EXORCIST: OPENING
SEQUENCE
Scene 1: Sunrise, gray sky to orange
sky—white disk of the sun. Establishing
shots of the Iraqi desert, temples, archeological site. Tracking shots of various pits, emphasis of
character movement (frantic digging). messenger boy running to find old man
(professor).
Scene 2: Professor walks slowly toward one of the pits seen
earlier. An Iraqi professor greets
him. Emphasis on point of view (pov)
shots. Old man’s encounter with the
demon. Eerie music punctuates the
encounter.
Scene 3: Transitional shot of the hot noonday sun. Outdoor café. Noisy scene—parallels noise and movement at the archeological
dig. Sounds of distant pounding of
metal can be heard. Old man is frail,
alone amid crowd in an alien world.
Emphasis on his pov of his surroundings, including a man helping a blind
man walk down the street. Ends with
encounter between server and the old man—emphasis on the old man’s reaction.
Scene 4: Transitional insert CU of
hot flames in a furnace. Cut to three
men pounding steel in the forge. Cut to
pov shot of the old man who observes them from a distance. This leads to pov /reaction shot encounter
between old man and the one-eyed worker.
Pounding of hammers continues.
Scene 5: Suddenly quiet—only sound is
the ticking of a clock on the wall of the Iraqi professor’s office. Note editing rhythms at work here. Three insert CU’s of objects of antiquity set
the scene. Second encounter between old
man and the demon (after he handles the medallion with Holy Child and
father. Clock stops—(the devil’s
work.) “There is something I must
do.” The old man knows the battle is
joined. Old man saws good-bye to the
Iraqi professor and walks past Muslims at prayer.
Scene 6: Change to another noisy scene. Old man walks through a crowded tunnel-like
bazaar, first walking toward the camera, then turning and walking away from the
camera. All this in one shot. Old man’s outward journey parallels his
inward journey.
Scene 7: Cut to another quiet
scene. Now the old man is on the quiet
streets surrounded with houses. Quiet,
but foreboding, suspicious. As he
continues walking, we can hear increasing sound off-screen. He turns a corner, and he is almost run down
by a carriage. Another encounter with evil?
Scene 8: Cut to another quiet
scene. He arrives at the archeological
site. A momentary diversion when guards
challenge him, then yield when they recognize him. He continues his journey.
Two cuts to ancient sculptures. Then a wide shot showing the small old
man among the vast landscape. He
continues his progress toward a specific statue—there the old man has his final
encounter with the devil. Two dissolves
lead to townhouse in Georgetown, Washington, D.C., and the location of the
devil—waiting to possess a small child.
Notes written by
Robert Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author for educational use only