Forrest Gump Title Sequence Analysis

Forrest Gump – Title Sequence Analysis

The genre of this film is drama we can recognize this due to the noticeable absence of distinguishable features for example if you are watching a horror film we are expecting to see blood and knives whereas in a drama the expectations are less clear as the narrative tends to focus on character as opposed to iconography this becomes clear when we recognize that forrest is the star power of tom hanks. 

As the sequence begins we see a feather floating in the sky and slowly floating around a small suburban town in America. Due to the cars, style of people’s clothes and the retro trainers which Forrest is wearing in the sequence we can tell that the movie is set in the 80’s. Some of the buildings that we see in this sequence can also signify the time period which this movie is set in.

The floating feather is very significant in this sequence it represents forests life throughout the movie. The feather went wherever the wind took it and by chance it landed at forests feet. This suggests that metaphorically Forrest is the feather and he never tried to control his destiny just like the feather and he went wherever life took him.  

  Throughout the sequence one camera shot is used which is a crane, which then goes into a steadicam. This shot establishes the setting and sets the scene for the movie. The scene, which is established, is a small town in America.

 Small towns are often used for drama movies because it is the ideal setting to represent this genre. The Drama genre also tends to exhibit real life situations along with having characters that participate in everyday jobs, and living an everyday life which makes it seem very realistic to the audience. Having these specific features signify to us that the genre will be drama. The title sequence also creates an enigma for us as the audience because we want to know why the feather has landed at Forrest’s feet and nobody else’s. Automatically by the feather landing there by chance it makes us as the audience think why?

   The music that is used in the title sequence which is produced by Allan silvestri is very orchestral using a lot of stringed instruments and also a piano. The music used also fits the setting very well because as we are watching the feather slowly fall by having the stringed instruments and the piano in the background creates a very peaceful angelic atmosphere. The music gradually gets louder as we are finally going to find out the destination of the feather and as it gets closer to Forrest this creates good suspense because we are finally getting to find out where this mysterious feather is about to land.