Omaha Beach Landing scene from Saving Private Ryan - Sound Analysis

 

In the opening part of the sequence, the director uses synchronous when the waves are crashing. This use of parallel sound shows how hard these soldiers journeys have been. To add onto this, we can also vividly hear a couple of men vomiting. This is to show that although these men appear to be hard as a rock on the outside, some of them still have disadvantages like being sea sick. A few seconds later in the scene we can hear men giving each other orders. This and also the hard hitting rain lets the audience know that they are about to enter into a battle. Next, we start to hear explosions and soon realise that they have made their destination.

A few moments later we see and hear some of the soldiers on the boats getting shots. This use of synchronous sound shows us that this will be a very violent battle. The pleonastic use of turrets firing also adds onto this. In real life, the turrets would most likely almost deafen everyone around them, so the director has to use pleonastic sound to add the effect.

Later in the scene, we follow the men that fall into the water. As soon as they hit the water, the sound goes blank. This is to create the feeling of being underwater. We can faintly hear bullets being shot underwater, and this is to show the audience that these men are not safe underwater. From someone's point of view  they start to go up and down in which we hear the chaos for a brief second then go back underwater. This repeats a couple of times, and it lets the audience know that the battle has not stopped.

In the last minute of the sequence, the camera zooms in on a man and the sound is muffled. This is to show that all of the chaos that is erupting and all of the loud explosions and guns being fired is deafening these men. He crouches and blanks out, whilst the madness, muffled, erupts around him.

The use of sound techniques in the Omaha Beach Landing scene from Saving Private Ryan illustrates a beautifully well directed battle scene. 

Beatrix Buried Sound Analysis

 

In the sequence, 'Beatrix Buried', the director uses asynchronous sound of the men burying Beatrix alive. This is to show us that she is being buried alive. We can also hear her breathing very heavily and grunting as she is being submerged into the ground. This effect is called synchronous, as we can hear her breathing and see her breathing very heavily. The director also uses parallel sound for the breathing. The director is also using pleonastic sound, as her breathing is very exaggerated to show how much she is struggling. All of this is diegetic. Also, throughout the sequence we can hear a non diegetic whistling tune. This use of music is to make the sequence not seem as sadistic as it really is. This use of music is a sound bridge, and it fades out when the screen goes dark. When the screen goes dark we still can hear her breathing and this use of contrapuntal sound helps make the scene less boring. The director uses a variety of sounds to help show the struggles of Beatrix being buried alive. 

Sound Definitions

•  Sound Bridges
• leads in or out of a scene
• smoothens over transition to a new scene
• Pleonastic Sound
• a technique to create this sound is a Foley Sound
• exaggerated sound in film
• someone stepping really hard to exemplify power and dominance
• Parallel Sound
• sounds that match a scene
• Contrapuntal Sound
• sound that go against strongly with the image that you see on screen
• Synchronous
• caused by events on screen so that sound matches the screen
• Asynchronous
• separate from visuals, such as voiceover or dialogue from another scene
• Even when there is no sound, Silence can create an impact
• The tone, pitch, and volume of actors' voices can all add meaning to the scene

Kalendar Prince & Silenced Comparison

 There are many similarities and differences between the two opening title sequences, 'Kalendar Prince' and 'Silenced'.

Firstly, both opening title sequences give off a very eery feeling. Both title sequences give off a kidnapping/human trafficking vibe, where there is a man telling girls what to do and if they don't do as told they get punished. In Silenced, the man is ordering girls to clean a house. In Kalendar Prince, there are two men making girls dance. Also, both sequences use a lot of the same camera angles, like mid shots and close ups. Next, in Silenced each of the girls are dressed in black and in Kalendar Prince both girls are wearing the exact same ballerina outfit. Each opening sequence has their girls dressed in the exact same clothes. In addition, there is some sort of male patriarchy theme where the males overrule the females and are in control of them. Finally, both sequences are similar in many different ways because both are about men empowering and torturing women. 

There is also a lot of differences to each of the opening sequences. Firstly, in Kalendar Prince the women are threatened by one of the men's guns. If they didn't meet expectation, they would die. In Silenced, the women seem submissive because they are scared of the unknown. Also, in Silenced two of the girls managed to run away from their oppressor whereas in Kalendar Prince the girls did not get away from their oppressors. The editing in Kalendar Prince is a bit more vague and mysterious whereas in Silenced it is easier to pick out what is going on. Finally, there are many differences in each of the opening title sequences. 

Opening Title Sequence Analysis - Kalender Prince

 

In the opening title sequence 'Kalendar Prince' the sequence starts off with a mid shot of a ballerina walking onto stage and getting in a ready position. The scene then cuts to a mysterious man saying begin. We cannot see the mans face, only the outline of his side profile. After the begin, classical diegetic music starts to play. We know this is diegetic because it starts after the man says begin. The music adds an eery vibe to all of this which makes the audience wonder what is actually going on. We then start to get different shots of the ballerina dancing and we also get a mid shot of the man, whose face is still in the shadows. The way the man is sitting and in addition the fact that he has a drink makes me think that he is some sort of mob boss in a way.

The ballerina keeps dancing, but we are also starting to notice some things. Whilst she was dancing I noticed that there is a scar on her shoulder. The fact that the camera keeps pointing it out makes me think that she has been abused by the man watching her dance. This could propose the idea that she is under his control. Next, the ballerina then soon falls and a different man walks behind her holding a gun. The mysterious man that was watching says enough which stops the music and signals the man to approach the girl. He grabs her by the hair, points his gun at her, and in the background of a shot of the mysterious man we hear a gun shot. This makes me believe that this girl was dancing for the man's approval, and since he wasn't satisfied, he killed her.

Next, the man with a gun comes back out with a new girl. She is begging him to stop but soon stops because he shows her his gun. He waves it at her, which signals her to get in the same ready position as the previous girl. With all of this information, I can infer that there is definitely the possibility of this being a human trafficking situation, where these men kidnapped these girls and are trying to see which is the best one. 

Opening Title Sequence Analysis - Silenced

 

In the opening sequence of 'Silenced', an opening sequence made by Hurtwood House students, we start off with a mid-shot of girls in a bus. There is not too many of them as they are spread out amongst the bus, but the vehicle is moving so we do know that they are going somewhere. There is a melodramatic sad song playing in the background which proposes the idea that the girls do not want to be in the position that they are currently in. After what seems like ages of them sitting there, we finally get an over the shoulder shot of what the driver looks like. He is a middle aged man and he tells the girls that they have one hour too clean. This suggests the idea that these girls work for this man or that they are under his control.

The scene then cuts to the girls cleaning in the house. We get mid shots and closeups of the girls and the expressions on their faces show that they do not want to be there. Also, they are all dressed in black which makes me ponder the idea that they either work for the man or are some sort of slaves to him. After the cleaning montage, we get an over the shoulder shot of a girl looking through a window and staring directly at the bus. The bus backs out and the girl makes a run for it. This once again adds to my idea that these girls are held captive by this man. The bus pulls back in and then the scene cuts to the man yelling at the girls to come down. The man then asks the girls in an aggressive tone asking where the girl that ran away is. But, like the title suggests, the girls are silent.

The man then shouts at the girl that the girl that ran away was cleaning with and he starts to chase after her because he knows that she knows where the girl is. By this point in the opening title sequence, it is made clear that these girls are being held captive by this man, otherwise they wouldn't have so much resentment for him. Next, the girl that was just being chased by is hiding but the girl that snuck away earlier taps her back and brings the girl into another room. The scene ends there.

The use of facial expressions and way the characters move show that these girls are being held captive by the man in the opening title sequence of 'Silenced'.

Opening Title Sequence Analysis - Guardians of the Galaxy 2

 

In the opening sequence of the film, 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2', we get a mid shot of baby Groot dancing while his friends are fighting a monster in the background. There is also a happy upbeat pop song playing in the background. This use of sound makes an intense fight scene seem like everything is going to be okay. We can tell this is diegetic because the song does not start playing until Groot turns on the speaker. Also, Groot is dancing to the beat of the song. Next, every time a character is shown on screen, the actor's name appears next to them in a futuristic like font. This is to remind the audience that this film takes place in a futuristic sci-fi galaxy. In addition, the names of the actor's showing up when a character appears shows the significance of the actor to the franchise.

In the next part of the opening sequence, we can see Groot's friends trying to warn Groot to get out of the way so he doesn't get hurt. This is to remind the audience that baby Groot is not the same as regular Groot. Baby Groot is not as strong as Groot which is why his friends are trying to warn him to stay clear of the fight. To add to my point, we also see Groot trying to ride this small rodent-like creature. Groot is struggling, which is another indicator that baby Groot is not as powerful as he used to be.

In the opening sequence of the film, 'Guardians of the Galaxy 2', the director uses many different techniques to show the audience the importance of some characters and how fragile Groot is.