In 1936, Steven Rogers had not yet undergone a serum experiment to become a super soldier. Oskar Schindler was still a snobbish German businessman, but there was already a heroic figure rising in the southern United States.
Dr. "Indiana" Jones, a brave and wise archaeologist, university professor, cowboy hat with long whip is his exclusive symbol. And his legend was made into a movie, "Indiana Jones" .
Looking at this movie now, some people may think it is a bad commercial movie without feeling. But from that era, the appearance of "Indiana Jones" has a certain historical significance.
Countless commercial blockbusters will be obliterated in the wave of history, but this series that lays down the characteristics of contemporary adventure film styles will not, not even the first "Indiana Jones" in the series .
The "Indiana Jones" classic, Dr. "Indiana" Jones may only account for less than one-third.
1. Screenwriting structure, climax and anticlimax
If you ignore the rough visual effects and slightly embarrassing fighting actions of the year, the plot of "Indiana Jones" is actually very exciting and interesting.
The film continued the fast-paced narrative style of Spielberg's commercial films. Obviously, he added this style to action-adventure movies very suitable. Since then, a large wave of action adventures and science fiction adventures have adopted a similar narrative structure. Of course, the scriptwriter George Lucas has the main credit for this classic part .
"Tomb Raider" is a typical example of tomb robbery. Until 2015, the domestic film "Looking for the Dragon" also had a similar structure. Even in 2018 "Avengers 3" , it is also possible to adopt this kind of action movie architecture.
The plot of "Indiana Jones" can be subdivided into several parts. The first is the prologue . Usually, the protagonist will show off for a while.
Then is the beginning of the story , explaining what the people in this movie will do, why they do it, and some legends about the treasure.
Then there is development , some key figures will crack some key clues, and then all parties are ready to seize the treasure. The precedent for the development of Raiders of the Lost Ark is the use of actions to tell stories.
In the climax part , big scenes usually occur here, and most of the cost of film production will be consumed here.
After the fiercest fight, most viewers thought that everything was over, but "Indiana Jones" came to an anti-climax .
There are a lot of movies with similar structures like this. Just take a movie as an analogy. It's better to compare "Avengers 3", which has not yet been released , and it is more interesting.
The two movies are actually very similar. The first is that there are clear protagonists, one is "Indiana" Jones, the other is "A Meng" Thanos; the second is that there are clear treasures, one is the cabinet and the other is infinity. gem.
If "Avengers 3" is written according to the structure of "Indiana Jones" , then the story is likely to be like this:
1. The prologue, a wave of Thanos Xiaoxiu, conquered Xandal, and seized the gem of power.
2. Development, the three-line narrative of New York, Wakanda, and outer space (Thor and the Guardians of the Galaxy). The use of Infinite Gems will be described in more detail. At the same time, it will explain the true purpose of Thanos and the countermeasures of the earth hero. Use action to advance the story, there will be many fights in this part.
3. The climax, the battle of Wakanda, or at the same time with the Titan Star Wars. The dispute over gems has settled down.
4. Anti-climax, if it weren't for the battle of Titans, one possibility is that it is a scene that has never appeared in the current trailer. How to make cool points? Let the audience see what they have never seen before, and unexpected.
5. The above is purely speculation.
Even if all the above guesses are wrong, there is another classic aspect of "Indiana Jones" that is worth learning from the Russell brothers, and that is the characterization of the characters.
2. How to create a classic character
Dr. "Indiana" Jones thinks he is a character who can be included in the top 100 classic roles in movie history. George Lucas and Spielberg are both heroes.
The most telling point is that Indiana is actually the name of George Lucas’ pet dog. Jones was originally called Smith instead of Jones. It was because of Spielberg ’s proposal that it became the legendary Indiana Jones.
In fact, this legendary character became Han Solo in "Star Wars" after reincarnation .
In addition to the fact that George Lucas gave Dr. Jones the courage and calmness of the protagonist settings, and the direct use of the protagonist's name in the film title, it is also very important how Spielberg expresses his coolness.
The simple way is to take a few difficult moves, obviously Captain America has learned this.
The professional way is to have a large number of close-up shots of characters, medium and close shots, and strive to make you "never forget".
If the Russell brothers learned the essence of "Indiana Jones" , it would not be difficult to shape Thanos. From the trailer, we can also see that they have already done so. The scenes in Thanos are basically close-up and mid-to-close shots.
I'm afraid that Ah Meng is going to be as cool as Dr. Jones, I'm afraid the heroes will suffer.
3. Real-time shooting with incomparable computer special effects
In 1981, computer special effects were not as realistic and high-quality as they are now, so at that time the director could only use real shots to complete the whimsical ideas in his head.
One of Spielberg's awesomeness is that he can still photograph his ideas in such an environment. "Jaws" and "Jurassic Park" are proof of his strength.
"Indiana Jones" also uses clever shooting techniques to allow the people in the movie to complete actions that are difficult to do in reality. In the first part, the most difficult part should be the spiders and snakes, especially for the actors.
In order to be realistic, Spielberg found real spiders and snakes and completed the shooting with the help of professionals. Alfred Molina, who plays Jones's little servant, has tried the horror dominated by spiders. Maybe he doesn't need any acting skills for this scene...
So it is completely understandable why this little sergeant reincarnated as Doctor Octopus, so he hated Spider-Man so much.
"Indiana Jones" cost a total of about 18 million US dollars in production costs. Today, it seems that this movie is really produced by tens of millions, and the picture quality is extremely rough.
But at that time 10 million was considered a big production, and as a commercial film, "Indiana Jones" was nominated for 8 awards including the best picture of the year, and won the best visual effects 4 Awards.
Because for that era, "Indiana Jones" is equivalent to the existence of "Avatar" 10 years ago . "Avatar" opened the era of 3D movies, and "Indiana Jones" opened the era of contemporary action-adventure movies.
It's just that there are always two sides to everything, and there are so many movies in this category. But too many movies that are too routine and commercial are not a good thing for Hollywood.
The success of "Indiana Jones" has contributed to the proliferation of popcorn movies to some extent. Many teenagers also prefer this kind of purely exciting and thrilling movies, but there are fewer and fewer slow-moving movies like "The Godfather" .
Movies with in-depth and thoughtfulness are more worthy of handed down. But how many people want to stay forever than earn a dollar?
We are all just passing through history.
-"Indiana Jones"
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