saving private ryan

Adam Picton [Film coursework: Saving PRivate Ryan Normandy Scene]

I’m analysing the mise-en-scene and the cinematography of the Normandy landing scene, directed by Steven Spielberg.

We open to a slow pan down to a beach. It’s a very calming shot of the waves softly lapping the shore. Except for the Czech hedgehogs. This was specifically done because it’s the calm before the storm. The Czech hedgehogs definitely foreshadow the upcoming battle but for now, it’s peaceful. Then comes the date. A date that nearly every viewer will know and recognise as the date of one of the most horrific battles in history. D-day. This is like the thunder that echoes ahead of the clouds. A warning almost; telling us to prepare ourselves for what’s about to happen. The lack of what’s on screen is also purposeful as it draws us into the date even more closely, making sure we don’t miss it.

Moving ahead, we cut to a shot of a landing boat crashing into a huge wave. This is followed by a wide shot of all the fellow boats. This is to solidify the thought in our minds that a battle is coming because what we’re seeing here is not one group invading, it’s an army. The purposeful unsteady camera is also a great choice because it connotes the idea of it being from someone’s point of view as they’re panicking and rocking their way through the waves. Continuing the theme of panic, we cut to a close up of a lone hand, shaking tremendously. The fact it’s the only noticeable thing on screen also makes it unmistakeable that it’s shaking, and in what else but fear. This makes us empathize with the soldier. A slow fade outwards from our protagonist shows his fellow soldiers faces, all just as scared and young, if not younger. This continuous pan out shows us that there is more than just our protagonist. Many soldiers are here and many of them will die. It’s possible this was also done to show us that our protagonist is not unique or important in any way to the enemy. Just another soldier in a sea of soldiers that the enemy wants to kill. The perpetual


colour scheme of using bland, grey colours is also a very good piece of cinematography as it makes the red of blood and orange of explosions stand out a lot more and also makes it very serious. There’s no hope, no light, no fun in war and that is made adamantly clear by the colour of nearly every shot. Moving along, we dive into the water with our soldiers, contrasting the normally bland colours that I just mentioned with a calming blue. The difference in colour does give us hope that maybe it’s safer under the surface but those hopes are nearly instantly dashed, punishing us for thinking there was anything awaiting our heroes but death. Blood seeps out of newly made corpses as they’re shot. This happens in the foreground and the red cloud, pierces through the calming blue. This is great Mise-en-scene because it represents our emotions. We were calm and hopeful with the change of colour and the muffled sound underwater but the blood pierced through that calmness and just replaced it with more violence. A few seconds later, we resurface to the backs of two soldiers, one dragging the other out of the water. The shaky camera dipping in and out of the water gives us some perspective as it feels like we’re a soldier, struggling to reach the surface. Yet another shot of yet another aspect of violence with a dead body, almost purposefully sprayed onto a Czech hedgehog, dismissed while his fellow soldiers take cover behind him. The splashing and bullets flying everywhere doesn’t allow us to stop feeling panic. However we do take a break from all the panic for a moment to show a single shot filled with nothing but a bullet, cutting diagonally across the screen.

Sadly the quality is not the best but look how much presence the bullet and its trail has. This could have many hidden meanings like once again cutting through our hope but its effect is clear. This bullet is the most important thing on screen and it’s the reason for all this violence and death. It has so much power to take someone’s life that it deserves its own shot. What more is there to say about the next few seconds other than it’s a slow panning shot from left to right showing that no matter how far you go, the gunfire,


explosions and death doesn’t stop. The next shot is a soldier dragging another through the waters. This leads us to assume it’s the same soldier’s from a few shots ago. They get to cover and are seemingly safe at least for now, until the one that was being dragged collapses and stops moving, lifelessly floating in the water. While there was no significant signs of his death, after everything we’ve seen, we assume the worst. The reason this death is so effective in particular in comparison to the possibly hundred we’ve seen so far is that someone was trying to save them and despite his best efforts, he still died. No one is coming to help, and even if they were, they’d just get slaughtered too. It drives another nail into the coffin that has the chance of our heroes surviving in it. Quickly rush to the next shot of many soldiers rushing forward, advancing on the enemy. But we know better by now then to think that this means any possible chance of victory. Our doubts are confirmed when another over the shoulder shot of the gunner on a turret mows down several soldiers. But then the cavalry arrives as more soldiers in landing ships arrive and advance upon the beach. This fresh hope is made less of a blessing by the many dead bodies tossed carelessly over the beach nearly every few feet. Once again an over the shoulder shot of a gunner man lets us see the perspective of the enemy as they negate an entire ship by wiping out the soldiers in it nearly instantly. The corpses almost pour out in heaps. Finally for the first time we’re reunited with our assumed protagonist. He’s thrown to the floor by a nearby explosion, face down in the water. We fear that he may dead just like every other face we’ve seen in detail.

The cinematographer chooses to leave us in that suspense as he decides to cut instantly to another shot of an explosion directly under a soldier, tearing his leg from his body. This is dismemberment and nothing short of it. We’re left horrified. The fact that it’s an explosion


that did that makes us even more worried for our protagonist.

But after being so worried, a sigh of relief for perhaps the first time since this scene started awards us with the information that our protagonist is okay…at least physically. His face however, conveys that he is not what we originally hoped. He’s not the brave hero who’s going to beat the enemy and save everyone. He’s another scared soldier who’s probably going to die. Fast cut to a mid shot of a very young looking soldier, crying. This gives us empathy for all the soldiers. The mid-shot also conveys his body language, cowering behind cover. Slow motion of our proganist’s face as he makes the same realization we’ve made ten times over. There is no hope. There’s also a very present crimson in the water’s behind him, showing that the blood can’t be rid of. Cut to long shot of 3 soldiers being set ablaze in an explosion. The bright orange of the fire contrasts the bland colour scheme and makes it seem more powerful. Then our “hero” is literally showered with blood, presumably from one of his friends/comerades. Using the metaphor of a nail in the coffin again, this is a huge one. It represents all we’ve seen so far and how it’s showered us with never-ending violence and horror. The next shot continues this cycle of terror where a man with one arm seemlingly torn off pick up his own arm and run with it. We as the audience can’t imagine such brutality. After this comes a over the shoulder shot of our protagonist looking at yet another landing boat with people on fire, pouring out. I think this shot holds a lot more power than it first seems as it establishes that the fire engulfs all, even those who come from the sea. Nobody is safe and the boats can’t protect you. The fact that this is one of the very first scenes of the movie is also very important because it sets the tone for the entire film. This isn’t even the big finale, but just the beginning of our experience with war.

In Conclusion the overall cinematography is expertly used to establish many things to us in mere seconds of varying angles. The close ups show the horror on soldier’s faces and makes us empathize more with them. The mid shots give great background violence as well as foreground. And the wide


shots establish everything that they need to. Meanwhile the mise-en-scene is used to rip away every shred of hope and invoke emotions of dread and terror.

saving private ryan

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