Textual Film Analysis 2 :Saving Private Ryan

Film Opening 2

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is a hybrid genre of war film and action.Most of the scene follows Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) around the war zone, showing the destruction of war.

The intro contains about one minute of dialogue overall, so most of it is presented visually. Its a linear narrative, showing the storyline in order.The beginning contains mostly diegetic sound and ambient sound such as the sound of the waves, boat moving, gun bullets and explosions.Foley sounds would have been made for sounds like the gun bullet and the explosions, so its sounds realistic.

The establishing shot shows the location which is on a beach called Omaha beach. The establishing shot is taken at a low angle to make the opening scene strike to the audience. Part of the scene is taken in water and the other half on shore.Captain John Miller takes his men behind his enemies lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat.While searching for Ryan they go through many dangerous paths that is likely to get them killed.Each man embarks upon a personal journey, discovering the harsh reality of war, courage and strength.The men fit the genre conventions because they are wearing army clothes, holding survival bags , and holding a gun for defense(props) .So they are solider trying to survive their way out of the war zone.

The font is an all bold white capital letter set on top of the video.

We see many men in the war zone but only following one man named John Miller , who is the Captain of all the men. 

The pace of the film is a mix of fast and slow pace ,at first the pace is slow and it starts to increase when the shooting starts. The pace and noise of the film will make the audience feel intense, scared and interested in seeing the rest of the film.

This is a mid-shot of the soldiers on the boat.This shot was taken to show the amount of soldiers on the boat, this should make the audience feel suffocated like the soldiers on the boat.

Here is a close up of the soldiers face, a close up allows the audience to see his facial expressions.The solider looks as if he's trying to build up his bravery thats in him to fight his enemies.

Fast cuts is used to create a match-on-action during the beginning of the shooting .For editing continuity editing is used.

Here are three examples of low angle shot, first one is taken under water and the second on the shore; the third is a soldier looking up above at his enemies.This makes the scene more intense putting the audience on the edge of their seats.

This is an extreme close up shot of Captain Miller, this shot shows the expression on his face clearly.

This is an over the shoulder shot of the enemy shooting, this is also taken at a high angle to show what he is shooting towards.

This is a two shot which includes two soldiers having a small conversion.

A hand held shot was taken for most of scene especially when the soldiers were walking through water .This should make the audience feel as if they are part of the war and they are seeing it from their own eyes.

During the film opening there was only one type of lighting used which is low key lighting.This goes along with the desaturated colour scheme, showing the shadows during the dark scenes which makes the audience feel as if its real.It shows how they feel,  making us feel anxious.

Textual Film Analysis 1: Southpaw

Film Opening 1: Textual Film Analysis:
Southpaw

Why am I analysing film openings?

In my group we decided to produce a film opening instead of a magazine cover.To do this we have to look at different film openings that has the action genre and analyse it. This will give us ideas on how film openings are like.

Southpaw

(Made on powerpoint)

MADE ON POWERPOINT

Mind map of film ideas: Flashbacks

Mind map of film ideas: Flashbacks

Since we decided on the idea of past/present/future idea on family war, we created a mind map to explore our ideas.

We decided to make it about a little girl named Joud, who loses her father to war, consequently her mother develops an addiction to alcohol and drugs to cope with the emotional pain of losing her husband. She fails to take care of her daughter, abusing her physically. As Joud grows up she catches a growing passion for boxing, due to her mother abusing her.

The film will show Joud years later, a famous boxer.She starts to compete in worldwide championship matches,  being seen as a inspiration globally.As she starts to approach her biggest match and the tension builds up, she starts to remember her tragic childhood past.Will she still be able  to win the match? Will she be able to move on from her childhood.

(Made as a group)

Different Genres Mind map

Different Genres Mind map

This is a mind map exploring different genres.We decided to go with the theme of action, since we had a better chance on getting a variety of shots.However we wanted the film to have a meaning behind it, so I came up with the idea of looking into something war/family related.We also wanted to bring some flash backs or a concept that links to past/present/future idea.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Camera: We used a variety of shots like over the shoulder shot and long shot.However we didn't use many close ups to show reactions, which I think we should look into for our actual film.The pan we did was very shaky and we need to find some sort of stabilizer to make it smooth if we were to use it next time.

Editing: We used match on action when the teacher walks to the school office. Also we used shot reverse shot to show the teacher and the students short conversation, however we crossed the 180 degree rule.( In film making, the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene)

Sound: We used a song which would build up the tension and put the audience at the edge of their seats.Also we had short dialogue between the teacher and the student.We didn't use a microphone, and in result the sound turned out to be fuzzy.



Mise En Scene:

-Setting: We filmed this in school since is about a student and teacher, we took this opportunity to film it in our school.

-Light: We didn't have any experience with using lighting equipment, so we didn't use any.We used natural lighting from the window and studio lighting from the room. Having bad lighting overall made the footage low quality.Next time we will try to use good lighting and learn how to use lighting equipment, in order to achieve high quality footage.The film had terrible background noise which distracts whats happening, although we added music it did not fit in with the film .Next time we plan to do wider research on music.

-Props: The only props we used was a laptop, pen and paper.This was for the student to steal private school information from the teachers laptop and write it down.

-Costume:The teacher had a suitable formal suit, while we felt like the students clothing wasn't appropriate. We will look into costumes and make sure each character has a costume that suits them best next time.

-Non verbal communication: We used Nvc to show the action in the film, while the Vc was only for the short dialogue.

-Colour: No change

                                                                                        

                                                                                         These two photos show that we passed the 180 degree line .

This photo shows what we should have done.

Preliminary Task final video

Preliminary Task final video

                                        

Ramsha: Actress/Editor 

Nour: Actress/Editor/Camera man

Eman:Editor/Camera man

(EDITED ON FINAL CUT)

Preliminary Task Introduction

Preliminary Task Introduction

Our company name is JCena films, we are a group of four girls.We have decided on the thriller/drama genre for our short film.Our story is about a student (Ramsha)who attempts on stealing private school information from the school office.While the student is in action a teacher( me-Nour) is on the way to the office.While the teacher walks to the office a zoom in on her footsteps will be shown , this will build up the intensity of the scene.We will show a variety of shots from close ups to long shots.The student and teacher will have a brief conversation.

This short film is to experiment with using the camera and using final cut, this will give us a practice and some experience with creating films.

Film techniques

Match on Action:

An technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.

Shot/Reverse shot:

Film technique where one character is shown looking at another character,

And then the other character is shown looing at the first character.

180-degree rule:

The 180-degree rule is a guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same 

left/right relationship to one another.