation of motion pictures. The movie is one of its kind and many critics have praised it for the best way in which the battle fields were filmed. Here is an analysis of the Saving Private Ryan movie between 130^th minute to 133 minute in terms of Mise-en-scene, Cinematography Editing and Sound.

Mise-en-scene

This time period under analysis of the movie is set during the Second World War era. It was a period when most of the World’s strongest nations were engaged in a fight and the USA and Germany were also involved in such wars. The scene described in this case was set at the Omaha Beach where most of the US soldiers lost their lives as they were trying to pursue the German soldiers. A bigger part of the scene takes place in the sea and even most of the deaths happen while the soldiers had not yet reached the shore of the sea. The movement of the pictures in the scene was so well set to show the unfolding of events; soldiers being shot and killed, the sea waves, bombs exploding, and fire consuming the American soldiers alive. The costume worn by the cast in this scene is military attire. All soldiers have the jungle uniform, bullet proofs on their chests, heavy boots, and metallic helmets. The equipment most of the cast carried and were using were guns. They were both machine guns and other artilleries.

Cinematography

In the scene, great depths of the themes intended in the movie have been depicted. Generally, the movie can be summarized as that which exhibits the theme of war. However, in the scene of Omaha Beach, the theme of plight of soldiers in foreign lands has been shown. The soldiers passed through myriad challenges including the seasickness and being killed before reaching their destination. The scene actually showed what problems most soldiers face whenever they go to world yonder to engage in war.

The cameras appear to have been placed at different angles. There are instances when a general ground is shown to see how the exchange of gunfire was taking place whereas in certain cases, a close-up view of the events was also shown. The close-up view was for example shown in a case where a soldier had been shot and the director of the movie in such instances would be interested in showing the viewer how serious and horrific the events were during the Second World War. Camera movement was generally slow to show in depth the occurrence of events. Sometimes the camera would be zoomed in and out to show the finer details of the events the director of the movie was so specific about.

Editing and Sound

In the movie, there is consistency in the ordering of events and the scene has a proper continuity. Timing and spacing of events in the scene has also been achieved excellently in a way that it does not leave the viewer hanging about what actually happened. In the movie, the scene does not actually have a lot of music played in the background; neither diegetic nor non-diegetic. The only sounds heard for example when the soldiers are in the sea vessels are the water waves which are then replaced by sounds of gunfire and exploding bombs. However, as the scene approaches the end, there are non-diegetic sounds heard in the background. The sounds have been used specifically to create an effect; the horrific events that had taken place like the shooting and bombing of the American soldiers, as they were vivid in the minds of the soldiers who survived the fight.

The theme of the scene is that of war in which the parties involved are handling war tools. This is much clear at the 132 minute in which one of the soldiers is firing the gun.