The entire two minute opening focuses singularly on the feather and never once does it cut away from that. In fact, the shot is one continous tracking shot following the feather downwards, which draws importance to the item. It's symbolic visual meanings are also highly evident in this first scene - the white of the feather connotes to purity and in some respects innocence too. It also fits in well with the blue sky a white fluffy clouds in the background- a kind of aesthetically pleasing mise-en-scene.
We noted when watching the film that interestingly enough, the feather can be a metaphorical representation of the main protaganist and his journey throughout the film, shown through the movements of the feather to it's different locations and the way in which the camera follows it.
A brief overview of this; The feather begins up the heavens, maybe showing Forrest as a child with his head in the clouds and full of total innocence. Then as it begins to fall, the camera tracks down with it to see the city, a gentle fall into a reality that lacks the brightness and colour of the sky. It eventually lands on the shouder of a business man, possibly misleading the audience into thinking that he is the main charcter (also influenced because of the stereotypical character shown here.) Yet the wind slowly blows the feather down to the ground. We thought this may be symbolic of the constant overlooking of Forrest as a strong character and how he is a very unlikely hero. Onelast point to mention about this symbolism idea is the moment when the feather lands on the floor, nearly run over by a car before being lifted by it, perhaps referencing to the ups and downs of the main characters life and how he gets back up from the harsh downs. In a sense, the entire story is shown all through the movement of this one, small feather. Symbolism in it's broadest sense. Forrest himself final picks up the feather and slowly and carefully places it in a book, interestingly on page that puts the feather yet back against that background of blue sky.
The sound used in the opening is mainly diegetic sound; a soundtrack of a sweet, innocent sounding piano piece, reminiscent of the soft and light way the feather floats down to earth. This is all that can be heard until the feather reaches ground level, when quiet sounds of humanity begin to appear, such as cars and people. As for the way in which the camera angles and editing reflect this to create meaning, the using of the continuous slow tracking shot and no cuts to any other shots, making a very
slow feel that could be to symbolise the ambling blind nature of life.
