Script Analysis: “The Aeronauts” — 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: The Aeronauts (2019). You may read the script here.

Screenplay by Jack Thorne, story by Jack Thorne and Tom Harper.

Plot summary: Balloon pilot Amelia Wren and scientist James Glaisher find themselves in an epic fight for survival while attempting to make discoveries in a gas balloon in the 1860s.

The Aeronauts
 Scene-By-Scene Breakdown
 By Andrew Lightfoot
 GoIntoTheStory.blcklst.com

P 1–3 — A young widow, Amelia Wren, is in a carriage traversing the streets of mid 19th century London with her sister Antonia. Amelia looks up at the sky and is hit with horrible memories of a balloon flight gone wrong. She forces the driver to stop, jumps out. Antonia attempts to talk her sister out of flying. Amelia refuses saying she made an agreement with a Mr. Glaisher and will not go back on her word.

P 3–5 We follow A young boy, Charlie. He runs through the streets and sneaks inside the gardens where a mass of people has gathered. What drew all the people is “The Mammoth” an 80-foot-tall red and white striped silk air balloon.

P 5–7 James Glaisher, the scientist of the flight, checks and rechecks his equipment impatiently waiting for Amelia to show up. A friend, John Trew, approaches James and expresses his doubts about the weather, James’s weather predictions, and the flight. They are joined by an investor Ned, who wants to ensure that this flight will happen and he wouldn’t have to reimburse 10,000 people. James assures him it will and that he was only waiting for the pilot.

P 7–13 A roar stirs up in the crowd. Amelia has arrived and is standing on top of a carriage pulled by four horses. The crowd loves her and she knows it. When she nears the balloon, she is handed a rope. She swings towards the balloon finishing with a cartwheel and a flip. Then teases James by saying he isn’t being a gentleman for not giving her his hand. He does so and helps Amelia into the basket. She feigns tripping and tumbles into his arms. She waves to the crowd and whistles. A small dog jumps from the carriage and joins Amelia and James in the balloon, much to James’s shock.

Finally, with some fireworks and a speech, the massive balloon begins to rise. Amelia isn’t finished. A hundred feet high she climbs the side of the balloon. She tugs a cord on her dress and all the feathers drop from her dress and flutter down to the crowd below. Returning back to the basket she feigns a slip which scares James. For her last act she asks James to hand her the dog and when he does it slips from her hands and plummets to the ground. A parachute put on the dog opens up making the crowd cheer even louder.

P 13–15 Now 1,200 ft above London James takes in view for the first time. Amelia is amused at his reaction but to herself it shows how insignificant it all is. James questions her acts for the crowd saying he’s been laughed at most his life and was hoping today would be different. Amelia replies that his reputation is built on paper while hers is built on entertaining the people. Soon after James spots a dark cloud which he shrugs off as nothing to worry about. Amelia tells him not to pretend it isn’t anything to which James suggest they stick to their jobs. He’s the scientist and she’s the pilot.

P 15–17 A younger James exits a window to make his way to the roof. He encourages his friend John to do the same. Eventually both guys make it to the rooftop where James unpacks his telescope. He sets it up in the direction of a balloon launch about to take place. James has the time down to the second, but when he counts down to zero, he sees no activity on the horizon. Then suddenly a massive balloon rises up from the city, James describes the balloon shape to his friend. After allowing John to take a look himself James repositions the telescope but loses the balloon when it passes the clouds. John tells James that James will get his chance one day; they’ll realize his worth.

P 17–18 James is at the Royal Society Lecture Theatre giving a speech in the hopes of getting an expedition funded, but all they do is laugh at him and his idea of predicting the weather.

P 18–19 At home James’s father Arthur reads an article about the events at the lecture theatre and seems to agree with them about weather prediction. Arthur asks his son if what they say bothers him at all. James replies with “ Just wish it didn’t hurt you”.

P 19–20 The balloon is now 5,700 ft high. Amelia prepares for cold temperature by dressing in warmer gear. James awkwardly helps her undo her corset. Amelia recommends that James puts his oils skins on but he is too focused on taking notes and readings. He attaches notes onto carrier pigeons and releases them incase things go bad.

P 20–23 Height is now 6,100 ft. A thick cloud surrounds the balloon making it a little hard to see. Amelia recites a line from a poem, James recites another line. She turns around and sees the back of James and thinks it’s her late husband Pierre. She approaches him, Pierre turns around, and Amelia now realizes it’s James. She’s astonished. They chat for a bit about Pierre before a roll of thunder interrupts them. James is quick to check his equipment and is surprised by how fast the air pressure is changing. They have a small debate on weather prediction vs instinct. Flashes of lightning, the balloon jolts around, then calm.

P 23–27 The storm strikes again. Thunder, lightning, and now whirlwinds. The basket of the balloon gets tossed around. James is still working feverishly on getting his readings while Amelia tells him to put his equipment away. The basket gets rocked knocking both occupants down. Amelia uses this time to pin James in position so she can pilot the balloon. They are hit a second time. James goes flying and cuts his head open on the pigeon coup and then lands on top of Amelia. They both agree to not descend, but to rise up out of the storm.

At 9,000 ft they hit a pocket of cold air. It makes the balloon drop 1,000 ft. Everything not tied down is tossed in the air and lands all over the place. James hits hard in the basket while Amelia is thrown out of it. She claws at the side of the wicker basket as she drops until her hand finally gets hold of a rope. James helps her back in. 9,600 ft up and with rain lashing at them Amelia decides to release two sand bags used as weights. This helps the balloon burst through the storm and into sunlight. The balloon, basket, and ropes are all soaked.

P 28–29 Thousands of feet below John is looking through a spyglass trying to find the balloon, but has no luck. Charlie, the boy from before, appears and asks to use the spyglass and asks John if he would like to be up there. John says he’s just be extra weight and expresses some guilt at sending his friend up there. Charlie uses the spyglass and soon after finds the balloon as a small speck in the sky.

P 29–31 13,500 ft up and the basket is now tilting due to damage from the storm. James and his equipment are all on one side to maintain balance while Amelia fixes the other side. She gets it fixed and the basket is level again. James busies himself with resetting his equipment. Amelia points out an aureole, a full circle rainbow. James is mesmerized by it and in turn Amelia is amused that something that has nothing to do with numbers has this much of an effect on James. James points out how quiet it is, so they begin to holler out.

P 31–32 They have reached a height of 15,200 and are now in the upper part of a towering vertical cloud. Mist surrounds them once again. They begin to hear the sounds of the street with unbelievable clarity. James thinks the humid conditions are conducting the sound. Amelia hears one voice over the others, her late husband’s. Soon she becomes weak and slumps to the floor. James asks if she okay, she waves him off saying it will pass.

P 32–33 Amelia is asleep on a rug with an empty bottle beside her. She is woken up by her sister banging on her front door. Amelia has been shut in for some time and is still grieving the loss of Pierre. Her sister tells her helps her get ready for a gathering they have been invited too.

P 33–38 Antonia has dragged Amelia to a high-class party. Antonia tries to get men to dance with her sister but they are too intimidated by Amelia. James approaches Amelia claiming he was forced to come too, for a friend. James tries to get Amelia to fly him up higher than anyone else has been in order to get experiments for meteorology. She laughs and gets him to dance. During the dance James tells her she is only dancing to get back at someone, which hurts Amelia, so she dances him right up to his supposed friend. James’s lie is called out by Amelia. she points out it was clear he wasn’t invited to the party and she doesn’t like being lied to. Still, she shows interest in the flight.

P 38–40 Antonia, along with her children, pay Amelia a visit inside a balloon factory where Amelia watches as a balloon is slowly inflated. Antonia begs her not to fly again saying she can have a happy life easily without having to do foolish balloon flights. Amelia explains that the sky is where she is happy and that there are answers up there. James and Pierre also believe this. Antonia retorts Amelia is confusing her love for the balloon with her love for Pierre.

P 40–43 18,400 ft and climbing. James is soaked through but the sun still puts off enough heat that it’s making his clothes steam. James asks if she’s been this high before with Pierre. Amelia goes silent. James pries but Amelia refuses to say anything. She then tends to the gash on James’s forehead. Suddenly a flock of yellow butterflies surround the pair. Amelia can’t believe it whereas James is excited. He explains to Amelia that his friend John theorizes that butterflies use the wind to travel, wind only insects can use. Amelia says that Pierre would’ve liked this and that he loved the beauty of the world. She thanks James for not pushing her like others would do.

P 43 — Amelia is in her home looking through newspaper clippings of her early flying days, wedding pictures of her and Pierre, and an article on Pierre’s death.

P 43–45 Amelia goes into the royal society building, a place only for men. She ignores all rules and continues on to find John and James preparing equipment for the flight. She delivers bad news; she will not be flying in a balloon again. James tries to change her mind saying the balloon is being built and a lot of money had already been spent, but her decision is final.

P 45–49 James returns to the watch shop where he tells his mother Amelia has bailed out. He then goes upstairs to see his father who is suffering from an unknown mental illness. He doesn’t recognize his son at first, but remembers when James steps into the light. They bond for a moment talking about the stars and how his dad wanted to take a bedsheet, catch a gust of wind, and dance amongst the stars as a kid. This doesn’t last long. His dad soon suffers another mental lapse and tells James to get out of the room thinking James is a boy. His mom comes up and tells James that his father is tired and not to overdo it. Before James leaves his dad pats him on the arms and hands him his opera glasses saying “ For your trip. Prove them wrong. Prove me wrong”

P 49–51 James catches up with Charles Green out front of the Royal Society and asks to be a second for his next flight. James has ideas that could help Charles finally break the height record. This insults Charles and he then proceeds to point out that James has no experience in flying. Charles tells James to go find another madman to fly with recommending the French or to just give up.

P 51–57 The balloon is now 22,500 ft. The temperature is a cold 21 degrees Fahrenheit. James allows Amelia to make notes of their altitude in his book as they close in on the record and soon enough, they have reached a staggering 23,000 ft, defeating the French record height. They shake hands and thank each other. James jots a note down for Charles and ties it to a pigeon before releasing it. He then goes to take down more readings and notices his vision is blurring and his hand is shaking worse than before. Amelia points out that the balloon is expanding which fascinates James. The air is helping them up higher. Amelia believes they should slow the ascent and tells James that now is a good time to wear his oil skins.

James tells her that he doesn’t have them. He opted out of warmer clothing for his equipment. Amelia decides to start the decent and goes to untie the valve line, but is stopped by James who wants to keep going. Amelia argues this is no longer about science or the balloon to him, but his battle with those on the ground. He interrupts saying it’s not about them, he points up to the stars. It’s about dancing in the stars. Reluctantly, Amelia agrees to keep going but only if she gets to decide when they descend.

P 57–59 John pays Amelia a visit in her home. He gifts her a book about the studies of snowflakes and the mathematical possibilities of nature. This book is written by James. He tells Amelia that James can be wrong at times and mentions the snow James forecasted for the night, but adds on that there are other times where James has found remarkable truths. Amelia doesn’t budge from her decision. Before John leaves he tells Amelia that there are very few people given the opportunity to change the world and that she has been assigned an obligation that she must meet.

P 59 Amelia goes to the graveyard to visit Pierre’s grave. While sitting down in front of the gravestone it begins to snow. Amelia thinks, touched Pierre’s gravestone, and smiles.

P 59–62 26,700 ft and climbing fast. James’s sight and hands have become worse and the two last pigeons are dead. James tosses them over and then tries to get the pigeon crate out as well in order to lose weight. Doing this at this height could be fatal so Amelia steps in to try and stop him. They fight and roll around on the floor of the basket. James succeeds in getting on top and pinning Amelia down. Amelia tells him it’s time to decent, but James disagrees thinking she can’t handle a little pressure. James’s nose starts to bleed and he rolls off. He then tells Amelia that Pierre risked her life for his own recklessness and that he’d do the same for science. This gets him a hard slap in the face. Amelia tells James that he knows nothing of Pierre and confesses that he wanted to descend, but she was the one pushing to go higher. Eventually the seams ripped and the balloon failed.

P 62–63 We are now in Amelia’s and Pierre’s balloon spiraling down to earth. Pierre tells her they need to ditch more weight. They toss out everything they can but it still isn’t enough. They hug, Pierre thanks Amelia for giving him somewhere he belonged, and then slides over the edge of the basket.

p 63–64 James is shocked at hearing the story. Amelia tells him not to be responsible for the death of another, he will never forgive himself. James agrees to descend, but finds it impossible to get up. Amelia finds the valve line and pulls on it, but the valve has frozen closed due to the cold. Amelia tells James she has to climb up and release the valve herself and to try and keep moving to offset the hypoxia. James collapses soon afterwards.

P 64–67 32,400 ft and climbing at a rate of 1,000 ft per minute. Amelia manages to get onto the hoop above the basket, nearly falling in the process. She reaches up in the balloon’s rigging but can’t get a good grip due to frostbite setting in on her fingers. She hooks her hands over the rigging in order to climb up. She gets past the equator of the balloon and attempts to grab a tether rope, but it’s too far. Her hands lose grip and she falls backwards but luckily one of her ankles has been wedged between a joint of rope binding. Upside down, she spots James body lying in the basket. She thinks about letting herself fall.

She closes her eyes, but she won’t give in. Fighting through pain and lack of oxygen she ties off, rights herself, and climbs up to the top of the balloon where the valve is. Now at 37,000 ft up she tries to pry the vent open but it’s frozen solid. Thinking, she slams her foot into it over and over again until the ice finally breaks free. The gas spews out from the vent nearly knocking Amelia off. Unfortunately, the vent won’t stay open so Amelia jams one of her boots in it. She succeeds, the balloon starts to descend. She collapses from exhaustion and slowly begins to slide off. She wakes up just too late to stop the fall.

P 67 Antonia waits in her home with her Aunt Frances. Her Aunt asks if they should have heard anything by now. Amelia responds by saying only if there’d been a disaster would they hear anything. The less they hear the better.

P 67 In an observatory Charles is trying to find the balloon with a powerful telescope, but gives up. Airy, another member of the royal society, believes James isn’t coming back to them. Then he attempts to find the balloon with the telescope.

P 68–69 36,000 ft up and for the first time, falling. Amelia remains unconscious and dangling from the balloon by a tether rope. Frost begins to form on her eyebrows. With a gasp of air, she awakens. It takes her a moment to remember where she is, but soon realizes she’s hanging 10 feet away from the basket with James still lying on the floor of it. She tries calling his name but to no avail. She swings back and forth until she is able to grab one of the ropes attached to the hoop. She climbs up the rope until she gets a hold of the basket, cuts her tether rope, then slips over the edge into the basket.

P 69–73 Amelia attempts to wake James. She gets scared and pleads not to have this happen again. A few terrifying moments and one of James’s eyes pop open. Groggily he awakens. Amelia gets his attention on one of his devices saying it’s doing something interesting. He closes his eyes again before willing himself conscious. James realizes they’re descending and asks how high they flew. Amelia admits she didn’t take any readings as she was busy elsewhere. James admits he lost his head. Amelia gets him to take the final readings. They’ve been flying for one hour, eleven minutes, and six seconds and are at a height of 29,600 ft.

It’s then James realizes that Amelia’s hands are frostbitten. He retrieves a bottle of brandy from one of his boxes, which perplexes Amelia, and pours some on her hands. James tells Amelia he doesn’t know what she did, but knows it was a great act. It begins to snow, which to Amelia, is one more thing they don’t need but for James is a chance to analyze melt water. They both pick up glasses and find enjoyment in trying to catch the snowflakes.

P 74–79 16,000 ft and plummeting. It’s now that Amelia realizes the snowflakes are no longer moving up or down but remaining static. They soon come to the horrifying realization that the balloon is collapsing. They both yank on the valve line. It takes a few tries to jostle Amelia’s boot loose. The vent closes and Amelia’s boot tumbles down through the balloon and into the basket. James sees it and now realizes where Amelia has been. Amelia gets into gear and tells James to ditch all weight. they do so tossing out anything they can. James starts tossing his instruments and finds his pocket watch and the glasses his father gave him. He dumps the pocket watch over but keeps the glasses.

They are still going too fast. James tells Amelia to get onto the hoop as they need to cut the basket away for any chance to survive. James climbs up but can’t due the glasses, so he tosses them over too. He then helps Amelia up and begins cutting away the basket. With 2,500 ft left to go James finally manages to free the basket, it plummets to earth. Their descent slows but they are still going too fast. Amelia realizes this and tells James she feels like she wasn’t meant to survive this. With that she prepares to jump. James manages to get her attention with yelling “bedsheets”. Amelia doesn’t get it but James explains they can cut the rope that keeps the balloon it’s shape so that the silk will be free and act as a parachute.

Amelia doubts it will work, but James is determined to not return alone. It will be both of them or neither of them. With only 800 ft left James cuts the rope, the balloon lurches upwards as the silk catches the air. it seems like it worked. They have slowed their descent enough but the wind is another matter. It takes the makeshift parachute into a copse of trees knocking James off in the process. Amelia survives the trees and hedges and now the balloon is being blown across a field spitting up rocks and dirt as it drags along. One final violent slam to the ground renders Amelia unconscious.

P 79–80 Amelia comes to. Bruised and bloodied, but she has survived. She immediately calls out for James, no response, she calls out again and listens. Faintly she can make out James voice calling her name. She hobbles over to James who is crawling on his hands and knees in pain and joking that he was just coming to find her. She helps him up, they look around, then begin to walk across the field. A voice-over of Amelia stats that it was estimated they have flown up to 37,000.

P 80 James’s dad is in his bed being read to by his wife. she reads an article about James’s flight. They are proud.

P 80–81 James delivers a report to the Royal Society about his flight. His friend John looking on with pride. A voice-over of Amelia tells us that due to James’s recorded data it was discovered that the atmosphere had many layers. In James’s speech he praises the flying skills of Amelia and chose not to tell their story for pleasure, but for the advantage of knowledge.

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?

To download a PDF of the breakdown for The Aeronauts, go here.

Major kudos to Andrew Lightfoot or doing this week’s scene-by-scene breakdown.

For more movie scene-by-scene breakdowns, go here.