Just start: The greatest jump scare of all time
Hey all,
Something I think about quite a lot when I’m making stuff is the greatest jump scare of all time, from one of the greatest films of all time — by which, of course, I mean Jaws. And the reason I think it’s important is that it almost didn’t exist at all.
In the first test screenings of Jaws, the first moment the shark pops out of the water — right behind Roy Scheider, as he’s shovelling chum off the back of the boat — got the biggest scream of the whole film, followed by one of the biggest laughs. Spielberg was elated, but still felt he wanted a second big scream, and so he went back to the drawing board — or rather, his editor’s swimming pool, which he filled with Carnation Milk to film the scene where Ben Gardner’s head lurches out of a sunken boat.
On the next test screenings, Spielberg got his two screams: but the second one, during the chumming scene, was quieter. “The audience was put on the defensive because of that first surprise; they were looking for something to pop out from that moment on,” says Spielberg. “But I left it like that: I got two screams.”
You can read this story in a few different ways. One way to look at it is as a precursor for the problems with modern blockbusters — the instinct to always do more — and the way it eventually blunts audience reactions. Another way is that however good a project is, however finished you think it is, if your instincts are telling you that there’s a way to make it better, you should put in the effort, because it will be worth it. For me, I think what it reminds me is that you can’t be too precious with your favourite creative stuff: however much you like a line, a joke, a shot or a paragraph, you might have to lose it or change it or diminish its impact to make the whole project better. It still won’t be as good as Jaws, but nothing is.
Have a great weekend!
Joel x
Stuff I like
Article - William Shatner’s Overwhelming Sadness
I somehow missed it when I first came out, but this piece on how bereft Captain Kirk felt when he finally made it to space (on Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space shuttle) is genuinely really affecting. “The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness,” he says, with what sounds like a classic case of the Overview Effect. “My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”
🎶 Hype Music - Ready To Die by Andrew WK
I once had the privilege of talking to Andrew WK (I asked him for an interview for my blog, and he very graciously talked to me for 40 minutes) — and he explained his philosophy of partying, which is that basically anything (eating pizza, working out, hanging out with your child) can be partying. I’ve tried to take that to heart, and this tune’s probably responsible for more of my squat PBs than every other song put together.
📖 Book - Superforecasting: The Art & Science Of Prediction
I’m fascinated by how some people seem to be quite good at predicting things and others don’t, but even more fascinated by the way some people learn from mistakes while others…double down. So this book, by a professor who actually held a government-funded forecasting tournament to identify the traits that good forecasters share, was just brilliant all around. I’d love to know what some of these people think about AI.
🪶 Quote of the week
There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognise them when they show up.
From On Writing by Stephen King
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