Okay, so by the next meeting – we had nothing. We shot down every idea, and were very low on positive energy.

I brought up Post Apocalypse again, and brought ‘Saving Private Ryan’ as an example of the kind of environment I mean. Not totally ruined, but just damaged buildings in a city. When that movie is brought up, people immediately think of the impressive opening scene – the invasion of Normandy. I was actually referring to later on in the scene though, where they’re going through the war-torn European streets. 

I occasionally read script-writing guides and books, and it is usually said that as far as timing is concerned, it’s best to enter a scene as late as possible, and leave it as early as possible. Kind of like how people try to attend parties – don’t want to come too early, and don’t want to overstay the fun part. I think it’s really engaging to take this concept to the extreme – throw you in a scene of chaos, where you’ve no idea what’s going on. Lost did it extremely well – the first scene in the very first episode – the one that sold it to millions of viewers worldwide – is the chaos that ensues right after a plane crashes.  It’s also a demonstration of human fascination with destruction.  For some reason, seeing something built does not often give an audience the same sense of excitement as seeing something ruined and destroyed.

Another scene that I showed was Sarah Connor’s nightmare in Terminator 2, the one where she tries shouting to the families in the playground, but no words are coming out of her mouth. A moment after they all die in a horrible nuclear explosion. It’s a scene that stuck in my head, and has been there ever since I first saw the movie, more than 10 years ago.