Spectatorship studies: Popular Cinema and Emotional Response Spectatorship studies: Popular Cinema and Emotional Response. War Films: ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘The Hurt locker’.

Micro/macro features

Sound (Saving private ryan) Intense direct sound of the guns and bullets during the opening scene. By having effects of a battle and all the weapon fire, explosions, and chaos is very important to make this movie sound and feel as realistic as possible. His hearing goes muffled during the beach scene. Expositional dialogue helps guide the audience throughout the film. Repetition of music Patriotic music at the beginning Score by John Williams – a composer who is known for writing music for films that can generate a lot of emotions in the viewer. Sound (Saving private ryan)

Sound (hurt locker) Intense thumping music like a heartbeat. Like Saving Private Ryan, the film uses expositional dialogue to help guide the audience. The dialogue also helps with character development. Quote from Paul N.J. Ottosson (sound mixer for hurt locker) Ottosson likes to use organic as opposed to synthesized sounds. ."For 'The Hurt Locker,' I recorded a lot of these sounds in the Middle East," he said. "I also recorded guns out in the deserts here in California. Then we went to foley stages, and we recorded a lot of the gear of the movie, and I also got the bomb suit that they used in the movie. There's an air conditioner in the bomb suit that the techs use. I got that down and all the sounds that it makes. And we also recorded a lot of stuff between takes. There were animals in the area and the winds and vehicles. So we tried to capture as much as we could -- city life, these calls to prayer that they have very often in the Middle East and the Muslim part of the world. There's not a whole lot of stuff we tried to fake and get by the audience.“ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTqOxfR8DGU Sound bridges are often used, one example is during the end sequence when James is talking to his baby. After he says there’s only one thing he loves we hear the sound of the helicopters, to highlight that war is his only love. Sound (hurt locker)

Lighting (Saving Private ryan) Opening – US flag with the sun behind it which makes it appear transparent – to show that they are fallen but still strong. Uses mostly nature lighting throughout to contribute to the realism. Vignetted dark corners with a light centre in the opening scene. Lighting (Saving Private ryan)

Lighting (Hurt Locker) Mostly natural lighting throughout, however there is one scene during the end of the scene that is shot in artificial , high key lighting – the supermarket scene – this emphasises the idea that he does not feel at ease in his home country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PgbNQU3cYo Lighting (Hurt Locker)

Camera (Saving private ryan) Lots of low angle shots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HUf68gFGEE –The camera pans through the graveyard, show giving each individual grave. This tells us that all the soldiers all had their own lives, however we also then see a long shot of all the graves as a whole, reminding the audience about the mass of lives that were lost in the war. Hand held camera used in the beach scene which adds to the realism. Camera (Saving private ryan)

Documentary style - handheld camera with a lot of unstable moves, sudden pans, and jittery handling. Extensive use of zooming in and out, quick focus changes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2PKjUHvz7A - Intense moments and situations requiring suspense are oftentimes shown using extreme close-ups. In this taxi-driver scene, where the camera is zoomed in showing the driver’s eye or the scene in the desert where the extreme close-up is used to show the falling bullet shell and, again, the eye to increase the tension and show the character’s magnified emotions. In the middle sequence when James is dismembering the bomb, the camera is placed inside the car looking out – this creates suspension in the audience as the wonder what’s inside. Camera (hurt locker)

Editing (Saving private ryan) In the opening scene there is an implied graphic match from the old man to Tom Hank’s face, which gives us the idea we’re on the beach as the memory of the old man in the opening scene. Continuous action dramatic realism. Desaturation creates a sense of realism. Editing (Saving private ryan)

War Death Patriotism THEMES

Representation Men – Fearless, masculine. James: Reckless, adrenaline junkie. Cap. Miller: Leader, Patriotic American. Women: Alone, distant from the battle. Germans and Iraq: Threat, dangerous, terrorists, and savages. The Hurt Locker who is the bad guy and who isn’t. Age: weak (when Ryan breaks down in the cemetery) Young: seen as the cowards (Upham). The Great America. Representation

Representation Represent the soldiers in SPR as heroic Present Sanborne and James to be brave however due to the public’s disagreement with the war, their involvement isn’t considered as heroic as SPR In THL (in the opening sequence) they use masculine language- shows they’re masculine: ‘pretend its my dick’, ‘I want a burger’ In THL, Sanborne and James are shown to be stereotypically masculine through the fighting scene in their bunker (middle sequence) Masculinity is shown less in SPR as fighting in the Second World War was involuntary so there was more of a resistance to killing people, more emotional (Upham crying)

The letter getting passed on through the soldiers shows friendship, this theme isn’t explored as much in THL and therefore could be considered a more ‘masculine’ type film James is presented as an adrenaline junkie and reckless through taking off his headset and his suit/ keeping the bombs after disposing them as a memento/ James leads Sanborne and Elderidge into an unnecessary mission getting Elderidge shot Captain Miller presented as a leader through the radio station scene where he makes the decision to advance despite his team going against his decision Representation

The woman in THL who doesn’t have a name/ don’t find out any information about/ don’t see her side of the story SPR women presented as mother’s (Ryan’s mother receiving the news that her sons have died) and have secretarial jobs (writing up the letters for who died in the war) In SPR, the use of silhouettes (opening sequence- beach scene) makes the Germans come across as dangerous In THL, always see them far away, always watching them, presents them as suspicious In SPR, Steam boat Willy is saved however kills Miller at the end- shows despite being freed he still kills the people who saved him- no humanity In THL, presented as inhumane as they stall the doctor (Cambridge) into staying by the bomb In THL, put a bomb in a child’s stomach- would elicit an emotional response to parent’s watching

In SPR, considered weak if you’re old through Ryan breaking down in the cemetery In SPR, the younger ones start crying when they’re approaching the beach in the Opening sequence whilst the older ones take charge and are able to compose themselves Upham is also a young character who represents the youth to be weak through not taking initiative when his friends are being killed- POV shot and the close up breathing sound shows the audience may be with Upham however in the final sequence Upham does not save Mellish, most of the audience may lose their support/sympathy for Upham The great America: through the American flag at the beginning of SPR and the American flag in the background of the opening of THL when Sanborne is putting Thompson’s items away Representation

Social, Political and Historical contexts In SPR, they filmed on the beach (Omaha beach) THL was filmed at a time where the Iraq war was still going on – need to be sensitive to people still fighting. The costumes/ weapons being used reflects the time period that the films were set in Many people disagreed with Britain and America’s involvement in the Iraq war Social, Political and Historical contexts

If watching SPR in the cinema, you may have a heightened emotional response if you’re surrounded with other people THL may not have a different impact on those in the cinema The loud music at the end of THL would be more dramatic and powerful in a cinema – heightening the masculinity and strength when he is walking back into the war. For both films hearing the gunshots and explosions would be more extreme in the cinema. Screening conditions

Themes, messages and values of Saving Private Ryan and The Hurtlocker

Themes: Micro features Violence and realism is shown through the POV shots and handheld camera. This resembles the real life work of Robert Capa. Lots of hand held camerawork makes the camera feel like it is on the actual beach. Lots of POV shots put the viewer in the position of the solders, all to immerse the audience in the scene to make them feel as if they’re actually there. Themes: Micro features

The beginning of Saving Private Ryan shows close up shots of American soldiers to show the emotion on their faces. This contrasts with the over the shoulder shots of the German soldiers who are blacked out in silhouettes. This morally aligns us with the Americans. Similarly, The Hurt Locker also shows the terrorists like this with an over the shoulder shot. Steamboat Willy kills Captain Miller, after the audience has pitied and forgiven him for killing Wade – forcing The question of doing the right thing –As captain Miller follows the Geniva Convention. The slow paced editing and drawn out scene were Jeremy Renner stops a car encaptures the dilemma the US army has when dealing in Iraq in regards to the language barrier, as he doesn’t want to kill the man in the car, as he could be innocent, and just not knowing what's going on, however he could be a potentially dangerous terrorist. Moral questioning

These are war films, so its based off real historical events, this means people have prior conceptions of the source material before watching the film. Its an action film so, it has fast paced editing with short quick cuts. Genre

Comparing 'Saving private Ryan' and 'The hurt locker' Hannah, Charlotte, Bobby and Brogan

Watching a film for the first time can elicited many emotions Repeat viewings changes the way we think about the characters. For example if we were to watch the film more than once the emotional response changes because we already know what happens so we're not watching to find out what happens we are instead reviewing the film. It is less shocking the more you watch it  Repeat viewings makes the duration of the scene longer therefore more shocking  REPEAT VIEWINGS

Authenticity can help the audience respond more to the shocking factors as the mise en scene is more realistic, therefore more believable. This is seen in saving private Ryan, where their uniforms are very realistic. Evidence of this is also seen in the hurt locker where they use realistic situations such as the bomb disposal squad disarming bombs. The shocking factor for this is the situation where one of the bombs actually explodes, killing one of the main characters. The shock comes from seeing a situation go wrong when usually in films we only see the good things happening.  The sound within the film making it more shocking for the audience, for example the patriotic music could trigger memories for the older audience. Also upbeat music adds to the action of the film making it more shocking. Also the sonic perspective of sounds such as blood, gun shots make it more shocking for the audience.  SHOCK

In saving private Ryan we see them killing off the main characters after their background stories are revealed. After seeing their character development in the films they are usually killed and create a huge shock for the audience. This is because they are able to create an attachment to the character by relating to their experiences. This is also seen in The hurt locker where a character who is printed on the front cover of the dvd is killed off quite early in the film. This creates a false sense of security where they can assume the character will survive even though it's the opposite result. We also assume that in saving private Ryan that captain John Miller will survive since the cross fade from present time back to the past during the war. We assume that the fade is just a flashback of the same character but at the end it's revealed that the old soldier at the start turns out to be Ryan. SHOCK

In Hurt locker the scene where Sanborn is standing over the coffins which is shocking because we see around him are all the other coffins of people who have died in the war. This is also seen in Saving Private Ryan at the beginning of the film where Ryan in his old age comes back to the graveyard where his comrades are buried. The flag is featured in both if these scenes this reflects the patriotic theme within the film and because both films are from a American perspective it can be seen as biased.  In hurt locker the scene where matt gets blown up is shocking because the scene is repeated several times and the sonic perspective heightens the sound of the explosion therefore making it more shocking for the audience. This is also similar to the scene in saving private Ryan when the captain gets shell shock, the use of subjective positioning makes it shocking for the audience because they can process what is happening.  COMPARISON

You can look at a character and think he dies etc. The emotional response doesn’t come what happens is comes from reviewing it.