Script Analysis: “Gravity” — Scene By Scene Breakdown

Here is my take on this exercise from a previous series of posts — How To Read A Screenplay:

After a first pass, it’s time to crack open the script for a deeper analysis and you can do that by creating a scene-by-scene breakdown. It is precisely what it sounds like: A list of all the scenes in the script accompanied by a brief description of the events that transpire.

For purposes of this exercise, I have a slightly different take on scene. Here I am looking not just for individual scenes per se, but a scene or set of scenes that comprise one event or a continuous piece of action. Admittedly this is subjective and there is no right or wrong, the point is simply to break down the script into a series of parts which you then can use dig into the script’s structure and themes.

The value of this exercise:

• We pare down the story to its most constituent parts: Scenes.
• By doing this, we consciously explore the structure of the narrative.
• A scene-by-scene breakdown creates a foundation for even deeper analysis of the story.

Today: Gravity (2013). You may download the script here.

Gravity
Scene-by-Scene Breakdown
By Matt Duriez
GoIntoTheStory.com

Page 1–3: High above the earth, the International Space Station (ISS) orbits silently. As the Explorer Space Shuttle comes into view, radio traffic from mission control faintly crackles as they request a status update from DOCTOR RYAN STONE. She is attempting to boot up a new Communications card, however she has trouble and mission control is unable to receive any of her data.

Page 4–7: It is revealed that the astronauts are fixing a telescope that is tethered to the SPACE SHUTTLE EXPLORER. Mission Commander MATT KOWALSKI floats nearby. He jokes with mission control, expressing concern about the mission and telling a story that they’ve clearly heard a hundred times before. Revealing that not only is Matt a joker but a veteran astronaut, a good man to have around. He is testing a new prototype of a jet pack and through dialogue with Houston it is revealed that this is Matt’s last mission. He is due to retire. Engineer, SHARIFF tends to battery modules, his work is successful and he starts singing and dancing inside his space suit.

Page 7–11: Connected to a robotic arm and working intently is Ryan. Houston is concerned about her physiological condition but she explains that she’s just having trouble adjusting to zero gravity. This is her first time in space. She is a medical engineer by day. Space isn’t her usual domain. She continues to attempt to reboot the communications card but mission control still doesn’t get any kind of response.

Page 11–12: Matt assists Ryan with her work as she gets more frustrated and struggles with the zero gravity conditions. She accidentally drops a crucial bolt but it is saved by a vigilant Matt.

Page 12–14: Mission control reports to the astronauts that a satellite orbiting the earth has been hit by a missile and has created a debris field that is moving at 20,000 miles per hour. However they don’t believe that it will interfere with the ongoing Hubble telescope repair mission. Ryan is concerned, but the veteran Matt easily calms her. Matt and Ryan enjoy the view and Shariff continues to enjoy himself, jumping and floating around. His safety tether keeping him safely attached to the telescope.

Page 14–16: Ryan closely inspects the panel she is working on. Finding that it is dead. Matt assists her, whilst again expressing his bad feeling about the mission and starting to tell a story about Mardi Gras that surprisingly mission control hasn’t heard before.

Page 16–17: Mission Control urgently interrupts Matt, ordering an immediate “Abort” to the mission, an immediate return to the Shuttle and for the ISS to initiate an emergency evacuation. Debris from the missile strike has caused a deadly chain reaction that is driving debris towards the Explorer.

Page 17: Matt orders Ryan to stop her work, she worries that if she doesn’t finish it entirely they’ll lose the whole system. Matt demands that she stop but Ryan keeps going, managing to complete the task. The Robotic starts to slowly withdraw, taking Ryan with it.

Page 18–19: Matt and Shariff begin to release the locks that attach the telescope to the Explorer. Mission control warns that due to the chain reaction many other satellites are being destroyed and to expect a communications black out at any moment. Matt makes visual contact with the debris cloud that is racing towards them.

Page 19–21: Parts of satellites start hurtling past. Too close for comfort. Ryan desperately requests that the robotic arm move faster. Then, they lose their communications. Matt races to assist Ryan to get herself free from the arm before the worst happens. A piece of debris hits the shuttle, shattering, a piece of shrapnel hits Shariff in the visor, he floats away from the shuttle, unconscious. Matt propels himself after him.

Page 22–26: Another piece of debris hits the shuttle, rolling it and Ryan who is still attached to the arm. Matt urgently reports the impact into the broken comms, hoping someone will hear. Another piece of debris hits, detaching the arm from the shuttle, sending Ryan spinning away into outer space. More and more impacts send dangerous particles rushing past her. Matt repeatedly tells Ryan to detach, but she can’t. The arm recedes further and further into the distance. Finally Ryan manages to detach herself, she tumbles in free fall. Losing sight of Matt and the Explorer. Matt calls for her to report her position, but her spin means that she can’t get a fix on anything. She hyperventilates, panicked, struggling to breath.

Page 26–30: Ryan controls her spin, calming herself, trying to gain a visual on something, someone, anything. She tries to achieve comms with Matt, Mission Control. Anyone. To no avail. Then she sees a light in the distance, flickering. No bigger than a star. She focuses hard, not blinking, afraid it will disappear. Then her radio crackles to life as Matt’s voice calls out to her. He makes it to her and grabs hold, tethering themselves together.

Page 31–34: Matt uses his jet pack to propel himself and Ryan back towards the Explorer Shuttle. Matt realises that they’ve got about 90 minutes until the debris field hits again. Ryan’s oxygen supply is down to six percent. Matt wants to recover the body of Shariff back to the Explorer. Matt thrusts towards the lifeless form that is tethered to a floating panel that was ripped from the Shuttle. Ryan manages to grab hold of his body and finds herself face-to-face with Shariff’s shattered helmet and deathly face. A photograph of his SON floats next to him.

Page 34–36: Ryan and Matt assess the damage to the Shuttle. It has suffered catastrophic damage. Looking in through the cockpit they see it has been destroyed, a body floats by. Matt reports in the blind to Houston that himself and Dr. Stone are the sole survivors of the disaster. Ryan feels guilty because she didn’t comply with Matt’s requests to stop work straight away. Maybe things could have turned out differently. Matt realises they need to get to the ISS, soon. He uses the jet pack to propel them towards the Station.

Page 37–41: Ryan’s oxygen is down to two percent as they make their way towards the ISS. Trying to take Ryan’s mind off the situation, Matt asks her about home. She’s from Lake Zurich, Illinois. Right about now she’d be driving home from the hospital, listening to the radio in the car. Matt senses a deep emotional response to his questions and tenderly pushing forward he discovers that Ryan had a daughter who died. Up here in space she feels remote and so far from home. Her oxygen drops further to one percent. Time is running out. Matt’s jet pack is running out of fuel, he holds for one single thrust that propels them on towards the Space Station.

Page 41–45: As they close on the ISS they see that it too has fallen victim to the debris field. The station’s first escape pod is missing and its second’s parachute has deployed. Making it unusable for re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere. Matt uses his last few fumes to thrust them towards the station. They hit at speed, struggling to gain a hold, grasping, missing. Finally Ryan takes hold and arrests their spin. Matt hurtles into her, knocking her off again. In the tumble, their tether is cut and she starts to drift until her foot becomes snagged in the parachute’s rigging lines. She tries to grab hold of the severed tether and Matt. But Matt’s weight is pulling her loose, which would jettison them both into the abyss. He tells her to let him go. She won’t. But Matt unhooks the tether and floats away. Leaving Ryan alone.

Page 45–49: Ryan grabs hold of the ISS. Her Carbon Dioxide alarm goes off. Matt tells her over their radio she needs to board the Station and to look for the airlock. She is getting light-headed, losing consciousness. Matt spurs her on. He tells her to use the escape pod as a lifeboat to get to the Chinese space station which is visible in the distance. She has never flown the pod, only in a simulator, which she crashed. Every time. She wants to go after Matt in the pod. He tells her that “She’s going to have to learn to let go”. He makes her say that she’s going to make it. Matt realises that he’s going to break the world record for the longest space walk. He drifts further away and the radios go dead. Now she is truly alone.

Page 50–52: Ryan is shutting down, losing consciousness rapidly, she struggles to make it into the airlock. She gets it open and with one last effort makes it inside. Time slows to a crawl as she pressurises the cabin. Time is running out, she is on her last breath. The oxygen graph slowly raises. She rips off her helmet and gasps for air. Recovering she fights her way out of her space suit. She floats in a foetal position.

Page 52–56: Ryan moves through the damaged station. She finds water and greedily drinks it. There is 14 minutes left until the debris field should hit again. She finds the comms panel and tries to raise Matt. But nothing. She tries to raise Houston. But again… nothing. She is the only survivor.

Page 56–58: An alarm sounds and lights blink. There is a fire. Ryan moves towards it. Finding a fire extinguisher. The jet sends her flying. The extinguisher is no match for the fire so she dashes for the escape pod. The fire chasing her. She makes it. Safe.

Page 59–60: In the escape pod, Ryan struggles to remember how to boot up the systems. The buttons and instruction are all in Russian. She must remember her training. She methodically works through the sequence. She jettisons the pod from the ISS.

Page 61–65: A massive jolt. Ryan looks out of the porthole. The pod’s parachute is caught on the Station. It pulls her back towards the ISS. Moments later… Ryan emerges from the pod in a space suit. Her watch alarms, satellite debris must be imminent. She inspects the problem and takes out a tool, not realising that debris is zooming past the Station. She starts to remove the bolts that hold the parachute on to the pod. Nearly losing the tool she sees the debris storm as it starts to smash into the station. She removes further bolts, humming to herself, trying to remain calm. The pod released, more debris impacts causing a chain reaction.

Page 66–68: Back inside the escape pod, Ryan attempts to get on course towards the Chinese space station which is 100 kilometres away. But when she attempts to engage the thrusters… nothing happens. There’s a problem. She pushes the button over and over. Nothing. The fuel tank is EMPTY.

Page 68–69: Ryan unleashes her rage, bouncing around the pod. She tries to raise Houston on the radio. Nothing. It’s over. The pod floats listlessly in the vast blackness of space. The earth below, beautiful and unreachable.

Page 69–75: The temperature has plummeted. Ryan shivers as she tries and tries to raise Houston. Then, something crackles over the radio-waves. Giving Ryan a new lease of life. The transmission is not in English, could it be the Chinese station? She calls “mayday” over and over. But the man doesn’t speak English, doesn’t understand. Her hope fades. She hears dogs barking in the background, tries to imagine where he is. She starts to bark and howl like a dog. Tears fall from her eyes and float around the cabin. The transmission fades into static, the man sings, breaking through, then a baby cries. She listens to the man as he sings a lullaby to his baby. Ryan reminisces about when she used to sing to her daughter. She turns a valve, the oxygen starts to drop. The transmission grows faint, then is gone. Ryan lets go.

Page 75–79: A tap, tap, tap brings Ryan out of her hypoxic slumber. She looks up to see MATT outside the porthole. The latch on the porthole starts to move, Ryan panics and straps herself into her chair. The hatch swings open, the vacuum of space sucking against her. Matt swings in and closes the hatch. It begins to pressurize. Matt turns on the lights and tells Ryan with delight how he’s beaten the solo space walk record. Ryan doesn’t understand how he’s alive. Ryan is drowsy, she tells Matt that the pod is out of fuel, he suggests that she use the soft landing jets to propel them towards the Chinese station. Matt asks Ryan if she “wants to go back or do you want to stay up here?”. Then. “What’s the point in going on, what’s the point of living?”. Ryan struggles to keep her eyes open as Ryan tells her again “You have to learn to let go”. Then, her eyes snap open, Matt is GONE.

Page 79–82: She remembers what Matt said about the landing jets and with a renewed determination she turns on the cabin lights, pulls on her helmet and opens the oxygen valve, beginning to breath. She grabs the manual and searches for the landing section. The jets trigger at three meters above the ground, she needs to jettison the other modules. She tells Matt that he’s going to see a little girl with messy brown hair, her daughter, she tells him to tell her that she found her red shoe. “She was so upset about that shoe”. She separates the other modules. She has to make the landing module think its only 3 meters from the ground. She resets the altitude and then… the THRUSTERS ENGAGE pushing the pod at speed towards the Chinese station.

Page 83–87: Realising that the pod is going to miss the station. Ryan grabs the fire extinguisher and launches herself out of the pod, into space. Slamming her shoulder. Her alarm goes off, the debris field is inbound. She tumbles, seeing the Station below her. The escape pod enters the earths atmosphere, burning up. She uses the extinguisher to propel herself towards the station. Struggling to get the right line. Eventually the extinguisher is empty, she is a few meters from the station, she drifts, trying to grab hold. Failing.Debris starts to zoom above the station. With a last ditch effort and in excruciating pain Ryan takes a hold and makes it in through a hatch and into the station as debris gets closer and closer.

Page 88–90: The control panel is all in Chinese. She takes a wild guess. The cabin pressurises. An alarm is going off. The Station is rumbling, it is plummeting towards earth. She rushes to find her way to the escape pod. The station starts to break up as it hits the edge of the atmosphere. Parts breaking off, burning up. She makes it into the pod.

Page 91–95: Ryan desperately tries to engage the pod. Everything shakes violently. The station is breaking up. She searches for the right buttons amongst the Chinese symbols. Resorted to “eenie, meenie, miini, mo” pressing a button makes an alarm sound, cancelling it, trying another, more alarms. Finally, the right one and the pod initialises, everything lighting up. She tries to contact Houston, telling them she has a bad feeling about this mission and it reminds her of a story. She thinks she’s found the right button and prepares to press it, accepting the risks.The station is bouncing through the atmosphere. A piece of debris collides with the station, tearing it in two. Spinning the escape pod toward earth.

Page 95–98: Ryan is rattled in her seat, she struggles to reach a lever, pulls it. The pod’s locks disengage, sending it plummeting towards earth. Shaking and spinning Ryan. The pod’s aerodynamics right the vessel as it cuts through the atmosphere. A ball of fire as it races towards the ground. A piece of debris impacts, causing a panel to fall off inside, smoke tendrils leaking from the damage. The parachute deploys as it breaks through into the cooler sky. It slows the descent, a second opens. The cabin starts to fill with smoke, Ryan chokes. The pod is heading towards a lake, the thrusters engage as it lands in the water.

Page 98–100: Ryan chokes in the smoke, she unstraps herself and opens the hatch. Water pours inside. Ryan can’t get out. The weight of the water is too strong. It fills with water, sinking, taking Ryan with it. She makes it out of the hatch, swimming up. The weight of her spacesuit pulling her down, panicking. Freeing herself from the garments, making for the surface, out of breath. Her foot catches on the sinking parachute, she struggles free.

Page 100–102: She breaks out onto the surface. She’s back on earth. She drags herself to the edge of the lake, lying on the sand, She laughs. Struggling to stand up, on her feet she walks… walks on earth. She is free.

Writing Exercise: I encourage you to read the script, but short of that, if you’ve seen the movie, go through this scene-by-scene breakdown. What stands out to you about it from a structural standpoint?

If you’d like a PDF of the Gravity scene-by-scene breakdown, go here.

[Note: This is for the 2012 draft which is 102 pages long. Here is a scene-by-scene breakdown of the 68 page shooting script.]

Kudos to Matt Duriez for doing this week’s breakdown.

For 100+ movie scripts broken down scene by scene, go here.