Dear John Analysis

The opening to Dear John subverts a normal stereotypical romance as it shows a lot of action and war scenes, however they do normally have some kind of 'hero' in the film and the soldier that is lying on the ground may represent this.

At the beginning to the opening it starts off with non- diegetic music which is slow and creates a sense of sadness to scene. whilst the music is playing the screen goes from black to then an image of a young soldier lying on the ground. You hear diegetic sounds of gun shots which suggests they are in war and that some sort of action has taken place or is about to and can also mean that the guy on the ground may of been shot which is suggested by the fact a close up angle used where you see that the soldiers eyes are closed, the camera then goes into a high angle shot showing the audience that there is also another soldier helping the man and as this is happening the voice who we believe to be the man on the ground continues talking to audience about his thoughts as he blacked out and became unconscious.

Non - diegetic music of falling coins start as the man tells the audience that coins were the one of the things that he remembered. A close up angle of a young boy is displayed suggesting this is a flash back of the man when he was younger, this is inferred when the man says "I'm eight years again".
The camera shots flow fluently from different close ups of the coins as the man describes how they are made. The camera goes back onto the scene of the soldiers showing a low angle shot  of the solider trying to help him, emphasising the panic, worry and helplessness on his face with the use of a close up shot.

The man on the ground starts relating himself to the coin as he says" I am a coin in the US army" and that he now has " two small holes in him" telling the audience he has been shot. Straight away from the denotations of the army clothing, helmets, guns and shooting, connotations are made that this may be a war film involving action. However, from the way the man is speaking it could be some sort of letter he reading out to someone he loves as in many love films people do this as the person may dying, all of this is suggested as he says " the last thing that entered my mind was...... you"