Film Technique of 'Saving Private Ryan'
Saving Private Ryan by Steven Spielberg opens with a sequence that, to some degree, complies with "war drama" conventions. But the movie also possesses innovative elements, challenging the characteristic heroic notion of war. The director employs micro techniques like handheld camera use as well as other techniques that correspond to the documentary genre (e.g., on-location filming) for creating an intense feeling (realistic), making the war appear awfully shocking; the conveyance is a negative representation of war (Andrews).
Amplified diegetic sounds communicate the immensely ghastly reality of the D-day clash. Loud crashing waves reflect soldiers' vulnerable position as they face the brutal and violent nature of war. Loud marching-beats help portray war as an unnatural occurrence in society, as it indicates the natural order of things has suffered from Nazi indoctrination, making of a dominating and regimented man, rather than as a free and peaceful being. Hence, the war sounds echoing around soldiers expose them to the inevitable realities; the sounds of crashing waves foreshadow the deafening explosions constantly being pounded at them; the waves' sound signifies an attack...
Using the violent sound of attacking gives the battle a realistic impression, the director makes sure he doesn't glorify it the way typical propaganda films of Hollywood from the era of war do. Documentary style of cinematography is followed to an extent to create an effect, with the director employing hand-held video cameras to ensure audiences are completely engrossed in the ensuing chaos; uneven camera movement breaks down the audience-movie barrier effectively (Andrews).
Spielberg's nearly-documentarian approach with the movie contributes to its heightened impression of
realism. The director engaged in no storyboarding before shooting, and mostly filmed shots using hand-held video cameras. He
claims that this way, he could hit the movie sets just like a news film cameraman, who follows soldiers into the war. For achieving a quality and tone true to his story, as well as reflecting the era it was set in, the director worked in collaboration with Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer. Spielberg states that early on into the movie, both agreed that they did not wish to make a Technicolor WWII extravaganza; rather, their aim was for a low-tech, unsaturated color news footage, picked right out of the 1940s (SPROE).
Janusz Kaminski stripped the camera lenses' protective coating to make their photography resemble 40s photography. According to the cinematographer, lack of a protective…
