How Genre and Narrative is established in two different genres

I watched the beginning of Tim Burton’s Batman and Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to compare how genre and narrative is established in films of different genre. . I will talk about colour/lighting, camera shots/movements, editing, diegetic and non-diegetic sound and the mise en scenes. Batman is classed as a action/crime/mystery film. Saving Private Ryan is a action/war film. In Batman the credits roll over a very dark background. The audience is straight away intrigued to know what is there. This gives us an idea that it is a suspense film.

The camera teasingly moves slowly around the 3D letters of Batman with close up shots. The background is dark blue with a yellow font. Yellow connotes sick, hope, vulgarism, spots, danger (road signs) etc. This could mean the film will be nothing but gruesome and alarming. The dark blue connotes cold, emergency , mystery ,cruelty, siren colours , depression. This is an indictor the film will have a lot of suspense and trouble . Orchestral, loud, serious music is the non-deigetic sound. This keeps building up and then becoming calm again. This is a hint that the film will be a “rollercoaster”.

In an establishing shot, we see the skyline of New York with the yellow full moon behind clouds. After we see the moon we hear howling which is creepy. The name Gotham City sounds unpleasant because of the word Goth. We see artistic buildings of gothic architecture. An artistic thing such as the buildings is characteristic of a Tim Burton film. The dark colours tell us there will be confusion and enigmatic situations in the film. There are clues that’s the story line wont be “happy” such as the full oon, name Gotham City, beginning being at night time and the gothic architecture.

The mise en scene is a noisy, busy street with too many things happening , contrasting to the credits background. Tim Burton’s uses many contrasts to perplex the audience. Diegetic sounds now are sirens and screams ;this is chilling. There is a panning shot that shows many people. All of them are wearing depressing black/dark colours. Black connotes mystery, death and evil. Here it suggests the film will have some horror. There’s a high tilt angle shot , making the people appear small and conquerable. Everyone is busy which gives you a feeling of danger – something can happen and no one will care or notice.

On the other hand you could feel protected being around a lot of people. Steven Spielberg has a black background with, simple Times New Roman, white font for the credits in Saving Private Ryan. It is serious and formal. The colours are funereal. Next, we see the US flag as though it’s been through a lot, because of the grey colour. It’s blocking the sun, which connotes happiness. The flag blocking out sun is like bad memories blocking the path to happiness. Next, we see a group of people following a man who’s slowly walking. The audience is intrigued about why there is a gap between them.

The gap shows importance and respect. They are near the ocean and there are a lot of grass and trees ; it’s peaceful. The weather is cloudy. There are only neutral, somber colours. We can hear classical music, birds and the ocean. All this makes the audience feel calm. Then we see a clean American flag high up by a low angle shot. This makes flag look important. Straight after we see the French flag, in the same way, suggests some sort f friendship between to the countries. Alternatively , it could be that they’re enemies, fighting to be the most important.

We see a close up shot of the man’s sad face, once he’s in the cemetery. We now hear sad, solemn music. Audience can now figure it out he’s obviously lost someone. There is a composition in debt shot with the background in focus and cross in front. I think this means that beyond the cross/grave there is a story that needs to be heard. An establishing / high angle tilt shot shows us the many crosses. As the man walks, trees and crosses come between the camera and him. Its as if they are preventing us from knowing what’s going on with him .

There’s also a gap between him and the camera as though we need to give him space now, for respect. Once the man is at the grave we suddenly hear waves crashing like “cold”, rough memories have come back to the man. So far, no one has uttered a word, which is enigmatic. The camera zooms in the man’s eyes as the sound of the waves get louder. This is a signal that flashback is coming up from the man’s point of view. In BM straight away there is a problem ; a family is struggling to get a taxi . The amily is ignored and shoved by people . This suggests the film will have hateful people.

Everyone is wearing dull , dark colours apart from one woman (a prostitute) who is wearing striking red. I think Burton decided to have her stand out is so the audience knows there are bad people around. People were being shoved around, there is prostitute and only diegetic sound this makes the city seem more realistic. There is a long shot/high angle tilt of the family in the alleyway. This makes them look vulnerable. The angle shot looks as though its from someone’s point of view which is enigmatic . The shadows and the mist make the situation more eerie.

The music goes high and dramatic , before the bad guy lashes out at the man to alert the audience . Once the man is attacked, we see a window with a glowing red light. Red connotes danger, medical emergency ( red cross ) , ambulance lights , blood etc. . I think here it mostly connotes the anger of the soldiers/the two countries. The two bad guys are wearing what seem like rags, they’re not talking in proper English and one of them is smoking. All this helps them achieve their villainous image. Batman first comes into view through smoke. This shows importance and is intriguing.

Batman does not say anything he just starts to hit. This makes him seem unique. They are fighting on top of a high building, which makes its more dangerous. They are also very confined. There are quick cuts so we can see the fight more clearly. When Batman is going to throw the man off the building, we see the red light again from a building. At the start of the flashback in SPR, there is a composition in debt shot to show many brown mines in the sea. These remind me of all the crosses. We see soldiers in some boats. There is a close up shot of the soldiers’ faces to show their sad mood.

There is also, a close up shot of a soldier’s shaking hand . This tells the audience that he is scared. So we know something bad is going to happen. One of the soldiers has a silver mark on his helmet so we know that he is an important character. The camera is hand held so its wobbling a lot. This gives the impression that we are there with them . We hear bombs in the distance but cant see who’s causing them ; this amplifies the fear. When the shooting starts blood is splattered on the camera which tells is there is a lot f blood . The blood stands out because it is the only bright colour.

It’s as though the blood has been splattered on our faces which makes the all thing more terrifying . We hear yelling and see soldiers fallen over . A soldier falls in the water and the camera also “jumps” in the water. Because of this we can understand better what the soldier is going though. Its as though we (the audience) are drowning with him. There is a medium shot of a bullet entering the water, near the camera. . This is frightening because its though the bullet nearly killed us . There are mostly black/white/washed out colours.

Its as though this is real war footage because of monochromatic colours. It reminds us of war photographs and authentic war footage. When we see a man lose a leg the camera quickly “turns away” . It is likely we would do this if we were there . Once we see Tom Hank’s the music goes quiet. Now everything is in slow motion. Its as though this is how Hanks is seeing everything; it seems like a dream to him. Strangely there is of mood tranquility when see a man burning alive. Again the camera quickly moves away as though its too disturbing to see.

The yellow fire is contrasted to the rest of the colors, therefore it grabs your attention. The diegetic sound is breathing and screaming. There is no music. So the screams are a lot ” louder” there’s nothing to cover them up . There are long cuts this makes everything seem more real and horrific. There is a lot of graphic detail to really show you what’s happening. When the men are on the ground its as though we are too because of the low angle shots . There is a close up shot on Tom Hank’s eyes . This reminds us of the man back at the Graveyard and that Hanks will survive.

The two films are very different but their technique, in telling us the genre of the film, is the same.. In BM there is an attack in the first 15 min this is a big sign about the film’s genre. In SPR it’s not so obvious but there are lots of subtle hints. For an example, the washed out flag. I think Tim Burton did a better job of the beginning because his use of colours is more effective and so is the plotline . The beginning Private Ryan has the audience think it will be a calm, somber film. As it’s began in a cemetery. Thus, a beginning of a film can tell you all about its genre and narrative.

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