Scene Description Spotlight: “Raising Arizona”

I’ll always have a soft spot for Raising Arizona as it was the very first industry screening I attended back in March 1987. That and the fact it still ranks as one of the best Coen brothers’ movies.

Here is an IMDb summary of the plot:

Recidivist hold-up man H.I. McDonnough and police woman Edwina marry, only to discover they are unable to conceive a child. Desperate for a baby, the pair decide to kidnap one of the quintuplets of furniture tycoon Nathan Arizona. The McDonnoughs try to keep their crime secret, while friends, co-workers and a feral bounty hunter look to use Nathan Jr. for their own purposes.

In this sequence, HI (Nicholas Cage) and Ed (Holly Hunter) try to steal some diapers. It’s long, but worth the read to see how the Coens stage the action.

Notice how the Coens not only use Shots (Secondary Slugs) to designate specific camera shots (CLOSE SHOT HUGGIES / CLOSE UP CASHIER / HI’S POV), but also to shift the action from one location to another (BACK TO THE STORE / ED’S CAR / YARD).

The main thing I suggest tracking is how the Coens use paragraphs of scene description to suggest individual camera shots like here:

Each paragraph matches up almost exactly shot-for-shot to what was filmed and edited in the movie. It’s the same pretty much through the entire sequence and offers an excellent lesson: how to use scene description to suggest camera shots without using directing jargon or camera lingo.

Here’s part of the entire diaper-chase scene:

Any fans of Raising Arizona? Where does it stand in your list of favorite Coen brothers movies?

For more Scene Description Spotlight articles, go here.