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Day 4 Assignments
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Assignment 4 – Part 1
Each and every scene or character can convey the tents of MIS, or not, to heighten a scene and the viewers experience of these elements. Tying these elements to stakes brings it all together.
Assignment 4 – Part 2
going thru roughly 40 scenes of SOTL, I saw that each scene can have all elements of MIS or just one to heighten the experience for the viewer. I can take each of these elements and apply to my own scenes and ask the question of does it apply to my scene. If it’s not there, then rewrite to deepen the scene. But these techniques can apply to other story types. If a scene or character is static, this is a good way to lift it off the page and enable the writer something to riff off of later.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Randy Hines.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
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I did not receive an email for the Day 4 assignment. Can someone please email it to me:
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Sue Swenson’s Basic Instinct Stacking Suspense
3. Make a list of everything you learn in the process that can help you write stronger thrillers. The Stacking Suspense Chart covers most of the scenes, so you can just keep track as you watch the movie.
A. Scenes need to generate questions.
B. Some scenes need to surprise with a different
ending than expected.C. Scenes need to feed the MIS engine.
D. Scenes need to add to the Mystery, Intrigue and
Suspense. Otherwise, they’re not needed. -
I learned that the subtlest details can build up the big M.I.S. .
For example, “why did she look at him with that smirk when he asked her about the murder?”
Or when two characters just have a pause to gaze intently at each other when some other detail or past event is discussed.
These moments cause us to wonder what’s going on in each characters mind and that builds mystery, intrigue and suspense.
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Sue Swenson’s SOTL Stacking Suspense – Part2
Give us a detailed list of the things you learned from doing this process that can help you write stronger thrillers.
Create scenes that have a lot of questions, twists, mystery, intrigue and suspense.
Build the story one layered scene after the other.
Include lots of red herrings for surprise and to throw off the audience.
Keep the audience guessing and wondering.
Put the audience on edge. Make the story scary.
Make the hero/heroine relatable and likeable and someone to root for.
Make the villain unique and formidable.
Create a fascinating world for these characters.
Don’t make anything obvious.
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Day 4 Assignment 1. Basic Instinct Lessons
One thing that stood out in this movie, it achieved closure without closure, not just in the movie, in every scene. No evidence is definite or complete, nothing that doesn’t leave open the possibility that it was planted or may have been washed. Not even decidable if Katherine is the arch villain, an IA overseeing IA, or an innocent, albeit spoilt heiress avoiding entrapment. There is equipotent evidence of all three possibilities. Beth could have been too easily framed too, the evidence isn’t enough that she lied about the message. Finally, there’s no motivation on anyone’s part to kill Gus. These pervasive and brilliant ambiguities that lead to the intrigue around unsolved mysteries was achieved by design, not just by plot, also by character personalities, attachment/detachment, and character relationships — that is my big insight here. Also, if I am not missing something, there are only two scenes with a solid, non mechanical, non trivial suspense. That surprises me, not just by paucity, also that I didn’t notice it until hour or two after watching it.
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PS. I had not read the conclusions in the next assignment before writing this. It wasn’t the idea to contradict, just what I saw.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: Postscript
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
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Assignment 1
3. Make a list of everything you learn in the process that can help you write stronger thrillers. The Stacking Suspense Chart covers most of the scenes, so you can just keep track as you watch the movie:
MIS at the character and scene level reinforces each other. An erotic thriller can use sex as intrigue. Other thriller sub-genres like political thrillers can use their other half for MIS too.
4. Give us a list of the things you learned about Thrillers as you did this assignment.
I already picked up on the stacking nature of MIS from the day 2 and day 3 assignments. Putting them together and going through a film did give a deeper appreciation of the writing.
There were no wasted scenes regarding MIS. It’s all about building the tension. In other genres, there are often pauses to let the audience catch their breath.
Assignment 2
3. Give us a detailed list of the things you learned from doing this process that can help you write stronger thrillers.
You can identify scenes that don’t have enough MIS and add it to them. Reveal some MIS trait. It’s easier after practice. It’s a good tool for analysis of all existing stories too.
I was already doing many of these things but didn’t have terminology or a framework to communicate with others. I was adding layers and misdirects as I improved a story. This should make it easier to add from the beginning.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by P.G. Sundling.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
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Day 4. Assignment 2. The Silence of the Lambs Lessons
Unfortunately these two exercises were very hard for me. This one in particular. I have completed it from the script. It took much longer and turned out to be harder from the page, although I now think I should work Basic Instinct or another, from the script as well.
Observations:
First thing I noticed was not just the presence of these elements, but they are constantly plucked, thrummed and escalated to intensify them. And in most non-trivial scenes, all these elements are present. No way I was ever aware of this much complexity while watching / reading a scene.
The other spinner is, Ted Tally is way ahead of me at least in binding this so tight and unraveling mystery and intrigue consequences fast. I didn’t go into most scenes knowing or asking questions other than the agents’ safety, albeit discovering things via the protagonist, or even Lecter!
Actually, he gets away with this one : ) leap when she figures where Gumbs is, just by keeping that pace. By that time we’ve surrendered to her (and the script) because of this stacked but coherent complexity occupying everything from our basal ganglia through frontal cortex.
On a broader level, the action prior to the climax is in three places. As if it wasn’t enough for him to stack these elements, scenes are also stacked. There is at least one transition in the script that brilliantly serves two purposes.
Finally, I am not sure if my answers are not missing something. While I can understand, if I am not wrong, a lot of times there will be an overlap in scene MIS and character MIS, too often I had to resort to things not in the scene, but in our consciousness prominently. Especially stakes. Maybe I have to go over this again? Is there a movie just this complex but not so graphic?
This one also had about the same number of scenes. What stood out was both Hannibal’s escape and chez Gumbs scenes, are like ten pages. Of these, I think at least the second scene should be seen as three, to fully understand all seven elements. That in itself was a revelation. I counted at least six different major emotions evoked rapidfire in this one.
Comments anyone? We are supposed to be talking, right? But of course you all are so far ahead of me at this point.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: Pytotypo ; )
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by Sandeep Gupta. Reason: Typo
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This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by
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