It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us.
— Arthur Schopenhauer
We all know the lasting impact a first impression has and it’s never truer than when we first meet a character. But as a filmmaker or screenwriter it can be challenging to come up with fresh ways for a character to make an entrance. At its best, the first glimpse should have 4 elements: be visual, engaging, revealing, and memorable. Memorable doesn’t always have to be high-drama either. Sure, you can make your character do something dramatic — light a bomb, for instance. But what if action’s not your script’s genre? It’s a lot harder to have your character do something more low-key, yet still unusual. Below are four different character introductions that hit the four criteria above.
Melba, The Cincinnati Kid (1965) — Ring Lardner, Jr. wrote the script from the novel of the same name. Lardner was one of the Hollywood Ten and his career suffered as a result until the Black List was lifted. While this is not a classic on the level of The Hustler, The Cincinnati Kid is still an entertainment movie with a fine script. Lardner’s screenwriting chops are evident throughout and while all the characters are introduced memorably throughout, I found the way he handled Melba’s amusing and on-point. She’s first seen cutting and sanding the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle so they can fit. (The first shots in this sequence are missing from the YouTube video below.)
Ellie and Peter, It Happened One Night (1934) – Frank Capra’s classic screwball comedy introduces its two main characters, Ellie (Claudette Colbert) and Peter (Clark Gable), by first showing us others’ reactions to them. The movie opens on a boat, with servants fighting over which one is going to bring in Ellie’s food and get her to eat. Each one’s bandaged or injured from their previous interactions with her. Finally, Lacey, a petty officer, takes matters into his own hands:
He picks up the tray and starts toward the door of the cabin.
LACEY
(as he
walks—muttering)
Can't get a thing done unless you
do it yourself.
(as he approaches
the door)
Open the door.
We SEE him at the CABIN DOOR as the guard quickly and
gingerly unlocks it.
LACEY
Afraid of a mere girl! Ridiculous.
Lacey stalks in bravely, the tray held majestically in
front of him, while the steward and waiters form a circle
around the door, waiting expectantly. There is a short
pause, following which Lacey comes hurling out backwards
and lands on his back, the tray of food scattering all
over him. The steward quickly bangs the door shut and turns
the key as the waiters stare silently.
When her father (Walter Connolly) finally enters carrying the tray of food, the first shot of Ellie is of her holding a vase in her hand, ready to hurl it. An argument ensues and we learn that Ellie’s on a hunger strike because her father has refused to allow her marriage to a good-looking, fortune-hunter. Within the movie’s first five minutes we learn Ellie’s a spoiled and willful heiress with a mind of her own. These traits also set the story in motion. After the fight, she dives off the side of the boat and swims to shore.
The next scene takes place in a bus station, the same one in which Ellie now waits for a Greyhound bus to make her way to her fiancé in Florida. A group of drunken reporters is huddled around a phonebooth, eavesdropping as a tipsy Pete reads his boss the riot act — which results in his losing his job on the spot. He covers it up, of course, in order to earn his buddies’ admiration.
Again, another unexpected and engaging way of showing us a character’s flawed personality, which will also further the plot when Peter spots Ellie and wrangles his job back by offering his boss the scoop.
Jackie, Nurse Jackie (2009) – Voice-over narration is often derided as lazy, but writers Liz Brixius, Linda Wallem and Evan Dunsky devised a fresh approach. The narration by Jackie Peyton (Edie Falco) shows her wise-cracking, pragmatic ways, which contrast to the visuals: She’s blissed out on the hospital floor, clutching an empty prescription bottle. Not only is it memorable, the audience is instantly privy to Jackie’s dirty secret: despite her competent, caring ways, she’s an addict.
When I watched the above movies and shows, I was immediately taken with the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them. It’s challenging to present a character in a way that’s engaging, revealing, and crucial to the story. Maybe the above examples will serve as inspiration.