Jarhead opening sequence
The opening sequence to jarhead starts with a black screen and the main character (scoff) narrating. He starts speaking and the narrative is quite daunting in the way he speaks. He speaks in a way that you would expect a man who has been haunted by war to speak. He starts by saying “a story- a man fires a rifle for many years...he goes to war... afterwards he turns the rifle in at the armoury and assumes he is finished with it. But no matter what else he does with his hands...love a woman...build a house...change his sons diaper...his hands will always remember the rifle.’’ This quote has connotations that the narrator is the person he is speaking about. Also the monotone voice he speaks in gives connotations of a man who is speaking from experience and telling the story solemnly because it has affected him. The fact that it is spoken with no image also makes the viewer extremely involved with the narrative and actually listens to it. The scene then cuts to a drill hall and has a mid shot of the main character. A man begins shouting loudly but the camera stays on swoff who stares directly at it only glancing away for a second, breaking one of the cardinal rules of film. However the shot works extremely well and draws the viewer in then in simple writing the title of the film appears in a relatively small font at the bottom of the screen. This is not typical of the average film in this genre where bold titles flash up and attack the viewer this is softer and in my view far more effective. The camera then cuts to a pristine white hall with a group of soldiers in perfect lines setting up the basis that it is an army film and the soldiers have already begun training. This is also something that isn’t typical of the genre as war films will usually give the main character a back story and reason to enlist. The man shouting is saying that race is no longer relevant people aren’t white black brown etc they are green. Giving connotations of ownership of these men by the army. The camera then cuts to a two shot of the staff sergeant and swoff where the staff sergeant fist commends his father for fighting in Vietnam then says its ‘’too f@*#ing bad’’ that he didn’t die. This is a scene that is showing he is being bullied into submission by the army and that people’s lives don’t matter. Then the staff sergeant is deliberately trying to make him buckle by calling him gay and asking him if he loves him. When swoff replies no he shouts at him for not saying he is beautiful. This scene shows further that the man is bullying him by putting him in a catch 22 situation. The scene then cuts a little in the future where he has drawn on a chalkboard a layout of a footlocker. The staff sergeant then goes on to say it is a scrappy drawing and starts shouting then he puts him on his knees and starts slapping him hard in the back of the head and asking questions. When swoff says he can’t concentrate when being slapped he shouts in his face again with the truth of ‘’ how do you expect to fire a rifle with live grenades going off in your face’’ he then says why are you here. Then swoff shouts back I got lost on my way to collage. This gives a good character setting as it shows that he is obedient and almost subservient up to a certain point when he will crack. The staff sergeant then smashes his face off the chalkboard and the shot freezes. It then goes back to the narration and he says when I met staff sergeant mayors I realised I had made a poor decision to join the Marine Corps. This opening 2 minutes sets up the rest of the film perfectly as it shows the setting of it the mood of it and the fact that the main character already hates it.
