Camera movement, placement and shot size in relation to the themes movement, stillness and time.
Film: Saving Private Ryan
Director: Steven Spielberg
Distributors: Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, 1998
Plot Summary
Saving Private Ryan, follows a group of U.S. soldiers in World War II, on a mission to find and bring home Private James Francis Ryan after the death of his three brothers. The mission takes them behind enemy lines, through Nazi occupied territory.
This exiting war thriller brought the reality of history's bloodiest war into my perspective, but also brought into light the reality of broken and lost families in a time of total and encompassing war. It was one of the most moving films I have ever watched in my life.
Scene: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France
Scene Date: June 6th, 1944
There are various aspects to movement in film such as camera movement, and movement within the frame involving either actors or objects. Camera movements are achieved with several techniques that are the standard in filmmaking such as “panning, tilting the camera, the use ofcrane shots, dolly shots, zoom shots, handheld shots, and aerial shots.”
Saving Private Ryan was shot in a very realistic manner, to the point that you feel that you are witnessing the scene for yourself. There is constant movement in this sequence, quite often the camera is unsteady and debris such as water, blood, or sand gets on the lens. Upon research I found that Steven Spielberg was keen on shooting the movie with emphasis on the battle sequence like a World War II documentary cameraman.
The coverage in this segment initially is very tough to pick up as there are multiple camera angles ranging from close-up, medium shot, long shot and a bunch of points of view.
This scene opens up with an immediate focus on Captain John Miller’s face (Tom Hanks). Time slows down and the sound is distorted. This allows the audience to get inside Captain John Miller’s head. He looks around during this segment and notices his surroundings in which men are running out of the boats on fire, men are being gunned down and some other gruesome images. He’s crouched on the ground almost waiting for his death because he expects it.
The camera movements seen in this sequence seem to be face pans from left to right in an instant in order to keep up with the momentum of the movement of the soldiers. It is not a steady cam because obviously nothing is steady in this sequence. There are also instances of sudden upward tilts as well as downward tilts. Everything is obviously very sudden and this further brings out the realism of war itself.
The scene continues when Captain Miller is shaken from his trance and brought back to reality. As he moves up the beach, ordering his troops to find some sort of coverage, the camera movement, still unsteady, moves along side with him.
At 2:06, Spielberg gives us a German gunner’s point of view. The gunner is not lit at all but you can still pick up his movement as well as the gun barrel. The camera is pointing at an angle that make the audience feel like they are actually looking down the barrel of the gun. What amazes me is that if one had to look close enough in the background, wherever the gun is pointing, and one can see an American soldier fall to the ground.
I think this is one of the greatest movies of all time. Visually, Steven Speilberg brought the audience onto the battlefield. The sights and the sounds in the Omaha Beach scene were the closest depictions of war ever recreated on film. I literally felt that I was on the battlefield myself. I was able to form a connection with each and every character and in fact I just couldn’t help myself from crying in the final sequence.
References
Allen, J., n.d. Saving Private Ryan. [Online] Available at: http://www.reverseshot.com/article/saving_private_ryan [Accessed 2013 October 2013]. DreamWorks, 1998. Miller Storming the beach. [Art] (DreamWorks Pictures).
DreamWorks, 1998. Omaha Bay Nazi Machine Gun. [Art] (DreamWorks Pictures).
DreamWorks, 1998. Theatrical release poster for Saving Private Ryan. [Art] (DreamWorks Pictures).
Goering, T., 2004-2013. Saving Private Ryan, A Scene Analysis. [Online] Available at: http://www.navycs.com/blogs/2012/10/12/my-intro-to-film-class [Accessed 15 October 2013].
Laciak, J., 2013. Omaha Beach Scene - Saving Private Ryan (1998). [Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwBZkrg34oA [Accessed 15 October 2013].
Media College, n.d. Camera Moves. [Online] Available at: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/shots/movement.html [Accessed 15 October 2013].
Saving Private Ryan (1998). 1998. [Film] Directed by Steven Spielberg. s.l.: Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures.
Thecultbox, 2011. Saving Private Ryan (1998) - Official Trailer. [Online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwhP5b4tD6g [Accessed 15 October 2013].
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