Combat cinematography: interpreting the cinematographic form of combat realism
Edited book (chapter)
Chapter Title | Combat cinematography: interpreting the cinematographic form of combat realism |
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Book Chapter Category | Edited book (chapter) |
ERA Publisher ID | 2865 |
Book Title | The Palgrave handbook of artistic and cultural responses to war since 1914: the British Isles, the United States and Australasia |
Authors | |
Author | Maddock, Daniel |
Editors | Kerby, Martin, Baguley, Margaret and McDonald, Janet |
Page Range | 447-465 |
Chapter Number | 25 |
Number of Pages | 19 |
Year | 2019 |
Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
Place of Publication | Cham, Switzerland |
ISBN | 9783319969855 |
9783319969862 | |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96986-2_25 |
Web Address (URL) | https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-96986-2_25 |
Abstract | Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) was widely reported as the most realistic depiction of battle ever captured on screen with the New York Times calling its cinematography ‘reportorial candor’ while famous critic Roger Ebert wrote of its ‘newsreel feel.’ Spielberg won an Oscar for Best Direction for his efforts and, in 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, being deemed ‘culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.’ Spielberg’s cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński, ASC, created a new cinematographic form for Saving Private Ryan which came to define the look of the combat film genre. This chapter discusses the construct of ‘realism’ in Saving Private Ryan’s cinematography, exploring its roots in combat newsreels and photography. The authenticity of the look of the most famous combat photography and films is then debated. Following this, the chapter examines the cinematographic form of Saving Private Ryan qualifying it using Mark Cousins’ methodology of ‘schema-plus-variation’ through cinematic language and applying it to an exploration of techniques that define visual authenticity in cinema thereby qualifying Kamiński’s cinematography as existing between the ideologies of verisimilitude and impressionism. |
Keywords | cinematography, combat, cinematographic style, cinematographic Form |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 360501. Cinema studies |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Arts and Communication |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q4zx3/combat-cinematography-interpreting-the-cinematographic-form-of-combat-realism
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