ENDINGS...

Endings come at the beginning. It’s a good idea to sit back and dream out a wonderful or kickass ending depending on the kind of movie you are going to write. Since we are learning, a viewing of a number of films which are similar to the film one is setting out to write, gets the juices going. Heck this is not about copying. Thou shalt not copy! But this is just to place the senses in the spaces where the movie will ultimately take the viewer. Igor Stravinsky did this. Before setting out to compose a new piece, he would sit at the piano and play out pieces he knew that would reflect the feelings he had at the moment. He would immerse himself into the world of the piece he’d be giving birth to. Now does this restrict free creativity? Does this restrict the work? Is this a way to procrastinate? I don’t know. We can debate on this endlessly. But heck we wont get the script on the way. For me, this is just a good way to center the mind.



Ok, before you read on, let me warn you that spoilers abound in the following passage.

One of the best endings for me was in Blade Runner when after the mayhem of the roof top duel, Leon settles himself before the battered Decker and recites that sad sad poem which gets Decker to reflect on his own life. It lifts the film from a simplistic good versus evil ending to something beautiful.

All endings don’t have to explode. I know, movie company marketing heads insist on this. Where’s the explosion? You can always counter, where’s the budget? Ha ha sorry couldn’t resist that one. But joking aside, viewers want catharsis. And it’s become an idea that we need an explosion, we need mayhem at the ending otherwise, the audience is not going to leave the theater satisfied. That these mayhem endings leave the audience equally dissatisfied is of course another story. You cannot write a lousy story and explode your way out of it. But an explosion does not harm the ending. For me another beautiful ending was in Billy Elliot. The cathartic moment was when Billy speaks his thoughts at the admission test. Overwhelming scene that one! But we had to have the explosion at the very end. I wonder if that’s what made it a hit at the box office. And those marketing guys really do know what they are talking about. So maybe it’s a good idea to end the film with a good chase or an explosion.