This is a 1998 American film. It was written by Robert Rodat and directed by Steven Spielberg (Rodat, 1998). In this film, there were soldiers who had been assigned to find Ryan and take him back home.
They had all the capacities to do the assignments themselves. The staff’s Army Chief assigned them the mission for tenacities of propaganda. This is because the return of Ryan would increase home-front’s morale and offer a human face on the massacre that took place at Omaha Beach. The mother of Ryan who had already lost three of his sons to the warfare vowed not to lose another one. Saving Private Ryan’ is a war film. It can also be classified as an action or epic genre since most war films are frequently paired with other genres like action and epics.
There are various generic features of this film that show us that it is a war film. War films are characterized by the horrors and heartbreaks that come with war (Ebert, 1998). They allow the actual fighting of the combatants against either humanity or nations to offer the principal plot for the film’s action. The films take a denunciatory methodology toward war (Jeanine, 1998). In the film ‘Saving Private Ryan’, we can conclude that it belongs to a war genre as it was set during the incursion of Normandy during the Second World War. The film is evidenced by a graphic as well as a genuine depiction of warfare.
The first twenty seven minutes of the film are so intense and they depict the assault that took place in the beach of Omaha on June 6, 1944. There is also evidence of a squad of soldiers. It can be said to be an action genre because it encompasses fights and battles. Lastly, it can be said to be an epic genre because as it presents the historical events that took place during the Second World War (Halton, 1998). The film ‘Saving Private Ryan’ was made by Amblin Entertainment Mutual Film Company (Collins, 2008).
This television and film production company is based in the United States of America. It was founded by Steven Spielberg who was actually the director of this film. Amblin Entertainment Mutual Film Company works with other media companies such as DreamWorks Studio. It is a coincidence that the principal partner of the DreamWorks Studios happens to be Steven Spielberg (Natale, 1998).
DreamWorks Studios has been rated as the most successful and influential in the film industry. This greatly enhanced the marketing of the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ film. The reputation that both Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Studios have in the film industry made it easy for the film to attract a wide consumer base. It also enhanced the making the movie as it was easier to obtain the required finances. The budget for this film was seventy million U. S dollars.
Getting finance for such a huge amount of money from investors required a production company that had a good reputation and well-established. This film was distributed by DreamWorks Pictures that is based in the United States and Paramount Pictures which is an international film distribution company. The marketing strategy for this film was through the use of an extraordinarily aggressive and expensive campaign by the distributors. The campaign was equally carried out by an American entertainment company known as Miramax (Kelley, 1999). These campaigns were done before the film was released.
The main aim of these campaigns was to create awareness for the film so that many people would either purchase it to watch or go to the cinemas to watch. All this is for the purposes of enhancing its profitability. This marketing campaign encompassed the use of posters, trailers, websites, viral marketing as well as promotional partnerships with Miramax as I have earlier mentioned. The media institutions with other companies helped in the marketing as it gave it a wide customer base.
Through this wide customer base, this film was able to fetch revenue of more than forty four million dollars when it was initially released via home video in the year 1999 (Collins, 2008). The audience for this film is widespread ranging from children to adults and females to males. The niche audience for this film is men as they have a distinct liking for violence as compared to the female gender. The niche audience has been targeted through the use of violence in the movies Historians equally form a perfect mass audience for this film as they are likely to have a clear insight on the massacre that took place at Omaha beach during the Second World War. Anyone who has a particular liking for history and the Second World War can also form a mass audience for this film.
This is because people are inclined to watch those films that they have a strong liking for. The mass audience for this film is has been targeted through the use of portrayal of history. It is this mass audience that made ‘Saving Private Ryan’ to be chosen for preservation in the United States’ National Film Registry. This is because this film was considered to be having cultural, historical as well as aesthetic significance (Natale, 1998).
Anyone interested in this form can either get a hard copy or a digital copy. The hardcopy can be obtained by purchasing DVDs. The most common digital platform in which this film can be obtained from is online streaming. The control of the regulation of this film is undertaken by the British Board of Film Classification.
The Board has a department of film examiners who consider the works that have been submitted to it, give comprehensive reports and make appropriate recommendations. This film got an age rating of sixteen tears and above. The audience for any film is characterized by various factors. These are sex and nudity; violence and gore; profanity; alcohol, drugs and smoking and lastly terrifying or intense scenes. Considering all these factors, the audience for this film was found to be people aged sixteen years and above.
Bibliography:
Collins, M.
A. (2008). Saving Private Ryan. Pearson Education Limited. Ebert, R. (1998).
Saving Private Ryan. Retrieved from http://www. rogerebert. com/reviews/saving-private-ryan-1998Halton, B. (1998).
Saving Private Ryan is too real for some. The Florida TimesUnionJeanine, B. (1998). Translating war: The combat film genre and Saving Private Ryan. Perspectives, the Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association. Kelley, B.
(1999). ‘Private Ryan’is a no-show on DVD format. Virginian-Pilot. Natale, R. (1998).
‘Private Ryan’ finds its audience. Los Angeles TimesRodat, R. Saving private Ryan. Retrieved from http://www.lexwilliford.com/Workshops/Screenwriting/Scripts/Adobe Acrobat Scripts/Saving Private Ryan.pdf
