Research into a War Opening scene

Hacksaw Ridge (2016)

Director: Mel Gibson 

Studio: Fox Studios

Main Cast: Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Luke Bracey

 From the beginning shot of this scene we are presented with the theme of violence and suffering. We expect the rest of the film to be based of violence and war as well because of the first scene where we are shown dead soldiers covered in blood. We know that the film will not hide any aspects of gore or try and make it look less shocking than it is. As right from the beginning the audience is shocked by the terrors of what the war holds. I think that the rest of the film will also involve a lot of death, this is due to the fact from the first few seconds we see 7 dead bodies and it doesn't seem like anyone cares about them or is taking the bodies away, so therefore is a normal thing amongst these soldiers, meaning it has happened a lot and will continue to have a lot more deaths. Following this, we also see a lot more people being blown up and on fire flying across the field so the lack of value for human life is definitely portrayed. 

 The first shot is unreserved and is not sugarcoating anything, so therefore shows it would be for an older audience due to the gore and how straightforward and direst it is with showing this right from the beginning. We also can tell that it is for an older audience from the quite dull colours used as this usually wouldn't interest children very much. 

The genre of the film is set up as this first scene is shown on the front lines of a war-field. We see explosions, fire and injuries. All of these things are associated with war so therefore we can quickly make the connotation that the film is about war. Another thing that sets up the genre is the costumes that the characters are wearing. They are wearing typical things that soldiers would wear in the war, therefore giving us a clear picture of what is happening. 

In this opening scene, we aren't introduced to any specific character, other than one, and we just see a lot of different people on the battlefield. I think this highlights the fact these soldiers lives were treated and seen as quite insignificant and it shows how people struggle to see then as personal individuals, and just as a group of soldiers. We hardly see any of their faces, which adds to this illusion that all the soldiers are just a group of people taking part in the war, and not separate people with individual personalities. However the people we do see are shown as being quite strong, as most of them are running through a field of bombs and fire. We are only really introduced to one individual for a few seconds, were we firstly see a shot of him being carried on a stretcher, then it cuts to a POV shot through his eyes of him lying on the stretcher. About a minute later it goes back to him and we see his face and his injured leg as he is being carried. We can guess that from this he may go on the be the main character of this film. 

As we see the point of view of the man on the stretcher there is a diegetic sound effect of his heart beat, this makes the audience feel more connected to him and helps us get a sense of his fear and emotions. We also know his name as right at the end, one of the people carrying him says 'hang on Desmond'.  This contrasts to the other soldiers as we do not get any factors to help us see their emotions at all. 

The whole of this opening sequence is in slow motion, this puts emphasis on what is going on as when dramatic things such as bombs going off happen, it feels like to us that it is happening in slow motion. It also wouldn't be ad effective in usual speed as it would be over in a few seconds, therefore having it in slow motion gives us more time to process and think about it. 

I think one of the most key moments in this scene is when we see the soldiers stumbling towards the camera as they are on fire, showing moments before their death. As we see them, the camera does a fast motion pan to show what else is happening, which shows us how much is going on and this is only one of the many shocking things to occur.

Throughout the scene we hear a diegetic soundtrack which is very dramatic and consists of violins playing slowly underneath the diegetic sounds of the war and screams of the soldiers in slow motion. About one minute in we hear a diegetic voice over which sounds like an old man. It sounds hopeful and is talking about if you have hope in the lord then they will win the war.

The editing techniques that have been used are the contrast in colours, especially in this moment with the fire. As throughout the scene, all of the people and the surroundings are very dull colours. The only colour we really see is the fire and the blood which are very bright. This draws our eyes to them and highlights the pain.

I think that this is a successful opening scene as it is very shocking and engaging and we can find out a lot about the film from this first few minutes.