The scene that I chose to do a shot by shot analysis of is the iconic scene in Forrest Gump when Forrest, sitting at the bus stop, tells the story about how the first time he ran without his leg braces. This is not only one of my favorite scenes, but it also is a very important part in building the plot of the movie. I love the use of camera movement as well as the use of depth during the chase scenes to show the distance between the bullies and Forrest. I also loved how they were able to seamless transition from Forrest narrating the story to a flashback of the story as it he is telling it. So without further ado, lets begin!
The scene opens with a medium two shot of Forrest Gump and a woman sitting at the bus stop. This scene shows Forrest talking to the woman, who isn’t actually paying attention to him. By putting her in the forefront of the shot, it emphasizes to the fact that she isn’t actually paying attention to him, but Forrest tells her his story anyway due to his intellectual disability. CUT TO...
The scene opens with a medium two shot of Forrest Gump and a woman sitting at the bus stop. This scene shows Forrest talking to the woman, who isn’t actually paying attention to him. By putting her in the forefront of the shot, it emphasizes to the fact that she isn’t actually paying attention to him, but Forrest tells her his story anyway due to his intellectual disability. CUT TO...
A medium shot of a young Jenny and Forrest from behind with Forrest's home in the distance, where suddenly Forrest gets hit in the back of the head with a rock. This scene is shot from behind them to show that whoever threw the rock at him was behind him. At the end of this shot, Jenny looks behind her. CUT TO...
An extreme wide shot of the three boys who are bullying Forrest with their bicycles. This is the first shot in the scene where we see the full setting: they are on a desolate dirt road, the perfect place to pick on Forrest without getting caught. This shot also shows the leader of the pack pick up a second rock from the road. CUT TO...
A medium close up of Forrest turning around to look at the bullies while Jenny watches them as well. However, he quickly gets hit in the head again, this time facing the camera so the view can see his reaction as the blow hit him. The second rock hits him so hard it it obvious that he is going to fall down backwards. Just as he is about to fall out of the frame, CUT TO...
A wide low angle shot of the bullies with Forrests feet in the foreground of the frame as he falls to the ground. This shot was an interesting way to show the bullies continue to taunt him although he is on the ground. This also allows the audience to see that Forrest is still wearing his leg braces. By putting him at a lower level than the bullies, this along wiht his braces showing enhances the idea that Forrest is helpless in this situation. CUT TO...
A high angle shot of Forrest on the ground at Jenny’s feet as she grabs his hand to help him up. It is shot from behind his head, keeping with the flow from the previous scene. This shot includes a tilt up, so that the viewer can see she is helping him, with the motion allowing the audience to keep Forrest in the frame while showing him as he starts to get off the ground. CUT TO...
A medium two shot of Jenny and Forrest as she helps him stand up fully. I believe they chose to quickly show this cut to because they didn’t want to break up the continuity of the scene by keeping to the 180 degree rule. CUT TO...
A medium slightly low angle shot of the bullies as the leader and one of the other boys pick up rocks and throw them at Forrest for the third time. This is the closet shot of the bullies thus far with each previous shot getting closer than the first. This symbolizes that the bullies’ are getting more confident and are starting to close in on Forrest. CUT TO...
A medium two shot of Jenny and Forrest. Forrest is at a profile, and is shown getting hit again with the rocks that were thrown from the previous shot. Getting to see his profile while he is getting hit allows the audience to realize that although getting hit hurts him, he doesn’t seem to be scared because his learning disability causes him to not comprehend that he is being bullied. CUT TO...
A medium close up of Forrest and Jenny with the bullies behind them as they scurry for more rocks to throw at Forrest. This is the first time the audience has seen Forrest with his back to the bullies as Jenny pushes him forward and tells him to run away. As she pushes him, CUT TO...
A medium shot of Jenny pushing Forrest from behind, showing him start to limp towards the safety of his home. CUT TO...
Return to the medium slightly low angle shot of the bullies as the leader throws one last rock while the other two rush to get on their bicycles. CUT TO...
A medium close up of the bikes as the boys quickly pick them up off the ground so that they can chase Forrest down. With a quick tilt up (following the movement of the bicycles) the boys hop on their bikes and begin to chase Forrest down. CUT TO...
A wide shot of the boys on their bicycles passing Jenny as they race towards Forrest. As they pass out of the frame, Jenny runs toward the camera so that she is slightly left of the center of the frame. This allows for her looking room to be towards Forrest as she watches him try to run away. It’s at this point that she says her iconic line, “Run Forrest, Run!”. CUT TO...
A wide shot of Forrest as he waddles away with his home in the distance. This shot shows movement as it moves with him because the camera keeps Forrest to the left of the frame. The movement of the camera makes the viewer feel as if they are running with him. As he is running, Forrest looks back to see how far away he is from the bullies. CUT TO...
A wide POV shot of the bullies on riding their bicycles toward him. Although the camera is moving away from them, the bullies ride closer into the frame, showing that they are slowly catching up to him. CUT TO...
A medium close up of Forrest looking back forward as he continues to run away from the bullies. CUT TO...
An extreme wide shot with Forrest in the foreground. Using a slightly shallow depth of field, the attention of the viewer is drawn to how the braces limit the use of Forrest’s legs, but in the background (although slightly out of focus) you can see the bullies on their bikes coming toward him. CUT TO...
Returning to the close up of Forrest from the previous shot, showing him as he looks back again. He is obviously struggling at this point. CUT TO...
A low angle close up of one of the bike pedals as the bullies quickly pedal and begins to catch up with Forrest as he is “growing” in the frame. Since the bike pedal is to the left of the frame, Forrest is seen running in the background, again slightly using shallow depth of field to artistically portray the scene. CUT TO...
A close up following shot of Forrest’s legs as he continues to run. At this point, the scene transitions from normal speed to slow motion. Slow motion is used to let the audience know that something important is about to happen, in this case the idea that a miracle is about to happen. (cue inspirational music) CUT TO...
Still in slow motion, return to the medium close up of Jenny as she yells “Run Forrest, Run!” again. CUT TO...
A wide shot of the bullies on their bikes coming towards Forrest. This shot serves as a POV. CUT TO...
A close up shot of Forrest’s face as he turns away from the bullies and keeps running. CUT TO...
Return to the low angle close up shot of the bike pedal with Forrest in the background. Even though the shot is in slow motion, it is obvious that they are quickly catching up to him (or so you think...). CUT TO...
A close up shot of Forrest’s legs running. In slow motion, there is a clear transition that shows the change in Forrest’s running. He finally shifts from “waddling” to using his legs correctly. Because he uses his legs correctly, his leg braces begin to break into pieces and fall off of his legs. CUT TO...
A close up of Forrest looking down at his legs in amazement and realizing that he is able to use his legs correctly and without his braces. CUT TO...
Return to the close up shot of Forrest’s legs and watch as the pieces of his braces continue to fall off and he leaves them behind him. CUT TO...
Return to the close up shot of the bike pedal with Forrest in the background. This time, Forrest is in focus and the pedal is slightly out of focus through a shallow depth of field. As Forrest is running you can see the pieces of his braces flying behind him. CUT TO...
Return to the close up shot of Forrest’s legs as the last pieces of his braces fall off and he runs normally. CUT TO...
Return to the close up shot of his face as he excitedly realizes he can run without his braces and keeps going in hopes of outrunning the bullies. CUT TO...
A low angle close up of the former pieces of Forrest’s braces lie scattered on the ground as the bikes ride over them. This is used to symbolize that Forrest’s days of having to wear leg braces and his days of being picked on because those days are now behind him. CUT TO...
A wide shot following Forrest as he continues to run, but although he is still in slow motion, he slowly moves from the left side of the frame to the right. This shows that he is picking up speed and symbolizes that he is getting further away from the bullies. CUT TO...
A close up shot of Forrest grown up and sitting at the bus stop as he continues to tell his story. The angle of the camera is slightly to the left of his profile, showing that someone is sitting by him and listening to his story. By using a close up shot, the viewer is able to gauge how proud he is to tell this story based on his expression. He then cuts his eyes to his left, where the woman who wasn’t paying attention to him was sitting. CUT TO...
A close up of the woman who is still reading her magazine and not paying attention to Forrest. CUT TO...
A close up of Forrest’s face directly in the center of the frame, as he triumphantly says that anywhere he went from that day forward, he ran there. This close up again allows the viewer to see his expression more clearly and draws the focus to this. CUT TO...
We return back to the story in regular speed. This shot is an extreme wide shot with the three bullies on their bikes in the background with Forrest running away from them. In this shot, the camera slowly pans as Forrest runs out of the frame to show that he is running faster than the bullies are riding. The camera pans all the way around to follow the boys and show the dirt trail Forrest made while running as he is far away from them. With their backs to the camera now, the boys stop riding and angrily throw their bikes on the ground because they have been outrun. Also, this shot shows Forrest's house the closest is has been throughout the scene, showing the distance that has been covered down the dirt road. CUT TO...
An extreme wide shot with Forrest running at the center of the frame, only to pan quickly left to show Forrest running off the dirt road and into the field to the right of him. From here, the camera raises to a high angle as Forrest runs further into the field, symbolizing the freedom he feels now that he can run normally without his braces. This shot is artistically shot passing through a large tree. This tree is used to show that Forrest is getting further away from the camera through it’s use of depth. And END SCENE.
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