The movie I chose for the analysis is “Forrest Gump,” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks. The main focus of the movie is the life of Forrest Gump, a simple man with low IQ and good intentions who goes through many significant events of the second half of the twentieth century. For my analysis, I chose the opening scene of the movie. It consists mostly of wide shots followed by medium close-ups showing first a feather and then Forrest.
Particularly, wide shots are used to show the floating feather, and medium close-ups are used to show the feather falling down near Forrest’s feet. In terms of camera movement, it pans and tilts in order to follow the feather. The entire opening scene consists of one single shot. The angle of the camera does not change before the arrival of the bus at the bus stop. The editor decided to choose one long shot without any interruption in the opening scene in order to show all the way the feather traveled to get to Forrest Gump, thereby creating an adventurous and thoughtful atmosphere of life sustained by calm music.
The setting of the scene is a small and peaceful town. It is relatively new, as buildings look modern and clean. The pacing is chiefly slow but with several sharp turns caused by the movement of the feather. In my opinion, this particular pacing was created to sustain the atmosphere of life and adventures, which is mostly peaceful but sometimes interrupted by extreme and unexpected moments. Finally, regarding the cutting, there are no cuts in the opening scene, as it is made of one single shot. However, the first cut that appears after this scene is a type of a jump cut, namely an axial cut when the camera zooms out, and the shot changes from wide to establishing in order to show the park where Forrest is sitting, and the approaching bus.