#8 Scene Deconstruction

The "Sniper Scene" From "Saving Private Ryan"

I think the theme of this movie is mainly centered around triumph focusing on a small group of soldiers with a common objective. They know their jobs and they will risk their lives trying to do them. Some will not make it out in the end but they all tried. This movie shows this in many different scenes throughout the story and it is focused on the role of the sniper in this particular one. He is putting himself in a lot of danger trying to find the other sniper in the rain, and he displays it by motivating himself with words. The theme is very active in the story as you are not told his motivation, you must observe and see his courage to understand.

Line is very important when it comes to this particular scene because the lines portrayed are very precise to what is going on in the sequence. Virtual lines are heavily used to direct attention toward the soldier that is down on the ground, along with both snipers as they look up and down in a nervous and slow nature. These lines are then shown more directly through the scopes of the snipers as the audience gets a peek of what exactly the characters are looking at. The fascinating part is that the audience never really sees where the protagonist is looking through the scope and even eye sight. Instead they show the nervous antagonist sniper who scans his area only find that he is too late when he sees the other sniper.

Movement is also very important in this scene because there is not a lot of it at all. This makes the little movement present in the scene that much more important to the story. Slow movements of the US sniper as he adjusts to his shot without being seen really create a sense of danger. The soldier injured and bleeding on the ground slowly losing movement create a massive sense of urgency throughout the scene. The german soldier uses slow scope movement looking carefully for his shot. The only real fast movement in the scene is when the german sniper gets shot and quickly falls down.

Very broad shapes are used in the scene to not distract the user from what is going on. You are not intended to pay attention to the down because the real action and suspense is happening between the snipers. The rain overshadows most of buildings anyways which restricts the audience from really seeing much. There are more complex shapes in the german soldier's scope as he scans through the many obstacles that the US soldiers are hiding behind. Their complex shape is used to throw off the sniper as well as the audience. They can really experience the difficulty with finding a target in the scene.