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Written by Dharmesh
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OPENING SEQUENCE COMPARISON EXPOSITION At certain points in a film, a character(s) must impart the knowledge of their quest. This is known as exposition. In other words, they must tell you what they are going to do, reveal what they've learned so far, or even how they joined the dots using Grandma's knitting needles. Exposition is a necessary evil, because if done carelessly, the audience falls asleep. For example, two CIA characters tell our protagonist that Hitler is after the Ark of the Covenant, and they tell our hero to stop him, all shot in a hotel room for four minutes. Hello - anyone awake? That's more than likely going to induce slumber, or at the very worst, someone will slit their wrists. WARNING: NO MOVIE IS WORTH SUICIDE! Maybe Transformers X. Now, what if the two CIA agents are in a school hall discussing Hitler's quest to accumulate various treasures from around the world, and one particular object - The Ark of the Covenant which our sceptical protagonist reveals its alleged supernatural element in a visual book. Lawrence Kasden, the writer, not only sets up the intriguing plot but also sneaks in the eventual pay-off - it shows us what action Indy must take to avoid death at the end. Another way of revealing exposition dialogue is to plant it in context of another scene, and here's a great example of this method from, again, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The poison dates: The scene kicks off with a villain pouring poison on a bowl of dates, creating immediate suspense. It continues with Indy discussing the technical details of Tannis with Sallah and a priest - it's incredibly important to the plot, but those damn dates - it unsettles us, who will eat one - the boy? Sallah? The gentle priest? As the scene climaxes, Indy and Sallah figure out that the Nazis are digging in the wrong place. Great news, but those dates! Indy has the date in his hand; he continuously throws it in the air. The scene is being milked, we are on the edge of seats and... ...Indy finally throws the date in the air, he's going to eat it and... ...Sallah plucks it from mid-air. The monkey is dead. That's Lawrence Kasden, folks, he disguised an exposition scene into a suspenseful one.
An example of a bad exposition scene: Star Wars The Phantom Menace has a number of them -- when our heroes are boarding the Royal starship, the film shudders to a stop and Anakin steps out from the 35mm negative and asks "What are Midichlorians?" Qui-Gonn answers the question. A Science lesson in the middle of the film which has no bearing on the rest of the plot or subsequent films.
So this brings me to the main example - Donner's Superman 2 opening: Perry White applauding the banner page (notice that the camera is focused on the newspaper and not on Perry White - cinema is a visual art form!) and the paper plays a pivotal role in this sequence. Lois Lane notices that Clark Kent, over by Jimmy, folds his arms as Superman does in the newspaper. She scribbles over the Superman photo the outline of Clark Kent. He IS Superman! Oh my God. She definitely looks like the cat who has swallowed the canary. Remember how this scene began? It was focused on the newspaper! It wasn't just an arbitrary introduction to the sequence. We are now in Perry's office where the boss dishes out their first assignment together: to investigate the newlyweds' racketeering scam at Niagara Falls. Clark becomes jittery, and uneasy when Lois jabs him, hinting, orbiting Clark like a shark. Perry White leaves the office. Lois reveals that she knows who Clark Kent really is. They are in denial - they're clearly in love, the carrot is dangling in front of Clark but he MUST keep his masquerade up until he is forced to give it up by Lois's superior wit and cunning. Lois is so certain that he is Superman that she bets her life on it by jumping out of the window. Clark uses his super-speed to zip down to the ground and using his super-breath, he softens Lois's fall. When Lois looks up, she sees a concerned Clark Kent. The whole sequence builds to an unbelievable climax and SETS UP the rest of the film using exposition in a variety of ways, from a newspaper to a fun suspense scene which threatens Clark Kent's subterfuge, culminating in Lois jumping out of the window and being outsmarted by Clark. On the surface, Perry White has dished out an assignment, but Mankiewicz's brilliance was to disguise the scene, to bring the main plot into focus - the love story. Absolutely brilliant. Plus, we know that the super-villains are free. That, my friends, is how to deliver exposition in an exciting way that thrills an audience.
SYMBOLISM: LOCATIONS Luke Skywalker, a young man living on a desolate planet, far from any meaningful civilisation, dreaming of joining the flight academy. Where Luke lives is central to his story, because if he was living on Coruscant (Emperor's Imperial planet), the meaning of his journey would be completely different, he'd probably want to become a coked-up rock star! George Lucas chose Tatooine for good reason - its arid, barren landscape offers very little, dashing any hopes of a fulfilling future, but it does give Luke the impetus to dream about the world out there, beyond the outer rim. The choice of location is paramount for building a scene - it reflects your character's plight, contrasts the inner thoughts against the backdrop. Michael Mann uses landscape to reflect what a character is feeling, check out Heat, the scene where Robert De Niro is watching the sea, bathed in blue, it could mean a number of things, perhaps it's freedom, when you are free the world has no boundaries, and he is clearly bounded by his rules. In Back to the Future, the opening sequence sets up the entire film: Doc Brown's workplace and his zany experiments, Doc's dog, the plutonium, Marty's aspiration to be a rock star, and TIME! It ends with Marty realising he's late for school! In five minutes the whole film's foundation is set. I'm running out of time myself, on with the show!
Clark Kent traipses into the Daily Planet, learns that French terrorists have hijacked the Eiffel Tower. In an iconic moment, Clark transforms into Superman and races to Paris. Lois Lane learns that a Hydrogen bomb has been planted. She evades a guard and ascends the tower stairwell. Lois is now under an elevator. The hostages are freed. French Policemen plant explosives onto the elevator track and detonate it -- the Hydrogen bomb is accidentally triggered and the elevator freefalls, with Lois under it. Superman halts the elevator, rescues Lois, both falling into an hypnotic trance, forgetting the bomb for a few vital seconds. Consider this: They are in love. They are in the Eiffel tower, a phallus symbol, in Paris - the love capital of the world and the bomb -- Superman -- is about to explode. Superman shoots upwards, into the stratosphere, into space and hurls the bomb - a cataclysmic explosion releases the villains. CONCLUSION The sexual motifs may seem crude but Richard Lester is smart and I suspect he may have helped design that sequence. The location is essential, setting up the entire film's love plot and its collison with the villains. The Donner version does more in terms of integrating the plot from the first image, providing an uniformed platform from the first to the second film, and setting up their important assignment in Niagara Falls, plus there's the pay-off with the blank bullet. In the Lester version, the Niagara Falls assignment was never slipped into the film prior to them actually being there -- them posing as newlyweds in Niagara Falls just happens, no set-up, no wit, just boring exposition from Lois: "Posing as newlyweds to uncover the honeymoon racket in Niagara Falls." What? Remember what I wrote? EXPOSITION IN THE CONTEXT... Yeah, yeah, you heard me the first time. The Newmans could have added (maybe replaced) the Niagara Falls set-up where the ironic orange juice and Clark's fake jealousy dialogue is said. The Newmans never truly grasped screenplay structure -- Bonnie and Clyde was rewritten by Robert Towne and What's Up Doc was also rewritten by someone else.
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