Scripts out West

 As I started to write my open, I wanted to look at a few examples of famous Western movie scripts to inspire my choices in writing. Luckily, this great website let me access scripts from history's greatest Westerns. Here are a few examples that I loved, and how they opened their films.

Dances with Wolves (1990)

What I find most intriguing about this opening is the use of diegetic sound before anything is seen on screen. I'm a big fan of this style of storytelling, as it keeps the audience engaged from the get-go, and enthralls them in the scene before anything is seen. The dialogue is informal, highlighting the unprofessional and wild nature of those out west. The opening introduces the characters amid a crisis, allowing the viewer to immediately be launched into the movie's action. 

Tombstone (1993) 

In this opening, the use of narration gives context behind what is shown on screen. Through a series of old photographs, showing the film setting, the opening establishes the story's theme of self-described "opulence". It is a simplistic opening and can be a good model for a low-budget (0 bucks) film like I am creating.

These 2 examples highlight the type of stylistic, creative scriptwriting I intend to have for my opening. They're great examples for me to follow, and a scene like the 2 I described are easily replicable for a student filmmaker like myself