Captain Fantastic: Opening Scene Analysis

Analyse the opening scene of Captain Fantastic and answer the following questions using examples of film form to support your points: - What are the first impressions of the lifestyle and nature of the family the audience gets ? Are we encouraged to respond in a particular way to the landscape and the family's role in it ? Look at shot sizes, sound , pace of editing and colour in particular In the opening scene, the first thing the audience sees is a birds eye view of a forest. the camera moves and shows how vast the area actually is. almost immedietly we can sense that the family are closed off from big cities and isolated from other people, with only themselves and nature for company. we get close up shots of the forest floor, such as the river, the sun shining down on the trees, and the details of the path. the scene is peacful and tranquil, a contrast to big cities filled with people and pollution. instead of showing the family immedietly, the audience are shown a deer peacefully going about its day. Deer are a symbol of tenderness tempered with strength, which in a way could symbolise the family themselves. However the deer looks over somewhere and we are shown a family member hidden with camoflauge, indicating that they are a predator in this scenario. using the element of surprise, one of the children pounces and kills the deer. The father cuts out the deer's heart and holds it out to the eldest son who takes a bite. what the audience can take from this scene is that the family are a part of the food chain, the highest predators. - Does this impression of the family change and develop in this scene? How does the director show this ? Consider lighting, mise-en-scene and performance. n/a - Is there any sense of who the main characters will be and what their relationships and issues will be ? Since the eldest son is the one who actually hunts and kills the deer, we can guess that - since he is the first to actually be shown in the scene- he will be the "main character". but as the rest of his family, including his father, approach, we can see the conflicted look on his face. after all, he made eye contact with a defenceless creature but still killed it without hesitation, only reflecting on his actions after the deer took its last breath. - What clues do we get about the themes and issues that will be explored in the film ? before eating the deer heart, the father blesses his son and tells him "you are a man now". this could suggest issues that the eldest faces throughout the film, struggling to show his manliness to both himself and those around him.

How would the possible alternative endings to the film change the way the film resolves its themes and narrative ?

- How would the possible alternative endings to the film change the way the film resolves its themes and narrative ? - How the ending of the film resolves or questions the narrative ,moral and social themes of the film , such as heroism, the ethics and purpose of the Vietnam war , Willard's journey and identity, the nature of evil, power ,sanity and insanity. an alternative ending to this film would be just chaos, total chaos.