2. The films opens with an clearly stereotypical American
family (whose nationality is further emphasised by the
use of the American flag in the mies-en-scene)walking
around a war cemetery which is further identified as a
Normandy cemetery through again the mies-en-scene
of flags that of the French and American. The family
then continues to move through this cemetery being led
by an elderly man who strolls through a field of graves
to a specific one where he begins to break down and
cry. A establishing shot is used to illustrate just how
many graves there are further reinforcing the genre of
war. A close up shot of the elderly man is used to
highlight his emotion which connotes the loss of a loved
one or someone he holds dear to the extent he is able
to pick out there grave in a field full of thousands of
identical graves. The shot of his face then cuts to a mid
shot of the beach defences used during the Normandy
Landings, a text fades into the shot reading, ‘June 6th
1944.’ The audience then realise that this opening
sequence is all about the Normandy Landings and a film
genre of war and possibly a biography. The genre is
instantly picked up with the audience due to the use of
the WW2 headstones which are easily recognisable and
also the beach defences which where commonly known
to be used in WW2
3. • The characters are not very well established in the opening scene. The
main character who is the elderly man leading the family seems to hold
some sought of story however the other members of the family come off
as insignificant, so the audience cannot get an idea as to who the
protagonist or antagonist are. However can make a guess that the old man
is a solider and when the scene cuts to the Normandy beaches the
audience know that he is in fact a soldier about to land on one of the
Normandy beaches so the audience would usually immediately identify
him as the protagonist. The narrative of the story is established in the
opening scene as the film begins during the modern day, the audience
know this as the characters are wearing clothes that are quite modern and
the characters have modern hairstyles and are using modern
technology/equipment (the father is using a camera at the cemetery). The
scene then cuts to the Normandy Landings, the audience know this is in
the past as the text reads ‘June 6th 1944.’ The audience know this is in the
past as the props and costume used at the beginning of the film are more
associated with modern day.
4. The lighting at the begging of the clip is
bright to illustrate modern day but also a
lightning mood that of a bright summers
day however this soon changes as the
elderly man collapses and we are sent
back to 1944.As the scene changes the
lighting dramatically dims setting an
ambiance of war, death and dirt. Which
is also emphasised by the worms eye
view shot of the beach defences which is
used to put the audience in the point of
view of a dead solider.
5. Editing
In the beginning of the clip non diegetic
typical American anthem like music is
used entwined with diegetic birds
tweeting and background chat which
creates an atmosphere of peace and
calmness. On the other hand as the
scene switches to the Normandy
beaches the non diegetic music and
other past diegetic sound cuts off and a
diegetic realist heavy swishing of waves
is introduced to illustrate a height in
tension and to set the scene of the soon
to be dramatic and violent flashback.
6. • The opening of the flip is able to flow naturally
due to the editing of the film which keeps
simple. A shot reverse shot is used to illustrate
the elderly man leading his family and that he
is not alone whilst walking through the
graveyard. Quick fades are used to go from
shot to shot simultaneously further increasing
a feel of naturalism.
7. Titles
In the opening sequence the institution
of the film is established straight away,
the company who produced the film
‘Paramount’ is a large film corporation
who are famous for making many high
quality films such as, ‘Forrest Gump’
and ‘Titanic'. The audience now realises
that this film will be of a very high
standard as the company have a very
high reputation of success which will be
carried out further in this film as the
institution has produced the film to,
primarily, make money from the film.
