Title: Saving Private Ryan
Writer: Robert Rodat
Director: Steven Spielberg
Year: 1998
Actors: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg and Jeremy Davies
The sound category of dialogue is exactly what it is, dialogue or the talking in film between actors. Most people may consider talking a relatively easy task but it is not. In Saving Private Ryan there is allot of dialogue between all the characters of the movie which establishes the plot as well as lets the audience know what is going on in each particular scene.
In the following clip called, “Maybe you should SHUT up!” from the movie Saving Private Ryan, is a good example of the use of dialogue. If you were to watch the scene without sound and no dialogue, the audience would have a hard time understanding what was going on. The use of Dialogue allows the audience to not only understand that they encountered a German machine gun nest and are attempting to take it out, it also shows the internal disagreement between the men and Captain Miller and Captain Millers reasons for risking his men’s life to take it out. I would challenge you to watch the following clip with the sound muted to form an opinion of what is going on. Then watch it again with the sound on.
Sound effects in a movie can have a emotional effect on the audience watching. How many times have you jumped while watching a scary movie when there is suddenly a loud noise? The sound effects in a film can set the tone of a scene. In Saving Private Ryan, sound effects are used brilliantly in the battle scenes giving the audience a sense of what it was like to be there. In the Omaha Beach scene sound effects are used brilliantly. During the ride into the shore you hear nothing but the sounds of the waves crashing, and then you hear the sound of people getting sick and throwing up. When the doors open you hear the quiet pshh of bullets and then it shows the bullets striking the soldiers. It then cuts to the German defenders point of view and you hear the full sound of the machine guns. Throughout the entire scene you hear bullets flying and explosions in the background as well as the screaming of wounded soldiers.
Very similar to sound effects, music is widely used in films to help set the mood of a scene or in the case of Saving Private Ryan; it sets the tone of the entire movie. The theme song is just music with no words and its composed by John Williams. It plays with still clips from the movie being played across the screen. It really puts the audience, myself anyway, in a somber mood and has an impact in the realization of the sacrifices that were made by those soldiers depicted in the movie.
References
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Saving Private Ryan (1998). Saving Private Ryan, “Maybe you should SHUT up!” [Video File] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fByRLOM8WQw
Saving Private Ryan. (1998). Saving Private Ryan – Omaha Beach Scene [Video file] Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82RTzi5Vt7w
Saving Private Ryan (1998) . Saving Private Ryan Theme Song [Video File] Retrieved from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-lyqc0ZDCA
WikiPedia (2015). Saving Private Ryan, retrieved from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saving_Private_Ryan
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