Saving Private Ryan Discussion

Saving Private Ryan was a powerful film conveying messages and themes through the distance and framing of shots. One example you might say would be the scene in which  private jackson finds himself in a sniper vs sniper battle. The distance of the shot creating space between the two snipers represented a lack of connection between the two in a sense that neither know each other or have any reason to kill each other. Although it’s Jackson’s obligation as a soldier for the U.S. to kill this enemy sniper. As for framing during the scene the medium shot/close up shot of the German sniper really allows the audience to get a feel for the expression of his face and how he comes off not really wanting to kill anyone. When it comes to Jackson, Speilberg decides to really stray away from focusing on Jackson and instead keeping focus on the sniper rifle, which explains how Jackson becomes one with the sniper rifle when he’s forced to use it. I think Spielberg wanted to created a seperation between Jackson the sniper rifle giving a feel that it’s not Jackson killing people or wanting to kill these people, it’s more so the rifle.