Editing Research: Saving Private Ryan

 The shots held in the first minute and 50 seconds are very long,this creates a tense atmosphere,the viewer isn't really sure whats happening,if there will be a sudden explosion. The middle shot of the all the soldiers and their actions,gives you a sense of familiarity,these soldiers could be anyone,someone you know and their about to die,making the viewer feel more empathatic already in the film.The fighting of the enemy,is approaching and the men have to detatch themselves from who they actually are and turn into soldiers and do what they have signed up to do. They say goodbye to that but acknowledging their faith or family. The close ups of the soldiers face,shows they  have to be composed and calm,almost blank,they have to turn off any ounce of compassion and almost humanity and kill foreign men, in the name of their country.


The pace after the whistle blows changes, it goes from calm and scared but to franctic,hetic and the pace is quite hard to follow as so much happens in such a small time. The  POV shots are shakey,showing the soldiers fear and sadness at seeing their comrades die in such a silent, shocking way and switches to 'the enemy'-who again are only doing what they enlisted to do but seeing the ferociousness, quickness and violently they kill, gives the audience a sense of anger,in a short time,they have formed a empathtic bond with the American soldiers and divides the characters on screen,to a 'them' and 'us'.The pacing under water slows quite dramatically in contrast to the earlier execution of the soldiers,the pacing creates an eerie calming effect,is this what it feels like,when you know you're about to die,a calm acceptance and almost relief. It cuts between a soldiers pov,trying not to drown;when he's underwater,there's the sense of calmness yet when he rises above the surface,its frantic pace ,of the horrors of action in war. This effect I believe is to shock the viewer, many of the soldiers would rather drown than continue to fight and how easily and readily each soldier embraces and accepts death.



The pace then again changes and 4 and a half minutes. The effect is one of shell shock from the lead character. Everything seems to slow down,the violence that we can hear is muted out,allowing the audience to truly focus on the injuries the soldiers are suffering.  It conveys a helplessness that the main character must feel, his soldiers,friends and potential family are dying without even a chance of surviving and for what? The close up of the blood tainted sea and helmet only emphasis this point, as he puts back on his helmet,knowing that he can either die doing nothing or die attempting to help his comrades and country. 
The close up of his face, which is shell shocked and pale-showing he is just another innocent soldier,been upsurped from his everyday life, fighting after orders from his government and country, in the name of democracy.
 A more frantic pace,would of given the audience less time to connect with the soldiers and Tom Hank's character in the beginning,diluting the sombre effect of the audience knowing that these men,risking their lives and being killed could be anyone,making the relatability fade and the film have more of an violent action film tone, rather than the more realistic horror of war intensity it had,with the secondary plot of comradeship and family.








"Saving Private Ryan has been critically noted for its realistic portrayal of World War II combat. In particular, the sequence depicting the Omaha landings was voted the "best battle scene of all time" by Empire magazine and was ranked number one on TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest Movie Moments".^[The scene cost US$12 million and involved up to 1,500 extras, some of whom were members of the Irish Reserve Defence Forces. Members of local reenactment groups such as the Second Battle Group were cast as extras to play German soldiers. In addition, twenty to thirty actual amputees were used to portray US soldiers maimed during the landing. Spielberg did not storyboard the sequence, as he wanted spontaneous reactions and for "the action to inspire me as to where to put the camera".
The tracking shots follow soldiers,dying in horrible ways with barely any time to defend themselves or attack back. Its a slaughter.






As in Saving Private Ryan, we felt our protagonist should connect with the audience and due to her situation, they would, especially the female audience.
Spielberg, made the audience empathise with the soldiers, especially Tom Hank's character, through the use of close ups and extreme close ups, to really concentrate on the emotions running through the soldiers face. We chose to film a similar shot in Infatuation, with an extreme close up on Flo's face to portray the anxiety she feels, after the eerie feeling of being followed she experiences.


We also used fast edits, to change the pace of the film, as the action progressed. The stalking and subsequent chase scene is the climax of the opening and accompanied with the change in the music, the audience were too get into the antagonist's mind, especially with the handheld movement.