Last week, I posted this question: What are the best opening scenes in movie history?
I was having this discussion with a writer the other day. So many fantastic opening scenes of all sorts. Some of them bombastic, some subtle, some of them funny, some brutal, all of them great. Tough to write, too, because it’s not only about being entertaining, it’s also about introducing the story universe and key characters, setting the mood and so forth.
And while we’re at it, let’s analyze the scenes as to why they’re so stellar, and hopefully get some takeaway as far as our own writing goes.
The list of suggestions was so great, I thought it would be a good idea to post some of them over the next week or two because here is the reality: A great opening scene or sequence can go a long way in how a reader perceives your script. In other words, they can be pivotal to the success of your screenplay.
On Monday, we featured Once Upon a Time in the West which focused primarily on visuals.
Tuesday we considered Pulp Fiction which was heavy with dialogue.
Wednesday we rememberedthe opening to Back to the Future,
Today let’s look at the classic opening sequence to the movie Jaws, suggested by Zyxpsilon.
As Zyxpsilon wrote:
Jaws… beneath the coastal waves at night, a shark takes a quick but fatal meal out of a swimming woman. Can you still hear her screams or see the floating sea beacon she held onto? How about that whole struggle that seemed to last hours when in fact it was barely a minute long or so? Fear the deep people, fishing season comin’ right up.
Why is this such a great opening sequence? What can we learn from this as screenwriters?
That bubbling shiver where her mouth is full of water and the violent thrashing about always gets me. I don’t know what’s truly worse being tugged under and not able to come up for air or being eaten alive.
CW, good point, we vicariously live through the victim two of the worst nightmare death scenarios: Drowning or being eaten. Double the horror.
SCREAM is another great one, and in many ways, a standalone short film.
Someone else suggested Scream in the OP. If I can find a full embeddable clip of that, I think I’ll post that tomorrow. Scary and a terrific surprise to see Drew get whacked so early in the movie.
I think Zyxpsilon’s comments are spot on.
For me, it’s the pacing of scene – its slow, playful build up, snapping suddenly and violently in blood chilling horror.
The swimmer is identified by name – Chrissie. Already, at the beginning, we have identified with this person, all be it on a subconscious level, as a human being, not some no-name red-shirted extra who we care little for should they meet a sticky end, and so we already empathize with her from the off. I believe this is one of key ingredients of this opening.
We worry for her as she enters the serene, peaceful sea alone. And when the attack happens, it happens suddenly, and it is harrowing. It lets up for a few seconds toward the end giving both poor Chrissie and the audience false hope of an escape, but we know that’s not true. The unseen assailant drags her under one last time … then the sea is peaceful once more. Serene, even.
And that’s the thing. We never see the shark. Not even a fin. All we know is that something unknown is tearing away at Chrissie from the deep unknown, allowing our imaginations to run riot.
And, of course, there’s the noise. The screaming, the thrashing, the bell at the opening and at the end. And, of course, The Theme.
Sean, you raise a point I’d never considered, but I think you’re absolutely right: By giving the character a name, we [audience] can identify with her even more. She is no longer an unidentifiable “It,” she is a “You,” a human being with a real name.
Of course, we all know the stories about how Bruce the Shark wasn’t working for several weeks during the beginning of production, so Spielberg decided to intimate the presence of the shark as opposed to actually showing it — at first. A critically important way the movie builds tension, all because of fouled mechanics.
BTW Bruce the Shark has a Facebook page.
Maybe I’m getting more perverted in my dotage, but the last time I watched this what struck me more than anything is what I would describe as a undercurrent of sexual violence. It’s right next door to a full-on rape scene. And what’s worse is we’re at times made to identify with the predator. The camera moves under her, giving us the shark’s point of view as he stalks/courts her. Then it heads pretty much straight towards her crotch. This and Spielberg’s canny shifting of POV – from the guy, to Chrissie, to the shark – is what makes this scene so intense and terrifying.
Another thing is the weird lighting. It seems to be happening towards dawn, but it looks like it was shot day for night and from the lighting it could be dawn or twilight. Very subtly disorienting.
Deaf Ears, I always thought there was a considerable sexual underpinning to the scene. Start off with the fact the girl is naked. But your point about looking at this as an association to a rape scene bears consideration. Certainly an assault. A violent one.
I suppose to go one step further, what if we looked at this symbolically akin to ancient cultures which would sacrifice virgins to appease the gods. Only in this case, the god is not satiated by this offering. The god wants more. Indeed this god can not be satisfied.
Hmm…
In terms of mythic connotations, it did strike me that poor Chrissie is like a reverse Siren – she tries to tempt a man into the water and winds up getting annihilated herself.
It’s simply a “plunge” structure subtle enough to lure an audience in two sharply contrasted moods; a quiet evening at the beach and a tragedy they have yet to determine.
The whole hook stands sharply on the question; what exactly killed her?
Sure, we don’t have any major characters exposed but we’re already rooting for whomever would find the shark and somehow avenge her death.
Secondly, it’s oceanic both in scope and in shiny reflection colors. The vast unknown metaphor of the waves with all its newly found dangers.
What i’ve learned from such choices in subjective theme is that a quick minimal situation can certainly summarize an entire film.
Thanks for these openings, Scott.
Z, absolutely the arc of the scene is one of descent, the emotional trajectory mirroring the actual physical one of Chrissie’s descent into ‘hell.’ And per the latter, your idea of the “metaphor of the waves,” lest we forget Jung’s notion that the ocean represents our subconscious and an implicit hesitation to go there because of what we will find.
This sets up a thematic dynamic in the overall story, how the community thrives off tourism, people flocking to the water, and yet it is dangerous. How far will the moneygrubbers go, greed and all that.
Then the hero’s have to plunge off into the depths of the ocean, the whole chase sequence of the shark like a nightmare [underscored by Quint's story of the U.S.S. Indianapolis].
We should always remember the power of images and natural elements like water / oceans as we have associations with them, which in turn we can use to tap into a reader’s psyche.
Hi guys,
Wonderful discussion! I hope this doesn’t seem too abstruse, but I’ve often thought about the way in which the arrangement of the fencing becomes increasingly crazed as Crissie runs along the beach. By seconds 18-20 or so, the arrangement that surrounds her has become alarming and jagged – a little like shark’s teeth, perhaps?
M
Ha! The fence as shark teeth! Why not!
I wonder if Spielberg was thinking of that or whether that’s one of those unconscious moments of stumbling into the heart of a story.