Class Notes - Editing and Representation

Saving Private Ryan
TITLES- The opening scene contains plain and simple text simply stating the name of the film.
MUSIC-  the music in the opening titles is sounds like one you would relate to milatary style. It is orchestral with trumpets being quite significant. It creates the immediate feel of an army orientated film. 
SHOT TYPES- various shots of the american & french flag (just A in Iblack and white in first shot then both in colour after), shot on an elderly man who is visually upset surrounded by family, in awe of the amount of crosses representing the lost soldiers, shot pans into the air following him showing the vast amount of crosses, long shot of the crosses , close up with names on crosses. Close up into mans eyes , instrumental music fades into sound of the sea and scene fades into the next which is taken on the water.
MISE EN SCENE - Without watching much more than the first 5 minutes you already know that the movie will be based around the army/military and a significant war between the french and americans due to the flags being shown (invasion of Normandy)
CHARACTER- We can tell that the man in the opening scene is clearly upset and makes the viewer think who he has lost that is so important to him. Clearly the entire experience is overwhelming but especially when he finds the grave of the person he was looking for and breaks down. 
CHALLENGE CODES AND CONVENTIONS? - I think the moving follows the stereotypical war film codes using the battle on land and air and performing military operations. The film follows the typical convention of loss of loved ones and lots of graphic scenes of death and bloodshed with the background hum of low face pace music and lots of orchestral music particularly brass instruments (trumpets etc). The film goes outs
TARGET AUDIENCE - This type of film usually attracts an older audience tending to also be male due to the extreme violence and war scenes.
TYPE OF COMPANY THAT DISTRIBUTES? - Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks
REPRESENTATION OF SOCIAL GROUPS - The movie represents the emotion felt by an ex soldier and this represents a lot of people throughout the world that can relate to this story in many ways whether its first hand experience as an ex soldier themselves or having a relative who experienced this. It is a very moving storyline which is partically based on a true story which makes it even more moving and heartfelt. 
RELATE TO TARGET AUDIENCE? - The audience appeals more to young adults/older people and genre tends to attract a more male based audience. This movie has a wide variety of audience members and this helped it soar when it was first released. The movie appeals mostly to those who have an interest in war/historical movies however the range of big names in the cast attracts an even broader selection of viewers. The fantasic directing by Speilburg encourages more people to watch it as speilburg is an award-winning director 
AUDIENCES EXPECTATIONS - I oersonally think that this movie fulfilled and exceeded my expectations of a war drama. The audience is at an advantage as no knowledge of the war was needed to understand the movie. The audiences expectations were definitely fulfilled and exceeded due to the depth of detail in instructing the audience as to what was going on without doing so obviously. 

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