[Writing Prompt] When you die, you appear in a cinema with a number of other people who look like you. You find out that they are your previous reincarnations, and soon you all begin watching your next life on the big screen.

Colour suddenly rushed towards him, filling his view. A crescendo of ear-piercing noise, swelling, swirling around his head to the point it was painful.

Then, nothing. No noise. No swirling. Just, nothing.

His eyes slowly opened, taking a few moments to adjust to this new dank room that he found himself in. He could sense that there was light around him, but it was dim and he still struggled to see anything. After a few minutes as his vision began to clear, he noticed seats all around, and every single one of those seats were filled. He recognised this as a cinema. But why was he here? He had been here before, he was sure of that, but he couldn’t quite place it.

Beginning to rise from the rather uncomfortable seat he found himself in, he found that he couldn’t move. Fear and panic swelled within him, which is when he realised there was nothing actually holding him down, and yet he was no closer to standing. Letting out a tiny yelp, he took a glance to the person to his left, who didn’t seem to notice, but looked exactly like him.

“H…..How? How can this be?”  he thought to himself as he stared in amazement. He assumed it must be a bad dream, so he took a few very long breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, then he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and glanced to the figure on his right.

His face was horribly disfigured, with scarring and cuts that looked almost fresh. Some of the wounds that adorned the man’s face seemed as if they could have only just happened. Considering all of this, the man still had a wry smile on his face.

After staring at the man for a few seconds, he could tell that this man also looked like him, at least before he sustained the wounds. He opened his mouth to to say something, anything, but words were not forthcoming.

He wrenched his neck up to get a better view, but felt a stabbing pain right through his neck to the base of his spine. He screwed his face up in pain, and settled for looking around without actually trying to move.

After a short while, he began to realise that all of the people filling the hall looked exactly like him. Every single one of them. A completely homogeneous spread of people, but they all had subtle differences. Like the man to his right, some were sporting horrific wounds that no-one could have survived. Like the man to his left, they just looked normal, like a standard person you would pass by on the street without a second thought. Elsewhere, there was a range of old gentlemen calmly looking at the screen, and across the other side of the room there were babies, who could not have been much more than a week old, but were remarkably quiet.

Before he could even gather his thoughts, a light filled the darkness, and the large screen in front of him flickered into life. He felt compelled to stare at the screen, as if some higher power were forcing him to watch. All of a sudden, an eerily familiar voice filled the noiseless void;

“Mr Jacobs. You may be wondering what is going on. I hear that the memory  suffers every time the process is re-started, although there is no way to be sure. I don’t even know if you can hear me, we just run this section for protocol.” The voice sounds quite bumbling, but still imposing considering the circumstances. He could imagine it belonged to a learned person. A slow, beeping noise can also be heard in the background.

“You are in what is known as ‘Enforced Purgatory’, whereby you are forced to witness your own lifetime, again and again, simulated over and over, in real time.

After taking the lives of so many people in one selfish act, you have been forced to live out your days, watching over and over, as other people take yours. That last one was particularly nasty, I didn’t think he would just stab you in the throat and leave you to die, but we never know what is coming you see!”

Mr Jacobs began to panic, glancing side to side as if there was a possible way for him to escape. Looking to the man to his right, he just seemed transfixed on the screen, as if he was in some sort of trance-like state. Mr Jacobs turned his head to the large screen and in that moment, felt at ease.

The screen showed an ultra-bright flash of light, and the screaming of a newborn baby could be heard ringing out. The movie had begun.

 

 

(Writing prompt taken from reddit – Thank you!)

To what extent do generic conventions be seen to restrict film makers, or to provide a recognisable template to which film makers flourish.

To what extent do generic conventions be seen to restrict film makers, or to provide a recognisable template to which film makers flourish.

(usually 1 hour – had 20 mins )

I feel that film-makers have genre specific templates, results in the same storyline and narrative being regurgitated over and over again. I believe that this will quickly bore the audience if this was all that film makers did, and would stop them going to see and even watching new movies, as they have already seen it all before. This would, in turn, kill the film industry.

For example, western films used the same template over and over. Based in a desert, had Red Indians, Bandits, an Antagonist and Protagonist, wooden houses, saloons, gun face-offs, horses, cattle, guns and cowboys. All of these things are used in almost every western film ever made. This made the genre become quite boring and repetitive, and if you look at the current film market today, westerns have pretty much died off. A ‘new’ western film has not been released for many years, which shows that the format of using a template did not work well for this genre.

Horror films all now seem to follow this trend. They usually contain; Helpless women, dark rooms and environments, set in suburbs or places (close to home), contain an Antagonist or killer who is usually some sort of ‘deformed’ male, teenage girls, sex, drugs, a weapon. These are all used (one way or another) in most horror films. For example, in Dracula, the weapon they use against him is a crucifix.  In the Exorcist, they use Holy water. In the Shining, Jack Nicholson’s character uses a fire axe. In Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Kruger has makeshift claws. Many horror films follow in these conventions, but for some reason, unlike western, horror films are still being mass produced and made by the bucket load. This is possibly due to the fact that people want to see horror films for a different reason to Westerns. For this reason, using a template in a horror film seems to work, as the audience go to horror films to see the blood, gore and deaths that it contains, rather than going to see a compelling and intriguing storyline. In Saw for example, they had already bought the rights up to Saw 8, which shows that they plan on re-selling the same storyline and template, before they have even made 3 films prior to it.

Another Genre that does this is ‘RomComs’. These films take the usual ‘Boy meets girl, falls in love, split up, get back together’ storyline and uses it in most films that are made for the genre. The ending very rarely changes in RomCom’s, as the audience go to see them to get a good feeling from the film, so this makes the films storyline boring and predictable.

I feel that if film-makers use a template for a film, it really hinders them in their ability to have total creative control during the production of their own film.

NMT Secondary Research

New Media Technologies – 10 Articles

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7340315.stm

 

1. The article is about computer viruses, and the fact that it has been discovered that there are now over 1,000,000 different viruses.

 

Symantec released a bi-annual Internet security report

The majority of viruses were created in the last 12 months

Malware can even fool anti-virus programmes to fool them into thinking that the virus is not actually a virus.

In the second half of 2007, Symantec discovered 499,811 new malicious code threats

They discovered that almost two thirds of all malicious code threats currently detected were discovered in 2007

The vast majority of the viruses are made to target computers running Microsoft Windows

Some viruses stay on the computer, then start to work once a certain website is visited

Some groups involved in hi tech crime employ others to make malicious software

The fact the people employed have to be paid, makes the criminals want to make more money out of people using viruses.

The combination of the factors generates lots of new, more malicious viruses

 

“The combination of these factors results in a high volume of new malicious code samples that threaten users online.”

The latest edition of the Symantec report covers the second half of 2007 during which time the security firm detected 499,811 new malicious code threats. This figure was up 136% on the first six months of 2007.

Throughout 2007 Symantec detected more than 711,912 novel threats which brings the total number of malicious programs that the security firm’s anti-virus programs detect to 1,122,311.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7341024.stm

2. The article is about people seeking information about suicide, but some web pages could be encouraging it.

 

Researchers used search engines to find “Pro suicide” pages

3 of the most frequent sites were all “Pro suicide”

Mental health campaigners called for the sites to be banned, and said that they prayed on vulnerable people

In some countries, these sites are banned. But they aren’t in the UK

To be prosecuted for assisting suicide, the individual needs to know about and assist in the suicide

19% of the sites found were dedicated suicide sites

12 hits that were found were message boards talking about methods of suicide

The only way that they are blocked is by the internet service provider, and by web filters

The sites can influence people to commit suicide

The ISP’s said that they will only take websites down if they were illegal

The 1961 Suicide Act says it is illegal to aid, abet, counsel, procure or incite someone to kill themselves.

In total, 90 hits (19%) were for dedicated suicide sites, half of which were judged to be encouraging, promoting, or facilitating suicide.

Lead research Lucy Biddle said that because of the law, self-regulation by internet providers and the use of filtering software by parents were the main methods used to try to prevent the use of pro-suicide sites.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7345990.stm

3. Hackers are able to see people’s information through the old scripting of certain websites.

 

Website creators can leave their websites open to the risk of hackers

Many of the loop holes in the code have been known about for a decade

The poor practices are being very easily exploited by hackers

According to Symantec, the number of sites being attacked in this way doubled in the second half of 2007

The bug ridden code is being used to attack visitors of entirely innocent websites

The attack that a hacker carries out on these sites is called cross site scripting, known as XSS.

XSS vulnerability, could allow hackers to steal a person’s information that is stored on the site.

More and more attackers are looking for these vulnerable sites as the code is easy to script

There has been 11.253 reported sites that are vulnerable to the XSS script

The problem started over 8 years ago

 

 

Many of the loopholes left in the code created for websites have been known about for almost a decade say the security researchers.

Kevin Hogan, director of security operations at Symantec, said the bug-ridden web code was putting visitors to many entirely innocent sites at risk.

Mr Hogan said more and more attackers were looking for websites that were vulnerable to these scripting attacks because they required little work to mount.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7342135.stm

4. European politicians have turned down attempts to have internet pirate’s internet connections shut off.

 

European Politicians have voted down calls to throw file sharers off of the net.

The idea to cut off persistent pirates was part of a wide ranging report

The idea was turned down as it conflicted with civil liberties and human rights

It puts MEPS at odds with governments planning tough action against pirates

They should try to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and their customers

The amendment was added to the so called Bono Report

The amendment called them to avoid having ideas that conflict with people’s civil and human rights.

A large discussion will be taking place in months to come to address issues of copyright theft online

The vote has no legal force, and leaves governments to be able to take their own anti-piracy measures

In 2007, France announced its intent to make internet service providers anti piracy watch dogs

 

European politicians have voted down calls to throw suspected file-sharers off the net.

“The vote shows that MEPs want to strike a balance between the interests of rights holders and those of consumers, and that big measures like cutting off internet access shouldn’t be used,” said a spokeswoman for the European Parliament after the vote.

The amendment called on the EC and its member nations to “avoid adopting measures conflicting with civil liberties and human rights and with the principles of proportionality, effectiveness and dissuasiveness, such as the interruption of internet access.”

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7341031.stm

5. Handheld gadgets storing thousands of hours of film footage could soon be a reality thanks to IBM scientists.

 

Researchers are working on a technology called race track memory

It uses tiny magnetic boundaries to store the data

The capacity of MP3’s could increase by 100%

IBM say the technology is still 7 to 8 years away from public use

Currently most desktop computers use flash memory and hard drives

Racetrack memory could produce a storage medium that is cheap, durable and fast

It is now possible to create racetrack memory

It gets its name because the data races around the wire coiled inside

Many modern computers already use spintronics devices

This could mean that a portable mp3 could hold 500,000 songs

 

Researchers for the computer giant are working on a technology known as racetrack memory which uses tiny magnetic boundaries to store data.

Hard drives are cheap but their moving parts mean they are not very durable. They are also slow in that they typically take a few milliseconds to find and fetch data.

The tiny amount of power needed to exploit these fields means racetrack memory generates far less heat than existing devices.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7178954.stm

6. This article is about how facebook, the social networking site is growing in popularity, and how the BBC think that it will inevitably be in the news in 2008. It also writes about Robert Scoble, who broke the rules of the site, but got away with it because he was a famous blogger on the site.

 

Facebook will be in the news in 2008

Has been upsetting its users with new sevices

Can find fake profiles easily

In 2007, it became the social site of choice for journalists, politicians, and bloggers that see myspace as the site for kids

Robert Scoble broke the rules of this site, got away with it because he was a famous blogger on the site.

People critisised Facebook for suspending his account

Scoble was made more famous for standing up for people’s right to use thier “own” data

Issue helped underline the problems with data ownership on the internet

The culture clash is a role reversal, where adults are “growing up” in a child oriented place

Adults going online for the first time are entering a world that has been shaped by the younger generation

 

“And it could even avoid falling victim to one of the frauds that are likely to be perpetrated against users of all social network sites. “

”However Scoble is an A-list blogger so when he wrote about his suspension it generated a storm of comment. “

”And Facebook has backed away from another PR embarrassment, although not without some loss of face since it is unlikely that an unknown accountant from Basingstoke would have been allowed to return after such an egregious breach of the site’s rules. “

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7002612.stm

7. Bill Thompson is looking into weather Apple should face the EU court of first instance, the same way Microsoft has.

 

Microsoft was humiliated at the EU court of first instance, when all its appeals were ruled against

Microsoft abused its monopoly power

They put an embedded windows media player in XP and Vista

Both rulings will have significant implications for other cases before the commission

Apple managed to get Acres of coverage for the Iphone

Apple do not allow personal ringtones on the iPhone

Many of the Apple products are locked in a totally apple controlled universe

The new generation of iPods cannot output video throughout un-certified products

But now Apple has added a new feature to the iTunes database, a special number which is calculated from your list of files using a process only Apple knows.

It will not stop people adding non-DRM files they have downloaded from the internet to their library. All it will do is stop the third party players working and force anyone with an iPod to use iTunes.

 

Microsoft was humiliated by the European Union’s Court of First Instance on Monday when it rejected almost all elements of the software giant’s appeal against the 2004 rulings made by the competition commissioner.

The best example of this is Apple, which managed to get acres of coverage for the UK launch of the iPhone, despite the many ways in which the device is closed, locked down and restricted.

The recent launch of the new range of iPods, including the video Nano and the iPod Touch, has shown just how far Apple is willing to go to make life difficult for its users in order to shore up its dominant position in the market for music players and downloads.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7340095.stm

8. After weeks of first fighting talk and then stony silence, Yahoo has at long last made a move to escape the takeover clutches of Microsoft.

 

Yahoo has at long last made a move to escape the takeover clutches of Microsoft.

The company has announced a two-week experiment during which it will show search-driven Google adverts

Some analysts have described Yahoo’s manoeuvring as a “really clever move”.

Excited investors rewarded the company with a 7% rise in its share price.

If anything, these moves are proof positive that Yahoo is standing with the back against the firewall of its internet servers.

When Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $44.6bn takeover bid, it did so arguing that the offer seriously undervalued its earnings potential.

Advertisers don’t seem to have taken a lot of notice.

Even Google’s ad clicks have fallen recently, but that appears to be the result of a deliberate move.

The number of ads on each search results page has been reduced

Too many adverts are not quite relevant to the search. Offering adverts that better fit the search should result in happier searchers and higher conversion rates

The company has announced a two-week experiment during which it will show search-driven Google adverts alongside the search results of Yahoo’s website.

When Yahoo rejected Microsoft’s $44.6bn takeover bid (now worth a tad less following the stockmarket gyrations), it did so arguing that the offer seriously undervalued its earnings potential.

In reality, though, Yahoo has simply failed to deliver. A year ago the company launched with great fanfare “Panama”, the latest version of its search marketing service. Advertisers don’t seem to have taken a lot of notice. Yahoo’s former arch rival Google continued to extend its lead in the lucrative market for search advertising.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7352464.stm

 

9. Researchers have built the world’s smallest transistor – one atom thick and 10 atoms wide – out of a material that could one day replace silicon.

 

Researchers have built the worlds smallest transistor

A material has been found that could replace graphite

Graphene, a 2D material, was discovered 4 years ago

Graphene has been called a ‘Super Material’ because of all of its

Graphene is made of a thin layer of graphite, which is so thin it is transparent.

Graphene has a better advantage over silicon, as it can conduct electricity faster and further

Graphene is superior to silicon by order of magnitude

Companies like Intel have a roadmap to reduce the size of the silicon wafer.

Circuits could be reduced to 10 nanometres

Many researchers are working on creating large wafers of Graphene

 

Graphene is a single layer of graphite, which is found in the humble pencil.

Graphene has been hailed as a super material because it has many potential applications. It is a flat molecule, with only the thickness of an atom, and both very stable and robust.

Companies like Intel have a roadmap to reduce the size of circuits on the silicon wafer, down to about 10 nanometres – 10,000 times smaller than the width of a single human hair.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7354133.stm

10. Tough action is required by US regulators to protect the principles that have made the net so successful, a leading digital rights lawyer has said.

 

Some people are unhappy with the way web firms handle data during busy times

They believe the FCC should keep all internet traffic flowing equally

They had a 7 hour meeting to discuss these issues

One of the principles that guided the foundation of the net was that all traffic must flow equally through it

Comcast has been managing traffic by stopping its 13m customers from using peer to peer networks

The FFC are investigating Comcast, to see if they deserve a fine for their actions

Comcast are now changing their policy

2 Democrats on the FFC board said that they needed to introduce more rules

2 Republicans on the board said they could be in danger of over burdening net firms with more rules

The chairman said net policies were strong enough, but needed to be properly enforced.

 

He said the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) should act to keep all net traffic flowing equally.

The seven-hour public meeting was held at Stanford University and featured presentations from Prof Lessing, songwriters, network administrators and net engineers.

The meeting was called by the FCC in reaction to the news that US net firm Comcast had been exposed as managing traffic by stopping some of its 13m customers uploading files to BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks.

Micro Essay

 

An analysis of cinematography and Mise-en-scene within a sequence from Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring”

In this essay, I will be exploring the elements of Mise-en-scene within a film, and why it is essential to create meaning and generate a response from the audience of the film. Mise-en-scene contains lots of different aspects such as costume, props, camera angles, body language, sound and the performance of the actors. I will focus on a 7 minute clip from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [Which I will refer to as [LOTR:FOTR]” which I think portrays all of these elements of Mise-en-scene. The clip that I will be using is when the Fellowship is in Moria, and just after the fight in Balin’s tomb with the cave troll, to just after Gandalf’s encounter with the Balrog.The sequence begins with a long shot of the fellowship standing in the tomb, and then they hear movement and see shadows on the wall of the caves. The sound of the moving goblins is heard before it is seen, which makes all of the characters turn and look towards the noise before the audience sees it, as the camera cuts to looking at a wall when the shadows start to come into view, this tells the audience that it is in fact, these evil characters coming towards the fellowship again. This makes the audience start to feel almost nervous again, as the fellowship have just finished a large battle, and will soon be involved in another one. The lighting of the cave is very dark with a small, bluish tint to the lighting, which gives the caves a very mystical look. It also gives the connotation of the light in the dark or light at the end of the tunnel, which could contribute to the storyline of the trilogy of films, where the whole land is in darkness, and the only beacon of hope is the fellowship. The landscape of the cave is a rocky, barren wasteland, which nothing but stone structures and pillars. This gives the idea of the evil, and the hardness of the creatures that live there. It shows that they don’t need material objects, and it also hints to the audience that it isn’t humans that inhabit the building.When the fellowship starts to run out of the tomb away from the shadows. they run into a large area, also seemingly abandoned with many large pillars throughout the room. The music is orchestral and fast paced which builds the tension of the scene and hints to the audience that the fellowship will eventually encounter the creatures that are chasing them. The music also happens to be the main theme music for the whole film, which also emphasises the fact that something will happen to the fellowship as they are fleeing. The camera also starts really close to the fellowship, and slowly tracks back to show them as tiny figures, almost impossible to tell between them, as they are almost dwarfed by the huge structures around them. The camera is also panning out into a high angle extreme long shot, which could symbolise the characters’ dwindling hope as they run and more and more Orcs start chasing and surrounding them.As the fellowship are running, the camera cuts to a close up of the 4 hobbits running, and frantically looking backwards in a panicked manner. This shows that they are scared, and they can see something behind them that the audience have not. It shows that they are afraid of what they can see, and tells the audience they are running from something highly dangerous. The very next camera shot is looking backwards from the fellowship, and is panning backwards as if it is looking backwards from the hobbits point of view. The camera is also a very wide and Dutch angle shot, which allows the camera to show even more of the Orcs that are chasing them, and make it look more as if it is from the character’s point of view. This shot is all CGI, as it would be impossible to re-create all of the Orcs as extras in costume, and the whole set of the cave. In the next shot, the camera has an extreme long shot and pans around the fellowship as they are running, and shows more and more Orcs coming out of the floor. It shows that the fellowship’s attempts at escaping is futile, and they are getting surrounded by the goblins. This could also link back to the fact that the whole of Middle Earth is surrounded by the forces of evil.The costumes of the characters also tell a lot about the characters. The fact that the character of Gandalf has grey clothes and hair, and is in fact, called Gandalf the Grey, enhances the fact that he is a very mysterious character, and never reveals very much about his past at all. Also the fact that he is a wizard, also makes him a very mysterious person. The costume of Legolas is all green and bright colours, which is reflective of his nature. The bright green colours that he wears are following the common conventions of film, where the Protagonists wear light colours, and the Antagonists wear darker, black colours. Also, the character of Frodo is seen as the embodiment of good throughout the film, and wears a white shirt, light brown overalls, and a green cape, to symbolise the purity of him at this point in the film. The goblins that are chasing the fellowship are all wearing dark, black and grey clothes, which instantly tells the audience that they are not friendly towards the fellowship, and reveals that they are in-fact, evil and lethal creatures. The character of the Balrog that Gandalf fights towards the end of the sequence, is all fiery and really large, with large horns coming from his head. This could make the Balrog be linked to the traditional image of the Devil, who also usually portrayed around fire, larger than normal people, and with horns.When the Fellowship is surrounded, a roar is heard and the background slowly starts to turn orange, all the goblins begin to flee as they know what is coming, whereas the audience is still left in the dark. The first character that knows what is going on is Gandalf. He looks sombre, and the way that he just looks down as if he is sad, instantly tells the audience that he knows what is going to happen, and what is coming around the corner by the orange lighting. The fact that the audience can tell all of this just from his facial expression, shows that this character is smarter than the other characters. The fact that when the Goblins run away, the character of Gimli thinks that the goblins are running away from them. This type of “big headed” and vain character is normally portrayed in many films, but LOTR also plays with the idea that the smallest person in the whole fellowship, is also the strongest and the most vain, when it is usually the opposite.When Gandalf is standing on the small bridge facing the Balrog, it has connotations of the ongoing battle of God vs. The Devil. The Balrog looks like the devil, with all of the fire surrounding it and with its horns and evil presence, where Gandalf could be seen as representing the good that is Jesus Christ. He is dressed in long robes, has a long beard and can do magic, which makes him above any other normal person.I think that the effect of this clip on the audience is very great. The fact that is in one of the most pivotal points of the film, also emphasises the importance of this scene to the audience. When Gandalf, one of the main characters in the film so far “dies”, it really shocks the audience as they would not have been expecting one of the main characters to die so early in the film. It also goes against the conventions of most films, as the main character does not normally die early in the film. Also, when the fellowship are running through the vast halls, it tells the audience that something very large could be living here, and the fellowship would be dwarfed by it and its surroundings. Also, the fact that it is so dark and dismal, the audience also is made to think that the fellowship will make it through the darkness, even though it looks as if they have very little hope in being able to survive the caves.Word Count : 1460  

Macro Essay 1st Draft

MACRO

An analysis of narrative and genre in a sequence from ‘Saving Private Ryan’ ( 1998).


The narrative of a film is the structure and order. Narrative is one of the main parts of a film. If a film has no narrative, the story will not be chronologically correct, therefore not making sense. The genre of a film is a category each type of film is given, based on its content. The genre can be identified by looking at things such as characters, themes, scenery, narrative and language that are contained in the film. The film clip that I will be analysing is from Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.


Saving Private Ryan is a modern war film. The scene that I have chosen to analyse is the scene after the beach scene, after the soldiers leave to go and find Private Ryan. All of the main characters are in the scene, which shows it is quite a poignant scene. The music in the scene is quite significant, it also hints at what may happen. The music is calm and orchestrated, which could mean that nothing very bad will happen in this scene. It also could be directly related to the brotherhood between the soldiers in the scene, which is also directly bought up in conversation, when one of the soldiers talks about “writing a book about the brotherhoods of soldiers forged in war.” The genre of the film can also be instantly established from this scene, mainly because of the costumes and props. Such as all of the soldiers uniforms and the fact that they are all carrying guns which quickly lets you establish that it is indeed a war film that you are watching.


The war film conventions are also quite apparent in this scene. The fact that they have a new soldier that has just joined their squad and is disliked by the other members is quite a common story among the war genre. This is also shown when they make up things to tell him, and when the soldier asks them where he is from, the soldiers just simply ignore him or tell him to go and “ask the captain where he is from”. Also, the fact that all of the soldiers are friends with each other (other than the aforementioned new soldier) is also a common theme throughout war films. The fact that the soldiers laughed at the new soldier when he said he was going to write a book about brotherhood is quite ironic, when most of the soldiers in the “squad” already have established a brotherhood. Also, talk of soldiers having a ‘Brotherhood’ is quite a common theme throughout the war film genre.


The scene also covers a lot of issues such as bullying, loneliness and respect for leaders. The soldiers are effectively bullying the new soldier when he is just trying to fit in by purposely being aggressive towards him and not even trying to talk to him. The soldier shows that he is feeling loneliness as Spielberg uses a close up on the soldier, while he has a sombre expression on his face. Also, as soon as Tom Hank’s character Captain Miller tells them to stop and talks to the soldier, the others also stop. This is also a common feature in war films. A good example is in the film “Behind Enemy Lines”. A soldier is stranded on his own behind enemy lines, and he has a lot of close up shots of him expressing sadness.


The scene I chose is roughly a third of the way through the film. It is a relatively central from the narrative point of view, as it shows many things that will be recurring throughout the film. Such as the brotherhood bond that the soldiers already have, the fact that the soldiers are in fact friends with each other. This plays a very important role in the film’s narrative. Also the fact that a new soldier who says that he has never fought before is told to join the squad, also is an important part of the narrative. It also lets the audience know different sides of the characters’ personalities, which may not come across very clearly in other scenes.


The narrative in this scene does not particularly move the plot forwards. The scene is not vital to the film, and the film could still make perfect sense without this scene in it at all. However, it is still an important scene to let the spectator get to know the characters a little better, and it also re-enforces what the narrative and plot of the film is about.


The narrative of the film is all played out in chronological order, even though the whole film is a long flashback as to what happened in World War 2. There is however, soldiers reciting things that have happened in their life, but without the use of a flashback. This technique may have been used to make the spectator feel like they were actually there with the soldiers, and therefore they would not experience the flashback themselves.


The sequence of film that I have chosen could either enforce the spectators understanding of the film, or challenge it. If the spectator thought that all of the soldiers were all bound by a bond, as in some war films, this point would be challenged. This could make the spectator feel that “Saving Private Ryan” is not a typical war film, and that it can turn some of the conventions of traditional war films up-side down. On the other hand, the spectator could see that some of the soldiers already had a brotherly bond between them, so it could be using the same conventions as the traditional war film.


In conclusion, the Narrative and Genre of this film clip are very helpful in allowing the audience to read more into the film, understand the narrative more and understand the emotions and personalities of the characters better. This clip makes it easier for the audience to see that “Saving Private Ryan” is not just another war film, it also has a large emotional story entwined into the narrative.