Garden State - Opening Analysis

Garden State Opening Sequence

I am going to analyse the opening sequence to the 2004 film Garden State (Zach Braff) by writing about different micro elements and how they are used to establish character, narrative and genre.

The film starts with the sound of a panicking pilot on a radio sending a mayday distress call, set to a black background with the names of the production companies set in a bland white font. I think this use of frenzied, emotional sound over very plain text is a good representation of the film’s protagonist Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff), as it shows how although the dull video is set over extreme audio it remains very tame, this mirrors Andrew’s blunted emotions. The next thing you see elaborates on this idea and actually shows Andrew calmly sitting in his seat on a plane which is clearly experiencing a lot of turbulence whilst everyone around him is screaming and desperately clutching the air masks that have dropped from the ceiling of the cabin.

The camera then centres on Andrew, who calmly looks up (at this point the camera changes too his point of view) to the control panel above him and turns the nozzle for the air conditioning. After, the camera shifts back to a medium close up of Andrew and changes back to Andrew’s POV as he notices the seatbelt sign flashing. Andrew’s telephone then appears on the cabin ceiling next to the seatbelt sign and begins ringing. The camera cuts back for the last time to Andrew (still on the plane) the phone reappears, still ringing, on Andrew’s bedroom floor. The decision to have the phone appear and ring in Andrew’s dream would indicate that Andrew’s phone is what wakes him up.

The next shot is of Andrew lying in bed in his bland, white, under-furnished bedroom, (a representation of Andrew’s numb emotional state) with a ceiling fan slowly turning above him, his phone still ringing with the camera in one of the corners, giving an overview of the room. The telephone rings off to the answer-phone and the camera then moves to a more personal shot of Andrew in bed, wearing a white t-shirt, which matches the rest of the room, this matching of colour is complimented by the symmetry with which this shot is positioned (yet another representation of Andrew’s emotions, which have been dulled by years of medication.) As Andrew lays his father leaves an emotional message telling him that his mother has died, the camera moves to a close up of only Andrew’s face as his father tells him that his mother’s cause of death was drowning (something that we later on find out holds special significance) Andrew’s father then hangs up, the shot lingers on Andrew’s reaction. “Don’t Panic” by Coldplay starts to play as Andrew looks at himself in his bathroom mirror which doubles as a cabinet (the break between the two mirror doors going through his face and distorting his image, perhaps meant to show Andrew’s self esteem issues.) Andrew then opens the mirror cabinet to show his obsessively organised pills.

We then see Andrew on his way to the airport driving in heavy traffic with the use of car horns being used to show the excessive congestion that surrounds him. We then see the whole of the five-lane freeway in a far shot which quickly changes to the film’s title in a white font on a black background, the words “We live in a beautiful world” from “Don’t Panic" play over the title, a somewhat ironic choice of words to exaggerate considering Andrew’s attitude at this point in the film.

Chris Ramsden