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Day 1 Assignments
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Subject line: Ben's Prison Break - 5 Star Model What I learned doing this assignment is that 5 star points are very important in binge TV. They hook audiences and make them obsess they follow the show to the end. ASSIGNMENT: 1. Pick a Binge Worthy EXAMPLE SHOW from our list below and watch the first episode, making a light outline of the episode. Just the beats and anything that seems important to you. PRISON BREAK BEAT SHEET INT. TATTOO STUDIO - NIGHT Tattoo artist, Sid finishes drawing a tattoo on Michael's entire body, which took a couple of months for Michael to get it done when it takes a few years for others. Michael tells Sid he hasn't got a few years. INT. MICHAEL'S APPARTMENT - NIGHT Michael destroys newspapers he put on a glass window about Lincoln Burrows' execution, governor's daughter, Mob boss Abruzzi, D.B. Cooper and throws the hard drive in the river. INT. SAVINGS BANK - NIGHT Michael robs the bank in suit and without a mask - he deliberately wants to get caught. And he gets caught. INT. COURT ROOM - NIGHT Michael makes a plea of no contest and insists on it despite his representative, Veronica, trying to help him. His only concern is his nephew not to see what's happening or what his trying to do. INT. CELL, COURT BUILDING - NIGHT Veronica uses Michael's concern about his nephew, herself and that he's not a violent person to attempt to change Michael's mind. It doesn't work. INT. COURT ROOM - NIGHT The judge sentences Michael five years in Fox River State Penitentiary. A maximum security in Chicago to honor Michael's request to be incarcerated near his home. INT. PROCESSING AREA, PRISON - DAY Prison guard tells Michael they have two commandments and warns him not to be smart. Turns out Michael has Type I Diabetes. INT. CELL BLOCK - DAY Inmate stabs another inmate. INT. MICHAELE'S CELL - DAY Michael's cell inmate, Sucre, tells him "Welcome to prisneyland, fish." INT. VERONICA'S HOUSE - NIGHT Veronica's troubled about what happened (Michael's case). Her fiance tells Veronica she did everything she could to help Michael. But Veronica can't figure out why Michael would give up. EXT. PRISON YARD - DAY Michael checks out fire hydrants locations and tosses a magazine down the grate, which gets block by another grate in the drainage. He then asks where he can find Lincoln Burrows, who is in another area and waiting execution in a month. Lincoln can't get out unless for chapel and P.I. (Prison Industry runs by John Abruzzi). It turns out Lincoln Burrows is Michael's brother. INT. CELL - DAY Michael makes paper swan. INT. VISITATION AREA, PRISON - DAY - FLASHBACK Lincoln swears to prove that he didn't killed Vice President's brother as Michael wanted him. But Michael can't understand why everyone got it wrong. Lincoln believes someone set him up and wanted him gone quickly. INT. CELL - DAY Sucre asks Michael another word for love and tells Michael he's proposing to his girlfriend. Michael suggests "passion" after Sucre told him the context of the letter. EXT. BACK ALLEY - DAY Michael's nephew's friend, Brian, is worried and doesn't want to go through with whatever they want to do. Michael's nephew, LJ, tells him everything will be fine to ease his mind. EXT. CAR - DAY Drug distributor tells LJ what he wants. When to sell drugs and what bills he wanted. LJ knows what to do. But what LJ and his friend don't know is that cops are after them. EXT. ALLEYWAY - DAY Cops arrest LJ and his friend. EXT. PRISON COURYARD - DAY Michael asks Abruzzi to hire him at PI. Abruzzi believes Michael has nothing he needs and ignores him. Michael puts paper swan on the table and tells Abruzzi he might find he can be of more assistance than he thinks. INT. CHIAPPPETTI LAMB AND VEAL - DAY Smallhouse tosses the photo of a man Maggio recognizes as Fibonacci on the desk and thought was gone forever, but someone has found him. Maggio asks Smallhouse if someone is messing with them. Smallhouse hands Maggio an envelope he thinks Maggio will never believe the content, but Maggio doesn't know what it is. INT. INFIRMARY - DAY Sara administers an insulin shot to Michael and leaves to grab something. Michael slides paper swan down the drain. INT. SECRET SERVICE HEADQUARTERS - DAY Hale tells Kellerman everything is clear on Lincoln execution, but is worried if Bishop McMorrow, who is close to the governor, gets closer to the truth, everything will come to light. Kellerman tells Hale to arrange a visit with Bishop McMorrow and assures him that everything will be over in a month. INT. CHURCH - DAY Michael tells Lincoln he is going to break him out, but Lincoln believes it's impossible. Turns out Michael designed the prison, which makes it possible. INT. VERONICA'S HOUSE - DAY Veronica wants their wedding done right, but her fiance thinks Veronica is having a second thought and might involve someone... Veronica tells her fiance she loves him and wants to be his wife. INT. CELL, PRISON - DAY Sucre is worried that Michael helping him come up with another word for love (passion) might have scared his girlfriend and blames him. Prison guard tells Michael Warden Pope wants to him. Sucre tells Michael it is not good because no gets an audience with the Pope. INT. POPE'S OFFICE - DAY Warden Pope wonders why someone with great credentials like Michael be doing in prison. Michael lies that he took a wrong turn. Pope doesn't believe him, and also knows Michael lied about his occupation that he's unemployed when he's a structural engineer. INT. MODEL ROOM - DAY Pope asks Michael to help him build a model of Taj Mahal he's been working on as his 40th anniversary gift to his wife. In exchange, Michael will get three days off the yard to work on the model. Michael refuses and Pope threatens him. It doesn't scare Michael. INT. LJ'S HOUSE - DAY LJ's mother, Lisa, is worried LJ is going down the wrong road and wonders if it has something to do with his father. She then suggests they visit LJ's father. INT. VISITATION AREA, PRISON - DAY Veronica tries to convince Michael to stop what he's doing and that there is a better way. She got in touch with diocese and Bishop may help. Michael is sure it wouldn't stop what's happening, but delays it and wants Veronica to find out who is trying to bury Lincoln. Veronica doesn't believe Michael even if he told her the evidence was cooked. Turns out Veronica and Lincoln have past relationship. INT. BISHOP MCMORROW'S HOUSE - DAY Hale and Kellerman want Bishop McMorrow to temporarily suspend his opposition to Lincoln's death sentence, but when Bishop McMorrow refuses, Kellerman threatens to charge him of tax fraud. Bishop McMorrow stands his ground and in the end discovers that Lincoln killed Vice President's brother. EXT. PRISON YARD/EXT. MAGGIO'S OFFICE - DAY Maggio tells Abruzzi someone found Fibonacci he believes must be in witness protection on the phone. He doesn't know who the person is. Just a folded up bird made of paper in the envelope, which Abruzzi ascertains is origami. EXT. PRISON YARD - DAY Michael checks the drain. Paper swan he slipped into the drain in the infirmary has floated here and is together with the magazine he dumped in earlier. EXT. PRISON YARD - CONTINOUS Michael makes a conversation with Charles Westmoreland telling him he heard he was DB Cooper. Charles denies telling Michael he can't give him Cooper story because he isn't him. EXT. PRISON YARD - CONTINOUS Abruzzi asks Michael where to find Fibonacci, but when Michael doesn't give him the information, his men beat Michael up. Michael tells Abruzzi if they come after him, he will come after Abruzzi. Abruzzi doubts it. INT. WARDEN POPE'S OFFICE - DAY Pope decides to put Michael in the SHU for 90 days for his action. Michael notices the date is April 11 on the calendar and offers to work on Taj Mahal to avoid the SHU. INT. BISHOP MCMORROW'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Someone shoots Bishop McMorrow. INT. VERONICA'S OFFICE - DAY Veronica's assistant tells her Bishop McMorrow was killed last night. Veronica realizes Michael was right and goes over Lincoln's case. INT. VISITATION AREA - DAY Lisa brings LJ over to get advice from his father, Lincoln. When it doesn't work, Lincoln tells LJ about being executed in a month. LJ doesn't care. He's already dead to him. INT. BEDROOM - DAY Sucre's girldfriend visits him to tell Sucre that she agrees to marry him. Sucre is so excited that he wants to have sex. Sucre's girlfriend tells Sucre her parents want them to wait until they get married in a Catholic church. It doesn't stop him and his girlfriend doesn't refuse either. INT. INFIRMARY - DAY Sara asks Michael a few questions after she discovered his body is reacting like he's not diabetic. Michael tells Sara he has Type I Diabetes ever since he was a kid. But when Sara goes to answer the phone, Michael's hand tingles (a sign of one of the questions Sara asked him) while checking out the wires running from the infirmary to the fence outside. Sara tells Michael she wants to run some tests next time he comes in to avoid administering insulin to a man who doesn't need it. INT. BEDROOM - DAY Sucre is worried that Hector is up to something when he discovered that Hector offered to give his girlfriend a ride to see him, believing that men and women can't be friends. EXT. PRISON YARD - DAY Michael offers an inmate cash to get him PUGNAc (insulin blocker). INT. CELL - DAY A guard gives Michael a PI card Abruzzi wanted him to have. INT. HALLWAY - DAY Michael is finally together with his brother, painting the wall. Abruzzi tells Michael he got bones. INT. LOCKERS - DAY Lincoln regrets pushing women he loved away (Veronica and Lisa). Michael tells him he pushes everyone away. Lincoln believes he's an anchor and will drag them down. Abruzzi's man asks why he hired Michael. Abruzzi quotes "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." INT. LOCKERS - CONTINOUS Lincoln asks Michael to fill him in on his plan to break him out and if he has blueprints of the prison Turns out Michael had blueprints tattooed on his body. 2. From that, make a list of the 5 Star Points for that show. Big Picture Hooks: Ask this: What is the big hook of this show? A structural engineer installed himself in the prison to break out his wrongly accused brother. Title: Prison Break Amazing and Intriguing Character: Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting? Michael tattooed prison blueprints on his body and installed himself in a maximum security prison to break out his brother. He makes connection with the people that are part of his plan without any of them noticing. Veronica tries to help Michael despite Michael always rejecting her help. Lincoln remains calm even when he knows he's wrongly accused and will die in a month's time. Empathy / Distress: Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character? Michael wants to break his brother, Lincoln, out of prison, but his brother only has a month before he's executed. Veronica wants to help Michael, but Michael won't accept her help. Lincoln tries to advise his son, LJ, but LJ won't listen. Layers / Open Loops: Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season? Will Michael break his brother, Lincoln, out of prison? Will Michael get caught? Will Sara find out Michael is not diabetic? Will Veronica and Sebastian get married? Will Lincoln and his son, LJ, reconcile? Will Lincoln get executed? Inviting Obsession: Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode? How is Michael going to break his brother, Lincoln, out of prison? Who set up Lincoln and why? Who killed Bishop McMorrow?
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Stranger Things Five Star Model
What I learned is the world you create for the characters to inhabit is extremely important in creating a binge worthy show. It makes the audience want to keep coming back and “live” there for awhile.
Assignment one, Task 1
Chyron one: November 6, 1983, Hawkins Indiana
Chyron Two: Hawkins National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy
A monster on the loose in a secret underground government lab kills a government scientist.
Will, Mike, Lucas, and Dustin play Dungeons and Dragons until Mike’s mom tells them to go home for the night.
A monster chases Will home and abducts him in a back shed behind the family home.
Chyron three: Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers
A man wakes up on a couch and gets ready for work. The filthy living room and his apparent bad habits reveal he has no self care. He is revealed to be the Sheriff.
Will’s family discovers he’s missing.
Steve’s pursues Nancy romantically.
Will’s mom opens missing persons report with Sheriff
An investigation begins at the government lab to determine what happened to let the monster out.
A young girl with an 11 tattoo who has been hiding in the woods shows up at diner and gets caught stealing food.
Will Byer’s friends get interrogated by the sheriff.
Will’s family looks around the neighborhood woods for him.
The 11 tattoo girl shows she has telepathic powers. The diner oner calls Social Services hotline to report her as a missing child after she won’t answer his questions.
Sheriff finds Will Byer’s BMX bike in the woods near the family home, brings it to family, and investigates family home and back shed. Will Byers not found but Sheriff creeped out in shed where Will Byer’s was abducted.
Family doesn’t allow kids out of house due to disappearance.
Kids see connection in their Dungeons and Dragons role playing game to Will’s disappearance.
Diner owner murdered by government spook and 11 gets away using telepathic powers.
Steve’s pursues Nancy romantically in her bedroom while Will’s friends and Sheriff look around woods for him.
The Sheriff lies and says his daughter lives with her mother and then it is revealed his daughter is actually dead.
Spooky static on phone call to Will’s mom.
Wills friends find 11 in the woods.
Task 2 – Five Star Model
Big
Picture Hooks
What is the big hook of this show?Science Fiction monster stealing human beings
Amazing
and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?Will: Tiny, Polite, Weakling, Poor, Gamer
Mike: Self Assured, Thinker, Gamer
Lucas: Self Assured, Thinker, Gamer
Dustin: Self Assured, Thinker, Gamer, Has abnormal teeth causing a lisp so he’s bullied at school.
Sheriff Hopper: Starts off careless and just wants his workday to be over and suddenly grabs a hold of a missing child case as he can relate to losing a child.
Jonathan: Hard worker, poor
Joyce: Hard working, single mom, poor
Eleven: She’s a mystery with strong telepathic powers.
Dr. Brenner:
Empathy
/ Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for
this character?Will Byers is pressured into a dilemma to make the correct decision in Dungeons and Dragons
Will Byers is chased and kidnapped.
Joyce’s son is kidnapped.
Jonathan’s brother is kidnapped.
Layers
/ Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only
be answered by watching the entire season?What is the underground experiment the government is working on? What is causing the light bulbs to flicker?
Inviting
Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?Will Will Byers be rescued from the monster? Who or what is Eleven? Why is her head shaved/hair short?
Task 3 – 2<sup>nd</sup> Watch
Big
Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show?The 1980s is a like a big character itself in the show. BMX bike riding with your friends. Talking on the phone instead of texting. Smoking cigarettes inside buildings. Ham radio. Audio/Visual student club. Rotary dial telephone. Makeshift cell phones using walkie talkies.
There’s an actual literal real underworld beneath us where an experimental underground containment of a monster and it’s world by Government spooks takes place.
The innocence of experimentation and the guilt of experimentation happening at the same time.
Amazing
and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?Will: Has nightmares
Mike: Inquisitive, Unafraid, Proactive
Lucas: Inquisitive, Unafraid, Proactive
Dustin: Inquisitive, Unafraid, Proactive, Has superpower with his “arm trick” to stop him being bullied at school.
Sheriff Hopper: Is now on a mission to do real police/detective work.
Jonathan: Unselfish, Caring
Joyce: Put upon, Caring
Eleven: Mystery
The Monster: Shapeshifter
Dr. Brenner: Says very few words in his pursuit to contain the mess and capture Eleven yet has a menacing presence throughout.
Empathy
/ Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for
this character?Sheriff Hopper is scared in the back shed looking for Will
Sheriff Hopper lies about his daughter being alive when she is dead.
Joyce has a mother’s intuition that her son Will is close by.
Joyce hears her son Will breathing during a phone call but no other response is given when she cries out to him.
Dr. Brenner is silently frantic to contain the situation. This could be a bigger problem for humanity if not stopped now.
Eleven is being pursued for capture.
Layers
/ Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only
be answered by watching the entire season?This show is loaded with them. Will they find and save Will Byers? Will the underground mess be contained by the Government spooks? Will the monster be stopped/killed? Will the government Spooks catch Eleven and make her disappear back to the experimental underground world? Who is calling on the telephone from the underworld? Who will have fall in love with who? Why does Eleven have an eleven tattooed on her? Why can’t Sheriff Hopper hear his deputy calling him from outside the back shed?
Inviting
Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?I lived in the 1980s and would love to back and live in that time again, my childhood. It was fun. This show sucks me in to do that. The production value and music makes me want more. This show lets you go back to the 1980s. It gives you a mixture of fear and fun which can’t happen at the same time but does in this show.
This show also brings you back to life in middle school which was when life was coming of age.
It shows you innocence and guilt in humanity’s pursuit of science.
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Subject line: Lost 5 Star Model Module 1
Wendy Weising
What I learned doing this assignment is that there should be a reason for every action and event that happens.
1. Outline of the pilot of Lost
The word LOST glides across the screen.
An eye appears, blinking.
Jack, a man in a suit, is lying on the ground in the middle of a bamboo forest. A white dog runs by him. He gets painfully to his feet. He finds a small bottle of alcohol in his pocket but doesn’t drink it. Then he tries to push his way out of the forest. He passes a white tennis shoe hanging from a tree.
He comes out onto a beach and finds the chaos of a plane that has just crashed. The engines are still running. People are dead, dying, and injured. Jack seems overwhelmed for a moment. He jumps into action when he sees that a man is trapped under a piece of the plane that is leaking gasoline and is ready to fall over. He gets help to move the man. One of the man’s legs is bleeding. Without thinking, Jack pulls off his tie and uses it as a tourniquet. He helps other people on the beach, sometimes at risk to his own life.
Charlie wanders aimlessly and seems to just miss getting killed by the wreckage.
Jack is alone and away from the group. He finds that he has a gash down his side that needs stitches. Kate, a beautiful, young woman in white shows up. Even though she is afraid to stitch Jack up, she agrees when he asks her to. Jack shares a deeply personal story about a spinal surgery that he botched but fixed. He said that he allowed himself to feel fear to the count of five and then just fixed it.
Jack comes up with a plan to retrieve the transceiver from the cockpit. Kate and Charlie decide to go with him to find it. Kate saw smoke earlier from the woods, so they will go in that direction. When asked how he knows so much about planes, Jack says that he took flying lessons but that is wasn’t for him. Jack tells Kate that she needs different shoes, so she gently pulls a pair of off a dead person and puts them on her own feet.
People on the beach have started bonfires. They are helping one another when creepy sounds come from the woods. They can’t see a creature, but whatever it is, it’s knocking down trees and making growling noises.
Jack has a flashback. He is on the plane. The flight attendant gives him two small bottles of liquor, which he quickly downs. Charlie runs through the cabin toward the bathroom as the flight attendants chase him. Then the plane goes down.
Charlie reveals that he is part of a famous band called Driveshaft. Kate knows the band but not him. They find the cockpit in a tree. They climb up to where the dead pilot is—but he’s not dead. He tells them that they are a thousand miles off course and that rescuers will be looking for them in the wrong location. They get the transceiver, but now Charlie is gone. Kate finds him in the bathroom. Just as they return to the cockpit, the monster approaches and passes them. The pilot is eaten when he puts his head through the window to try to see it. They run for their lives.
Rain begins to pour. Charlie slips in the mud and falls. Jack goes back to help him while Kate keeps running.
Kate hides in the woods. No one comes. She cries out for Jack. Then while shaking, she begins to count. Charlie shows up. The rain stops. Kate goes to look for Jack. She finds him. Above them high in a tree, the body of the pilot has been chewed up and spit out by the monster. Charlie asks, “How does something like that happen?”
2.
A. What is the big hook of the show?
The island: Why are these people on this island? What is the island? Where is the island? Will they survive the creatures that live there?
The people and the secrets that they are trying to hide.
B. What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Jack
He’s a doctor and a leader. He knows how to delegate responsibility. He struggles with alcohol. He is willing to put himself at risk to help others. His mantra is to feel the fear and then do it. He is kind.
Kate
She is beautiful and young. She is willing to do things that she doesn’t want to do because they must be done. She believes in Jack and is very connected to him, even though she has just met him.
Charlie
At first, he seems out of it. But somehow, he just misses disaster. He is proud and loud about his part in the band Driveshaft. He seems to think that everyone should know who he is even though they don’t. He is secretive. He goes into a bathroom on a plane that is about to fall from a tree. Who does that?
The Island
It has a tropical forest and beautiful beach. At least one man-eating monster lives on it. The rain turns on and off quickly. It is located off the map. It has more secrets than answers.
C. What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?
Jack
Jack wakes up alone on a tropical island. He runs in a panic through the woods. He helps many injured people while he himself is hurt. He nearly misses getting blown up. He downs alcohol quickly on the plane. He helps Kate not to be afraid. He runs from the monster.
Kate
She helps Jack, even though she doesn’t want to do it because it needs to be done. While hiding from the monster, she cries out for Jack and then uses his counting system to calm down.
Charlie
Kate knows his band but not him, and Jack doesn’t know at all. He runs from the monster.
The Island
It seems like it feels trespassed against.
D. Layers/Open Loops
What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?
What is the island? Why are these people there? What is the monster in the woods? What are the main characters hiding? What else will they find there? What are these peoples’ stories and secrets? Will they ever get rescued?
E. Inviting Obsession
How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
The pilot ends with us not knowing if the people are going to be safe. I want to know what the monster is. Will the transceiver work? Will they get rescued? The outside world is looking for them in the wrong place. I want to know what they will find to eat and drink on an island surrounded by saltwater. What will they use to create shelter. I want to see more of the island and its secrets.
3. Second Time through the Show
What I learned this time:
Jack has a full-blown panic attic until he sees the white dog.
Jack likes to tell others that they’ll be OK, even if they aren’t.
Instead of drinking the second bottle of liquor, Jack uses it for his wound and Kate’s.
When Kate first appears, she looks like she’s been crying. She’s very sad.
When Kate agrees to sew up Jack, she says something odd: “Of course, I will.”
Charlie writes the word “FATE” on his fingers. He reminds others that he’s OK when he is left out.
The transceiver doesn’t work.
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SUPERNATURAL – PILOT, 5 Star Model
WHAT I LEARNED – The power of empathy greatly affects the BWS-ness of the show. Connecting to the characters and their plight makes up for other, weaker aspects of the 5 Star Points.
1. Big Picture Hook: A father and his two sons, demon hunters, search for the entity responsible for the death of their mother and close loved ones.
2. Amazing/Intriguing Characters: The show revolves around two brothers, Dean and Sam. Admittedly, I found both these characters generic. Dean, the leather jacket, muscle-car driving bad boy and his younger brother, the black sheep of the family with smarts and opportunities to forever separate him from his past. I believe Sam is the protagonist that drives the story.
3. Empathy/Distress: Losing a mother is always difficult and having her taken in such a violent and gruesome way exacerbates the distress. This was the strongest of the 5 Star Points. Sam’s decision to forego law school is another empathetic point; who hasn’t had to make a life altering decision and choose a path? It seemed odd though that it was the death of his college girl friend and not the death of his mother or the disappearance of his father that compels him to forego law school and hunt demons.
4. Layers/Open Loops: The primary Open Loop is: “Why was Sam’s mother and girlfriend killed, and by whom?” Other questions deal with their father and whether he’s still alive, and if so, where is he. This premise opens many other avenues of questions, such as how did this family acquire the responsibility to fight demons, are there others that can do what they do, and are these individual events or does it connect to a bigger more ominous reveal?
5. Inviting Obsession: The aspects of the supernatural drives me to watch the next episode and the season, to see why this family and especially Sam is targeted by demonic forces. The promise of experiencing a new urban legend each episode is another reason to continue watching and finding out how these legends coalesce intrigues me.
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Righteous Gemstones 5 Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is how valuable it is to set up lots of intriguing loose ends in the pilot.
5 Star Points
Big Picture Hook:
5000 Chinese being baptized by feuding brothers from the megachurch, Gemstone, with a disaster that involves drowning. The enormous amount of money being made is threatened by a new level of sibling rivalry.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Amazing and Intriguing Character:
These are all dysfunctional family members who conflate religion with making money off gullible people. Each one has his or her own insecurities, fears, and challenges. They must either work together and stop fighting or destroy the gravy train for all of them.
Empathy / Distress:
Jess is being blackmailed and in the worst situation of his life that can bring down the whole empire. He kisses his rebellious son goodnight while the boy sleeps.
Kelvin can’t be all he thinks he’s cut out to be due to being dominated by Jess.
Judy gets left in the shadows all the time because she’s a girl and the father trusts only his sons.
Eli’s wife has died and he misses her terribly.
Layers/Open Loops:
Will the small town ministers where Gemstones are setting up their next megachurch swoop up their congregations?
What will happen to each of the siblings that either stretches or destroys them and the family?
Will this lucrative ministry be destroyed by scandal?
Who were the blackmailers?
Is it possible to keep successfully using a corrupt business model on a religious organization?
How much more dangerous and outrageous will these siblings and their spouses and father become to preserve their empire and grip on it?
Inviting Obsession:
When Cary goes to the hospital with a gun wounds will it cause questions about how he got shot?
Will the pastor figure out it was the Gemstones who tried to break into his house?
Were there cameras on the drop-off parking lot?
Will the siblings keep cooperating with or sabotaging each other?
What’s the real story with Eli’s wife?
Is there anything that will link the Gemstones to the blackmailers’ death?
Are the blackmailers really dead?
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What I learned from this assignment is that EVERY CHARACTER, no matter how small, has a story that serves to add to the story of our protagonists (and possibly antagonists) and adds to open loops.
The Walking Dead – Pilot
Open on a policeman, Rick, arriving in his beat up squad car to an area of some type of disaster. He gets out, looking for gas among abandoned cars, garbage and personal items. He spies a little girl, calling out to her. She turns. She’s a zombie! He shoots her in the head. Other zombies rouse to life and surround him…
Opening credits
Flashback: Rick and his partner, Shane, sitting in their car, talking personal matters. They get a call to assist with a chase. They disable the car, but a gun battle ensues. The police kill the suspects but miss one who shoots Rick. He blacks out…
In and out of consciousness, Shane visits in the hospital…
Rick wakes up in present to a stopped clock, dead flowers and no one answering his call outs. He pulls himself out of bed, into an abandoned hospital, blood on the walls, debris everywhere. He tries ways to get out, but they are blocked by corpses. Finally, able to get out, he finds even more bodies and more signs of something having happened.
He walks through town, more destructions, desertion. He tries cars. Nothing works. He finds a bike with a corpse next to it. The zombie comes to life, scaring him, but he gets the bike and makes it home. No one is there. He sees a man on the street and waves to him. An unseen figure hits him on the back of the head with a shovel! Out cold…
Rick comes to as Morgan, the father, shoots the shambling man on the street, and stops his son, Duane, from killing Rick. Morgan pulls his gun on Rick demanding to know about Rick’s bandage, but Rick passes out.
He wakes up later in restraints to being interrogated by Morgan about his gunshot and passes out again.
When he wakes up, Morgan releases the restraints, and explains to him what happened. Duane spies a woman zombie on the street who comes up to the house, Morgan explain it’s his wife.
Next day, they go to Rick’s house and Rick kills his first walker on the way. Rick believes his family is still alive, and learns of the Atlanta refugee camp at the CDC (possible cure?). The three of them go to the police station, gather arms and ammunition and shower. After Morgan says he’ll stay, Rick gives him a radio he’ll check it every day, waiting for him to join him.
Rick takes off in his squad car, using the radio to find other survivors. A girl hears him but can connect as it breaks up. He gets to the area we saw in the opening scene.
We see Shane, who is trying to find the “unknown caller,” with a boy and woman.
Rick escapes the horde, sending out more message, but his car dies. He walks, finding a farm and a horse which he rides into a deserted and destroyed Atlanta. Then he hears a helicopter, and races after it…
He races into town… right into a horde of zombies! He turns, but another street is blocked by advancing zombies. His horse bucks him off and he spies a tank and rolls under it. The horde is cling in and he’s about to do himself in, but spies a hatch. He climbs in, safe! but there’s a zombie inside. He shoots it, but it’s deafening. And there are zombies now climbing on top of the tank toward the open hatch. He sees his guns on the ground. No use. He closes the hatch. Now he’s safe. For now
Big Picture Hooks
Zombies. A man trying to find his way in a new (dystopian) world to find his family.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Rick’s level headed. A leader and a good man. Driven to find his family.
Empathy / Distress
Rick is in a new world order of the undead. He could be killed at any moment and there isn’t anyone else around help him. We feel for him as a man who just wants to find his family, and possibly help others (cop).
Layers / Open Loops
What happened to the world? Will it end? What happened to his family? Are there survivors? And if so, where are they?
Inviting Obsession
What does the world look like and what caused it? How bad is it? Will he find his family and will he get them somewhere safe and how do they do that?
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by Timothy Barley.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 9 months ago by
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ASSIGNMENT 1: (Handmaid’s Tale) 5 Star model
What I learned doing this assignment is how effective voiceover, and short scenes of flashbacks can be for establishing an amazing character, creating empathy/distress, and open loops. These devices seem particularly important to this show since it would be unsafe for the main character June to openly display any dissent within the world of Gilead, so her true thoughts and backstory must come through another way. I also learned that what makes this whole world so intriguing is the richly developed backstories (or at this point, invitation to speculate on the backstories) of all the secondary characters: Serena Waterford, Aunt Lydia, Jeanine, Moira, Nick, and Emily
1. Big Picture Hooks
In a dystopic U.S. plagued by a major fertility crisis, June (Offred) is determined to find a way to endure/survive state-sanctioned rape as a handmaid in order to find her daughter who was forcibly taken from her.
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character
Through voiceover, it is revealed that despite June’s pious appearances and perfect decorum in front of the Waterfords and the Eyes, she has a deeply rebellious, fiery character, and is slowly scheming/plotting a way out of her predicament so that she can reunite with her daughter.
3. Empathy / Distress
Through flashbacks, it’s revealed that June was violently separated from her daughter and husband, and forced to become a handmaid against her will. As a handmaid for the Waterfords she is accosted, and degraded by Mrs. Waterford, and habitually raped by Mr. Waterford in a number of disturbingly “normalized” scenes.
4. Layers / Open Loops
Who is the Eye in June’s house? Why hasn’t Nick told the Eyes about June running out in the middle of the night? What happened to June’s friend Moira? Where is June’s daughter Hannah? What other handmaids are secretly rebelling? How will June manage to escape this situation?
5. Inviting Obsession
How is June going to figure out who the Eye is, and steer clear of them? What kind of relationship will develop between June and Nick (dangerous? Romantic?)? What is Serena Waterford’s backstory?
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American Horror Story 5 Star Model
American Horror Story, Murder House (Season One), “Pilot”
What I learned doing this assignment:
First time through, seeing how many “invitations” of obsession can be packed into a pilot episode! So many!
Second time through, I appreciate the deeper discoveries/crafting, having watched it the first time. (the possum’s throat is cut – and soon so will Troy’s; Ben’s sleepwalking/fire-starting; Violet’s eager welcome of the basement at episode’s beginning and revulsion/fear of basement/Nate at episode’s end)
The Five Star Points:
The Big Picture Hooks:
An emotionally-broken family moves from Boston to LA into a 1920s Victorian house for a second chance. They are unaware that the house is haunted by an evil being and the ghosts of evil’s victims.
The series also pushed the boundaries of dark horror, psychological thriller, sexuality on cable (FX 2011).
Amazing and Intriguing Characters:
The ensemble of characters are fascinating, amazing, intriguing….
The Harmon Family:
- Dealing with pain of Vivien’s miscarriage and Ben’s infidelity (his way of coping with the pain)
- Vivien dealing with a late-term miscarriage of a still-born son, and her husband’s infidelity. Will their marriage survive? Growing connection to the house when she starts uncovering a mural hidden by the previous resident’s wallpaper, and through Moira.
- Ben, psychiatrist, tortured between love for his wife and carnal fulfillment (lust). One of his patients, Nate, may have ties to the house.
- Violet, daughter, who says she’s not afraid of anything – she makes the family decision to take the house after the real estate agent shared what happened in the basement – and she will face a bully’s punishment or cut herself to cope with the pain she feels in the family.
Other Key Characters:
- Constance, the intrusive neighbor, who seems obsessed with Vivian’s jewelry. The puppet master of horror? (telling Ben it’s not his time yet, and she killed Moira), or perhaps a prophet/seer?
- Adelaide (Addy) knows the house – and the dangers within. She has Down syndrome, and is marginalized by others with microaggressions or verbal/physical threats/abuse. She can see – and engages with the ghosts. She is “Cassandra” the prophet (warning the twins in the opening; warning Vivien she will die in this room, as Vivien is revealing parts of the mural).
- Moira O’Hara, the long-term housekeeper of the house. “They come, they go, I stay.”. But she was also murdered by Constance. And her younger identity seduces Ben.
- Larry Harvey, a previous resident who burned his family to death. He lives with most of his body scarred.
And Murder House:
- Moira: “It has a personality. Feelings. Mistreat it and you’ll regret it.”
- What/who is the evil that possesses the house (basement), the “old hag”…? What does it want/need?
Empathy/Distress
- We’ve seen the dangers of living in the house with the opening hook, our distress is elevated knowing we have a new family moving in.
- Vivian’s/Ben’s backstory – they’ve moved to LA after Vivien’s tragic miscarriage, still-born son; coping with the pain, Ben has an affair with a student. Will their marriage survive? This influences situations when Ben/Vivien are together, and alone, seduced by others (Vivien with “Ben” in the S&M suit; Ben with young Moira)
- Ben wants to make the marriage work but is conflicted (love for wife, carnal desires)
- Ben’s sleepwalking and fire-starting.
- Violet (daughter) bullied at school; drawn in by Nate, Ben’s patient. She witnesses true evil in the basement.
- Situations when Vivien is intruded upon by Addy and Constance – Addy seems to show up to warn when bad things will happen based on current characters actions. “You’re gonna regret it.”
- The basement – anytime someone enters this space, we feel distress.
Layers / Open Loops
This episode is baked with layers/open loops that generate questions….
- What does the mural (beneath wallpaper) represent and why was it covered up by the previous residents?
- What inhabits the basement? Why is it there? What does it want/need? And how can it be vanquished?
- Will Ben follow in the steps of Larry, and murder his family? (Will Ben listen and act on Larry’s warnings?)
- Why is Moira seducing Ben?
- Why did Constance kill Moira?
- Will Violet survive school?
- What will Leah (H.S. bully) do to Violet in retribution?
- What is Constance’s role and agency in the horror?
- Is Nate connected to the horror of the house?
- Is Nate a danger to the school? To Violet?
- Who was wearing the S&M suit – and therefore the father of Vivien’s baby?
- What does Addy know, see, and foresee? And does her prophecy always play out? (Who will survive in the end?)
- Will the Harmon family get the second chance, or will they regret it?
Inviting Obsession
The stakes are elevated so high in the pilot and the characters/relationships intertwined that we need to know the history of the house, the evil, and the fate of the Harmon family. Who will survive this horror house?
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Module 1 Homework
What I learned from doing this assignment:
“13 Reasons Why” showed how using a potentially unreliable narrator and ‘hiding the ball’ (sharing information out of context/out of order) builds suspense, mystery, and intrigue.
1. What is the big hook of this show? (“13 Reasons Why”)
The big hook of this show is that a high school girl who committed suicide leaves 13 cassette tapes with instructions to pass them sequentially to the people who let her down and caused her to take her life.
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character
What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
The tapes are primarily interpreted/presented through the suicidal girl’s viewpoint and through the eyes of a boy who had a crush on the suicide, and who himself is the subject of one of the tapes. He is wracked with both his own guilt (What warning signs did he miss? Could he have saved her?) and anger at the other characters who hurt her.
The supporting characters each have compelling backstories (popular jocks and leaders and losers who are not what they seem); and earnest and helpful adult figures who are at a loss to understand the situation – and who are misled by the teenage leads.
The two leads engage in charming banter, have obviously fallen for each other, and yet somehow keep missing opportunities to develop a full-fledged relationship.
The male lead is attractive in his desire to get justice for his almost-girlfriend, and puts himself in physical and social danger to fulfill his quest to have the truth revealed.
3. Empathy / Distress
We feel both empathy and distress for the leads
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?From the very beginning, we understand the lead has committed suicide, and that it’s affected the whole community. We become part of that community and both look forward to (and dread) hearing the reasons why.
4. Layers / Open Loops
What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?We know (along with all the characters) that we only will learn the entire truth of the suicide by watching every episode.
5. Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode? -
(Laurie Brown’s) Five Star Analysis
What I learned from this lesson is that answering these questions about a relatively unlikable character shows how the hooks and intrigue are as, if not more, important than the character in the pilot.
THE YOUNG POPE
Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show? What will be revealed to him that will be his destiny?Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting? Can’t figure out if he’s good or evil. Joking or serious. He is not the picture of what we think of as a pope. He seems sinister with his joking vs not joking dialogue.Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character? His childhood was apparently very bad and there is something about it he can’t put behind him according to Sr. Mary who is, we think, secretly his mother.Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season? What will be revealed to him that will be his destiny? What is his relationship with Sr. Mary? Why is Cardinal Voiello already trying to come up with the dirt on him? What is the problem he is anticipating?Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode? Every interaction he had made me wonder about him. Who is this guy? He treated people poorly and contrary to what you would expect the pope to be and behave like. How did he get elected anyway?Main Characters – Sr. Mary, Cardinal Voiello, Cardinal Gutierrez, Thomaso
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Module 1 – Lesson 1
4. What I learned doing this assignment is…?
A way to codify the objectives of good writing. If the 5 Star Points are created powerfully enough you are unlikely to run into problems turning a story into a good one.
1. The Night of
Naz is a college student with enough smarts to tutor some of the basketball players. Even if they’re reluctant to learn. He gets invited to a party on Friday night.
We meet his whole Muslim family. Who is domineering and traditional. In contrast to Naz.
When his friend bails on picking up Naz for the party, Naz steals his father’s taxi.
Naz is no taxi driver and doesn’t know his way around town. We are privileged to surveillance camera noting his location. Riding with the “Off Duty” lights not illuminated results in getting yelled at. And worse, two men jump in his parked taxi. Naz tries to get them to leave but it takes cops stopping and coming to his aid before they will get out.
When a pretty young woman gets in the cab, Naz becomes less inclined to have her get out.
She’s mysterious and enchanting enough for Naz to drive where she asks.
They head to the “beach” grabbing gas and drinks (beer & water) on the way. At the gas station the woman tosses a cigarette out the window and a customer at the station gives her shit for it.
Again Naz is caught on surveillance cameras.
They get to the beach (docks under the bridge) and the woman wishes she could just transport herself somewhere else – something bad happens and you’re over there. She offers drugs to Naz who reluctantly takes them after she pleads not to be alone tonight.
They go to her house. Walking in they cross paths with two black men who make Islamaphobic comments.
Inside Naz confesses to being allergic to cats and dogs. The woman lets her cat out the back door, which doesn’t seem very secure.
There’s more drinking, drugs, excitement. Naz hasn’t had an experience like this before. The woman plays mumbly peg on herself. He resists, but joins. Then together they play, he with knife to her hand resulting in stabbing her hand. To which she doesn’t seem to mind or feel the pain (drugs?). This leads to them jumping into bed. ( I knew a woman like this, it did not end well)
Naz wakes in the kitchen with no understanding why/how he got there. Going up to the bedroom to collect his things he finds the woman brutally stabbed. He freaks. He collects what he can remember to take. Which does not include his keys. He leaves the apartment and has to break back in to collect them. This gets a neighbor’s attention. Inside he grabs the knife and a few other things before fleeing to his cab which has a parking ticket on it. (Timeline establishers)
He makes a traffic violation and gets pulled over. He smells of everything he’s had that night and one of the cops wants to detain him even when the cops get another call. They bring Naz to the new scene.
Naz has to stay in the car as more cops arrive on the scene. They discover the body and call in the CSU, coroner, etc. Throughout all this, Naz has to watch from the car.
They call in Box. A grizzled late-in-career detective.
Box orders they send Naz to the precinct. On the drive Naz confesses to nothing, but asks, “Is she dead?”
Naz has to sit and wait out whatever is to become of him in the precinct. The usual assortment of hookers, drunks, etc. populate the night shift. All the while Box investigates the scene. Naz is a fish-out-of-water in the station. And nervous AF. Made more so when he discovered the knife on him.
His brother discovers Naz’s unmade bed. He wakes his father.
The Islamaphobic man returns to the crime scene and proves incapable of keeping his mouth shut. He gets taken in.
Naz’s family starts to search for him.
Naz attempts to walk out of the precinct twice but gets cut off twice.
He gets a reprieve as it’s too late to blow. He’s going to get freed but is frisked while the Box recounts the incident and clues land on the overzealous cop. She finds the knife. Naz tries to escape – pointless. Islamophobic black guy IDs him in the mêlée.
Naz’s interrogation begins.
The usual, no rights read, no request for a lawyer, let’s get him talking before he gets smart. And Naz is not smart in this kind of moment no matter how smart he may be in academics. He recounts his tragic version of the events. Admits to being scared. And can’t remember things between sex and death.
He gets processed. Humiliating and embarrassing. And confirms the police already have made up their minds about him. Though Box tries to come off as someone who cares. CSU continues their processing of Naz. More embarrassment and humiliation. Box continues to tell Naz how a jury will react to any argument or resistance to his processing, yet a lawyer has never been offered. First time I’ve heard penile swab on TV.
Jon Turturro walks in. Deduction by casting – no way Turturro isn’t a major player.
Turturro helps a trans hooker and spies the kid – Naz. The kid looks every bit the part of victim behind bars. Turturro asks about him and can’t believe the charge.
AND music finally comes in. The scene at the beach had interesting SFX that could have been considered score but weren’t. This moment seems the first time emotional, or any score has played.
Turturro takes Naz as a client and tells him the simple reality. Talk to no one. Turturro has eczema, seems to be something that will play later.
Islamophobe black guy – TREVOR! – has been waiting this whole time. None too happy. He never mentions being with someone else. Why?
Turturro learns it’s homicide and it’s Box investigating. It doesn’t sound good.
Naz gets his phone call. Finally. He calls home and tells his father what’s up. His father runs out to find his taxi gone. – BLACK
2. Big Picture Hooks
What is the big hook of this show?
The Big Picture Hook is waking to find your lover dead in bed. Did he/didn’t he kill her?
Amazing and Intriguing Character
What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Naz is only interesting in that I am unfamiliar with Muslim life. The fact that Turturro says, “Like all good Muslim boys, you live with your parents” was news to me. He is otherwise a doe-eyed college student. Interesting/intriguing – not yet.
Turturro’s eczema is not interesting. Intriguing only in that we can’t avoid it so it must be important later. I’m confident he’s an underdog attorney, we’ll see if he’s good or bad.
The victim is/was the most interesting character in that she clearly had a story to tell.
Box is interesting but sadly only in the way most TV detectives are. I’m hoping he doesn’t plan to retire and buy a boat.
Empathy / Distress
What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?
I feel most people would empathize with Naz’s FOMO that leads him to steal the taxi and push over the first domino. Obviously the distress comes with the discovery of the murder. Without which we would have a very boring show.
Layers / Open Loops
What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?
Did he/did he not kill the woman?
If not, who did?
How does the justice system come out in this? Ramrodding a young man into submission? Gloriously defending him?
Inviting Obsession – How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
There is no way we will learn of his innocence or guilt before the last episode.
The question I have is will this play off my pre-conceived perceptions – Naz seems incapable of being the killer. Am I now on the hunt to confirm my bias? Are they going to deconstruct my bias? Only more episodes will tell.
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PILOT: MR. ROBOT
What I learned during this assignment is:
Creating engaging characters is crucial to crafting a Bingeworthy show and to do this, they need to have wounds and wrinkles that make them relatable and/or endearing to the audience. It also felt like your audience doesn’t have to start off liking the show, but as long as you can keep their interest, they will, by the end of the Pilot. I also learned that it is important to watch with your ‘writer’s hat’ on in order to get better at your craft.
Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show? <div>The main character, Eliot is
a cyber-security expert, who becomes a vigilante hacker-by-night to fight
injustices he sees.Amazing and Intriguing
CharacterAsk this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Eliot has had a traumatic childhood and is emotionally vulnerable. It makes
the audience feel almost protective towards him. His personal crusade
against injustice and the odds at which this places him with his day-job
also makes his character intriguing.Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for
this character? </div>His emotional wound and vulnerability.
Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only
be answered by watching the entire season? </div>1. Does Eliot get caught for
his role in hacking Evil Corp.? 2. Do Angela and Eliot get together in
later episodes? 3. Does Eliot go back to do another assignment for the FSociety?
4. Does Eliot accept Twellick’s
job-offer in later episodes?Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?</div>
It makes you want to find out what happens to Eliot, and if he and
FSociety can bring about Evil Corp’s downfall.-
This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by Avi K.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
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4. Answer the question, “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” and put it at the top of your work.
Not having much idea what is going on can be captivating, if it makes just enough sense.
1. Pick a Binge Worthy EXAMPLE SHOW from our list below and watch the first episode, making a light outline of the episode. Just the beats and anything that seems important to you.
Lost season 1 episode 1
The Lost logo is out of focus which enhances the disoriented feeling at the beginning.
A man on the ground, disoriented. A dog in the middle of a bamboo forest.
A single shoe by itself in the forest.
Where are we? Jack runs.
A beautiful beach with airplane parts and screaming people. An airplane engine still runs.
Jack is a doctor and goes straight into action to help others. He ties off the leg of a bleeding man with his tie.
Explosions as someone gets sucked into the engine and blows it up. Jack helps the pregnant lady escape an explosion with the fat man.
Kate sows up Jack’s wound. The cockpit and tail section landed somewhere else.
Sayid sets a fire so they can be found.
Mysterious creature sounds in the jungle.
Flashback to the plane, Jack has a drink. Turbulence and oxygen masks come down.
Kate needs better shoes, so she takes them off a corpse.
Charlie is from a band people remember, but they don’t remember him.
Jack, Charlie, and Kate go to find the cockpit.
When it rains, an old man stays in the rain and smiles
They find the cockpit with a pilot alive. The transceiver doesn’t work. The radio went out early in the flight and the plane is 1,000 miles off course. The rescuers are looking in the wrong place.
The creature sounds are outside.
The pilot looks out the broken cockpit window. He gets pulled out and blood splatters where he was.
Creature sounds. Jack, Charlie, and Kate run from the cockpit section.
Charlie gets his leg trapped. Jack comes to help him.
Kate alone crying in the forest. She uses the trick Jack taught her to only let fear have 5 seconds.
Charlie runs into Kate. He got separated from Jack.
Kate goes back for Jack. Charlie follows.
They find pilot wings in the water.
Jack finds them.
The dead pilot is at the top of a tree.
2. From that, make a list of the 5 Star Points for that show.
Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show?
A mysterious island with a plane crash. A creature that we never see. This show is mystery dialed up to 11. The survivors are lost and help won’t arrive anytime soon.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
Jack is a man of action, who only allows fear to affect him for 5 seconds. He’s a doctor that helps people in distressful situations.
Kate follows Jack’s lead to overcome her fear. She does what needs to be done.
Charlie seems to be latching onto Jack and Kate. He almost died just hanging out near the crash. He didn’t have much of a reaction.
The old man seems content despite his situation.
Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?
The pregnant woman who expects help soon, although we know she’ll be disappointed. Jake is trying to help everyone and making smart calls. The pilot gets killed by the creature. The injured people that the doctor helps.
Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?
What is special about this island? What is the creature? Will help arrive? Will the injured people survive? Can they get the transceiver to work? Will people act selfishly with their survival on the line? Who’s dog is it that keeps showing up? Who did the shoe belong to? Where is the tail section? Why is the old man happy and content? The rain stops and starts quickly. Could the rain be artificial?
Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
This mysterious island and the creature signal this is not a normal island. There are so many characters we haven’t even met yet. Which of them will survive in this dangerous, strange place?
3. Watch the same first episode A SECOND TIME while looking at your 5 Star Point analysis. This time, your purpose is to see beyond the obvious answers. Assume there is more to learn and discover it!
Lost was less fun on the second view.
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