Saving Private Ryan analysis

Saving Private Ryan Analysis

In the first scene we see a close up shot of Tom Hank’s character. This tells the audience that his character plays an important role in the films story. Also the close up shot gives the audience the feeling of being trapped and isolated in a small space. As well as how close the soldiers are to one another almost like there is not enough room to breathe. After we are shown the close up shot the camera then pans out to reveal the rest of the soldiers on the boat. This also tells the audience of how compacted the boat is but it also tells them that even though Hank’s character will play an important role in the story this portrays him as just another solider.

As we see the camera pan out of the close up we get glimpses and close ups of the soldiers that are on the boat. This gives the audience the feeling of anxiety and fear that the soldiers on the boat are feeling and that later intensifies with the sound of the bombs in the background.it also depicts the soldiers as human beings and shows the audience the reality that they are human and that they know they are going to die.

Once the audience sees the doors to the boat open the camera then turns into a P.O.V shot. This gives the audience the feeling as though they are one of the soldiers and they are sharing the P.O.V from each solider that is on the boat as each one of them dies.  We also see that the camera work for the American soldiers and the German soldiers are different from one another. When the camera is on the American soldiers they are depicted as the heroes and also gives them as sense of identity and humanity.  While the German soldiers are depicted as having no identity and are seen as nothing more than a black mass.  In addition to this when the audience are given a P.O.V shot from the Germans they only see the American soldiers the same as any other solider they kill. This also give the audience a sense of how the Germans think and that they only see the American soldiers as a target.

The audience is then shown a shot of Tom Hank’s character and from this shot of him the audience get the feeling of how he is feeling.  As well as the sense of not knowing what is going on in the world around you. From this shot it also conveys Shellshock which was common for soldiers of war to suffer from. The Film also uses a method called breaking the fourth wall this is when the character is looking right into the camera.  We see Tom Hanks character use this technique which the audience see as the P.O.V from the other solider that is waiting to be given commands, but by doing this it helps the audience build a relationship with the main character.