Apocalypse Now Opening Scene Film Form Analysis

 Cinematography

The opening scene in Apocalypse now starts using wide shots as napalm drops onto the jungle. However, it also fades to close-ups of Willard's face. This shows the destruction of the war on both Vietnam and the psychology of the soldiers, as we get close and personal to Willard without him saying a line of dialogue. The movement of the camera is very slow and generally only moves from left to right in this scene to show the scale of both the jungle and the damage caused by the napalm. The scene uses very warm colours to show not only the heat of Vietnam, but the fact the bombs dropping also continued to make it hotter. It could also be making a reference to Vietnam during the war being comparable to hell. This scene begins bright, but the smoke from the bombs, darkens and overshadows the scene, which shows how America contributed towards this dark period in Vietnam.

Editing

The shots of the napalm dropping onto the jungle and Willard in his room fades in and out of each other and layers on top of each other. This, combined with the use of montage set to The End by The Doors sets the tone and pacing of the film, it focuses on the destruction of war not only on Vietnam but also on the psychology of those fighting it, also, we see how interconnected both Willard and the bombs themselves are, reminding us that real people fought. Eventually, the scene shifts focus from the napalm to Willard in his room as the sound of the helicopter becomes the sound of his ceiling fan, which fluidly leads into his monologue. However, asides from this the shot order as it shifts in and out of focus of both the jungle and his room shows us the chaos of this war.

Mise-en-scene

The helicopter becoming the ceiling fan in Willard's room is symbolic of the fact that Willard is always thinking about the war and is perhaps struggling with PTSD. The way Willard is coping with this is clearly unhealthy as we see him smoking, as well as alcohol on the table next to his bed. We even see a gun on his bed which shows that he has considered suicide as a way to escape Vietnam. The yellow smoke in the opening shot before the bombs drop give the shot a psychedelic-like quality, which highlights the youth culture and recreational drug usage surrounding the Vietnam war, as well as potentially the drug use on set that Apocalypse Now has become infamous for.

Sound

Throughout this scene there is no dialogue,as it is unnecessary, all that we must know about Willard as well as Vietnam itself is shown through body language and the lyrics to The End by The Doors. The rhythm and lyrics of the song kick in as the bombs drop, which could symbolise that the bombs America dropped on Vietnam had a certain rhythm to it, as if they didn't see the lives it was taking as it had become routine. The lyrics are also incredibly symbolic to this as well. "This is the end" reinforces the title of the film, "Apocalypse Now" as this did feel like the end for many Vietnamese people however, that followed by "beautiful friend" shows that for the Americans saw this war as something beautiful in the beginning due to the power they had over Vietnam and the US soldiers' of the time's desensitisation to violence. However, then the song says "this is the end, my only friend" which reminds us that the soldiers fighting in Vietnam were mostly young, and haven't had the opportunity to do anything else with their life, it's all they have. Also, the sound of a helicopter becomes the sound of Willard's ceiling fan implies that he has some form of PTSD as his mind is always on the war. 

Performance

You only see a close-up of Willard's face in this scene with no other characters. The fact that he is on his own shows that he is isolated, The reason that he is so close to the camera is for two reasons, the first reason is to show his facial expression, and also to make the audience closer and more familiar with his character as it is his character that the film follows.. The fact he is upside down shows that he is deteriorating mentally, due to his life being turned "upside down" because of Vietnam. His facial expression is blank, which shows us the ambiguity of his character, making the journey of the film more suspenseful as we do not know much about his true intentions. It can also show the fact that Vietnam has become normality to him, so thinking about it with such a blank expression could show his desensitisation, or maybe even the opposite as a blank expression can often be a sign of flashbacks with PTSD.