• shelley Darling

    Member
    February 11, 2024 at 9:37 pm

    Subject line: Shelley Darling Genre Conventions

    What I learned doing this assignment is understanding the Genre Conventions supports the clarity of the Genre and keeps the screenplay’s distinctive energy and focus powerfully moving forward.

    VS 1

    Act 1:

    Flash Forward Opening Montague:

    • A distraught woman fleeing from her diagnosis, struggles in misty, foggy rain slipping as she crosses the metal bridge over a wild river.

    • Seeing the flashing neon sign, she hurries to the solitary tavern.

    • The creaking, battered screen door opens to a huge saw blade on the floor.

    • Wiping herself off Mollie spies a photo of a gravestone on the mantle, but becomes distracted as she hears dark figures cackle and beer bottles click from a dark corner table.

    • The bartender, tells her stories of the 1700 Medicine woman, who is shunned from the once Inn, now the restaurant- to cursing the place.

    • Stretching to listen without being noticed, Mollie listens intently to the men joking with the bartender about the curse. A green bottle of a man with a staff crashes to the floor. Spooked Mollie leaves cash and hurries out.

    • Misty apparition. Crashing car. Exploding fire.

    PURPOSE: emotional and interpersonal high stakes

    CHARACTER-DRIVEN JOURNEY: care about the characters/internal journey drives

    HIGH STAKES COME FROM WITHIN: struggles, obstacles, and stakes come

    from within the characters more than from external pressures.

    EMOTIONALLY RESONATES: be moved by the characters’ emotions and how they experience the events.

    CHALLENGING, EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED SITUATIONS: challenged to their core by the emotional situations-struggles run into.

    REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS: grounded in reality.

    Opening:

    • MOLLIE with hands over her head, wakes to fireworks exploding over Boston Harbor.

    • Togo, her dog is howling in sync with the music.

    • Clues of Mollie’s crumbling world are evident: her daughter’s empty bedroom, shaky promises, elusive love, a modern-day exile, and a box of cannolis with an eviction notice attached.

    • Still, she vows to quit working for her demanding Jewish father.

    Inciting Incident:

    • Mom, in the lead, with Dad and Mollie trailing behind, charges past the nursing station into the head neurosurgeon’s office.

    • Mollie learns an encapsulated tumor inside her spinal column is slow-growing, and triumphantly tells the doctor she will delay treatment.

    • Mom, continuously spouting furiously at the doctor, runs after Mollie and pushes Dad out the door.

    Turning Point

    • Grasping her spasming leg, Mollie In the pounding rain, limps to her car.

    • Speeding out of the parking lot, she nearly hits a battered white pickup with a tribal license plate.

    • Spooked by a misty apparition, she loses control and crashes into a large tree by the river.

    Act 2:

    New plan.

    • Emboldened, Mollie, buoyantly crossing an old bridge, commits to going back to Poland to take on the mystery of her dreams.

    Plan in action:

    • Mollie curious to learn more about the water bottling company, agrees to meet Moses for lunch.

    • Thrown off balance by his overt charm and gentlemanly behavior, Mollie swooned, hesitantly, agrees to going to Paris Hill with him the next day.

    Midpoint Turning Point:

    • Dick the dowser cuts a forked maple branch in the woods.

    • After Mollie gives up trying, Dick, putting his arm around her, holds one side of the branch taut, instructing her to let go of her mind to connect with the water.

    • Feeling the branch pull her hands down, Mollie surrenders her frustration, breaking down in tears when finally locating the spring.

    Act 3:

    Rethink everything

    • Hiking towards the cave, once again Moses prods Mollie about her upcoming plans.

    • Feeling vulnerable,and defensive, Mollie receives a heart-breaking call from Brigitte, who inexplicably breaks off any future contact.

    • Retreating into the cave, hitting her head, Mollie unleashes the angst of her childhood trauma.

    • Cautiously, Moses tells the story of his own rejection. Uncontrollable giggles erupt when a wet, fat porcupine waddles into the cave as Mollie lets go and receives Moses as an ally.

    New plan

    • Looking at old photos in the Ricker Memorial Library, Dick reminisces about returning home on the night of the fire.

    • In sharing her query about the truth of her dad’s loyalty as the accountant for the previous Poland Springs owner, supported by Dick Mollie is ready to trust Moses and tell him everything.

    Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

    • Over the moon to see Moses, Mollie, in haste, divulges her research and the mystery surrounding the Confederate soldier Robert Cheever’s lost treasure.

    • Suspicions confirmed and caught in a riptide of emotions,

    • Moses leaps upon the gravestone, yelling at Mollie, shoving the cease and desist order towards her.

    • Mollie declares she’s done.

    Act 4:

    Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

    • Retreating to Boston, family pandemonium boils over at the Chinese Restaurant as tempers flare and the flaming hotpot knocks over.

    • Mollie’s devastated to learn a week later her parents have just taken their lives.

    Resolution: Back in Maine,

    • a rowdy group of children break Mollie’s train of thought as their mom ANGELA, an old friend she lost to evangelistic beliefs, remorsefully relays a biblical parable highlighting her regret and Epiphany on relationships.

    • An eye-to-eye encounter with a swooping hawk stirs Mollie to reach out to Grandmother Sasa.

    • Divulging her relationship to Molly Ockett, Grandmother Sasa tells Mollie inorder to ___she needs to walk in Molly’s moccasins.

    • Surrendering Mollie agrees to go on the 4-day river journey.

    VS 2

    Act 1:

    Flash Forward Opening Montague:

    • A distraught woman crippled in pain, by a raging river, holds her leg crying out to God.

    • Struggles in misty, foggy rain to cross the bridge over a wild river, and receives a troubling call.

    • Following a flashing neon sign leading to a tavern.

    • A creaking screen door opens to a huge saw blade on the floor. A photo of a gravestone on the mantle.

    • Men cackle from a dark corner table.

    • Bottle crashes.

    • Misty apparition. Crashing car. Exploding fire.

    Opening:

    • MOLLIE wakes disoriented and screaming to fireworks exploding over Boston Harbor.Curses about the modern-day exile from her non-profit.

    • Togo, her dog is howling in sync with the music.

    • Mollie’s world is crumbling. Mollie defending her reliability to Emeline slams the window, breaks down angrily blaming her father for all the shaky promises, and elusive love.

    • Togo shows up with her daughter’s moose-places it perfectly back where it belongs in her daughter’s empty bedroom-falls apart.

    • Cell phone rings-it’s Red Fox.

    • Doorbell rings and Mollie finds a box of cannolis as an eviction notice drops out.

    • Mollie vows to quit working for her demanding Jewish father.

    Inciting Incident:

    • Mom, in the lead, with Dad and Mollie trailing behind, charges past the nursing station into the head neurosurgeon’s office.

    • Mollie learns an encapsulated tumor inside her spinal column is slow-growing, and triumphantly tells the doctor she will delay treatment.

    • Mom, spouting furiously at the doctor, pushes Dad out the door.

    Turning Point

    • Noticing Mollie’s rubbing her leg, the Bartender questions Mollie, as a green bottle crashes to the floor.

    • Grasping her spasming leg, Mollie limps to her car, parked next to a battered white pickup with a tribal license plate.

    • Speeding out of the parking lot, Mollie’s spooked by a misty apparition.

    • Losing control, Mollie crashes into a large tree by the river.

    • Act 2:

      New plan.

    • Mollie defiantly chooses to recuperate at Brigittes instead of going to parents-Dad letting her know she could save money (Dad hates his mother) not wanting her grandmother show up)

    • Tentative and distracted Mollie crosses an old bridge, wearing her new red cowboy boots-not listening to Brigittes questions.

    • Stopping mid-bridge to watch the river-Mollie sighting a red wooden sailboat stuck in the dam, breaks through.

    • Emboldened, Mollie, against Brigitte’s advice, commits to returning to Poland to take on the mystery of her dreams.

    Plan in action:

    • Watching a hotel documentary, the validity of her dreams and the weaving of timelines,leads to Mollie beginning to trust the internal nudge of her instincts.

    • Steve’s dowsing rods confirm the hidden truth of the Underground railroad-

    • Caught by her investigative nature with the water bottling company,and the clues to her fathers past, and uprooted by her old relationship patterns, Mollie’s compelled to meet Moses for lunch.

    • Aware of Moses withholding information, Mollie sweet talks him into taking her to Paris Hill the next day.

    Midpoint Turning Point:

    • Dick the dowser, seeing Mollie distressed, invites her to his home to learn how to dowse for water.

    • Dick, seeing Mollie flustered and giving up, put his arm around her to guide her, as he holds one side of the branch taut.

    • Moses has shown up unexpectedly and is observing Dick with Mollie.

    • Feeling the branch pull her hands down, Mollie surrenders her frustration, breaking down in tears when finally locating the spring.

    • Not noticing Moses, Dick instructs her to let go of her mind to connect with the water.

    • Moses, childishly, challenges Dick, wanting Mollie’s attention. Mollie, giving him the evil eye, disregards him.

    Act 3: (Weaving in M & E present time-line 2008, past timeline of Mollie Ockett, Truth and Reconciliation-2008)

    Rethink everything

    • Mollie, chooses to step into the lions’ den, to meet Moses at the Water Corp office.

    • Moses’s taken aback witnessing Mollie turning on her phone recorder.

    • Mollie, shocked spies Moses watching Pete with Sarah, and questions Moses.

    • Called to go to Molly Ockett’s cave, at the moment of being triggered by Moses asking her about her upcoming plans. Mollie receives a heart-breaking call from Brigitte who inexplicably breaks off any future contact.

    • Retreating into the cave, hitting her head, Mollie unleashes the angst of her childhood trauma. Mollie’s torn between defense and being vulnerable.

    • Cautiously, Moses tells the story of his own rejection.

    • Mollie choosing to surrender, opens to receiving Moses as a friend and ally.

    New plan

    • Looking at old photos in the Ricker Memorial Library, with Dick reminiscing to Mollie about returning home on the night of the fire.

    • Dick brings up stories of Saul- community-poker games

    • Calls Dad to question him about Saul about the truth of her dad’s loyalty as the accountant at the time of fire.

    • Conversation with Dick about Moses-

    • Mollie encourages Dick to reconcile with Moses

    • Mollie chooses to confide Moses and tell him everything.

    Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

    • Over the moon to see Moses, Mollie, divulges the reason why she is at Poland Spring, and her research of integrity of the company.

    • Suspicions confirmed Moses is caught in a riptide of emotions and leaping upon the gravestone, screaming at Mollie, throws the cease and desist order towards her.

    • Mollie in retaliation, declares she’s done.

    Act 4:

    Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

    • Confused and retreating, Mollie retreats to her parents’ apartment in Boston, where tensions are high.

    • Looking at old photograph albums, Mollie’s devastated to hear of her mom’s dementia.

    • Family pandemonium boils over at the Chinese Restaurant.

    • Mollie’s parents are secretly and meticulously planning to take their lives.

    • Mollie is with Moses when she receives the devastating phone call that they have been successful at taking their lives. She’s shattered.

    Resolution: Back in Maine,

    • A rowdy group of children break Mollie’s train of thought as their mom ANGELA by the river, an old friend she lost to evangelistic beliefs, remorsefully relays a biblical parable highlighting her regret on relationships.

    • Mollie has an epiphany as an eye-to-eye encounter with a swooping hawk stirs her to reach out to Grandmother Sasa.

    • Divulging more of her relationship to Molly Ockett,and her aunts relationship with her autistic grandaughter.

    • Grandmother Sasa- tells Mollie, that MO has a home for her by the river.

    • Grandmother Sasa tells Mollie in order to stand tall she needs to walk in Molly’s moccasins.

    • Surrendering, Mollie agrees to go on the 4-day river journey.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by  shelley Darling. Reason: Worked more on the Genre Conventions, amplifying the drama in the scenes
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 4 months ago by  shelley Darling.

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