The Film I decided to do my analysis on is the beginning scene to Saving Private Ryan (1998) by Steven Spielberg, the storming of Omaha beach.
The reason for picking this film is because I find that there was a lot of elements to the scene that was being played. Elements such as lighting, camera movement, camera settings,music, acting and the use of silence to form one of the most accurate depiction of war in film.
The scene starts off with an establishing shot of the battlefield, then cuts to the boats and in this scene we get to see the camera moving vertically in an aggressive way. This shows the strengths of the tides and how intense the war is going to become. The scene then starts off as doors of the ships opens up and people getting killed, illustrating that the fight has begun.
Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński was Spielberg’s pick as a cinematographer for this film. Spielberg’s intentions for shooting this scene was not to glamorise war, but it was meant to let audience understand the tragedy of war. The execution of the hand held camera shot really magnifies the intensity of the film. Movement such as the camera walking and and falling into the water shows the reality of war. Besides that, Janusz Kamiński also took off the coating from his camera lens to give a softer and a blur look to it, resulting in what looks like vertical lens flare.
After doing some research, I found out that this scene was shot with 45 degree and 90 degree shutter angle and not the usual 180 degree shutter angle. This meant that there are less motion blur, and objects such as dust and smoke particles becomes more vivid and in detailed. The decision to shoot at this settings is to give the film a much more realistic look to the film. Besides that, Spielberg wanted to make the film as real as possible, desaturating the color of the scene and also putting the camera up close to their faces, showing the reality of war. Little details such as vomiting due to seasickness,praying, hands shaking due to the thought of not coming back alive let’s the audience relate that the soldier are too, humans as well.
In hopes of making the film more realistic, Saving Private Ryan was not storyboarded. Reason for that was because he wanted to be spontaneous and inspired on what to shoot during set, which will allow a better capture of moments. The result of this decision is what we can see in the film, an amazing capture of soldiers drowning, being shot, body parts flying around and soldiers taking their last breathe. This puts audience right into the battlefield with the soldiers, allowing them to experience the horrifying battle of the war.
The score on this scene was absolutely amazing as well, the gunshots and explosion were realistic but the use of silence for the introduction of Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) lets us understand the intensity of the war. Some would debate it’s because he was accepting his fate during the battle, but the use of silence reminds us how loud the guns and explosions are. The sound that was used for making the silence as Captain Miller snaps back into reality to the battlefield was recorded from the internals of a seashell and a sound of a kettle boiling.
When all of these elements and execution played out well, we get to see one of the most gory and brutal war scenes in film.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZltasvB7CKw