Before the audience are introduced into any mise en scene or characters, the title of the film and main character credits are shown briefly. This is supported by no music and is there to inform the audience, and only this as the font is very plain. As well as this there is white writing on a dark background, which is unusual and is perhaps used to highlight the actor’s names and the title of the film.
As the scene opens there is the image of an American flag rippling in the wind. It fills up the screen, which exaggerates e importance of the flag to the audience. Also the sound of trumpets begins playing as the flag fills the screen. The trumpets signify a military tone to the scene. The absence of any characters at this point highlights the fact that the music and image are for memorial purposes, and exemplifies the feeling of sadness to the audience. The music then abruptly stops and the rippling becomes more intense.
Following on from this the scene changes to an over the shoulder shot of a family following the grandpa. (The camera is tracking the characters). They are walking down a busy pathway, in silence. There are trees and greenery surrounding the pathway. Background noises such as footsteps and mutterings of extras are the main sounds in this part of the scene. This exaggerates the severity of the opening of the film and foreshadows the severity of the whole film. In terms of the location and set there is a nature essence as there are trees and grass, this complements the silence as for example the setting was dark and unnatural it would be out of place. I think this is a good technique to use as the calm mood being set up by the film is also setting a calm mood for the audience.
The music then returns and the shot turn to a close up, of from what the audience has seen, of the main character. The characters at this point are all stationary. The characters are all in casual clothes, and at this point are all stood behind the main character, which again gives the audience the idea of his importance. The scenery is mainly dismissed at this point to highlight the facial expression on the old man’s face which seems to be sadness/recollection. This implies to the audience that there is going to be a flashback of the actual story to outline the context of the current situation.
Apart from the immediate cut from the flag to the scene at the beginning of the clip, there has been continuity editing from what I can see (not many editing features up to this point). The lack of editing techniques could be to amplify the sensitivity of where the characters are, for example the use of a jump cut in this opening clip would be inappropriate to the context.
The shot then changes, first the audience are shown the American flag using Steadicam, then the image cuts to a shot of the French flag. Both flags are rippling in the wind. The trumpet music is still playing (again continuing with the theme of war/memorial) the shot then returns to a close up of the old man as he begins moving, the camera tracks the character as he does this. The scene then changes to an extreme long shot as the family begin to walk over an open field. As they are walking, headstones are beginning to make up the scenery the audience then realise that all the connotations to do with war and remembrance are relevant to the scene.
The man is frantically looking around and looks uneasy. He then walks past a stationary character dressed in formal wear that seems to have medals on his blazer; the scene is now full of cross shaped headstones which create tranquillity. (In the background there are a man and a boy walking hand and hand through the field).
The scene then focuses again on the man, his family are seen from over his shoulder as he approaches a specific headstone and breaks down on to his knees. The sound of choking and crying escapes the man as his family are seen in the shot to hurry over and comfort him.
The trumpets continue to play and take the role of the primary sound in this opening scene. The camera pans the field with headstones, and then goes to some close up shots of a few headstones so the audience can see some names.
The camera then zooms to a close up of the old man’s face, slowly. The zooming continues into an extreme close up. The scene is then overtaken by the sound of waves and cuts straight into the next scene at the end of the extract, which begins the build up of drama for the action scene that follows the opening.
Jasmin McDonald
alice dew as media blog 