Independent Research Script Reflection- "Saving Private Ryan" & "City of God"

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eYM29SGiDj6rdbkjdELzgDIXtVEBgsuUesHDqrm2Hz8/edit

Although I made attempts at referring to film history, these attempts were not developed as well as they could have. I introduced the evolution of war photography. I stated that everything involving war began with the people believing it to be real. Even though it was staged, the audience had no idea. However, as time progressed, they learned to get used to the constant bombardment of violence and therefore the standards of  photographing war were raised. This could have been a good time to dwell into some aesthetics of the genre and talk about some theories involving it, yet these ideas were not talked about.

If this was turned into a documentary, there would probably seem a disconnect with the audience. Not enough was done to get and keep the audience's attention. Reading it, it seems more like an essay rather than an engaging piece for anyone to enjoy. Although some of the arguments have depth in them, they fall flat in scope. For example, there is clear information on the story behind the film and the struggle of the actors, yet there is nothing that connects it to the bigger picture.

This is one of the things that was done well. There are constant references to multiple different and reliable sources in the forms of articles, essays, and videos. Not only do these come from the people involved in the film (such as the actors and directors), but also from outside sources who have looked closely at the film and analyzed it bit by bit. The only issue here is that although they are relevant, they just need to click together a little better. Yes, they are linked to what I am talking about, but they could be linked together in a better way.

Compared to the audio, the video elements seem a little tenuous. The audio is written well, but again it seems too much like an essay and not an engaging and interesting piece ready for a real documentary analysis of both of the movies.

Both of the films (Saving Private Ryan and City of God) clearly relate to the topics of war photography and preserving realism in film. Now that I look back at it, the term "realism" could have been defined as well. In the definition, I could have talked about early 20th century film movements that led to the creation of this term and the basic conventions that it follows in terms of editing and cinematography. Nevertheless, I'd say that there were insightful comparisons made between the two films but the precision of these comparisons can debatable. I would say that the comparisons could have improved. There wasn't that much too improve on, but they could still have flowed better with better transitions used between them.