Analysis Of The Opening Of ‘Forest Gump’

Alan Silvestri

1st Scene There is a tracking shot of a white

feather, which suggests innocence and calmness to start off the film.

There is a smooth tone set as the trees are green and the camera work is flowing giving the audience relaxation before the film starts reassuring them of the context.

The writing on the screen is also white fitting in with the feather showing it is peaceful and all adds up.

This all shows how the film is going to be easy going to watch with no enigmas in place.

Music There is non-diegetic music being

played in the background that goes with the flow of the feather which starts off quiet at the start of the journey and then gets louder as the feather goes through more parts of the city building up to the film beginning.

The change of sound is noticeable and important for the audience when recognising who the main character is likely to be because as the feather gets closer to Tom Hanks the music gets louder and more instruments get added showing suspense.

2nd Scene The feather lands on a mans

shoulder for a moment making the audience think that that is the main character and this then gives the audience the uncertainty of who the main character actually is.

The feather then lands by the main characters foot showing relevance and making the audience wonder why it is on a shoe and that it must be of importance. The shoes are not very well kept showing the character to not be of very high class/status starting to introduce the character.

3rd Scene When the character picks the feather up,

the expression may show confusion of the feather as he may not be very smart or it may show being snobby as like the feather should not be touching him.

He then gets his brief out which may show him being a business man or that he doesn’t live at home and puts the feather into a page in a book that has a picture of the sky in it which relates back to where the feather came from showing relevance to the feather that that is where it belongs.

In the brief his socks and clothes are all neatly packed up showing he has been brought up well and cares about his appearance.

4th Scene He is sat up in a fixed

position may either show he may have social difficulties, or that he may be extremely confident.

These get shown throughout the whole film.

The feather gliding through the city suggests that this could have a link with the character, suggesting that he glides through his life, with ups and downs along with tragedies.

Mise-En-Scene

This is first of all shown by the shoes that Gump is wearing as it may come across to the audience that he is a teenager that doesn’t care about his appearance or that may not be very wealthy to have another pair. This then gets changed when we see his smart, clean clothing which then shows us that he is a business man but he may have financial difficulties.

How he puts the feather at the start of the book and the book starts off the same way as the film does, suggests that the film is being told by him and that he is the main character.