Name: 獨立日--是什麼讓它如此偉大？ (Independence Day — What Makes it So Great)
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T06:48:11.000Z
Duration: 8 min 12 s
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Hi, I’m Michael. This is Lessons from the Screenplay.

情態副詞

When I was a kid I watched Independence Day a LOT. Over and over again, second only to

So when I decided to revisit it as an adult who’s spent his life studying filmmaking,

But reading the screenplay I was pleasantly surprised to find it was actually as compelling

as ever…and kind of made me feel like a kid again.

So today I want to talk about why that is. Why is Independence Day so memorable when

most other disaster movies are completely forgettable?

How is Independence Day so good twenty years later?

The first thing I noticed while reading the screenplay was how epic the aliens felt — even

"AN ENORMOUS SHADOW creeps toward us blotting out the horizon, a loud RUMBLE is heard.

Suddenly we are covered in DARKNESS as the SHADOW engulfs us. Only the lonely image of

our EARTH hangs in the air, until a huge silhouette OBJECT suddenly blocks our view."

But making an antagonist epic doesn’t automatically make them compelling — they need to have

Independence Day does this by embracing the idea that less is more, and has the confidence

"Drifting away from us the old Russian satellite becomes smaller and smaller. We PAN with it

as we SEE it’s on a collision course with something huge.

Suddenly the satellite EXPLODES on IMPACT with the much larger object that dwarfs the

puny piece of hardware. As huge as it is, we get the feeling we’ve only seen a portion

Instead of showing the whole alien craft, the screenwriters wrote a scene that implies

This engages the audience, makes them lean in and wonder “how big is this thing?”

In some ways the movie is more like a monster thriller — like Jaws on a huge scale.

It has a slow, ominous build. We don’t even really see a full alien craft until page twenty-six,

and their attack doesn’t begin until page forty-eight.

This allows the screenwriters to focus on establishing the characters, which is important.

There are three main protagonists in Independence Day.

David, President Whitmore, Captain Steven Hiller.

And many, many other characters that the audience comes to know in one way or another.

In total, there are twenty characters of significance in Independence Day, and we meet seventeen

of them in the first twenty-four pages of the script.

That's a lot of characters to get know very quickly.

So how do the screenwriters accomplishthis?

Let’s examine the introduction of Jeff Goldblum’s character

To see how the writers deliver information quickly.

First of all, visually we’re shown that he’s in New York.

He’s playing chess and taking it very seriously — which implies he’s an intelligent, patient

He criticizes his father for using styrofoam — suggesting that he cares about the planet.

Here, one character is telling another character something they already know just so the audience

can hear it. This is often considered lazy exposition.

But, in this case it’s simultaneously revealing the dynamic between them.

That is a lot of work done in a page and a half of script.

In this way the screenwriters are able to efficiently introduce all the characters.

So by the time the attack finally begins…

The people in harm’s way are people we care about.

Even when it’s just this guy, who gets to be named “Alex” in the script and has

one out-of-focus line earlier in the movie…

"Excuse me, Mr. President. They're starting."

…writing each action scene from a character perspective makes this sequence about more

…it makes it about the aliens killing humans.

But good action doesn’t simply involve the characters, it dramatically affects them.

Many inexperienced writers are too nice to their protagonists.

They’re afraid to make them truly suffer and struggle, so they end up with boring characters

Independence Day is mean to its characters.

The alien attacks have consequences. People die.

They affect the characters and change their trajectories.

Out of the twenty characters in the movie, six of them are dead by the end.

But then he showed up in the trailer for the sequel…

But it’s definitely not ambiguous in the script…

And President Whitmore — oh man, President Whitmore.

I didn’t realize this when I first saw the movie — maybe because I was ten — but

also because it’s more clear in the script.

Independence Day is largely a movie about a man having to shoulder an unthinkable responsibility

Whitmore is introduced as a weak president…

"Whitmore seems less like the President and more like the orphan child Oliver

asking, 'Please sir, I'd like some more.'"

His deputy chief of staff disrespects him…

"Absolutely. General, contact NORAD. You tell them we've upgraded to DEFCON 3."

He makes decisions that cost millions of lives…

"We'll advise people not to panic. The best idea right now is to stay in their homes."

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獨立日--是什麼讓它如此偉大？ (Independence Day — What Makes it So Great)

struggle

engage

compelling

enormous