The films opens with an clearly stereotypical American family (whose nationality is further emphasised by the use of the American flag in the mies-en-scene)walking around a war cemetery which is further identified as a Normandy cemetery through again the mies-en-scene of flags that of the French and American. The family then continues to move through this cemetery being led by an elderly man who strolls through a field of graves to a specific one where he begins to break down and cry. A establishing shot is used to illustrate just how many graves there are further reinforcing the genre of war. A close up shot of the elderly man is used to highlight his emotion which connotes the loss of a loved one or someone he holds dear to the extent he is able to pick out there grave in a field full of thousands of identical graves. The shot of his face then cuts to a mid shot of the beach defences used during the Normandy Landings, a text fades into the shot reading, ‘June 6th 1944.’ The audience then realise that this opening sequence is all about the Normandy Landings and a film genre of war and possibly a biography. The genre is instantly picked up with the audience due to the use of the WW2 headstones which are easily recognisable and also the beach defences which where commonly known to be used in WW2

• The characters are not very well established in the opening scene. The main character who is the elderly man leading the family seems to hold some sought of story however the other members of the family come off as insignificant, so the audience cannot get an idea as to who the protagonist or antagonist are. However can make a guess that the old man is a solider and when the scene cuts to the Normandy beaches the audience know that he is in fact a soldier about to land on one of the Normandy beaches so the audience would usually immediately identify him as the protagonist. The narrative of the story is established in the opening scene as the film begins during the modern day, the audience know this as the characters are wearing clothes that are quite modern and the characters have modern hairstyles and are using modern technology/equipment (the father is using a camera at the cemetery). The scene then cuts to the Normandy Landings, the audience know this is in the past as the text reads ‘June 6th 1944.’ The audience know this is in the past as the props and costume used at the beginning of the film are more associated with modern day.

The lighting at the begging of the clip is bright to illustrate modern day but also a lightning mood that of a bright summers day however this soon changes as the elderly man collapses and we are sent back to 1944.As the scene changes the lighting dramatically dims setting an ambiance of war, death and dirt. Which is also emphasised by the worms eye view shot of the beach defences which is used to put the audience in the point of view of a dead solider.

Editing

In the beginning of the clip non diegetic typical American anthem like music is used entwined with diegetic birds tweeting and background chat which creates an atmosphere of peace and calmness. On the other hand as the scene switches to the Normandy beaches the non diegetic music and other past diegetic sound cuts off and a diegetic realist heavy swishing of waves is introduced to illustrate a height in tension and to set the scene of the soon to be dramatic and violent flashback.

• The opening of the flip is able to flow naturally due to the editing of the film which keeps simple. A shot reverse shot is used to illustrate the elderly man leading his family and that he is not alone whilst walking through the graveyard. Quick fades are used to go from shot to shot simultaneously further increasing a feel of naturalism.

Titles

In the opening sequence the institution of the film is established straight away, the company who produced the film ‘Paramount’ is a large film corporation who are famous for making many high quality films such as, ‘Forrest Gump’ and ‘Titanic'. The audience now realises that this film will be of a very high standard as the company have a very high reputation of success which will be carried out further in this film as the institution has produced the film to, primarily, make money from the film.