WAR GENRE Vincent Chiu Matthew Navarro Eric Ikehara Arthur Sin

History of War Genre One of the first war films was Shoulder Arms, made by Charlie Chaplin in Films that were made after the WWI showed the horror and brutality of warfare. During the 1930’s sound was implemented into films and this allowed the audience get a new feel for warfare and how horrifying it can be.

History of War Genre Cont. During the 1940’s when WWII was occurring, many war documentaries were made to show people back home the real dangers and horror soldiers were facing daily. After the U.S. entered WWII Hollywood mass produced war films to get people back home to support the Allies and buy Bonds for the armies. Twelve O’ Clock High directed by Henry King in 1949 was one of the

History of War Genre Cont. During the 1950’s war films became less horrifying and it had incorporated more drama so the audience can get a feel for the hardships of not having family around for long periods of time. Reach for the Sky directed by Lewis Gilbert in 1956 would be one of the war films that had incorporated drama into it so audience can get a new feel for war films.

History of War Genre Cont. During the 1960’s war films became less popular due to the high nationalistic feeling dying down in the countries. The Longest Days directed by Ken Annakin in 1959 was a war film about the D-Day invasion on Normandy.

History of War Genre Cont. From 1990’s to 2000’s War films have changed over time. With the war in Iraq occurring filmmakers began making films about a modern warfare. Although films about modern warfare became popular, films such as Saving Private Ryan directed by Steven Spielberg understand how brutal and horrifying warfare can really be.

Character - Hero is usually the general or captain leading his men on a mission into the battlefield to save another and then quickly get his men out safe and sound - Antagonist is usually a war enemy such as the Nazi's, Japanese, Vietnamese, or terrorist - Archetype is the strong tall white soldier with the skills of bravery and leadership

Character cont. -Dress is usually uniform such as green cameo with a helmet - Men's role was usually soldiers, sometimes civilians such as jews, pow's (prisoners of war) - Women were usually the love interest and on rare occasions portrayed as the soldier

Plot Usual plot is where a squad of soldiers go into battle, they show some firefights along the way, learn about the soldiers, watch some of them die, and in the end succeed in their mission The usual conflicts was the firefights with enemy such as famous battles or side missions.

Setting The soldiers are treated in a way to make them ready for war and not to fear death. In the movie, Full. There are lots of trees and brush in the jungles in Vietnam. This kind of setting gives the viewer the feel that danger can pop up anytime and anywhere. Metal Jacket

Setting cont.. Nearly all the buildings were damaged in some way, and some of them nearly fell apart in Saving Private Ryan. Lots of rubble was blown off to the ground.

Iconography They used modern weapons in the films that are still used today. These type of guns had much more fire power then in wars like World War I and World War II in Full Metal Jacket, and Tropic Thunder

Iconography cont. In Saving Private Ryan, each of the soldier also had a death letter that their comrades would pick up if they were killed in action that were sent to their loved ones because they might not have had a chance to say goodbye because anyone could have died in war.

Mood Many war films are very dark so they represent how wars were from a soldiers point of view in the wars that they are in. They use the eerie mood in war films to get the audience ready for a surprise attack or ambush on the protagonists or on the opposing forces.

Mood cont. Many situations are made more dramatic with the use of music or no music at all and putting a silence with just sounds of the what is going on screen at the time. The color of the film looks very grainy to give it a old feel of the wars since most of the wars that are shown in the films took place years ago like World War II.

Cinematic Style Typical camera shots in war movies are that of the soldiers face after they have a near- death experience. Over the shoulder shots are when the camera is following the soldier into battle.

Cinematic Style cont. The lighting is usually dark for the cinematic style to try and shroud your vision from enemies that are there but not so much that you don’t know that they are. Films try to make it seem like the character cannot see the other by making it dark but not completely so the viewers can see them.