Genre Film Script Analysis

As you may be aware, I am in the process of creating my own movie. But, in order to do this, I'll need a script first. So I did research about film scripts in the mystery genre, the same as my movie, and of course I had to share. I will be discussing details about the script's film opening to Knives Out and how it compares to the final version of the movie. 

The scriptwriter, Rian Johnson, established important details about the story in the first page by briefly describing the gothic theme and each floor of the mansion as the housekeeper, Fran, makes her way to Harlan Thrombey's study room where she finds his body. Johnson includes that Fran sees "HARLAN THROMBEY himself. 85 years old. Slung across a white leather day bed. Throat slit. Drenched in blood. Very much dead." By using description like this, Johnson evokes emotion and horror, establishing the type of movie this will be and officially starting the mystery as to what led to this happening. Overall, this first scene's great attention to detail, cutting to seemingly random objects in the estate, along with the limited dialogue create a mysterious gothic feel. The viewer can begin to wonder what is going on. 

After the main opening and title screen, the script cuts to Marta Cabrera, who is revealed to have been close to Harlan. By immediately cutting to her, viewers start to automatically connect the two characters and either raise suspicion against her or believe she was greatly involved with the mystery. 

At the estate, most of the characters connected to Harlan are there and introduced to Marta and the audience. This allows first impressions to be made as the movie progresses and gives the viewer a list of people to suspect, since they naturally want to solve the mystery as the movie progresses. 

The script differs from the final version of the film in several minor ways. In the opening scene, the dogs are not mentioned to be running outside of the estate and the script does not mention all the props being cut to in the scene. This is minor, however, and is not necessarily important to be included in the script, as it was a cinematography and mise-en-scene choice made later on. In the following scene, the mom also says "Alice turn that off now, please" but in the script she does not say please. The script also says she is standing while yelling, but the mom never gets up from her seat which is right next to Marta, who hides her head in her elbow in the film while the script says she hides in her hand. The script also says she laughs at the situation then it turns into a cry, but neither laughing nor crying were included in the final movie. Lastly, Meg asks how Marta is doing, and only their conversation after this question is included in the script. Other minor words being changed in dialogue followed, but nothing too significant was changed. Overall, the final script and final movie were mostly the same. Nothing big was changed that would significantly change the prompt or how the viewer interprets the movie. 

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