Monday, 2 May 2016

Forrest Gump - Scene Analysis

Firstly, this was my first time watching Forrest Gump and it was probably one of the best movies I've seen in a while. Forrest Gump stars Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump. This romance and comedic film tells the story of a kind-hearted, caring, clueless, and courageous man named Forrest. This film follows his journey through defining moments in his life that impacted who he was. The film develops a heart warming story that leaves the audience with a life-changing lesson. Throughout the movie, the audience as well as Forrest are faced with many historic and influential figures that were present in America's history and pop culture. Some include: the Black Panthers, President JFK, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and a lot more others.

Starting off with the film's cinematography. My favorite scene is of young Forrest and Jenny going off onto their own little adventure, climbing on trees and spending time together. In this scene, the cinematographer used a variety of angles and shots. The use of different angles and shots were specifically used and helped portray a message and story beautifully.

In this snippet of the scene, when Jenny and Forrest are running to the tree, the usage of a wide and low angled shot draw emphasis to the characters as well as the tree. This shot was so distinctive and impactful because it depicted the relationship of Jenny and Forrest. It allowed the audience to understand how their friendship grew throughout the whole film, and how this one moment set and built the story up. The use of a wide and low angled shot was to allow the audience to see the setting yet still focus their attention to the characters. The tree was their safe haven, it was where Jenny felt the safest, which was when she was with Forrest. The use of the wide shot allowed the audience understand that they were always in remote and secluded areas where they could be alone together.




When Jenny and Forrest are on the tree, Jenny is reading a book while Forrest is hanging and swinging on a tree branch with the use of his legs/leg braces. In this shot, the cinematographer used both a mid shot/pan shot as well as a eye-level angle. The scene starts off with a mid shot of Jenny reading her book, soon it's a pan shot, starting with Jenny and ends off with a shot of Forrest's legs. The camera pans from Jenny to Forrest. The use of an eye-level angled allowed the audience to see them from a better angle. Instead of using a bird's eye view or a low angle, they most likely used an eye-level angle in order to draw more attention and focus onto the two characters. The use of a pan shot allowed the audience to see how different their personalities were. Jenny enjoyed reading whereas Forrest was a lot more outgoing and enjoyed playing around. This scene showed the audience that even though these two had such different personalities, they bonded and loved each other's company. As the angle changes and Forrest's legs are only in shot, Forrest's legs may have been different but Jenny accepted his flaws and found company and comfort from him. In a way, Forrest's legs was what tied/started their friendship. It could symbolize and draw emphasis that his differences and flaws are what pushed him to change everything around him. 

Carrying onto the post production process, not only was cinematography techniques precisely used, the editing was used to enhance the meaning of the story. During the tree sitting scene, some shots would go by quickly whereas some would go a lot slower. For example, in the scene of them sitting, holding each other's hand, the scene is a lot slower in order to show how time slows down once they're together. The balance between slow and fast scenes and the cuts between them showed a new day. Each cut showed a change in time or a change in day. The usage of pan starting from a lower angle to a higher angle and the editing allowed the scene to slow down which showed that Forrest would've done anything for Jenny. It showed that everything around him didn't matter so long he had Jenny. 

Sound effects as well as the soundtrack really emphasized and enhanced the theme and message of the story. The background music is soothing yet not exactly a slow tempo song. It's calming yet a bit fast paced, the background music would perfectly describe Jenny and Forrest. They can be themselves around each other, yet they can still have fun and go on adventures together. In the scene of Forrest swinging, you can hear the sound of his leg braces squeaking. The volume of the music lowers, and the sound of the squeaking is emphasized. Whereas in the scene of the sun setting, and their tiny silhouettes on the tree, the sound of crickets can be heard in the background. By using the sound of crickets, the audience is able to understand that a change in time had occurred. The audience can also understand that whenever Forrest and Jenny were together, when time passed by they continued on side by side. The soundtrack added onto the idea of time slowing down when they were together. The crickets meant that they sat there until the sun was setting, yet they still wouldn't want to leave each other's company. 

Lastly, in my opinion the narrative and the acting was crucial and probably the strongest aspect to the whole scene. Not only in this scene specifically, but in the whole film as well, Tom Hanks does an excellent job in portraying his character and his personality. Specifically in this scene, the narration enhanced the emotion and relationship between the two of them. Tom Hanks more specifically Forrest Gump, narrates the story in a way that builds and tells the audience how their childhood friendship wasn't complicated. "She helped me learn how to read, and I showed her how to swing." This quote, or part of the narration showed how easy their life was together back then, and definitely  depicted that they were young children. The usage of different terms and phrases showed the change in time and age. The acting of the female and male actors who played as young Jenny and Forrest showed the friendship and connection between both characters. The relationship, emotion, as well as connection between the two of them applied to when they both grew up. It showed that their relationship grew even stronger (even though there were a couple ups and downs) once they grew up together. As young Jenny says, "Come on Forrest, you can do it!" it shows that no matter how old they were, Jenny continued to encourage Forrest. Whether it was to run from the bullies, or during the war in Vietnam, Jenny encouraged Forrest to be true to himself and to continue "running." Jenny's words were what continued to drive Forrest even if it was just pushing him to climb up that tree. 


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