War Films

TECHNOLOGY

The development of sound, color, and the widescreen process changed the look of war on the screen, increasing the opportunity for Hollywood filmmakers to work on a wider canvas with greater realism. Adding the sounds of guns firing, the sight of red blood flowing, and a complex spatial continuity increased the war film's power to startle and emotionally engage the audience. Changing morality loosened censorship restrictions, so that using these new developments for an increase in gore, horror, and the depiction of death and dismemberment was acceptable.

The presentation of war movies was also influenced by moving images seen in newsreels and on television. This history of "reality" as an influence can be traced back to the late 1890s. According to the film historian Raymond Fielding, both the Spanish-American and Boer Wars were covered by film. One of the first military conflicts to be recorded on film, the Boer War in South Africa attracted motion picture cameramen from many countries following its outbreak in 1899. Fielding also points out that the footage of the 1898 Spanish-American War was a mixture of authentic and staged footage. Newsreels provided photographic news coverage well in advance of newspapers and magazines. For instance, the Mexican Revolution in 1914 was well covered by moving picture cameras, and Pancho Villa (1878–1923), the revolutionary leader, was signed to an exclusive contract by Mutual Films. Early news coverage, however, was tainted partly by the "recreation" of major events that were sold as real. One such early recreation is the 1897 "miniaturized" Battle of Manila Bay (1898), by J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E. Smith. Other famous reenactments include one on the assassination of President William McKinley (1843–1901), the sinking of the battleship Maine , the coronation of Edward VII, and the trial of Alfred Dreyfus.

Because of censorship rules and the unwillingness of military personnel to allow civilian cameramen onto the front lines, photographic coverage of World War I for newsreels was done largely by the US Signal Corps. Long-focus lenses were used, and the technical innovation of handheld cameras that did not require heavy tripods facilitated their shooting. During World War II coverage increased dramatically, although newsreels of the war were sent to Washington for review before release into theaters, largely because of military sensitivity regarding the sight of casualties or dead bodies by the civilian audience.

World War II brought an increased ability to process footage rapidly. This meant that World War II was the first war in which noncombatants could see the events soon after they occurred. Weekly newsreels that presented portions of the extensive footage shot in combat were part of every theater's regular programming during the war. There were also full-length documentaries made by the film units of the Signal Corps. The United States spent more than $50 million annually to obtain filmed coverage of World War II. By the time of the war in Vietnam, the development of lightweight television cameras and videotape allowed TV reporters to provide nightly coverage on the home screens of Americans.

Technology, whether for early newsreels, documentaries, or television, influences the fictionalized presentation of war movies in three ways: audiences develop expectations regarding the physical look of combat and narratives about war; filmmakers, having this same viewing experience, attempt to recreate the look or even include some of the footage inside their narratives; and when the filmmakers who shot the real footage in the field return to civilian life, they often bring their expertise to fiction films.

Presently, the main technological developments that influence war movies are digital. Computer-generated images allow filmmakers to create detailed and elaborate combat images at relatively low cost, and to provide new perspectives on events. Pearl Harbor , for example, showed the bombing of the U.S.S. Arizona both from above (riding a bomb directly into the hit) and below (going underwater to see the struggles of drowning men). As these processes are further developed and new technologies invented, the look of the war film will evolve accordingly, whether in terms of realism or stylized "bullet time" imagery.