Analysis of 'Forest Gump'

Genre - 

Forest Gump is a mixture of many genres -  it is mainly a romance-comedy-drama not aimed at any age specifically. The opening however does not give that much away as it does not really tell the viewer much about the themes or narrative of the film. The opening largely consists of the camera following a feather as it lands on the main characters feet, however this does not really tell us much about the film other than the genre is going to be dramatic and is going to be partly light-hearted but not meaningless. The audience gets the feeling that the film will be largely a drama as the opening sequence - the combination of the sound, colour and lighting used and the feather - suggests this, as well as using a very sensible font style which suggests the genre of the film. Furthermore, the lack of screening of any characters for the first couple of minutes, only the feather, portrays an idea of mystery and adds this idea to the dramatic genre.

Narrative / Character - 
The audience is not given much about the narrative of this film as the opening does not give too much away - other than we see a feather fluttering around which could portray the storyline. In terms of character, we are only given a few seconds of screen time from the main character, Forest Gump, however we are presented with a white feather that flutters around the main character. The colour of this feather, white, is important as it represent ideas of innocence and vulnerability and could be argued as representing the character Gump, which the feather then lands on. Similarly, the feather's path could also be representing the character Gump's life, as it is very fluttery and sporadic.

Sound - 
In terms of sound, the audience is presented with a non-diegetic soundtrack that perfectly mirrors what is happening in the opening with the feather. This sound is perfect for drama as it has all the conventions that a dramatic piece, it builds tension at tense moments, but is also quite an upbeat song and is slow when needed to be. The soundtrack perfectly portrays the dramatic feel of the film.

Lighting / Atmosphere -
The Lighting of this piece is very bright and light to show how the film is going to be light-hearted and fun, however the sky in the opening is grey and this therefore portrays the idea that the film is going to be completely meaningless it is going to have an aspect of seriousness and drama in it. the colour grey suggest this as it is not dark and completely black like a serious drama, however it is not white and meaningless / innocent - it is somewhere in between. The themes of this opening sums up the concept of the film for the audience.

Titles - 

The titles in this opening are small, other than the main actor (Tome Hanks), the title of the film (Forest Gump) and the director of the film. The font used is a very sensible and uninteresting font, it just tells you what you need to know, without taking away from what's on screen. This is different from other films that have black screen when the title comes up as it does not try to catch all the attention, it also wants peoile to keep watching what else is on screen. Similarly, the sensibility of the font connotes and portrays the type of film the audience is about to watch - a drama.