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Day 1 Assignment
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Jodi’s Dramatic Choices – Day 1
My first thought: I learned that it is going to be very hard to write up to this amazing level as a Writer. I feel a bit unsure if I can attain such brilliance. My second thought: I will try my best as I don’t want to throw in the towel. With that aside…
Every scene topped the last. It started strong and stayed that way. The drama, wit, characterizations, set ups and how the story came back to a couple of them in the first thirty are rich in information. Jenny is the driving force of this movie in my estimation. What a great character. Garp’s story seems secondary to me, maybe it’s because I’m a Mom who can deeply relate to Jenny’s philosophy and perception of life.
The first 30 of: The World According to Garp:
Opens with Garp as a newborn baby – 1944
1. Funny scene: Jenny Fields is telling her parents her baby’s name is T.S. Garp. Technical Sergeant Garp is the man who ejaculated into Jenny, only he didn’t know it, he was unconscious at the time but had a continual erection, so Jenny found it the perfect opportunity to impregnate herself. She responds to her Mother “I didn’t need his ring Mother, I needed his sperm”. The parents are very old world. Dad: “Don’t you say sperm in this house”. After Jenny tells them the graphic details of how Garp came to be, Jenny’s Mother faints.
2. Jenny now works in an infirmary in a boys school. Three boys are looking at a girly magazine with a flashlight, a friend grabs their magazine and stashes it in Garp’s baby blanket. A little boy gets his penis stuck in a zipper, Jenny helps him free himself, but it is painful, she tells him to ‘leave it alone for awhile’.
3. Jenny finds the girly magazine in Garp’s crib. Garp smiles as if a foreshadowing of things to come for this baby. She goes to the boy who stashed it and threatens him that if he involves Garp ever again, she’ll inoculate his jock strap with bubonic plague, and he’ll have nothing left to even scratch. After that scary threat she becomes motherly and says “well, goodnight then Boswell, sleep well”.
4. Jenny corrects Garp and tells him his Father was a tail gunner in a plane, not a flyer. Garp asks if he was big, Jenny replies she doesn’t know, she never saw him standing up. She checks Garp’s course book on history and tells him the text is dull and the Writer is even duller, which shows her intellect. Garp fantasizes his Dad is still alive, Jenny matter of factly nonchalantly corrects him that he is “dead and gone”, she picks up a mythology text book for Garp and says she will check it out as well. Garp continues to ask questions about his Dad, Jenny shuts him down in a patient way. He again fantasizes as his crayon drawings come to life of he and his Dad flying together and his Dad defends him from bad guys.
5. Garp and his neighbor Cushie, start exploring sexuality, she says he doesn’t know how to make babies because he’s a bastard but she’ll show him. She obviously describes the unhealthy recital of her Mother’s headache responses when Cushie’s Dad wants to have sex, Cushie tells Garp that he’s supposed to ignore her and attack her, pulling her clothes off, “now you do it”. Cushie’s weird little sister Pooh spies on them. As he does what Cushie says, her dog Bonkers attacks Garp and bites his earlobe off. The Dad hears Garp’s cries and is only concerned about Bonkers while Garp’s ear is bleeding profusely. “Alright kids, fun’s over” the Dad says as Garp runs home.
6. Jenny confronts Cushie’s Dad demanding that he hand over Bonkers as she’s going to kill him. The Dad laughs at her and Jenny doubles down, all the while both Garp and Cushie are making goo goo eyes at each other, they’re not paying attention to what is happening between the parents. Jenny threatens if he can’t make his dog behave she’ll “make Bonkers dead as a doornail”.
7. The friction is starting to become more evident with Garp and his Mother. When Dean Bodger asks Garp what sport he’d like to try out for Jenny interrupts and tells the Dean basketball. She’s checked into all the sports and basketball is the best.
8. While Garp and Jenny are watching the basketball tryouts Garp sees a young boy wearing head gear that reminds Garp of the flyer gear he had envisioned his Dad wearing in his cartoon drawings. He is fascinated and follows the boy to the wrestling room. He knows some of these boys and follows them into the locker room where he tells one boy his Dad wore a helmet, that he was a flyer. Jenny walks into the locker room while the boys are in various states of undress, she is unphased looking for her son. They are embarrassed. The coach talks in sexual terms, Garp found his sport interest and says he wants to do what they do, Jenny responds “Animals”.
9. Late night: Wearing the wrestlers headgear, Garp is up on the roof of a three story building pretending to be a flyer pilot like his Dad not realizing the danger he could be in. Jenny intuitively wakes suddenly out of her sleep and goes calling for him. She puts the lights on in the boys dorm not caring that they are sleeping. Garp accidentally slides down the roof and is stopped by the eaves, he calls out for Jenny. By the time she finds him he is dangling from the roof. She is very calm in this crisis and gets a hold of his ankle talking him through what he needs to do. Garp falls as she maintains a hold on him, he crashes into the brick wall as she is still holding him. She’s a ‘loving’ rock. The eave from above falls on the Dean’s head below, he blacks out.
10. Jenny is helping the Dean at the infirmary, he thinks he caught Garp, Jenny doesn’t correct him, she let’s him believe it. Insightful and not threatened, Jenny tells the Dean why Garp was up on the roof, to be like his dead Father. Both the Dean and Jenny never got married. The Dean is surprised because she has Garp. As Jenny tells the Dean how she became pregnant Garp listens intently, never before hearing how he came about. When Jenny loses her place in her story Garp recites her last response “He kept having erections”. Jenny smiles at him and thanks him. The Dean looks aghast at what he’s hearing. Jenny, “He was dying, I wanted a child, seemed like a good way to have one without the bother of a husband hanging around who had legal rights to my body”. She tells the Dean how she climbed on top of the soldier Garp and the soldier said ‘good’. The Dean exclaimed that she raped a dying man. Without regret, Jenny is un-phased to the Dean’s response and with motherly concern she asks him if he’s all right. He mumbles exasperation as he leaves the infirmary. Jenny turns to Garp and says “and then he died, he did die”. Garp understands the reality at this point.
11. Jenny’s Father dies, now she is parentless. Very calmly she shares with Garp the fact of life that everybody dies, them included. She stresses to him the importance of having a life before we die. It can be a real adventure…having a life.
12. Jenny warns Garp to be careful of the undertow of the ocean outside of their home. He starts experiencing life as he splashes in.
13. Garp is now in college and a girl catches his eye. He is not shy and does not hesitate to approach and tease her, making a nuisance out of himself until she pays attention to him. Garp learns quickly that she is Helen Holm, the wrestling coach’s Daughter. He becomes embarrassed and runs off, she giggles.
14. Jenny sits front and center at one of Garp’s wrestling matches. Helen is there watching also. Garp isn’t concentrating, only seeing Helen. Jenny sees them flirting with each other, she looks concerned at first. Garp’s opponent gets the best of him for a moment, but Garp regains his ground and finally beats his opponent, all the while staring at Helen. Jenny looks utterly mad at this point.
15. Jenny brings the problem of Garp to coach Holm’s. She tells him Garp is lusting after his Daughter and he needs to keep an eye on her. Holm’s is taken aback at her comments, she is very matter of fact. He chuckles and nods to himself as if she is unbelievable, as she leaves.
16. Garp runs into Cushie, she is home from her college. He asks how she is. She says “I have this terrible headache”, they laugh together at their secret.
17. Garp runs down to the grandstand for Helen. He clearly knows she is the girl he wants to marry and fishes around for how she feels about Writers, as that is what he wants to be in life. He makes it a point to share information about famous Writers that surprise Helen, enlightening her that he is also an intellectual.
18. Typing late at night Garp wakes up his Mother. After he goes to sleep, she sneaks into his room with a flashlight to read what he wrote. She puts the light on and wakes him up. She tells him he has no right to write about her until she’s dead. She said until then her story is hers and she might want to write about herself. He replies that nothing has happened to him yet, she tells him to make something up then.
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Amy’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned from this process is that in this particular movie the writer made sure the story kept moving and that every scene delivered a punch.
1. People kissing and hugging at the airport while Hugh Grant (David) talks about how love is all around.
2. Bill Nighy (Billie Mack) singing a new, Christmas version of Love is All Around. He keeps forgetting to say Christmas instead of love and at one point has a funny explosion of curse words.
3. Pretty montage of Christmas scenes all around London.
4. Colin Firth (Jamie) rushing out the door to go to a wedding. He makes a big show of how he doesn’t want to leave his sick girlfriend.
5. Liam Neeson with his head in his hands. He calls Emma Thompson (Karen). She can’t talk, but says it’s not because she’s not terribly sorry his wife just died.
6. Karen is shocked to find out her daughter has been cast as a lobster in the nativity play. She’s also shocked to find out there was more than one lobster present at the birth of Jesus.
7. Colin delivers lunch to the office and hits on all the women.
8. Jack and Judy are on the set of a movie. They introduce themselves to one another.
9. At Peter’s wedding, he confirms with his best man that he isn’t planning any surprises. They agree the stag night was a mistake, especially since the prostitutes turned out to be men.
10. Dramatic shot of the bride, Juliette, walking down the aisle.
11. The Prime Minister, David, rides up to No. 10 Downing Street as an adoring crowd looks on.
12. David meets his staff. The last one he meets is a new girl named Natalie. It’s obvious he’s smitten with her. She’s nervous and accidentally curses in front of him making him laugh.
13. David goes and shuts himself in his office and hangs his head. He’s attracted to Natalie and he’s in trouble.
14. At the end of Peter and Juliette’s wedding, a choir comes from out of nowhere and starts singing. Then violins, trumpets, flutes, trombones, saxophones and finally, an electric guitar. The best man lied about no surprises.
15. Jamie goes home after the wedding to check on his girlfriend. He’s surprised to find his brother there and realizes he’s been sleeping with his girlfriend.
16. At the wedding reception, Colin is a server and tried to hit on a woman standing off to the side. He tells her how bad the food is and then finds out she was the one who catered the reception.
17. Back in the kitchen, Colin tells his friend he’s realized why he has no luck with girls. It’s because English women are stuck up. He decides he’ll have better luck in American and proclaims that he’s going there.
18. On the movie set Jack and Judy chat. Tony asks Judy to take off her shirt and bra. She does is very matter-of-factly as she continues to chat with Jack. Tony asks Jack to put his hands on Judy’s breast. He does and goes on matter-of-factly chatting with her.
19. At the funeral of Liam Neesom (Daniel’s) wife, they play a slideshow of his wife to Bye, Bye Baby by the Bay City Rollers. Daniel helps carry his wife’s casket as he cries.
20. At the wedding reception, Laura Linny (Sarah) scooches her chair up to the best man who is staring in the direction of the happy couple dancing. She asks him if he loves him. He emphatically says no. They proclaim the DJ to be the worst in the world.
21. At Sarah’s office, her boss, Harry shocks her by asking her how long she’s been in love with Karl. She’s also shocked to find out that everyone in the office knows about it. Harry encourages her to make a move on Karl.
22. At the radio station, the DJ talks about how bad Billy Mack’s song is as it finishes playing and then finds out that Billy Mack is there to do an interview.
23. The next DJ interviews Billy Mack. He doesn’t hold anything back. Says he knows the record is crap and asks the audience to “please buy my festering turd of a record.”
24. David is in a meeting with his cabinet. They are urging him to stand up to the U.S. He says he won’t then asks who you “have to screw around here to get a chocolate biscuit” then in walks Natalie.
25. David is in his office sitting and his desk. Natalie comes in to deliver some mail and cookies. After she leaves, he bangs his head on his desk and tells himself to get a grip because he’s the Prime Minister.
26. On the movie set, Judy and Jack are completely naked and chatting very casually while pretending to have sex.
27. In the care, Colin tells Tony he’s going to Wisconsin. Tony says, NOooooo. He thinks it’s a horrible idea.
28. At the office, Harry discusses the company Christmas party with his secretary. He inquires if she has a boyfriend. She says no, that she would just be hanging around the mistletoe hoping to get kissed.
29. Karen and Daniel discuss Sam, his stepson. Daniel says he stays in his room all the time and he could be injecting heroin into his eyeballs for all he knows. He cries. Karen tells him no one will want to shag him if he cries all the time.
30. Daniel talks to Sam to try to get him to open up. Sam shocks him by confessing that he’s in love. They agree that being in love is total agony.
31. At the office, mostly everyone has gone. Sarah fixes herself up for Karl. He walks by her desk on the way out and tells her goodbye. After he leaves, she kicks herself.
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Elizabeth’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned: God, this is why I love the movie, Argo. When you look carefully, each scene: every piece of dialogue, setting, interpersonal dynamics, film angles, music—every LITTLE detail is tension-building and set-up or payoff.
Argo
Film Synopsis:
On Nov. 4, 1979, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Iran, taking 66 American hostages. Amid the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge with the Canadian ambassador. Knowing that it’s just a matter of time before the refugees are found and likely executed, the U.S. government calls on extractor Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) to rescue them. Mendez’s plan is to pose as a Hollywood producer scouting locations in Iran and train the refugees to act as his “film” crew
Picking up after Tony has first formulated his Hollywood extraction idea…
· Tony Mendez takes off in an airplane—the journey begins
· Arrives in Department of State, passes sculpture that looks a bit distressed.
· Title: office of the secretary of state Jan 25, 1980, illustrating a lot of this is historical fact adds to the power
· Tony WAITS in waiting room as a secretary loudly, gratingly types. Gets hand gestured in by grave looking older suited man with similar companion. Tony gets warned by his own companion to “brace” himself – like talking to “the two old fucks in the muppets” sets up to expect resistance/failure
· Tony tells the incredulous old guys there’s a movie company funded by CIA—argues for the Movie Plan over “teachers” plan. Framed that there are “only bad options” and “there’s no better bad idea than this” sets up to expect the worst
· Science Fiction movie gets sanctioned by the US government by a guy who doesn’t look like he expects it to work
· A walk alone at twilight suggests contemplation/worry. Passes Yellow ribbons—America is depending on him.
· Takes off his ring. Sets it by picture of his kid—stakes include him dying and leaving these loved ones. We feel the gravity of all of these stakes with the help of weighted/melancholic music
· Music not upbeat, driving as he drives at night in the rain to another airport. Sighs as he’s reminded by partner that if he’s detained the agency will not claim him (as both look straight ahead, minimizing intimacy). Stakes now include, possibly, life/death at the hands of the Iranian extremists, with no hope for help. Discus his ‘in case of’s” No books ( in case he’s inprisoned) necessary because “they’ll kill you long before…”
· Ringing phone – John Chambers at Studio 6 answers Tony’s call: Green light. sets up: “keep the office running” – for later not answering of the phone. Also the “Argo go fuck yourself” running gag
· Ringing phone – Tony’s home. No one to answer. Sad music as Tony hangs up. There’ll be no verbal goodby. Writes Happy Birthday card to his son (buddy) Love you BOTH. Stakes .Boards plane which
· Takes off to Iranian music. He’s heading into a dangerous, foreign world
· Ayatollah Khomeini mural on building, foreboding eyes/face
· Cut to same on TV as Joe translates the Ayatollah’s words about martyrdom then
· Connects shares brief words with wife, Kathy intimate moment. she leaves and Joe confesses to Lee that his wife wanted them to leave early. Ends with “I think we’re going to die here”
· See out window guy get shot.
· Super: Istambul, haunting local music. Tony emerges from tunnel-like structure to see imposing religious building where he meets with informant who quotes old document that “Iran is not in a pre-revolutionary state.” Tony says “you can’t be right all of the time” begging the question of if he’s right now. Talk about his informant’s experience getting the shaw out/torture/things getting worse. Tony receives what he needs to get into Iran and we learn that he won’t have the carbon copy to get back out. If they look (set up for final airport scene—fear drama). If they look it will say he didn’t come into the country with 6 people. Instructed to get on record for having applied for a film permit. “If they catch you later, at least they’ll be confused while they torture you.”
· (In blinding light) we see Tony head in to Super: Iranian Consulate – Turkey
· Waits under a picture of the Ayatollah – looks at it
· Tony’s POV: at authority who asks his purpose of visit to Iran. Tony explains the film, gets asked why he didn’t get his visa in Canada. Got the telex from boss late. Authority looks skeptical as Tony lights up. Gets his stamp
· CIA: ticking clock: Iran knows 6 escaped, who they are and that they are hiding out with the Canadians. Set up: somebody with one of the families talked (future drama re: staff – are they trustable fear). You better get down. And get the hell out.
· Back to the stamp being filled out—Disembarkation card by—Tony drinking presumably ETOH (set up for final moment of relief) on plane
· Plane in Iranian airspace (set up) landing
· Hopeless, flat faces, concern for people in airport. Burkas, large pictures of the Ayatollah. Guards Tony surreptitiously takes more Disembarkation cards. Presents passport.
· Official compares him with picture as loud, jarring altercation occurs between passenger who is dragged off by official (foreshadow/stakes) woman protests as passport is accepted. Girl cries. Tony looks a bit shaken
· Landmarks, honking traffic, trucks full of standing men with guns, signs in Persian and Arabic: this is ominous Iran.
· Worse: man in suit hanging from a crane. Could be Tony
· Taxi leaves Tony. Now he sits across desk from official. This film crew is just yourself? No we have 6 more from Canada meeting us today. Want to film the Bazaar, maybe the palace. Landmark sites. Meets with mild aggression re: the West’s sense of superiority: the exotic snake charmers, flying carpets. Learns that before the revolution, 40% theaters showing ‘pornographic,’ the function of this office is purification as well as promotion for the arts. Says he’ll review
· Outside Studio 6: Lester is “working late” “till the dawn’s early light” foreshadowing. “I. Wouldn’t’ want to be you.” Quick look at the phone he’s waiting for – portends the later missed call
· Tony meets Ken, Canadian ambassador hiding the 6. Who was “expecting more of a G-Man look” (casts doubt on Tony’s ability). Ken Gives Tony the “blank” passports. Tony says he’ll take care of them – take a day. “And then you’ll fly out with them?” (Ken anxious for this). Gets warned that they think their housekeeper has figured out who they are (recollecting the ticking clock from earlier scene at headquarters). We don’t know if we can trust her so sooner is better. Are we scared, or what?
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Budinscak Dramatic Choices
Day 1
What I learned doing this assignment:
o All the details that go into the selection process to craft a great scene.
o I saw a different movie doing this exercise.
o All the setups – not a single wasted line, not a single wasted scene – for payoffs later.
I watched “Jungle Cruise” for the first time last night and the first 30 minutes of it again today. Starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, it’s about a legend, a curse and an Indiana Jones-like adventure to find a possible cure to all of mankind’s illnesses and curses. It’s a fun movie.
Of the first 30 minutes, the first 10 minutes were dedicated to the curse/legend and introducing Emily Blunt’s character, Dr. Lily Houghton, and her brother, Macgregor, whose father had a detailed map AND the arrowhead to identify exactly where the sought after flower petal from an ancient tree can be found. They segued to a 5 minute intro of Dwayne Johnson’s character, the Amazon boat Skipper Frank, a charlatan of a tour guide.
The film officially starts and the next 15 minutes takes us to the end of Act I. I really enjoyed the movie.
JUNGLE CRUISE – First 30 minutes
1- The film opens with an underwater shot of vibrant colors of the ancient tree and its fabled flowers of which a single petal can cure any illness or break any curse.
2- An above water shot has a Spanish ship battling a nasty storm on the open waters.
3- The ship braved the storm but ran aground in a river. We see Conquistadors, in full armor, struggling making their way through the jungle.
4- A number of Conquistadors die and the expedition has failed. The Conquistador leader, Aguirre, is on the brink of death himself when he is found and nurtured back to life by the people who guard the tree.
5- Aguirre wants a specific arrowhead that is key to locating where and when the ancient tree may flower and is denied. He and his men attack the people who guard the tree and kill a few of them, but the jungle protects its own. The Conquistadors become cursed, never to be out of sight of the Amazon River.
6- Back in England, Emily Blunt recites word for word the presentation her brother is giving in front of a room of crusty old gentlemen. He reads from cue cards.
7- As the brother drones on, Emily Blunt leaves her seat and disappears down a hallway following directions she scribbled on her arm. She stumbles upon a gentleman looking through ancient artifacts. Little does she know, but that’s the movie’s antagonist, Prince Joachim from Germany, he’s also looking for the arrowhead.
8- Prince Joachim assumes she’s looking for the secretaries galleries and points in a direction to which Ms. Blunt scampers off.
9- Emily picks a lock, but is caught once entering the room. She uses a hankie coated with a drug (chloroform) and covers her confronters mouth – he drops to the ground, she proceeds to where the arrowhead is kept.
10- The brother’s filibuster is ended and he’s discredited. Meanwhile, Emily disguises herself in a safari uniform, steals the arrowhead and outwits those in the room as she tries to getaway.
11- The German Prince shows up and the men in charge fawn all over him for the monies he’s donated. He’s in search of one thing – the arrowhead. He steals a look in its container and it’s gone.
12- Prince Joachim yells to stop Emily and a fun and light chase sequence ensues. As part of her escape, she dangles out the second story window hanging from a ladder. The Prince offers to help her get to safety, but only if she tosses the box containing the arrowhead. She throws him the box and he pushes the ladder aside so it collapses.
13- Emily’s brother is physically thrown out of the building and sees her situation. He steps in front of a double-decker bus stopping it just as Emily drops from the ladder and lands on her feet in the upper tier of the bus and they run off to safety.
14- Emily and her brother discuss going to the Amazon to pursue her quest. The have their airline tickets to get to Brazil, and then they’ll find a boat captain.
15- Segue to our Skipper, Frank Wolff, and his introduction. We meet the charming charlatan of a tour guide and his dilapidated boat. All encounters are well orchestrated, meaning everything’s fake. But Frank does demonstrate his showmanship when he swings down from the smokestack, enters the boat’s main room, puts on his hat, then his jacket … and he’s fidgeting with two buttons as the tourists yell for him to pay attention, and he swings the steering wheel in time to avert a disaster. And he tells very corny jokes along the way – to everyone’s dismay.
16- There are examples of just how dangerous the jungle can be when a flower devours an insect and a woman leans out to snag some flora, but Skipper warns them of the dangers. He points out skeletons hanging from trees, snakes and other dangers.
17- Skipper mentions a hippo killing people and a young girl calls him out that hippos aren’t in the Amazon and Skipper motions for her to be quiet – she and the Skipper knows he’s wrong.
18- He scams a few extra bucks to ‘safely’ get everyone back to the docks and the movie officially begins.
19- A flyover shot of Porto Velho, Brazil, a quaint village with a train that …. Yes, looks like a Disney ride.
20- Off the train walks Emily and her brother. She is dressed in pants, a running gag the rest of the movie. He is dressed in completely inappropriate safari attire, he is all fashion, no function.
21- Someone has a newspaper article with Emily’s picture in it. He follows the brother and sister team.
22- Emily and her brother walk through an outdoor market and the overhead shot shows the Amazon in the background.
23- Emily spots the docks and runs to find her boat. Meanwhile, Skipper is confronted by his main boat tour competition, dock owner and loan shark – Mr. Nilo. Skipper owes Nilo money and he doesn’t have enough. To cover, Nilo confiscates Skipper’s boat engine.
24- Skipper follows Nilo back to his office just as Emily is told to look for Nilo in his office upstairs. Skipper breaks in as Emily bangs on the door wanting to hire him.
25- When Emily mentions she has a lot of money, Skipper relents and opens the door – it’s the first time Skipper and Emily see one another. He does make a comment about her wearing pants.
26- They negotiate a deal and Emily helps Skipper break into the compartment hiding Nilo’s keys for Skipper’s engine.
27- Skipper and Emily go to the bar to celebrate their deal when her brother walks in with the real Nilo, and they just agreed on a completely inflated price. Emily stands and looks at Skipper with disdain, but Skipper won’t stop negotiating and he explains why she should go with him.
28- Before a deal is reached, a large Jaguar makes its way into the bar – and everyone screams. Skipper engages the Jaguar ultimately throwing a steak out a window and the big cat follows it. The windows are closed and Skipper is hailed a hero – everyone cheers.
29- Emily tells the Skipper that even though there’s a lot she doesn’t like about him, he’s capable – and she agrees that he’ll be their boat captain. And they’re leaving in 10 minutes. The bad guy with the newspaper clipping is in the bar, too.
30- Skipper steals an engine for his boat and it’s lowered and put in place. While he’s fixing the engine, a ball rolls out and Skipper says it’s not time to play. The Jaguar – named Proxima – comes out and we find it’s Skipper’s pet.
31- Emily and her brother bring their luggage to the boat slip and it’s way too much. She has an overnight bag and her brother has about a dozen large pieces of luggage.
32- While Skipper and brother debate what luggage is coming and what isn’t, Emily is captured.
33- Nilo yells from the third floor that Skipper stole his engine and stop him. Skipper and brother leave the docks just in a nick of time before Nilo’s men can board their boat.
34- Emily picks the lock of the cage she’s in and escapes. There’s a fun chase scene where Emily and Skipper team together and escape their own pursuers to start their journey.
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PS 80 Michelle Damis-Dramatic Choices
Arrival-Starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner
This film is so subtle and understated. Phenomenal tone set with design, music, and shot selection. If there was no dialogue at all you would get much of it. The dialogue simply fills in the gaps that the imagery couldn’t get across. To me, that is a sign of a superb film. I think this is easier to do with this type of drama and I strive to attain something as beautiful one day. My current project is a dark comedy/satire and will need more dialogue but I will try to remember this film and see where I can swap dialogue for imagery. I hope this will be a good reminder of the visuals versus dialogue. As a new writer, I think I’m over-writing a lot, (halfway between a novel and a screenplay)
1,) Music is very dramatic before the first scene begins.
2.) Initial images are dark and moody and dramatic, with dramatic music and dialogue
3.) Touching images with baby, older child various ages. I Love you. I hate you.
4.) Doctor’s office something is wrong, Louise crying, dark hospital, child ill in bed.
5.) Very profound statements in the dialogue.
6.) Scene with students crowded around TVs
7.) Where is everyone? Something is wrong.
8.) Everyone’s cells going off, a student asks her to turn TV on. (again something is wrong)
9.) Spaceship has landed in US, more around the world. Emergency Alarms start going off. (Startles you)
10) Fighter planes overhead, Car alarms, cars and people panicking, car accident in lot.
(there is not much color in the design of the scenes…exposition?) Very grey. Very lonely.
11.) Dramatic news reports and Radio and TV…worried vocal tones.
12.) Louise alone in the lecture hall
13.) Colonel Webber startles Louise in her office, he is there to enlist her help. Plays sounds of aliens. First sound of an alien, VERY dramatic. As he leaves she gives him direction to ask her “competition” referencing the sanskirt word for war.
14.) Louise is woken by a craft flying over-loud and bright. The colonel is back to enlist her help. She was right.
15.) Helicopter, loud, dark, unnerving. Dramatic dark shot of it flying away from her house.
16.) Louise and who she will report to have immediate different opposing views on how to approach the aliens.
17.) Seeing the ship for the first time. Dramatic shot and music. Imagery says it all.
18.) they arrive at the base camp and they see someone who did not fair well. That is scary to them. Being poked and prodded by medical staff to prepare them.
19.) Dramatic control room with all the screens, all the other countries trying to figure out the aliens. Sense of danger and urgency.
20.) Meeting rest of crew/team. Alarms going off=unnerving.
21.) Putting on safety outfits….they are going to MEET aliens for the first time. The breathing is VERY additive to the dramatic tone. Lots of dialogue comes out as a danger or warning of.
22.) Preparing to enter the craft. Touching the craft with fingers…scared but exhilarated at the same time.
23.) Gravity flipped-cool and dramatic. Riding lift up into craft. Again, breathing adds so much to the feel as well as the sounds of the ship –Eerie. The trip down the tunnel…which way is up??
24.) Louise is scared the colonel gives her a shove/boost. The view of people on the ground below is crazy, mind-bending…and the sounds add to it.
25.) The birds chirping…if the birds die there is a problem with oxygen. SCARY.
26.) Seeing and hearing the creatures for the first time.
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Rob Bertrand’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned: I learned that there’s dramatic choices made in every single scene. Once I realized this, they were easy to spot. I don’t think I’ll ever watch a movie the same way.
The Entity
1. Opens on Carla who’s on a telephone call. She’s a secretary. A colleague approaches and apologizes for being late. Carla rushes to her car.
2. Carla runs down school hallway, late for class. Begins typing. Struggles.
3. Carla gets home late. The house is a mess.
4. Carla checks on her sleeping kids. Kisses them. Goes through the mail as she turns off lights through the house. Picks up dishes as she read a letter from her son’s school.
5. Music from the garage. Teenage Son, Bill is working on engine. She complains about the mess. Asks about bad news letter. Why does counselor want to see her? He tells her not to worry about it.
6. Later, as Carla is preparing for bed, she senses a presence. She’s attacked and raped by an unseen force. Her teenage son and two young daughters’ find her on the bed, screaming that someone is in the house. No one is there.
7. Later that night, after the girls are asleep, Carla explores the house in the dark. She turns every light in the house on. When furniture begins to shake violently, Carla flees the house with her children.
8. Carla and her family stay the night with her best friend. Her friend’s husband is unhappy about it.
9. Bright sunny morning. Carla admits to her friend that she was raped. The friend recommends a psychiatrist.
10. Beach scene. Bill eats a hotdog in the car. The girls throw bread into the air for seagulls. Carla sits alone. Later: Sunset. The family sits quietly. Bill: Are we going to sit here all night? Carla doesn’t want to go home. They have nowhere else to go.
11. Carla and the kids return to their house. There’s no sign of anyone inside. They hear a creepy scraping sound. “There’s someone under the house!”
12. Teenage son investigates the crawl space under the house. He finds a pipe that makes the scraping noise when touched. Debunked. Mom wants to know who touched it before?
13. Carla decides to sleep on the couch with a butcher knife, when her best friend arrives to stay the night. Carla reveals she can’t afford to move and the rent is passed due.
14. In traffic, Carla turns off radio. Gas pedal presses down on its own. Car is out of control. Brakes don’t work. Swerving and honking. Crashes.
15. Carla meets with a psychiatrist. He interviews her about the rape and promises that she’s taken the first step in getting better. He wants her to take some test.
16. Carla arrives home by taxi. Her son says he can fix the car, but it’s going to be really expensive. Carla tries to relax by drawing a bath. She’s attacked by an invisible presence and raped again.
17. Psychiatrist office – Doctor and assistant examine Carla’s bruises. Bite mark on shoulder, breast. Finger marks on back. Bruises on inner thighs. Finger bruises on ankles. Felt like legs were being held. Like he had help. Someone on each leg. Nothing is wrong with you medically. Intellect is normal. We should explore early psychological development/emotional development. I’ve seen cases of hysteria that have caused blindness, loss of hearing, welts. Certain phases of our life never really die, they continue to exist within all of us, and they affect us the rest of our lives. Sometimes they come back with a vengeance. They can cause hallucinations, delusions, anxieties. Prescribes valium.
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Although I am not a film critic or current fan, I should occasionally watch video clips on youtube of anything as cross training for hours spent negotiating print, writing, reading online, and reading books. Sometimes we learn from things we dislike so I am open to that.
I only have a laptop and no subscriptions but after looking at films on Youtube I got frustrated and bored. As an actress, I am aware of all the tricks of slapstick, sex in thunderstorms, physical action, and martial arts to activate scenes so I wanted to go beyond the cliches into how emotions have changed after the pandemic. I have a new appreciation of tight close-ups since that is the world of Zoom and many people still locked down in small rooms. Toenails, strawberries, bra cups on the floor, drains, razors etc. are the metonymy of the visual symbolism that helps weave disparate threads into my tapestry. DPs use close-ups better than I ever could, but I am thinking of new ways to use these objects, make them reappear, and be personified to elicit human emotions. I tried to watch features on neurodegenerative diseases, but they were silly and dated so I watched real neuroscience lectures. One by Gregory Petsco who terrified YouTube viewers simply with numbers—charts of statistics of people with neurodegenerative diseases, population versus aging, and facts that make you feel that a comet will soon crash on earth. Instead, COVID kills off millions of seniors, but it is not enough. We need cures for these diseases, one of the missions of my third novel and screenplay. So my research is well founded and my cures imaginative but now I will play with the numbers tool to frighten people. Halloween 3 blood and gore only goes so far. It is more frightening to see a real brain scan of a healthy brain compared to one emptied out by Alzheimer’s, if I can link it dramatically to the loss of recognition of a precious object and the loss of love. Transgender videos were surprising. Superficially the women look better than women. They give details about the appearance of the new vulva that has lost elasticity, penile inversion, shorten and reconstruct urethra, silicone scar tape, dilating twice and then once a day, discharge, penetration, the big O for orgasm, body parts remapped, brain is remapped but all of this is done in a cheerful, calm, antiseptic way by a perfectly made up women as if she were describing something outside herself like a room in her house. I was struck by how a calm presentation with monotonous music and quiet voices and pretty images can mask dramatic, bloody operations, pain, and strong emotions. Don’t use terms like transgendered, transvestite, tranny, or, he-she — they’re old-fashioned and can be hurtful. Diversity in gender. There are at least seven genders or sexes but they keep growing. Then with the Brain Buffet, BB has transformed completely. I need a post transition scene in a calm place maybe on a boat. But BB wouldn’t broadcast on youtube. She would just watch. I need conflict and arguments. Could someone try to make her calm as she gets hysterical? There were recent rapes in Central Park. How can I link the two rape scenes with conflict between current characters?
There is a difference between real people, memoir where the self-absorbs the other characters, printed fiction that can reveal subtext in linguistic detail as well as unconscious yearnings, and scenes where dialogue must scratch the surface in a profound way.
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Pablo Soriano Dramatic Choices
What I learned: I scrolled through Amazon prime for a movie I’d already watched before. And then I bounced between a few. I finally landed on (500) Days of Summer. I wondered how a break-up movie could be dramatic. I decided to jump ahead 15 minutes, after the narrator explained that this wouldn’t be a love story. After we already find out how the protagonist gets his heart broken. At almost exactly 15 minutes, Tom tells his friends that pursuing Summer was a lost cause. From there, the film continues to jump back and forth in the timeline of the 500 days so that we see how Tom and Summer are at the extremes of their romantic relationship. All the ups, downs and everything in between. All out of order. Which is a great way to never make it boring. The story is not about how Tom falls in love. It is about how he learns to get over it. And even the little subtleties are immensely dramatic. So I learned a terrific way of adding drama to every scene in a romcom: Awkwardness. Real, simple, relatable awkwardness.
(Day 22) While his friends compete against each other in Pac Man, Tom tells them that he has no chance with Summer because she was clearly sleeping with someone else. He deduces this simply based on how she answered his question: “How was your weekend?” His friends ridicule him for his assumption.
Summer is headed to the supply room and asks if Tom needs anything and he responds awkwardly with: “I think you know what I need.” Embarrassing himself in front of his colleagues.
Knowing that Summer likes The Smiths, he plays a track on his computer to desperately try to capture her attention.
(Day 27) Tom’s workmate, McKenzie informs Tom that the upcoming Friday was a karaoke night. Tom refuses but McKenzie emphasizes the fact that the entire office is going which means that Summer would also be attending.
(Day 28) Tom arrives at the Karaoke bar. McKenzie is already drunk and singing. Summer is up next on stage and takes a shot when her name is called. Both barely gets a word in to greet her.
Summer gets on stage and adjusts the microphone. She sings Sugartown by Nancy Sinatra and she is actually pretty good at singing. Tom is smitten.
The three workmates are now drinking in a booth. McKenzie asks Summer if she has a boyfriend. She claims to not want one and does not want a relationship. Tom and Summer debate on whether or not love is real. They agree to disagree.
Summer nominates Tom to sing the next song. He sings a Pixies song and he impresses summer.
McKenzie gets too drunk and while Tom and Summer help him into his cab, he divulges to Summer and Tom has a crush on her. Summer asks if it’s true and Tom lies and tells her just as friends.
(Day 31) Summer and Tom are in the copy room and Summer suddenly kisses Tom. It turns into a passionate kiss and just as suddenly Summer runs off.
At Tom’s apartment, his best friend, Paul, shows up to get the juicy details and ask a series of vulgar questions as well as stating that Tom practically has been stalking Summer, only to find out that they only kissed and also that she was in the other room. She heard everything.
(Day 282) Fast forward to Tom and Summer towards the end of their relationship at Ikea. Tom role plays as a husband complaining to his wife that the display sinks aren’t working. She doesn’t find it amusing.
(Day 34) On Tom and Summer’s first date, they roaming Ikea role playing as husband and wife living in fully furnished display settings. They run and play, drawing attention to themselves as shoppers look at them as if they are ridiculous. It’s in a Ikea bed that Summer tells Tom that she isn’t looking for anything serious. He says he understands. That evening they make love for the first time.
(Day 35) The next day, Tom leaves his apartment with a smile from ear to ear and breaks into a broadway-style choreographed dance with strangers to a song by Hall and Oates.
(Day 303) Tom walks into the office looking like crap. Tom looks over at Summers’ old desk and she has been replaced by a new employee. McKenzie asks if won her back yet and immediately regrets his joke once he sees the despair on Tom’s face. Tom perks up when he sees an email from Summer but it states that she still just wants to be friends.
(Day 45) We jump back to the early days of their relationship of them bonding over the Nightrider theme song at work. Acting like fools without a care.
(Day 87) Tom and Summer disagree on Ringo being the best Beatle. Summer then takes Tom into the adult film section of a video rental store which embarrasses some of the customers. They rent a shower themed porno and attempt to try out some of the moves they see in the video. But they fail miserably and laugh it off.
(Day 95) Tom and Summer walk around downtown Los Angeles. Tom opens up to summer about his true passion: Architecture. He shows her his favorite buildings and takes her to his favorite spot in the city with a view of a few historical landmarks. He then draws a picture of his idea city skyline on Summers forearm.
(Day 109) Summer takes Tom back to her apartment for the first time. It is here that the narrator returns to tell the audience that Tom had made it past most of Summers past lovers. She opens up to him now, telling him dreams and stories that she had never told anyone before. “These were stories one had to earn…”
We find ourselves back the cafe where the three young friends are playing Pac Man. When his buddies question him about his relationship with Summer, Tom acts nonchalant and they mock him for it. He calls them out on their lack of relationship experience, upsetting McKenzie. Tom even takes a bit of McKenzies pastry to rub it in.
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Armand Dramatic Choices
What I learned is to identify the dramatic moments in a story. And how we can make choices to improve them.
I was on a trip and caught WONDER WOMAN 1984
I think this movie’s opening scene brings us into the formative lessons that made Diana/Wonder Woman who she is as a hero and woman. We also meet Barbara (Kristen Wiig) who wishes to have the apparent external confidence of Diana. Their relationship, friendship and rivalry brings a lot of drama to the story. Pedro Pascal as Max Lord, an 80s Trump-like mogul, also adds drama due to his ambition and willingness to do whatever it takes to not be a failure. The cost of the romance between Steve and Wonder Woman is also dramatic.
WONDER WOMAN 84 (After Steve reappears):
Diana is unwilling to give up Steve, even if it means her powers are diminishing.
Barbara goes to the gym and realizes she is physically super strong.
Barbara kicks the ass of her sexual harasser on the streets, to the point of almost killing the guy.
Wonder Woman identifies how to defeat Max Lord, but the price is giving up her wish: Steve’s return.
Steve (who is from the 40s) enjoys his borrowed time in the 80s but encourages Diana to give him up. She doesn’t want to.
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Janeen’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned doing this assignment is drama and humor are a little harder to sort out. Since I’m writing (mostly) stories with comedy and drama, often the drama is subjugated to the humor in a scene but is still conveyed to create empathy.
Movie: Just Go With It
OPENING
1. Guests gather for a wedding with an ecstatic bride and the groom’s sister fawning over the bride only to be dissed after she leaves the room for her nose and the groom’s nose with the groom listening in.
2. The bride admits she cheated on the groom the night before – again!
3. Danny and his cousin are shocked and he leaves instead of getting married.
4. Danny finds his wedding ring are a chick magnet and he lies about his marriage for the first time.
5. In V.O., he tells how he uses the ring to get dates, got his nose fixed and continued to use the ring to get chicks even if he knows it’s wrong because he doesn’t want to get his heart broken again.
6. Katherine rejects booby bags and the easy relationship and her efficiency is humorous here.
7. A patient with a bad eyebrow experience gets made fun of a little, and he will fix it in the end.
8. Cousin Eddy confesses he doesn’t have much luck with the ladies. It’s embarrassing, but not unexpected.
9. Having had too much plastic surgery that Danny refuses to touch hosts a party.
10. Danny takes his ring off when treating a kid who hurt himself when distracted by a beauty and Danny empathizes.
11. Danny is fascinated by Palmer in an honest way for once.
12. Danny points out his work to try to impress Palmer
13. Danny and Palmer end up on the beach, but he doesn’t use his “I’m married to a horrible woman” ploy to get her. This is different and real for him.
14. Palmer can tell when he’s lying and when he’s telling the truth – according to her.
15. Danny admits to Palmer that this is the real thing and then she finds his wedding ring and he loses her.
16. Katherine sympathizes with Danny, but also says “I told you so”. She empathizes with him. 17. Katherine’s kids come in and their babysitter situation and goals are expressed and Danny likes the kids and parents well.
18. A Devlin is explained and Katherine opens up about her nemesis. Danny asks for Katherine’s help in getting Palmer back.
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Jim Peacock’s (I’m back!) Dramatic Choices – Day 1
I watched the first 30 minutes of a Prime Video movie “Out of Time”. Perhaps because I was focused on the dramatic moments, I was amazed at how much drama was created in such a short time:
1) Three time travelers burst through a portal, setting up the dramatic question.
2) A Detective receives a call about a missing person.
3) A man driving on a lonely road and picks up the travelers who take over his body.
4) Detective interviews family and goes in search of old man
5) A second time traveler arrives in pursuit of the first 3.
6) Detective finds missing man and returns him home.
7) Detective comes home to find her husband cheating.
8) Detective, distraught, turns in her resignation but it is refused.
9) Detective is assigned to help pursuer find the 3 travelers.
10) Travelers kill their first host and take on a second host. They visit a space museum and laugh.
11) Detective and pursuer continue looking by car.
I’m surprised at how complex even such a straight-forward story line can be in 30 minutes!
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BOB SMITHS DRAMATIC CHOICES
What I learned from this process: To see the many objects, colors, and shades and actions that build drama.
MOVIE: “The Blue Angel” as I am writing a screenplay about the making of “The Blue Angel,” this was my choice.
1. Establishing shot of the setting: A market place in a city. Geese are being dropped in a pen from where they will go to slaughter?
2. A washerwoman washes a window that has a poster advertising the alluring cabaret showgirl featured at the Blue Angel Cabaret: Lola Lola. The washerwoman admires her allure and strikes an imitative pose next to the figure of Lola Lola on the poster. Dramatic because her allure is admired by women as much as men.
3. In contrast, Prof. Emanuel Rath (Emil Jannings), is awakened by his housekeeper. He appears every bit the academic, even absent mnded.
4. He has a pet canary and tries to arouse it to sing. He brings a square of sugar to feed his pet, crosses to the cage and to his sad surprise finds that the bird has died.
5. He gently removes the bird from the cage but the housekeeper, notes its death and then callously tosses it into the fire of the metal stove to cremate it.
6. Professor Rath goes off to school.
7. A glockenspiel with moving figures chimes 8 o’clock, the figures on the Glockesnspiel suggest the humdrum routine of the Professor, but also, characters destined to progress to wherever they may.
8. The classroom (all boys) are hostile to Professor Rath, one sketches a caricature of him on the front of his notebook that is on his desk. .
9. When he enters the class, they shut up and feign innocence. The Professor finds the caracature on his notebook and asks “Ernst” his best student to erase it. The Professor seems to know which student is the culprit.
10. The Prof. catches one of the boys with a postcard of “Lola Lola.” He warns he will talk about this with him later.
11. At the end of the school day, Ernst is tripped up and the Professor discovers that he has a dozens of postcards of Lola Lola.
12. Ernst tells the Professor he other boys must have planted the post cards in his briefcase as punishment because he does not accompany them to see Lola Lola at the local cabaret, the Blue Angel.
13. The Professor goes to “The Blue Angel” to catch his pupils there. The street is dark and winding cobblestone alley. We see a woman smoking and the faint voice of another woman laughing as the Professor walks by.
14. The city is supposed to be the Baltic seaport of Bremmen but there is nothing to suggest it is modern Bremmen. No cars or any signs of life contemporary to a German city of 1930. A fog horn distantly sounds as the professor walks into the darkness that suggests a desolate dreamworld.
15. A show is on in “The Blue Angel” with Lola Lola dancing and singing. Next to her is a hanging model of a seagull which is a reminder of the songbird the Professor lost and how Lola Lola is a new songbird.. This is Marlene Dietrich’s first appearance in a leading role. She is seductive and suggestive. She downs a stein of beer she had swiped from a submissive fellow female showgirl. Sweet intoxication is suggested.
16. At that time into this dreamworld fountain of pleasure, the professor opens “The Blue Angel” door. The windows on the doors are painted over that suggests the secrecy of the cabaret. As he steps into the place, it is clear that this port-city cabaret is maritime-themed as has to wend his way through nets, a metaphor of the net he is to be caught into.
17. As he enters, sure enough, 3 of the professor’s pupils are there, they run backstage to hide from him, into Lola Lola’s dressing room.
18. As the professor makes his way through the cabaret Lola Lola shines a spotlight on him, suggesting he is on the spot.
19. Hanging from the sealing is a cherubic angel, supposedly painted blue. It hovers above Lola Lola.
20. The number on stage ends, and Lola Lola retreats to her cluttered dressing room with its circular staircase that leads to Lola Lola’s apartment.
21. The Professor explains who he is. Lola Lola says, “Then you ought to know to remove your hat.” She demands the expected courtesy of a man to a woman he is meeting.
22. The Professor berates her to not allow his pupils to come to her shows.
23. Lola Lola steps behind her changing screen and discovers one of the pupils of the Professor, hiding.. She closes the screen on him, to keep him hidden and then she undresses to change costumes for her next number. He observes her and is attracted to her.
24. She sits him down next to her and seductively applies makeup to her eyes and asks if he likes it. He does.
25. She asks him to pass her cigarette tin to her but he drops it and gets on the floor under the table to pick up the cigarettes. The Professor gets a good look at Lola Lola’s legs right next to him. He prudishly gets up off the floor leaving a few cigarettes behind.
26. Lola Lola is clearly being seductive and playful with the Professor as she then applies powder to her face and blows powder all over the Professor and helps him wipe it off.
27. She gets up and climbs the circular staircase to her apartment, we see her, remove her panties on the steps and drop them on the Professor who is befuddled by this.
28. One of the women in the show sees him holding the panties she wags her finger at him in a scolding manner. (That suggests that the Professor has now left his station in the wider society.
29. He throws the panties on the floor and they are picked up by his pupil. This is a setup for what will happen.
30. We see Lola Lola in her apartment with black panties on getting her costume to put on for her next number.
31. The payoff: The pupil slips the panties into a pocket of the professor’s coat. When the Professor reaches to pull out his handkerchief, he pulls out the panties and begins to wipe the sweat off his brow with it. When he discovers it he likes it. And pockets it.
All in all with a few
moments of humor, a drama of seduction is being enacted by Lola Lola seducing
the willing Professor. He has developed
an erotic interest in her as she has stirred feelings in him for her. The setup
in the story is complete. -
Erin’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned from this assignment is: Not every scene was what I’d consider “dramatic.” To me, a scene that’s described as dramatic must have some kind of important tension in it, and it raises the question “what’s going to happen?” or “what will happen next/later?” There were several scenes, or parts of scenes, that didn’t fit that description but they were still engaging and entertaining and some had important exposition in them. Just because I want to keep watching something, that doesn’t mean – to me – that it’s dramatic.
Stalag 17 (1953)
1. Opens with a prison guard walking with German Shepherds and guards on a watch tower at night in a German WW2 POW prison camp
2. Men in their bunks waiting for the right moment to help 2 bunkmates escape
3. Men carrying out the escape plan: covering the windows to block the search light, move the furnace to reveal the escape tunnel, go over the plan with the escapees
4. Escapees go out through the tunnel, crawl and run to try to get out of the camp, with the searchlight still going and the guards with guns
5. Main character, Sefton, takes bets on whether the men will make it out alive or not
6. The escapees get to the outer fence to find 3 guards waiting for them who start machine gunning them
7. The next morning at roll call the dead bodies are lying in the mud in the middle of the compound
8. The movie’s merciless antagonist, the Kommandant, addresses the prisoners
9. Animal (a comic relief character) throws something in a puddle in front of the Kommandant, splashing him, and when asked who did it, after a pause all the prisoners take a step forward
10. The men fight with each other (verbally) as they clean up for breakfast; one announces that he thinks there’s a stool pigeon in the bunk who told the Germans about the escape plan
11. The men line up at the wire fence to get a look at the Russian women in the compound next door and Animal falls over beyond the line and the guard whistles at him
12. While the other men eat disgusting soup for breakfast, Sefton cooks up a fresh egg he says he got from trading cigarettes, but this makes the men jealous and suspicious of him; it ends with a heated argument and almost a fistfight
13. The guy who comes in for mail call smuggles in a contraband radio
14. Inside, listening to the contraband radio, they get bad news about the war (the Germans are doing well)
15. Outside, men play volleyball and need to divert a German guard’s attention from the antenna wire hooked up to the radio inside
16. The German guard Schulz gets all the men out of the barracks and sees a signal – a looped up lightbulb wire – and goes to get a hidden message out of the queen on the chessboard underneath; it’s now confirmed that there is indeed a stool pigeon in the barracks, but we don’t know who it is [right around the 30 minute mark is where I think it breaks from Act I into Act II]
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Emmanuel’s Dramatic Choices
What I learned doing this assignment is dramatic moments keep the audience engaged. I watched OLD HENRY twice and doing so the second time, I intensely waited for the dramatic moments I remember from the first viewing.
1. The corrupt county deputy sheriff runs for his life, he’s shot and captured, and pleads for his life.
2. The fake county law enforcement drags the captured deputy sheriff by rope and then strangles him.
3. A wondering horse is noticed on the horizon by Henry and his son. Why is it alone with a saddle?
4. Henry finds an unconscious man near a creek and a satchel of money, along with a gun. This is trouble and Henry leaves but turns around to help the man.
5. The fake law enforcement team arrives at the Henry ranch looking for the missing man. Henry senses trouble.
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Richard’s Dramatic Choices
What I learnt doing this process… I’ve always loved this movie. But I just didn’t appreciate how tight a first act this was – all the characters introduced. The plot thickens with every scene, we see how all the characters will interact and cross paths. The pace is excellent. The writer keeps up the drama while lining every scene with plot and character development… and also building/deepening the storyline.
Movie: Snatch (2000)
Turkish and Tommy sitting in front of an unknown person. We learn he is a boxing promoter and that he and Tommy are like brothers but also play in dark circles. Turkish tells us he knows nothing about diamonds.
Diamond store heist in Antwerp. Four robbers, dressed in Jewish attire, known by the owners of diamond exchange. They are after ‘the stone’ which we find out to be a huge diamond.
We are introduced to multiple characters through montage, signaling that this is a much bigger operation than we thought. Also, many more characters will get involved in this plot.
We find out Turkish promotes unlicensed boxing fights. He isn’t very successful as his office is a rundown caravan. He sends Tommy to buy a new caravan from a traveller’s campsite. We find out Tommy hates ‘Pikies’.
We find out they deal with Boris The Blade, a man that can get his hands on everything. Tommy bought a gun off him. Our protagonists are getting deeper into a world we believe they aren’t prepared for.
We meet Bricktop – the main man in unlicensed boxing. While watching one of his boxers he grills two of his henchmen. We learn he likes to feed his victims to pigs.
Turkish tells us that you can’t get into Bricktop’s debt.
One of the diamond store robbers double-crosses Frankie Four-Fingers and tells Boris how to find him. But he should hire someone else to steal the diamond so the Americans can’t trace it back to them.
The diamond is 86 carots. We meet Avi, an American interested in Diamonds. He gives him instructions on what to do with the diamond and that he should stay away from gambling.
We meet Doug the Head – who deals with stolen gems.
Frankie meets Doug and buys a gun. He won’t charge him but does want Frankie to put a bet on the unlicensed boxing.
Tommy and a bodyguard go to campsite, looking for Mickey O’Neill to buy the caravan. They buy the caravan, and get a new pet dog, but as they are towing the caravan away, the wheels fall off.
Tommy tries to get his money back. Mickey will fight the bodyguard and will give the money back if he loses a fight.
They fight. Mickey gets beat up a little, then knocks out George with one punch. We find out Mickey is a bare-knuckle boxing champion.
We are introduced to another set of characters that will get involved in the plot. Vince and Saul. Vince has a dog that he got from the Pikies.
Boris comes in and offers them the job to steal the briefcase with the diamond in it.
Vince, Saul and their friend Tyrone, get ready to go steal the briefcase. Vince has brought a shotgun for the heist.
It will happen at the bookies. They arrive the same time as Frankie. Tyrone reverses his car into Frankie’s van, locking him inside.
Tommy tells Turkish about what happened at the campsite. George will now not be able to compete in the boxing fight, bringing our two boys into conflict with Bricktop. They decide to use Mickey to replace George in the boxing fight.
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