The film "Get Out" is a thriller directed by Jordan Peele and starring Daniel Kaluuya and Kathryn Keener. The film won the 90th Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, and the director was nominated for the 90th Academy Award for Best Director.
The film tells the story of a black boy Chris and his white girlfriend Ruth get along to the stage of meeting his parents, she invites him to his parents' house for Christmas. At first, Chris interpreted her family's overzealous behavior as their nervous response to their daughter's interracial relationship. But over time, a series of disturbing discoveries lead him to an unimaginable truth, and after revealing the truth, he manages to escape the conspiracy and destroy the family's plans.
At the beginning of the film, a black man went to the suburbs under the command of his girlfriend, and then he was dazed by the sudden appearance, and took him to the sports car and drove away. Through this opening we can see the message the film conveys to us. First of all, there is a film about murder. The target of the murder is a black man. The way of seduction is to become a black man's girlfriend to lure him to a relatively remote place, and then solve him. This gang is relatively wealthy, and all this happens at night, that is, the major drama in the future is likely to happen at night.
According to the 15 rhythm table of "Save the Cat", the first 10 minutes are used to pave the way. The foreshadowing ends here at the eighth minute, because the full length of the film is one hour and forty-four minutes, and ending here is basically consistent with the beat table. There is a theme statement on the beat table at the fifth minute, but here the theme statement comes at the seventh minute, "Do they care that I'm black?" This question leads the heroine to say, "So what if you don't know? ." In fact, it expresses the theme that black people should not be discriminated against. But what happens next is the exact opposite of the heroine's behavior.
Before the first act begins, the foreshadowing has already been done, and they are going to meet the family of the white girlfriend together, so at the beginning of the first act, they embark on a journey. During the journey, a new character, Rhodes, a good friend of black people, was inserted. According to common sense, this is the point where the Inciting Incident happened, but no, the screenwriter made a dark line here for the later plot, that is to say Extend 'push' backwards. Then there was an elk rushing towards him. Elk is also known as the Christmas deer in the West, and hitting it at this time represents a bad omen. As a metaphor, or a symbol, it also appears many times in the following plots. To design a thing that can run through the whole film, which can make the film more coherent, and maybe have unexpected effects.
After that, the police were called. When the police looked at Chris' photos unreasonably, Ruth strongly stopped them. Here, she portrayed an image of protecting her boyfriend. If you want to break someone badly, you have to hold them high. Until now Still doing a positive shaping of Ruth's image. It also lays the groundwork for the subsequent reversal, and the incentive event has not yet appeared at this time.
The Inciting Incident doesn't appear until the 20th minute, after a long characterization of the two main new characters, as well as a brief introduction to the entire family, their family history. The beauty of the script is that all the inadvertent information leaked to the back of the film will make a relative echo. Until Ruth's father found out that Chris was addicted to smoking and proposed to quit smoking, the first motivating event appeared, there was a 'push' and then a 'dispute', but the dispute in the story was not the dispute between the mother and Chris , It was the dispute between the younger brother and Chris. The younger brother asked to fight with Chris, but was blocked. This episode has nothing to do with the motivational event of quitting smoking. It is an anti-traditional style. According to common sense, the plot of quitting smoking should continue to advance, but in order to make the family have some conflicts and let the younger brother show that he does not like Chris, there is also a dispute.
The end of the first act was at the 37th minute. Due to the large foreshadowing ahead, the overall structure was moved backwards. In this scene, under the effect of hypnosis, Chris successfully lifted the smoke, but what appeared on the screen The terrifying environment made Chris and the audience have a psychological shadow. Before the end, the screenwriter kept throwing mysteries out. The two servants appeared three times before and after, and every time they met, they felt that their state was out of tune with this environment. , The constant burying of mines in the early stage enables the continuous stepping on mines in the back, thus gradually opening the mystery, so as to attract the audience to watch it. The end of the first act is also the connection point of the second act. As a suspense thriller, the audience cannot guess the result until the last moment. Therefore, at the opening of the second act, Chris is still full of doubts. .
After entering the second act, the screenwriter did not directly enter the b-story, but asked Chris to try to contact the two servants before entering the b-story. The conclusion was that the black servant might like Ruth, and the screenwriter was still deliberately To guide the audience to think about the bias is to use the constantly given wrong information, and then continue to judge what is the correct information from the wrong information, so that the audience has the motivation to watch. When the hero and heroine finished talking in the bedroom, the guests of the party came and entered the b-story. Through this way of connecting before and after, it seemed that the connection of the stories was not too abrupt, and the next scene naturally entered.
I think there should be no so-called 'entertainment game' in this film. During this time, it is the moment that has been giving the protagonist a mystery, the point of view of the narrative is Chris, and so far, we know that things are the same as him. During the party, people stared at Chris' body greedily, and had to touch his body from time to time. There was something weird here. Even if they met a blind collector, the content of the conversation was weird. And most importantly, everyone here knows him. There is an old saying in China, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." 'At the party, he didn't know anyone except his girlfriend's family and servants, but everyone here knows him, which means that these people want to do something to him, and there are many small details that will not be repeated one by one. Constantly create an eerie atmosphere.
At the midpoint, it was on time. 50 minutes later, Chris returned to the bedroom and found that his mobile phone charging cable was unplugged, which meant that someone wanted to cut him off from the outside world. At this time, it has been shown that the invisible enemy has begun to take action, which is a relatively important turning point.
From the midpoint, the 'bad guy is approaching' has already begun. In the stage of 'bad guy approaching', we must leave an opening for the protagonist. This opening is a turning point, allowing him to gradually fall into crisis, but it cannot fail completely. If it fails completely, there will be no third place. The showdown is over. The screenwriter's message here is that Chris made two calls to his good friend. The first call was to introduce the strange things around, and the second to investigate the identity of the only black guest here. These two key calls made him have contact with the outside world, and there was a chance for a comeback. Approaching also has a level in it. Gradually approaching will make you feel more nervous and make people feel like they can’t escape. From the beginning of unplugging the charging cable, to auctioning Chris's body, to the specific implementation of the kidnapping of Chris, step by step, interlocking, finally forced him to 'nothing', unable to resist the family.
The second act did not end until 86 minutes. This stage is the 'soul night', which means that all the paths of the protagonist are pretended to be blocked, and the matter is showdown. The reason for the incident is clear to us at this moment. In the first stage, the newly opened mouth, that is, the black buddy who can get in touch with the outside world, went to the government agency, no one believed him, and the protagonist was powerless to resist. However, the last shot of this scene was a close-up. The protagonist's hand is clasping the cotton on the seat, and this shot becomes an opportunity for the protagonist to turn around in the next scene.
The last scene also serves as the juncture point for the third act, setting the stage for the resistance that will follow.
The third act is the decisive moment, where all the conflicts broke out and forced to the stage of life and death. The last close-up shot of the chair in the second act also became the key to the reversal. At this stage, many reversals are carried out, and the emotions are constantly pushed to a climax. In the end, the protagonist is rescued and won the final victory. The final picture is that the protagonist is walking away in a car.
The 15-beat table is a more practical play structure routine. It may not be so accurate, but in most cases, there are still some things it gives. In this film, because the first act introduces the characters cost The event is long, causing the time point of the overall structure to move backwards, and it is still necessary to be flexible and changeable in the specific creation. The structure is learned, but the addition of specific content is another matter.
The play of "Escape from the Dead" has a solid structure, rich details and echoes, leading people to keep thinking, creating mysteries, and letting the audience know where the secrets should be revealed, so that the audience can get a good viewing experience. This film is worthy of our study and reference.
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