Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
When it came time for the film adaptation, Spielberg's writing team of
Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb made some big changes to this ending,
possibly at Spielberg's behest. Some might say it was a more “Hollywood”
finale, but regardless, it solved the coincidence problem.
Hooper's scuba tanks and Quint's rifle are repeatedly planted
throughout the movie's second act; Hooper even warns Brody to be care-
ful with the tanks because of their explosive nature. When Brody faces of
against the shark, much care is taken to replant the air tanks in the scene,
before Brody eventually stuffs one of them into the shark's mouth. As
Brody lines up his final shot with the rifle, he is even heard to whisper to
himself (and to the audience), “Show me the tank. Show me the tank.” In
other words,
every effort is made
to properly set up that very satisfying
moment when he finally shoots the tank and it explodes in the shark's
mouth, blowing the carnivore to bloody bits.
Spectacle? Of course. “Hollywood?” Oh, yes. But also much more nar-
ratively correct and satisfying than the novel's ending, as this new finale in-
volves no coincidence, feels completely believable, and allows the Hero to
actively resolve the conflict through his own wits and actions.
2. Retrofit
What if you really don't want to change what happens? Then maybe you
can find a way to retroactively make it feel less coincidental.
Let's go back to
Jurassic Park
. How do we hang onto the amazing spec-
tacle of the T. rex killing the Velociraptors at the climax, while fixing the
problem of it being a massive coincidence and resolving the Hero's con-
flict for him?
By manipulating time and space, we could wind back the clock a bit and
plant the idea that the T. rex has entered the building. Maybe during an
earlier scene, we (and perhaps Grant) could see this on a security monitor
in the background of another shot.
Then, while Grant leads the others away from the raptors, he could see
the T. rex's shadow or some other clue that the thunder lizard is nearby.
(Again, planting.) Grant could then purposely lead his surrogate family
to-
ward
the T. rex in such a way that he knows the raptors will become its
target. He might even do something to purposely draw the T. rex's atten-
tion. A fix like this makes the Hero an active participant in setting up the
situation, as opposed to relegating him to the role of lucky bystander.
