The Blog of Champions

Sounds of Saving Private Ryan

I will continue using the movie Saving Private Ryan in my discussion because it is one of my favorite movies of all time. In this movie there are a lot of different types of sounds that you hear throughout the movie and it is important to break it down. There are three different types of sounds, dialogue, sound effects, and music. I will explain each of these and give you examples from the movie to show how these sounds were used in the making of the film.

Dialogue

Dialogue is pretty straight forward. A lot of times, the dialogue would be the main character explaining what is happening in a story. In this movie, the dialogue is a very key part in it. The movie is about a unit that went out to find Private Ryan because his two brothers were killed in battle, and they have orders to bring him home. Throughout the movie, you see that the soldiers spend a lot of time referring to Mr. Ryan before even meeting him, and after they meet. Private Ryan gets told that two soldiers were killed just trying to find him. So you have two types of dialogue in this movie. The movie itself tells a story and the story that is told to Private Ryan after they meet.

Sound Effects

Sound effects enhance the movie. You hear and explosion in an action film as a great example. Saving Private Ryan is a huge film when it comes to sound effects. It’s a war. You hear lots of explosions, gun fire, and the sounds of individuals dying. As horrid as that may sound, it is very key to have in the movie. You also hear the sounds of a bullet whistle by and sound of a tank driving around them. Each one of these sound help paint a picture to the importance of this movie

Music

Music is also a big way to enhance a movie, sad music for a sad scene is a great example. I want to point out a piece of music from the film that is very important. Before the big battle of the bridge, the unit is sitting next to what was left of a building, and the play a record of a woman singing in German. During this, a soldier says that it reminds him of a woman that was back home that he was very fond of, and the soldiers reminisce on stories back home. It is important to know that music isn’t only meant for the making of the film, it can also be important if it is played in the film.

Without the sounds in the movie, I feel that Saving Private Ryan would not have been able to portray what it was like to be in a war back in those times. It is important to remember that music can help you display feelings of happiness, anger and sadness.

Resources

http://www.infoplease.com/cig/movies-flicks-film/sound-effects-functions.html

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

For my blog on lighting, I did some research for the best movies of all time when it comes to lighting. According to Tasteofcinema.com, the best lit film every created was Angel Heart. Ed Bookman, the writer of this blog-type website says Alan Parker (the director of the film) is a genius when it comes to cinematic lighting. During the movie the director utilizes a light coming from a window that we do not see. The effect, shows how small the character is when compared to his struggle. The movie Angel Heart is a very dark film, so it is difficult for a director to interpret light into his film. During the darker scenes, the light used around him is what makes the scene dark like the window scene that Ed Bookman was talking about. The benefit of using light from windows and shadows from hallways is to make the feeling very eerie and scary which the director does a great job in the film. The biggest technique in the film would be mood create by light. You can assume by the way that certain scenes are lit, that it could be a very dark and scary scene or a happy and delightful scene.

Nepper, Jens(2007) Last-Minute-Revelation: The Postmodern Aspects of Angel Heart http://cinetext.philo.at/magazine/jens_nepper/postmodern_aspects_of_angel_heart/The_Postmodern_Aspects_of_Angel_Heart.html

Bookman, Ed (2014) The 10 Best Lit Films of All Time http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-10-most-exquisitely-lit-films-of-all-time/2/