The film, Forrest Gump has taught and given me numerous insights to the cinematography world and what lies behind it. I believe everything happens for a reason, and if a scene is shot in a particular method, there has to be a reason or an idea to justify it. The opening scene of the film is a floating feather, which is shot in a close up. After floating for a some time in the wind, the feather finally ends up on the ground next to Forrest Gump’s shoe and stops moving. A close up of the shoe along with the feather is shown, which in my understanding interprets the importance of the feather, and the dirty shoe as well.
During the course of the opening scene the camera technique used is tracking. The director might have focused on the dirty shoe to represent Forrest’s resilience and strength to have overcome bullies and other difficulty in his life in accordance to Mrs Gump, where they’re going and where they’ve been. The close up then resumes on to Forest picking up the feather, during that specific shot the camera tilted and Forrest was presented. The camera then switched into a medium shot which is half of his body, to emphasise on Forrest’s facial expression as they are the centre of attention of the film itself.
The director played and provided emotional appeal to the audiences. The focus on Forrest was then crippled as a bus came along and blocked the view. That particular shot kept me on the edge of my seat. It is a great way to create suspense. The camera remains still until the woman who comes off the bus sits on the bench next to Forrest. The, camera quickly zooms into a close up of Forrest’s face, where he squints, to unveil that there is a flashback coming up. In my observation, the most common angle put to use is POV, perhaps it is to expose us to how Forrest Gump, perceives the world.
One of many examples is when forrest is in the army, many close up shot were put to use, either to show wounds from war or blood. It gives meaning to the hardihood that the soldiers had to face at that point of time. Apart from that, it was discussed in class that Close Ups are often used to showcase the facial expression of an actor, similarly in Forrest Gump, numerous looks were seized. During Forrest’s big Ping-Pong battle, there are many extreme close ups were focused on his eyes to show his willpower to achieve triumph.
Also there is Over the Shoulder shot has been implemented regularly in this film which I assume is to show dominance, facial expression and communication. This placement of the camera also shows the viewer what Gump sees, though not exactly “through his eyes”, but close enough to give the viewers a sense. There was also eye level shot involved, this is a smart move because it stirs up emotion in the audiences. It adds tension because the audience almost take after Forrest’s shoes. Besides that, the natural lighting as well as humour lifted up the mood of the movie.
It came into my senses that most scenes of the movie was shot on a rather forlorn day. It gave a kick to the emotional scenes as I understand that the director chose gloomy whether to complement the scene. Last but not least, the director played with camera angles and movements very well. In this case, the depth of field. Depth of field refers to the range of distance that appears acceptably sharp. Normally, when a character comes into the frame, he will be in focus, but in some shots, the director has put the focus on the audiences to point out to the viewers to also observe Forrest’s audience
