From Edward Bowie, US Army:
I have a counter-intuitive nomination for best shot: The opening segue from the Paramount “mountain� to the unspecified Andean mountain in “Raiders of the lost Ark.� Indicative, I think, that what we are about to see is “…only a movie!�
Perfect for the “just for fun� spirit that Lucas and Spielberg intended for their paean to the Saturday serial while demonstrating the technical wizardry that gives their “effects� movies their dazzle (and their point.) Relax, get out the popcorn, their won’t be a quiz….a masterpiece!
JE: Nothing counter-intuitive about this one -- it's intuitive all the way! I recall seeing it the weekend it came out with a friend and film professor of mine. We took in a matinee double-bill -- first "Clash of the Titans," followed by "Raiders." Within the first few seconds, I remember her leaning over and whispering: "Isn't it great to see somebody knows how to make MOVIES?!?!" Yep, it is.
Watching this shot repeatedly (I like to get my hands dirty, as it were, while getting frame grabs), I thought of a couple basic principles of improv comedy: 1) always add information to the scene; and 2) always say "yes" -- never contradict what somebody else has brought into it. Of course, this shot is anything but improvisational; it's artfully choreographed all the way -- and Spielberg is saying "yes" and adding information second by second.
First, there's the dissolve from the Paramount mountain to the jungle peak. A man steps into the frame, seen from behind, with a whip dangling from his hip: the soon-to-be-legendary silhouette of Indiana Jones, seen from behind. For a moment, he takes the place of the mountain in the frame, assuming its monumental stature. Next come what look like two backpack-toting "sherpas" in pointy knit caps, echoing the mountain and providing a nice symmetrical frame.
After them comes another man. The camera tilts up and a man turns around -- the first face we see, barely -- and looks behind him, over and past the camera, so we can assume more people are coming. Another man, this one in a hat that echoes Indy's, climbs up the rise and also turns around, gesturing for others to follow. A cart enters and wipes across the frame from left to right, plunging it into relative darkness. The first time you see it, it all appers so simple and natural. Spielberg makes it look easy, but it must have required considerable effort to capture this very precisely timed movement and framing. For me, these few opening seconds are as exciting, in some ways, as the big booby-trap scene coming up...
Hi Jim,
I was just thinking: A whole sub-category of opening shots could be made out of ways the studio logos have been worked into the opening.
Speilberg did it again in the Temple of Doom as the Paramount Logo turns into the large Gong and we pan to Kate Capshaw doing the Cole Porter number.
In Eddie Murphy's Coming to America we ride past the Paramount mountain into the valleys and mountains surrounding Murphy's kingdom.
Xanadu, (which you profiled before,) has the Universal globe being encircled with a succession of more modern planes until finally we have a UFO flying about the globe.
In Joss Whedon's "Serenity," the globe at the center of the Universal logo becomes an actual planet where the first scene takes place. Probably draws a little from Spielberg/Indiana Jones.
CVF, but didn't "Doom" do something similar? Using Mars in the Universal logo and then plunging down to the surface?
Wow, I feel like I've sinned now for mentioning "Doom" in the same topic as "Raiders".
Not only do "Raiders" and "Temple of Doom" use the trick, but so does "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," where the Paramount mountain becomes a peak in Monument Valley on young Indy's scout trip.
And Trey Parker and Matt Stone pull the same trick at the beginning of "South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut," turning the Paramount logo into a crude cartoon mountain.
In the opener of Waterworld, the Universal globe floods. Best part of the movie.
Actually, my favorite opening shot is from The Player - just really long and continuous, through windows, etc. Great shot.
The unfortunate thing about this kind of opening shot is that it's so dependent on the logo itself. Can you imagine if 20th Century Fox had distributed Raiders instead of Paramount? What could Spielberg done as an equivalent? Have one of the spotlights flash directly into camera, and then dissolve to the sun?
JE: Good question. And a good answer, too! I received an Opening Shot contribution from somebody who thought she remembered "Jurassic Park" opening the same way. It doesn't. And it couldn't. It was a Universal Picture.
Of course, the opening for Batman: The Animated Series had the Warner Bros. logo turning into a search light. Gave me chills as a wee child.
Speaking of Fox, another nice logo play: The conductor energetically overseeing the fanfare that plays over 20th Century Fox's logo.
This discussion has to include "The Last Remake of Beau Geste", in which Marty Feldman grabs the Universal globe, breaks off all the letters, and then points to the spot on the earth where our story begins.
Hi Jim. Reading about the opening shots of the Indiana Jones films reminded me of another whopper of an opening. I don't own it, so can't give a frame-by-frame breakdown. I'll leave it to you, if you agree with me, and if you wish to do so.
I remember the opening shot of Ed Wood featured a cheesy version of LA, that, I believe, segued into the real thing. This truly set the tone for the entire film: it was funny, creepy, and intellectually stimulating in it's creativity all at the same time.
May I take this opportunity to recommend a book by my good friend and former teacher Warren Buckland: "Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood Blockbuster."
In his chapter on "Raiders," Buckland analyzes this opening sequence in detail. He suggests the graphic match at the beginning is a transition from the non-fiction world (studio logos) to the fiction world which Indy subsequently enters (on-screen). In addition, the porter chops the foliage and looks into the camera, drawing attention to the off-screen space, a common technique in Spielberg's earlier films.
May I plug the book again? OK, I will. It's the only serious, scholarly treatment of Spielberg's blockbusters out there, and the chapter on Raiders is a real gem.
Oh for the days when I actually liked Spielberg's work. "Raiders" hasn't lost anything since it was released!
What sticks out to me is how informal it is. The mountain is only a rough match for the Paramount logo, and with the low light and the way the actors step directly in front of the camera, blotting out the entire frame, it is almost as though they're passerbys who've wandered into the shot. It isn't even particularly well-timed. (Compare to the second film, which has the Paramount logo etched into a gong and follows with a crane swoop to a musical number). Raiders was both a major studio production and a tribute to cheap Republic serials, and Spielberg was and is as capable of the polish of the former as the efficency necessary to the latter. I think what makes the movie so appealing, beyond the production design, is that it knows how to gratify without being too refined, an attribute the first shot illustrates well.
Something pompous about termite art via a white elephant apparatus.
In terms of modifying the 20th Century Fox logo at the start of a film, I can think of two instances off the top of my head (I'm sure there are more out there).
1. The Day After Tomorrow. The Fox logo buried halfway up in snow, with icicles drooping off.
2. More creatively, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with the Fox logo becoming part of the cityscape as the camera pans down to street level.
The best comedy intro uses the MGM logo. Bob & Doug MacKenzie's Strange Brew begins with the standard MGM lion, only to have the camera pan around the logo/lion set and show you one of the brothers playing with the lion's tail.
Also, wasn't the 20th Century logo used in either Canonball Run or Smokey & the Bandit? I can't remember which.
The logo shows a speeding car being chased by a highway patrol car uses the various platforms of the 20th Century logo to drive on.
Anyone clearly remember which movie that was?
I think the BEST disolve from logo to opening scene is in The 'burbs starring Tom Hanks. We see the Universal logo, see the word Universal fade out and we zoom into the Earth. It keeps going and going until we end up on a suburban street in Anywhere, USA. That shot gave me the chills when I was younger and it still amazes me that way back in the 80s that looks like a flawless one take shot into suburbian hell.
There's a few variations on the MGM lion out there. The most recognizable would be the Tom and Jerry cartoons that faded the lion's roaring head into Tom's hissing imitation.
The Marx Brothers have gotten into the frame as well, although Harpo couldn't roar.
Also, there was an early Muppet movie that placed Animal into the lion's spot. [Sidebar: is Animal supposed to be some sort of animal? If so, what kind? Is he just a really scary human?]
The movie that took it the farthest, though was "Bob and Doug MacKenzie's Strange Brew." It's the only one that, like "Raiders" and "The 'Burbs," segues the logo with the movie. In it the lion is too drunk to roar and then it is revealed that Bob and Doug, who supplied the lion with beer, are behind the lion trying to crank it's tail to make it roar.
The curtains and conductor at the beginning of Moulin Rouge.