SIX OPENING MOVES

by William C. Martell


Now that you have your script outlined, it's time to write the opening scene of your movie. Easy right? Wrong! In a chess game your opening move influences every move which follows. It's possible to lose the entire game because of a bad first move. The same holds true with screenwriting. You never get a second chance to make a first impression.


SIX OPENING MOVES

1) OPENING WITH IMAGERY. Paul Schrader (TAXI DRIVER, MISHIMA) told me he likes to start his scripts with a strong visual image which will set the tone for the rest of the script. Lawrence Kasdan uses this visual to open BODY HEAT:


                    
FADE IN:

Flames in a night sky. Distant SIRENS. Pulling back, we see that 
the burning building is mostly hidden by dense, black shapes that
are the Victorian rooftops of Belmar, New Jersey. We're watching
from across town. The sound of a BATHROOM SHOWER comes to a
dripping stop at about the same time we see the naked back and
head of NED RACINE.

REBECCA has a great opening. Through an ornate gate we see a Mansion shrouded in fog. The Narrator tells us she has dreamed of Manderley mansion again, and describes its splendor as we move closer to the Mansion. But at the one minute point, the fog breaks and we see that the Mansion is burned, broken, destroyed. The moonlight plays through the windows, making it seem as if lights are on... The ghost of a mansion.


2) OPENING WITH CONFLICT. Conflict openings usually begin with an action or location description, then thrust us into the middle of a dramatic situation. I have a script that opens with a woman slapping her boyfriend in the middle of an argument. Charles Pogue's script to PSYCHO 3 opens with a Nun yelling "There is no God!" which creates a conflict with the other Nuns in the convent.

At the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival two years ago I saw a new film staring Tim Daly (from WINGS) called SEVEN GIRLFRIENDS written and directed by Paul Lazarus. Here's the opening scene: Tim is in bed with his Girlfriend when the phone rings. She says "Don't answer that." He answers... it's the love of his life (played by Laura Leighton from MELROSE PLACE). Laura says "I'm on my way to my wedding, and only one man can talk me out of it." Tim disengages from his Girlfriend, "Can you call back in an hour? This is a really bad time." Girlfriend wants to know who it is. Tim pulls away from her. Laura says, "I'll be married in an hour. All you have to do is say that you love me, and I'll turn the car around... " Girlfriend wants to know who Tim is talking to. Tim ignores her, says to Laura, "Look, I'm in the middle of something... Can you call me back in half an hour?" Laura says, "It's now or never." Tim looks at current Girlfriend, has to make a decision...

You want to know what he decided? Of course you do! That's why opening with conflict works: You're already INVOLVED in the problem. You have to turn the page to find out what Tim will do.


3) OPENING WITH DIALOGUE. Another way to open your script is with dialogue. It's interesting, different, and seldom used. Since your script will start "in progress", with things already happening, it's interesting to open in the middle of a conversation or an argument. The Audience is suddenly thrust into the situation - no boring build up, all excitement.

BLOOD SIMPLE opens with dialogue - a woman (Francis McDormand) is telling a man (John Getz) that her husband gave her a gun for Christmas, and she realized she had to leave her husband before she ended up using the Christmas gift gun on him. All of this is just dialogue - we haven't seen the characters yet, only the road zipping by. It's like we've fallen into the back seat of the car, mid conversation... And we want to know what happens next, and what happened to cause all of this. We are INTRIGUED.


4) OPENING WITH ACTION. The fourth type is one of the most common - opening with action. LETHAL WEAPON 2 starts in the middle of a very hairy car chase - not time to set the scene or introduce the characters, just WHAM! The James Bond movies always open with an action scene - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE starts with Bond creeping through a dark pavilion, stalked by a killer. The opening image is Bond, gun drawn, looking afraid. That gets your attention, doesn't it. By the one minute mark we have introduced the killer, Red Grant. By the two minute mark: Bond is dead! Grant has garroted him! Wow! YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE opens with action of another kind - Bond in bed with a beautiful Chinese woman. You'd think Bond would learn, but within a couple of minutes he's been machine gunned by a Chinese hit squad - dead! Starting off with a bang is a great way to interest a Audience.

TOY STORY 2 opens with action. Buzz Lightyear flies onto this alien planet, is suddenly surrounded by robot monsters! A huge army of them! He fights them all, wins, finds a secret passage and enters the evil Zorg's fortress. But it's a trap! The evil Zorg captures him! Even though all of these battles are FUNNY, and this is a cartoon aimed at kids (and adults), starting with an action sequence was a great idea. You can start a comedy, a drama, a romance, or any other genre with an action sequence... the tone and type of action will be depend on genre, though.


5) OPENING WITH CHARACTER. The fifth basic method is to open with character. Introduce the lead character in his or her natural habitat. Doing their job, or living their normal life before the story kicks in. One of my favorite character openings is "Cool Hand Luke" - the film opens with a drunken Luke cutting the tops off of parking meters and laughing like a loon.

In "THE IPCRESS FILE" (1965) we see Harry Palmer wake up in the morning and prepare for a day of work. It is a simple scene which tells us EVERYTHING we need to know about this character. He has to find his glasses before he can see the alarm clock. He grinds his own gourmet coffee beans, and uses a complicated coffee maker. He looks out his flat window while drinking his coffee. Later, he finds a woman's ear ring in his bed... while searching for his misplaced gun. And he leaves his apartment late for work. Everything we need to know about Harry Palmer is established in this opening scene... From here, the film whisks us away on an adventure.

The best way to write a character introduction scene is to make a list of everything the audience needs to learn about your lead character. Then come up with a single scene which illustrates each of these important points in an entertaining way.


6) THE CHINESE BOX. Do you know how Chinese box puzzle works? An ornate box can only be opened by solving a puzzle, revealing a smaller box-puzzle inside. When you solve this box-puzzle, it opens to reveal another box-puzzle. Each box-puzzle opens to reveal a smaller box-puzzle, until you get to the smallest box which opens to reveal a gift.

Using reveals creates a string of surprises like a Chinese box puzzle. We think we know what we're seeing, then the reveal gives us new information that changes everything. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

A year ago I saw the premiere of a new sci-fi film starring Jeri Ryan from STAR TREK: VOYAGER called THE LAST MAN produced by Roger Avary and written and directed by Harry Ralston. The opening scene had a guy (our hero) looking through a store window at a display of VERY expensive camcorders. It's a bright, sunny afternoon. He tries every angle, but he just can't see the features on the back of the camcorders through the glass. So he picks up a potted plant and SMASHES the store window! The burglar alarm goes off. He reaches inside, grabs a camcorder... and plays with it. Puts it back, plays with another one. He's taking his time, trying to decide which to steal. All the while the alarm is BLARING! Finally he decides, takes the camera to a shopping cart on the sidewalk overflowing with stolen merchandise! Calmly, he pushes the cart down the sidewalk... and we see the street behind him for the first time: Littered with dead bodies and smashed cars. Our hero is the last man on Earth after a plague!


ONE LAST TIP...

THE KICKER. I like to put a major reversal at the bottom of page one that kicks us right into the story. This is a great technique to use if you open with something other than action or conflict and need to jump-start the excitement.

The two Connery Bond films I used as an example both have kickers two minutes into the film. Yes, even in the 1960s it was important to start with excitement and create a twist that jump-starts the story. After Bond is killed in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE lights flick on in the pavilion and we discover that it has all been a training exercise - for Red Grant! The man wearing the James Bond mask was SMERSH's #1 agent. Grant is being groomed specifically to kill Bond. Within the first few minutes of the film we have established the plot and over-all conflict AND given the audience an exciting action opening with a kicker at the bottom of page 2.


Remember, your first scene will effect every scene that follows it. Start with a great opening scene, and you will hook you audience. Involve them in the story and characters so that there is no wasted time... no filler material. Edgar Allen Poe said, "If the writer's initial sentence isn't effective, then he has failed in his first step."


...FADE OUT




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copyright 2006 by William C. Martell