Research into the war "Apocalypse Now" scene.

 The "Apocalypse Now" 

was directed by Francis Ford Coppola in 1979, the studio that produced it was Omni Zoetrope, the studio that was running for 51 years.

 The budget of this film in total was about $ 31 million

The total gross across the globe was about $ 150 million, which leaves us with a $ 119 million profit from that film.

The main cast was:

                                                 Interesting fact about the cast:

                       During filming Martin Sheen ( played Capitan Benjamin) had a heart attack, however, he continued acting. 

The narrative that is given to us, is that there is one main character. Who is throughout the opening is laying on the bed. We can also see the parts of the bombshells exploding, helicopters. As well as that we can see that the man is tired of fighting, probably from fighting the war, we can assume so, due to a gun laying on the bed, next to a man. We can also assume that the main character used to fight in the war by the editing technique -- dissolve/crossfade, so it gives us an idea that it is either connected to the main character or that it is flashbacks from the war I guess.  The film is most likely to be about life after the war, how the main character is trying to go on after the end of the war.

The target audience is probably men 18 years old and up. We can suggest so, due to the lack of feminine representative. We can suggest that the film will be 18 and up by the big amount of explosion, guns in the frame.

I can assume that the film will be about either war or post-war life by mise-en-scene created throughout the opening scene and by the mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The examples of diegetic sound used in the scene are the sound of a helicopter flying. Throughout the scene, it becomes intenser as the scene goes on. We tend to associate sound and the look of helicopter either with the war or with very rich people because as well as helicopter we are given several explosions in the scene we can assume that the film is going to be about the war. Talking about non-diegetic sounds we have throughout almost all opening scenes a calm song which tells about that something has finished and given circumstances of all listed above we can assume that the war is over for the main character (which is also shown in the opening scene). We also get a voice-over at the end of the scene that also tells us that the main character fought a war.

We can assume that there will be one main character in the film. This tells us several editing techniques as well as the idea of introducing the audience with only one character. One of the editing techniques that was used and made it clear that the film will mainly be about that character is a wipe. Also, the colors in both mise-en-scenes were dark and had a dark tone, which also has a connotation of something bad, scary, and sometimes even dangerous.

To work through that opening scene, I have decided to discuss some of the key moments in my opinion of the opening scene of "Apocalypse Now" film 1979. One of these moments is just the beginning of the scene. So, it starts with a black to fade editing technique, which suggests to us that it is either the next day after something, from what is the story going to talk about. It had a tracking camera movement to show some parts of mise-en-scene like the location. Talking about sound, in the beginning, we have a lack of sound, while we are having a black screen, after a moment we are starting to have an ambient, diegetic sound of a flying helicopter, that we can assume is flying around a space. We can make such an assumption, due to having noise first in more left par, after in more right and then in the center. And then, when we are finally given a location, the director introduces us to a soundtrack that goes throughout the scene. The other scene that I have decided to talk about is the ending, where we have most of the frame filled with the main character. In terms of sound, we get a diegetic sound of a helicopter that then sound bridges within a non-diegetic sound -- voice-over (VO). In this part of the scene, that technique is used to show what are the thoughts of the main character as he looks outside of his window. The mise-en-scene of this part of the opening scene is pretty cozy, comfortable, with a home, warm lighting. which suggests to us that it is the character's home. The camera is stabilized throughout that part of the scene, to show the importance of that character, which also once again accents the fact that in this film there will be one main character. In terms of camera angles used, there was used a Close Up(CU) to show the facial expression of the character, and also to pay attention to the beard and that he is drinking alcohol -- all of that connotes that the character is going through a rough time at that time in the film. The second was Mid Shot (MS) to shows the parts of props and the costume of the character connotes even more about rough times for the character. Continuing with editing techniques, we had a cut, to show the change of the state of character, from standing up to laying down. Eye-line-match was also used from the road back to CU of the character -- connotes that the rest of the scene will be about the character's emotions about that road/street.

To conclude, I believe it was a good opening scene for the war film. It clearly shows what is the film going to be about, it also (as it should) introduces the main character, you have a clear understanding of what you were just shown in the opening scene. Although, I would add a little bit more, perhaps some flashbacks of the main character being on the previous wars or maybe even fights. That would give the audience more information and a taste of the main character, it would also, however, show more of the war genre elements. 

Here is an actual opening scene of a war film "Apocalypse Now" 1979.