Everything speeds up at the end of a story. There is no more time for explanations or questions and answers. Events will flash by. So how can you make sure the audience knows what is going on? One solution is to walk them through it slowly, using a rough model with a basic simulation.
Then the audience knows what to expect, and a little twist, here or there, won’t spin them in circles. Instead, those little twists might be the most exciting parts of the entire story. The audience must know what to expect for an ending to surprise them when things go awry, making things more exciting. Both Back to the Future and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope uses simple models to prepare the audience for some of the most exciting endings in film history.
Doc Brown builds a complete model of downtown Hill Valley to show us what will happen. “Let me show you my plan for sending you home.” Doc tells Marty. “Please excuse the crudity of this model. I didn’t have time to build it to scale or paint it.”
Now we can carefully walk through everything that needs to happen for the ending. Marty winds up a toy car, and Doc prepares a lead acid battery to shock it at just the right time, playing their respective roles. Sure, the toy car bursts into flames, and the simulation goes poorly overall, but it successfully tells us precisely what to expect. Later, when we see Doc setting up the power line over the road, we see this scale model become real. We know what is going to happen. On Saturday, November 12, 1955, at 10:04 p.m., lighting will strike the clock tower providing 1.21 gigawatts of power to send Marty back to the future. He needs to be going 88 miles per hour at that exact moment.
So when the power cord disconnects and the Delorean’s engine dies, we are on the edge of our seats. This will ruin their entire plan! It is a complex situation, with multiple pieces that have to be hit at the same time. But we understand because we have already walked through a scale model of the situation. We know what Doc and Marty must do. There is no time to go back now; they are racing the clock!
So when Marty tries to tell Doc about the Libyans shooting him in 1985, there are enough pieces in play we that understand why Marty can’t stop everything to warn Doc.
Doc shouts, “Look at the time, you’ve got less than 4 minutes, please hurry!”
The stunt driving is more exciting than the cardboard and toy car model, but because of that crude model, we understand everything going on. Adding some complication to the situation now doesn’t throw us off completely.
Marty tries to figure out how to save Doc, talking to himself, saying, “Dammit, Doc, why did you have to tear up that letter? If only I had more time. Wait a minute; I got all the time I want! I got a time machine! I’ll just go back and warn him. 10 minutes oughta do it.”
Marty solved the problem for now. It’s an imperfect solution, but at least now he doesn’t have to worry about saving Doc. He can focus on getting back to the future. Then Marty runs through his checklist for time travel. We’ve seen the time travel launch process before, but walking through the steps again ensures we are all on the same page for the extra challenges Marty must face. “Time-circuits on, flux-capacitor fluxing, engine running, alright.”
But then the Delorean dies. “No, no, no, no, no,” Marty chants, trying to get the engine to turn over. This makes for one of the most exciting endings in film history, and I think one reason is we so clearly understand what Doc and Marty need to do in the end.
We are not thinking about the model town in Doc’s garage as lightning strikes, but it has already served its purpose of preparing us for the grand finale. If Marty is finally returning to the future, he must take the audience with him.
Star Wars also uses a rough model to prepare the audience for the ending. And the model is cruder than Doc Brown’s model of Hill Valley, although it is pretty cool to see early computer graphics.
General Dodonna tells the Rebel Pilots, “The approach will not be easy. You are required to maneuver straight down this trench and skim the surface to this point. The target area is only two meters wide. It’s a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station.”
This plan is why the Rebels wanted the Death Star blueprints. Artoo carried the schematics throughout the movie and finally passed them off. After looking over the Death Star schematics, this is their best chance to take out the Imperial battle station. But the plan worries the pilots.
“That’s impossible, even for a computer.” Wedge says in disbelief.
“It’s not impossible,” Luke says. “I used to bull’s-eye womp rats in my T-sixteen back home. They’re not much bigger than two meters.” But that is all the preparation time the pilots get. It is time to sprint to the finale!
But the Star Wars model is not as complete as Back to the Futures. We can’t run through the simulation to build up our expectations with these white pixels. We know what will happen, but we have not seen it.
So the brilliant thing Star Wars does is have multiple pilots try the run to get the audience ready for the finale. Red Leader even runs through the entire process and misses. So with the added complexity of Darth Vader and his wingmen shooting down Rebel Fighters ship to ship, we know exactly what is waiting for Luke, Wedge and Biggs because we have seen it! When these three rookie Rebel pilots start their trench run, we know exactly how things can go wrong. Vader hits Wedge, and he has to Bail. Then Vader kills Biggs. Luke is alone.
The Death Star readies its planet-destroying laser beam, which we have also seen before when the Empire destroys Alderaan. We know what will happen to the Rebel Base and what can happen to Luke. It is not just our imagination. We have already seen planets and rebel fighters explode! Luke will not have time to make the shot!
So when the Millenium Falcon shoots Vader’s wingman and saves Luke from their chase, Luke has time to make the shot, and the audience goes wild.
Multiple events throughout the movie have prepared us for this ending. We’ve seen the Death Star blow up a planet and know the firing sequence and accompanying sound effects. We know Luke can use the force to guide his hands from the blaster shield training he did with Obi-Wan. And we know precisely how the trench run will go because we saw other rebel fighters attempt it. The computer graphics model is not quite enough to prepare us for the finale, but it helps set the stage.
Back to the Future and Star Wars do an incredible job of preparing the audience for the grand finale. We are dealing with complex science fiction processes that have to go just right, but the audience follows along with the characters because we know what to expect.
It might seem like a waste of time to put in a slow explanation, or a scale model, of what is about to happen at the end of a movie, but that preparation pays off multiple times over. It is a bit like a slow climb to the top of a roller coaster. The ending can speed up by building the anticipation, leaving the audience cheering.
Daniel N. Blair 