Oral Presentation part 2 and 3

II. Historical and Institutional Factors-

1. What are the institutional factors that may be important?
   1. as a production of a specific producer (i.e. Walt Disney), institution (Disney Studios), specific economic factors (Studio Film), or a political background? (U.S. politics 1959)
2. What is the film’s historical significance?
   1. as a document of its time?
   2. as a part of history of film?

III.  Socio-cultural context

1. What is the film’s socio-cultural context?
1. as a work from a specific country?
2. As a work from a specific culture?
3. As a work representing a specific part of its society?
4. As a work made for a specific audience?
5. As a work made for a specific reason?

II. Historical and Institutional Factors-

1. Institutional factors of importance could possibly include the studio works of DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. Having Spielberg as a director, these two were very inclined to present them with a large budget, knowing that Spielberg wouldn't disappoint in making this movie successful. This allowed him to film in grand settings across  Europe. He also didn't have to cut back in having top notch effects for realistic battle scenes.

2. The historical significance of this film represents America and its involvement with other countries concerning war. The film represents that of World War II, which was a great historical moment for America. However, the film was being produced in '99, and this was around the time in which tensions increased that led to the War in Afghanistan in 2001. Spielberg directed this film to act as a message to society and wake up the world about the brutality in war, and how we're sending in men that will never be the same if they make it out of the war.

III. Socio-cultural context

The socio-cultural context of this film surrounds a patriotic American war film, but has its anti-war messages as well. This film represents society through the use of innocent individuals as the troop that we could easily relate with. They are represent all the individuals that our country sends to war, and how war itself heavily affects the individual's emotion and mindset. The reason for this film is to awaken our society of the brutality of war, and that although we have national pride, the effects war has on the individual is too overbearing for one to take. No man can enter war and come out as the same man. Being in war causes great emotional struggle for each individual as they learn to form the warrior within them.

Oral Presentation part 4

Use the guiding questions below to focus your attention on the narrative structure of your film.
Please make sure to choose your 5 minute extract when you approach this section.
KEY Details to include:
1. What was you rationale for choosing this selection?
2. How does the extract relate to the film as a whole?
3. How is this film constructed according to narrative/story being told?
4. Is the narrative organized by plot or time sequence,character driven vs. plot driven?
5. Does the film use other principles than narrative sequence as a structure (for instance, an argument?
6.What is the nature of our engagement with the story or characters?
Analysis to include: character, plot, setting, theme, style, genre, narrator etc...
Use the link and chart on narrative to help organize your thoughts:


1. I chose the last battle scene of this film, which is the battle on the bridge of Ramelle, over the Merderet river. I chose this because this being the climax of the film, also serves as the resolution, where all conflicts and themes pull themselves together to lead toward the ending.

2. Being the climax or resolution of the film, this scene relates to the film as a whole by tying together all the underlying themes of the film. One theme highlighting the importance of an individual in war or situations like it. We see where Miller’s efforts led the team in finding Pvt. Ryan, and the significance he has in representing all individuals of this era. Although the movie focuses on saving this man, Spielberg doesn’t stop short of making every individual important within the movie. He even goes to highlight one of the men on the German side, that being “Steamboat Willie”. Showing how he comes back to fight for the Wehrmacht in this scene, after being released by Miller’s squad before, shows how he only serves his country and is only an individual wanting to do his task to survive.

3. This film is told through a standard 3-act narrative structure. Although the opening scene seems to be very climactic in terms of pace and action, this scene only helps set the problem in motion, as we see both of Private Ryan’s brother being KIA. The conflict begins when Miller gets the memo that his squad has been given the task of finding Pvt. Ryan, highlighting the obstacles they overcome.

4. The narratives are organized by plot, for the events connect to each other. Considering the film is a large search for one soldier, the squad goes about searching each station, getting tips and clues from the last station leading to the next, getting them closer to Ryan. One could argue that this film is more plot driven rather than character driven; however I believe this film is character driven when we juxtapose soldiers Upham, Rieben, Miller, and Ryan. They all (except Miller) survive and we see an evident change in character in all of them. Ryan understands his purpose for fighting, and serving his country. Miller understands the value of individuality when he’s seen his other troop members die before him. Rieben also understands why staying on the mission was worth risking their lives, for everyone deserves a chance to go home. Upham helps Spielberg highlight the brutality of war, from when we see him sobbing on the stairs to killing Steamboat Willie at the end of the battle of Rammel.

5. Although our narrative is mainly character driven, it doesn’t always go down the expected path. For example, an argument arouses during an evident change in Rieben. He begins to contemplate whether the loss of lives is worth saving one private. This causes an internal conflict within all the characters. When pushed this far, we can see the evident brutality that war places on the individual.

6. The nature of our engagement is that we learn to honor each man as a loyal and courageous to the extent that we don’t see them as normal humans anymore. They are heroes, servants of war, and the greatest human beings known to man. They all have the traits of a perfect role model and we look up to them, but as their deaths come one by one, the connection that we thought we had to them had been lost. These noble heroes are just another casualty of war, which leads us to realize the impact that war has on the individuals.

Oral Presentation 5

The characters in this film represent the individuals serving in war, and with each soldier we can emphasize the effects war has on each of them. This connects to the issue of brutality of war, and how our country just willingly sends young troops into wars, yet rarely considers their emotional struggle and change they undergo when in war. This is best shown through Upham, who turns from an innocent assistant boy into a man that gains a purpose to kill a man he once knew and bonded with.

The style of acting portrayed in this film contains standard or archetypal roles you would see in any war film. There is the standard “badass” who goes by his own rules, yet is always under the order of the squad leader. We have the loyalist soldier that would do what has to be done in order to fulfill the mission, although he has the personal conflict against doing violent actions in the first place. However, Spielberg also breaks these roles to highlight individuality, and there is no standard type of person. He makes our rebellious soldier the one that has a sweet spot for children and family. We see Vin Diesel saving the french man’s daughter. For our loyalist, normally we’d find him being the innocent Christian that has religious reasons against violence. In this film, we have our loyalist being a Jewish man that always cracks jokes about Germans.

Spielberg incorporates many shots with great depth, including foreground, middleground, and background. However although this is an action packed scene, Spielberg manages to compile close ups to emphasize characterization of each individual. The movement of the camera in each shot is either very emphasized by freehand movement, or steady shots during dramatic events. The meaning constructed through these techniques highlights the brutality of war, and causes the audience to come to realization of the horrors that we send our troops to.

In terms of proxemics, Spielberg allows us to get really close to each troop member. There is one scene in which they each talk about their family and personal life, making the audience feel as if we were personal acquaintances. This makes us relate to the troops in order to realize their individualism so their deaths will have a greater impact on the audience in realizing the destruction and harm war can do.

The editing in this scene incorporates fast paced shots, being an action scene. During scenes of pure bloodshed and destruction, the editor incorporates enough time for the scene to impact the viewer. The shot duration of these shots take around half a second to two seconds.

As the scene progresses on, we see a subtle change in lighting in color, as the shots tend to lose color and fade to a dull grey color scheme. The lighting becomes less evident, symbolizing a decreasing level of hope for survival. However, when we see the airplane bombers overhead and the troops coming over the mountain, the scene beings to flourish with color and light. When we see Ryan holding Captain Miller, the light across their face becomes more evident, and there are less shadows, symbolizing that their ordeals are over.

Spielberg purposely omits music from the battle scene to dramatize the lack of hope for their troop. Instead Spielberg focuses on the sounds of warfare, that being the gunshots, explosions, knife battles, and shouts. This allows the audio to add to the impact of realization from brutality of war.

The setting of this scene places us in a half destroyed small french town. The design of the landscape already highlights the destruction of war and its impact on citizens. Buildings that were once homes had been turned into war forts.

A reoccurring symbol in Saving Private Ryan is when we see Miller’s hand shaking or when he is affected by shell shock during battle. The symbolic meaning behind this is that men’s loyalty and courage for serving in war is one to be praised. Normally, shell shock would send one home from war. However, Captain Miller hid this from the officials and stayed in war for his troops. His squad was the only one that knew, but they let him be for they saw him as a true hero.

The emotional information being conveyed is that of the effect of war on the individual. We can see how each soldier changes from when they first arrived. The most dramatic in this scene is the characteristic change of Upham. Once a soldier crying and breaking down on the steps of his friend’s death site, changed to a man shooting down a German he once knew very well. His dramatic uprising against the German troop signifies that once a man enters war, there’s a low chance that he will emerge the same. We also see private Ryan, who was once noble about defending his post and never leaving his fellow soldiers, ended up in a feeble position, grasping his knees and shouting out to the heavens.

1. Genre and Audience - Saving Private Ryan

I. Genre and Audience-

1. What tradition or genre is it in?
2. What are the features determining genre?
3. What other work might it be connected to?
4. Who made this? Why?
5. What can we tell about its’ creators?
6. How does it fit within the director’s other work?
1. Does it share significant narrative or thematic concerns?
2. Does it share particular visual or technical elements?
7. What is the film’s theme?
8. What is the target audience? How does it address its audience?

1. The genre of this piece is a traditional war film. A war film simply involves war, action, and bloodshed. This film is modeled around the events at World War II, giving us an inside look at what happens to the individual, rather than how the countries as a whole are affected.

2. Certain features determining this film as a war film include its use of common narrative techniques in war films. Narrative techniques of a war film consist of three factors: Squad proficiencies, foreign troop, and the miraculous “cavalry over the hill” scene. In war films, we are presented with a troop or squad, and the audience is always able to identify each soldier by their weapon preference or proficiency. For example, we may not know an individuals name, but know them instead as the “sniper” or “heavy weapons expert.” In every troop, there is always a noticeable soldier of a different ethnicity. In Saving Private Ryan, we have the Jewish troop serving in WWII. Most often the audience sees characters like this as comic relief. Lastly, many war films include the dramatic “cavalry over the hill” scene. This is, in times of peril, where it seems all hope has been lost, there will be the miraculous reinforcements that seem to come in at the last possible minute. During the climactic battle on the bridge in the movie, Capt. Miller is seen firing at the tank with his pistol, having lost all hope. On his last bullet, the tank explodes and we see a group of fighter jets fly overhead, and more troops and armor arrive over the hill to save the day.

3. Within the same year this film was released, another identical movie known as “Thin Red Line” was also released. These two war movies focused around the events of WWII and also signify the bravery and heroism an individual has to take in order to serve in the war.

4. Steven Spielberg was the director of this film and he holds the role as the “auteur” to this film. He’s well known for this movie amongst the many other films he’s produced and directed. He directed this movie because people know Spielberg as one to highlight themes or values that relate to the audience on a deep meaning. For example, Spielberg had also directed “Schindler’s List” which also took place during the WWII era. In this film, he highlights how the individual is affected during times of war. He also signifies the value of an individual in “Saving Private Ryan” as well.

5. The creators of this film wanted to show both sides of war, that being the effect it has on countries, but also the individual troops themselves. As i stated earlier, Spielberg highlights the individual, and their own individual motives and reasons for going to war. The creators are concerned about getting these messages to the public, knowing that people always fight for a cause. The troops we send are people, not expendable machines or robots.

6. When Spielberg directs a film, he always manages to get the theme across well and leave an impact on the audience. The audience almost always receives the take-home message of the films he’s directed. For example, Spielberg also directed “Schindler’s List” which also happened to have a thematic concern on the values of the individual.

7. Saving Private Ryan is a film about the significance of the individual. This being that an individuals actions always rely on an underlying motive or reason. One line from the film stated by Captain Miller, “You see, when... when you end up killing one your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others.” This shows although they seem to be heartless killing monsters to some people, he does it for the safety of his people and country.

8. This film was directed towards Americans, being a war film told from the American perspective of WWII. This audience had to include people with some historical knowledge of the period, probably adult men with an interest in action-war films. This film addresses the audience by including a few battle scenes in this film. For example, several minutes into the film, it opens with a dramatic representation of the historical battle for Normandy.