Opening Scenes and Settings - 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest'

In this post I will be analysing the opening scene for Milos Forman's 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' and looking at how various film techniques are used to introduce the setting.

This opening scene introduces the setting by using an extreme long shot, an establishing shot at the very start of the scene. There is no camera movement and the static shot forces the audience to look at the scenery of the solitary mountains. The credits play over the scenery. After a minute or so of run time a car finally drives by the deserted road. By having a calm and empty scenery the audience can expect that the abandoned location will play an important role later in the film.

The low-key lighting also creates a sense of foreboding, with the isolated setting suggesting that the characters who find themselves in the mental hospital (the main location for the film) will have little chance of escape. The accompanying non-diegetic music forces the spectator to view the setting in a very particular way. Initially the music has a melancholic tone to it, preparing the audience for the sadness within the narrative, before it changes to a chanting that hints at the Native American character Chief, who we see in the film's final moments escaping the hospital across this very landscape.