RESEARCH INTO A WAR OPENING TITLE: Saving Private Ryan

 War Opening Scene Analysis.

Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, Matt Damon and Tom Sizemore was directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1998 by Dreamworks Pictures. 

The scene opens with a shot of the American flag with a hint of a black and white filter, accompanied by a non-diegetic sound track consisting of a trumpet. Automatically, the tone created here is rather patriotic, but simultaneously there is a sense of loss due to the sombre colour scheme. 

 The audience are then introduced to a man through a tracking shot, indicating that he is the main character or protagonist due to his isolation and the emphasis placed upon him.

Behind him follow a group of people, only one of which roughly being of the same age - due to this, we can assume this is his family and that the elderly woman is his wife. This can be presumed due to the fact that they are all walking closely together, and even the two women have their heads pressed against one another's.

Eventually, one they reach their destination, the man stops and holds quite a speechless look on his face, whilst the rest of his family watch him. This indicates that he has seen something that has quite a lot of meaning to him, and the family are aware of this as well, thus implying that whatever it is is quite a big affair for him.

Then, two flags are shown: the American and the French. This could possibly mean that this is a memorial site for the Invasion of Normandy in World War II due to his age, and the patriotic tone to the piece so far.

It is confirmed that this is a memorial site due to the large number of graves, and the man standing amongst them as he too is an elder and is wearing a costume of war medals. These aspects of mise-en-scene as a convention of the war genre.

The man then comes to kneel in front of one of the graves and looks at the floor solemnly whilst his family put their hands on his shoulder. This indicates that he lost those he cares about, and that the war was a traumatic event for him - he can be now assumed as a veteran.

The camera then zooms in whilst he is placed in the centre of the frame within the camera composition, and eventually meets his eyes. This shows a hint of psychological intimacy to the audience, and signifies that we are about to enter his thoughts. This encourages the audience to continue watching so they can discover why he feels so strongly about the situation.

From this, it can be assumed that the narrative will be that of his experience in the war, establishing to the audience that this is a war genre film. It can also be assumed that the target audience for the piece is that of a more mature audience and those who enjoy this particular genre.

Apart from the narrative itself of revisiting traumatic memories, no particular conventions of the war genre are used; because of this, I believe that this opening is highly successful as they aren't needed. There is an element of emotions and drama that capture the essence of the war genre well, and prepare the audience for what is to come. These elements also signify to the audience how traumatic war really is, serving as a socio-political message.

THE TRAILER