Analaysis of a worldwide hit movie intro; Forrest Gump

Forrest Gump is an Oscar winning movie that has touched and influenced many people of different age ranges. Forrest Gump can be classed as a hybrid movie in terms of target audience as the movie appeals to all ages. It is a simple and easy story to follow that captivates audiences and creates huge ammounts of sympathy with a heart warming storyline.

The opening sequence for Forrest Gump is one of symbolism. Initatially, the scene opens with a single white feather in the ambience of the clear blue sky. The use of a white feather holds connotation of purity and innocence which coincides with the main character. The feather for the duration of the opening is being influenced by the wind, somewhat like a free spirit. The feather intertwines with the opening credits which include actors and crew. The feather flows up and down which represents up's and down's in the main characters life. The feather also shows moments on kindness and tenderness which is shown by the slow resting on a mans shoulder. Contrasting with this it also shows moments of danger like when the feather passes under a car which is followed by a fast upwards motion which then ends up with the same slow progression in movement. This represents that he will face danger but his personality will always revert back to the same state of which is calm. The still intact feather also moves from area to area around New York which represents a clear sense of travel and movement which coincides with the main characters journey through the movie.

Finally, the feather comes to rest gently on a pair of muddy sneakers. These muddy sneakers belong to the main character who is in a suit which doesn't create a stereotype as the muddy sneakers contrast with the formal suit. The main character then picks up the feather and puts in into a childrens book.This respresents the characters mindset as he is very 'simple' which also very caring as he looks at the feather with love and admiration.

Audience Research

Horror
We have researched into this genre as we are very keen to portray this is in our final piece. Our audience feedback has informed us to 'leave it to out viewers imagination' as this is the most effective style of horror film making. Examples of this are 'Paranormal activity' which has won many awards for it's style. We have also been advised that we need to have a almost immediate impact on our audience as if the viewer is not taken in after the first 5 minutes of a film then there is a quite low chance of them continuing.

Comedy
Our audience feedback shows that there are numerous different types of people that enjoy the many different types of comedies that out society has to offer. One comedy may be very popular with one set of people but to another it might be despised. The most effective type of comedy that my research has shown is slapstick. E.G. Mr Bean and Aiplane.

Willing suspension of disbelief (Horror)

The ability to make a viewer engrossed into a film so that they are heavily involved and attached emotionally to the film. Things that then happen into the movie will affect them more and draw out more attention and emotion, consequently making the viewer enjoy the movie to a higher extent.

Lighting

Here is a poster from the famous movie 'Hostage'. In our media lesson today we have been learning about all different types of lighting methods and most simple methods have been used in this poster.

Key Lighting;

This is the main lighting source and in this poster is coming from the right hand side. This is evident because the left hand side of Bruce Willis's face is illuminated and the left hand side is in shadow.

Backing Lighting;

A very simple method of lighting that creates a halo effect on the edges of the actors body to make him stand out from the background. This also coincides with the background of a helicopter as it has the effect that the helicopters main light is what is creating this halo effect upon his left shoulder and follwing down his left arm.

Audience feedback

Me, Isaac and Luke pitched our three main ideas to the rest of the class to get their audience feedback to inprove our final production.

Surprisingly, our romantic idea got the best feedback and was described as original. Unfortunately, I made this idea up within two minutes without much thought. Our main idea (Horror) was described as 'cliché' so we will adapt to improve this.

After a lot of ciritism we will discuss and improve our idea and hopefully move forward.

Idea 3; Comedy

 This is our third choice genre. Obviously a comedy would be the hardest genre to do as in if the examiner has a different sense of humour then we would most probably struggle to secure the grade we desire.

Our initial idea would be slapstick as statistic shows this is the most effective. An example of this would be the hit movie ‘Airplane’ which is now revered as one, if not the best comedy of all time.

Idea 2; Romantic

Our second idea is very contrasting to the first as the genre is Romantic. The movie will scenes from the two main characters past. Childhood sweethearts through the majority of their childhood spending days upon days together. Perfection, only to be ruined by a family move to the city of New York. As the children are only Teenagers they don’t have any legal power to prevent the move and only have to concede that their love was not meant to be.

Present Day; The male female main character has also moved to New York in her mid 20’s with more than 10 years difference from her childhood sweetheart to pursue her dream of becoming a journalist. Numerous shots will be shot of both characters, Journalist and lawyer just narrowly missing each other in different situations. E.G. One walks into a business establishment while one walks out an opposite door. 

Finally, they meet due to a freak accident. (Accident not decided yet) Their eyes meet and the rest is fate.

Idea 1; Horror

Our first idea is focused around the genre Horror. It begins with a small girl sitting in a corner of a room alone singing to herself (A ring a ring a roses). She is emotional and has running mascara down her young face. Then the door creaks open and a male figure enters with a wrench in his right hand. The camera shot then turns to his face and a smirk consequently follows. When he walks closer and closer to the girl her singing get’s steadily faster to symbolise adrenaline and pure fear. The music fastens at this point with her singing, when the singing gets to the fastest point a bang will follow with complete darkness. This is when we will start the credits. This whole previous scene will be in black and white to symbolise the past.

Present day; (In Colour)

A young girl is socialising with her friends at the end of school, she starts walking home by herself maybe on her phone talking to a friend. The shot will be following her from the side with a horizontal panning shot to track her movement. She walks past a tree with the same man leaning on it with a newspaper masking his face. As soon as she passes he looks at her walking off, folds up the newspaper and starts to slowly follow her.

Merlin Introduction Review (35 secs)

1-3 seconds; Water effect across full screen.
4-6 seconds; Fade to medium shot of main character (Merlin) with his whole body shaded so only outline is visisible.
8-10 seconds; Very fast zoom to extreme close up of Merlins eye.
11 seconds; Extreme close up of Merlins eye with colour transition of green to yellow.
11-12 seconds; Title 'Merlin' with glossy glare effects.
13-17 seconds; Establishing shot with enviornment mostly made up of trees with Prince Arthur and Merlin on a horse moving from left to right. Panning shot used to follow their movement. (Horizontal)
17-20 seconds; Long shot of both characters coming to a slow hault. Again, horizontal panning shot used to track movement.
21-24 seconds; Medium shot of Merlin looking worried. Horizontal panning shot used once again to track his movement on horseback.
24-26 seconds; Establishing shot of destination. A what looks like 'magical/olden decrepid castle' which very subtle zoom used.
26-27 seconds; Medium shot of Prince Arthur with small ammount of dialogue. Camera position is fixed while Arthur moves around while controlling his horse.
27-29 seconds; Zoomed out shot, but still medium shot of both characters. Camera position is fixed once again which symbolises no movement.
30-31 seconds; Switches back to medium shot of only Arthur with more dialogue. Camera position fixed.
31-35 seconds; Switches once again to medium shot of Merlin while Arthur rides off in front of Merlin hiding him from view for a approximately a second. Camera angle on Merlin is fixed so implies Arthurs movement as very fast.

Movement and angles

Tracker

A tracker shot is a shot that follows a person or object, this is done on a track or dolly so that the camera has a smooth 'feeling' and doesn't get disturbed by bumps.

Crane

A crane shot is used to show different height difference and is mainly used in an establishing shot or the final shot in a movie. Also shows the surroundings and environment.

Tilt

Camera angle that looks up or down at the object being photographed, instead of being on the same level. Tilt shots are usually more dramatic than straight-angle shots. It can be used to show power by looking up at someone, oppositely it can be used to show someone with no authority by looking down at them.

Pan

Panning is the horizontal or vertical movement of the camera to show. Panning is used to follow the action in the scene or can also be uswed to show the surroundings (establishing shot).

Different shot types

Camera shots

Establishing shot/Extreme long shot;

This shot, pretty simply shows the scene. The surrounding environment and a small figure of the main character within the shot. Also known as ELS

Long shot;

This shot shows a whole characters body but closer to the camera than the extreme long shot. Still shows them in terms of their surroundings, this shot may also be known as the establishing shot. Also known as LS

Medium long shot;

Again shows the whole body but more features can be noticed. Retains the setting clearly in 'MISE-EN-SCÉNE' Also known as MLS

Medium shot;

This shot mainly is between the boundaries of knee/waist to just above the head. It may also be known as 'mid-shot' or 'three-quarter shot'. Also known as MS

Medium close up;

Boundaries from mid-chest to top of the head. Much more detail is perceieved and is one out of the two main shot's used in 'SHOT REVERSE SHOT'. Also known as MCU

Close up;

Boundaries showing only shoulders to head. A lot of facial detail and is used to show emotion and feelings. It is the second shot which can be used in 'SHOT REVERSE SHOT'. Also known as CU

Extreme close up;

This shot focussing on specific portions of a characters face or object used in a scene. Can slo show extreme fear or emotion perceived by the eyes. Also known as ECU