Finding Nemo: Comprehensive Beat Sheet and First Draft Script Analysis

This assignment delves into the core elements of the animated film 'Finding Nemo', providing a detailed analysis of its beat sheet and first draft. The beat sheet outlines the key plot points, including the opening scene, setup, catalyst, debate, choice, B story, midpoint, bad guys catch up, lost everything, the soul's plea, the ray of hope, finale, and final scene. The first draft provides a scene-by-scene breakdown of the narrative, highlighting the introduction of Marlin and Coral, the barracuda attack, Nemo's capture, Marlin's journey with Dory, their encounters with Bruce the shark, the jellyfish, the EAC, and the tank gang. The assignment explores character motivations, plot progression, and the overall structure of the film, referencing sources like Barney (2019), Higgs (2017), Hutapea (2020), and Sakowicz et al. (2017). The analysis also includes the lessons learned by the characters and the film's resolution.

A2: Beat Sheet & First Draft
Script

BEAT SHEET : FINDING NEMO
 Opening scene: Marlin and his wife had done made up their new home but a barracuda
ate his babies and wife but leaving one child behind.
 Set-up: Marlin is super nervous and prudent about Nemo going to the school as he is
grown now.
 Catalyst: The class of Nemo goes to the drop off, Marlin tries to save his son but Nemo
swims to a boat and is captured and taken away.
 The Debate: Marlin tried to save Nemo by chasing him but lost his hopes until he sees
other fish (Higgs, 2017).
 Choice: Marlin was keen to save his only child without any second thoughts and the
journey to find Nemo starts.
 B Story: Dory is the B Story, Marlin could not leave Dory behind as he knows that he
needs Dory's help in finding Nemo.
 The Promise of the Premise: Marlin and Dory find the EAC while travelling through
the jellyfish fields.
 The Mid-point: Everything seems to be well and happy as Marlin and Dory reached
Sydney.
 Bad guys catch up: The bad guy or the bad attitude in Marlin caught up. When the
Pelican tries to save him and Dory from the seagulls he refuses and was going to pay the
price for that.
 Lost everything: They get swallowed by a whale, which resulted in the crashing of all
hopes.
 The Souls plea: Marlin's dream to save his child had died.
 The ray of hope: The whale spits them out in Sydney and Marlin finds a new ray of hope
to rescue his son.
 Finale: Marlin found his son and learns to trust his son and the art of letting go. They end
up having great fun in their lives and Marlin could finally tell his jokes to the guys.
 Final scene: Nemo is going to school as his father sends him off without any worries
(Barney, 2019).
THE FIRST DRAFT

Marlin and Coral are two clownfish, admiring their new home while waiting for the eggs
to hatch. A barracuda suddenly attacks them, Marlin tries to save his family but got unconscious.
All his family was eaten by the barracuda except one the eggs naming him Nemo. Nemo had a
tiny right fin from the attack on his egg by the barracuda making slower than the other fish in
school. Marlin is a cautious father as Nemo was his only child and while trying to help him he
embarrasses Nemo in front of his classmates. This led to Nemo disobeying his father and
swimming to the reef, where he was captured by a scuba divers. One of the divers knocked his
mask into the water.
Marlin was determined on saving his only son and on this journey he met Dory the blue
tang with a short term memory disorder. Marlin and Dory met three fish free diet sharks, Bruce,
Anchor and Chum who try to read the address written on the divers mask. Marlin and Dory while
arguing about the address, Dory gave Marlin a accidental nosebleed which roused one of the
sharks Bruce. Bruce lost his control and tried to eat Marlin and Dory, but they somehow escape
the shark. In this chase they lost the mask in a trench in the deep sea. They struggled there way to
the mask and Dory manages to read the address which was in Sydney. While their journey to
Sydney they got into a bloom of jellyfish that could sting them to death. While hustling their way
between the jellyfish and the sharks they got tired and saw green sea turtle Crush who took them
on th East Australian Current or EAC (Sakowicz and et.al.,2017).
Meanwhile Nemo was help captivated in a fish tank at a dental clinic. Nemo meets other
aquarium fishes called the tank gang, which was led by an ambitious fish called Gill. The word
was spread that the dentist is going to give Nemo to his niece, who was known for killing a
goldfish by repeatedly shaking the bag. Gill starts to plan an escape for Nemo, The plan included
jamming the filter of the tank forcing the dentist to clean the tank and putting them in water bags
besides the window. This plan of Gill was null and void as the dentist installed a new high tech
filter. While Marlin and Dory parted their ways from the EAC, troubles did not seem to leave
their side as they got stuck in the blooms of plankton and krills and get caught by a blue whale.
Dory tried communicating with the whale which worked and the blue whale took them to the
Sydney harbour and blows them out. They meet Nigel who saves them from the seagulls by
holding them in his beak and escorting them to the dentist's office (Hutapea, 2020). As they
arrive at the dentist's office they saw Nemo playing dead in front of the dentist and his niece, this
took Marlin by shock misunderstanding the death of his son. After hustling a lot Nemo escapes

through the sink into a drain. Marlin upset from all this leaves dory and started swimming back
home. Dory on the other hand met Nemo but had forgotten who, Nemo was but after a long
thought she remembered Nemo and decided to take him back to Marlin. On there way Dory got
accidentally trapped in a fisher's net but Nemo bravely saves her by biting the net off. Marlin and
Nemo met again and this time Marlin was so happy to see Nemo alive. Marlin and Nemo both
and learned lessons from this adventure. Marlin learnt to trust his son and the art of letting go.
They both then lived happily as Nemo again joined his class and Marlin was there to see him off
but without being hesitated, overprotective and proudly watches his sons swim into the deep
water.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barney, K.A., 2019. “You know, for a clownfish, he really isn’t that funny”: Implications of
Grief and Masculinity Through a Narrative Analysis of Finding Nemo.
Higgs, S., 2017. Finding Nemo in the three-act structure. Screen Education, (85), p.90.
Hutapea, J.V., 2020. The Identification of Values of Character Education in the
Characterizations of Marlin in Disney's Finding Nemo (2003) Using Peirce's
Semiotics (Doctoral dissertation, Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha).
Sakowicz, A., and et.al.,2017. Finding NEMO in Preeclampsia. Obstetric Anesthesia
Digest, 37(1), pp.27-28.