Apocolypse Now
Many film critics and movie goers alike say that Apocalypse Now is one of the best movies ever made due to its originality and trend-setting approach to cinema. The viewer, in the very first scene of this Francis Ford Coppola sensation, can see this. As most movies begin, the viewer is generally introduced to the cast and the production team that was involved in the film by way of credits or a title screen of some form. In Apocalypse Now however, The title of the film appears as graffiti toward the end of the film in the complex presided over by Kurtz. Instead of an orthodox opening scene, Ford Coppola provides a lyrical, slow moving opening sequence that is a combination of cinematography, music and hallucinatory images from the brutal war in Vietnam. As the movie begins, the scene fades in from black to a darkened daylight or dusk period in a green-canopied jungle of palm trees that are swaying in the wind tranquil wind. There is a sound bridge, which starts as the screen is black and continues through the fading transition to place the impending helicopter sounds now in the middle of this Vietnam jungle. The (chuk-chuk-chuk) sounds of the helicopter are the only diegetic sounds that the viewer en
counters in this scene however the most prominent sound is in fact non-diegetic and comes in the form of The Doors song "The End. As the bright orange and pockets of black smoke now fill the what was once blue and green setting, the scene takes on a hell-like look with the entire screen engulfed in fire and smoke. The face, which is upside-down, stays stationary as the jungle, which is now in the background of the scene, continues to track to the left continuously. This particular scene ends by the fading out of the fan and the up-close face of the Lieutenant. This action forms a sense of unity in the film and parallelism that can be seen in the aesthetic make-up of the scene. At this point the camera is moving left catching helicopters, explosions with fire and smoke and a thick napalm cloud still present. As there is a deep focus on, even as the camera moves it is easy to place the helicopter in the right depth on the screen because of the focus done on screen. The passing of the helicopter signals the playing of the song and a yellowish haze is cast around the area, presumably napalm that had just been dropped. Either way, the shakiness along with the grainy film quality create a very war-like setting and place the viewer not only in a jungle during a war, but gives them a timeline that this wasn't World War 1 or 2 due to the camera quality, but also wasn't in the future such as World War 3 as well. Just as the chopper passes four explosions erupt two on the left side of the screen and two on the right. The helicopters also seem to fly in different depths depending on each one. As the second helicopter of the movie approaches, the diegetic sounds of the blades gets louder to give the sense that not only is it getting closer to where the viewer is placed, but also that the placement of the viewer is the prime location for the activity which is about to unfold. As the next scene begins the jungle that was once the background becomes now the foreground and the music continues to play. The movement occurring on the left hand of the screen where Lt. Shortly after the close up of the passing helicopter, a close up shot of Lieutenant Willard's (Martin Sheen) face fades into the scene and becomes superimposed over the jungle scene.
Common topics in this essay:
Ford Coppola,
Lt Willard's,
World War,
Martin Sheen,
,
ford coppola,
Kurtz Instead,
jungle background,
helicopters fly,
moving background,
continues track left,
fly past jungle,
deep focus,
lt willard's,
fire smoke,
left hand screen,
fly past,
ceiling fan,
passing helicopter,
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Acceptance Essays
