Saving Private Ryan (1998)
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 depictions of war in film.
The scene starts 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 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 glamorize war, but it was meant to let the audience understand the tragedy of war. The execution of the handheld camera shot magnifies the intensity of the film. Movement such as the camera walking 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 degrees and 90-degree shutter angle and not the usual 180-degree shutter angle. This meant that there is less motion blur, and objects such as dust and smoke particles become more vivid and detailed. The decision to shoot at these 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 lets the audience relate that the soldier is too, humans as well.