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Day 2 Assignments
Please post your Day 2 assignments here!
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15 Replies
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Subject line: Kim J’s Big M.I.S.
What I learned doing this assignment is that threading the needle is the hardest part of sewing.
Logline: A struggling artist drawn into an alternate reality must conquer her demons to free herself and save humanity.
1. What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Sage Greeley (25) is an intelligent, talented graphic novelist struggling with serious mental illness.
Dangerous Villain: Sven Svensen (55) is the head of a shadowy organization called The Federation West. He holds Sage against her will and forces her to make changes to a critical battle in her graphic novel.
High stakes: If Sage fails to publish her novel as she’s written it, The Federation West will repopulate the earth entirely of the dead. Sage MUST get her manuscript published as she wrote it to save humanity from that fate. To do that, she must first escape.
Life and death situations: Sage is held against her will, tortured, and brutalized. Her captivity exacerbates her psychotic symptoms causing her to fall deeper and deeper into a world where nothing is as it seems. If she doesn’t comply with Sven’s directives, Sage is of no use, and Sven will kill her. Or perhaps she’s already dead.
This story is thrilling because? The fate of humanity rests on Sage’s shoulders, but we’re not sure she can succeed due to the skewed reality created by her mental illness.
2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: What actually happened to Sage when The Federation West intercepted her?
Big Intrigue: The Federation West’s mission is to repopulate the world entirely of the dead, posing as the living, to ensure a compliant population that will conform to their mission of totalitarian control. The free will of the living is too challenging to that end.
Big Suspense: Can Sage free herself from the Federation West and save humanity, or is her quest merely the product of a disordered and delusional mind?
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by Kim Jaspers.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by Kim Jaspers.
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This reply was modified 4 years ago by
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Diana’s Big M.I.S.
What I learned: I need to add more high stakes to my story. By going through the steps, I think I am getting closer. I want the protagonist to end up a vigilante, but I need to think some more about the gradient of change and plausibility, while keeping the expected conventions in mind. I still think it’s doable. Just not there yet.
Conventions
• Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Sarah
• Dangerous Villain: William
• High stakes: She has something of value that others would kill for. She is best friends with the killer. She is treating a violent ex-con.
• Life and death situations: She is at risk because she is in possession of some incriminating data that her late husband saved to a microchip and hid inside a pendant with instructions to his wife on how to deliver the data. She is being run off the road and chased by the killer and threatened several times to stop looking for him.
• This story is thrilling because? The killer is after Sarah. Sarah is after the killer while carrying out a mission from her late husband that could get her killed. Perhaps Sarah has had the upper hand the entire time. We don’t know what was in the note. Was Sarah acting? Did she know all along?
Big Mystery: What did Sarah’s husband have on the killer? (What was in that note he left her?)
Big Intrigue: Sarah’s best friend is the killer.
Big Suspense: Will Sarah catch her husband’s killer before the killer catches her?
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Subject: Jon’s Big MIS
Title: Alien Correspondent
Logline: A young novice reporter scores the biggest interview of her career after Earth makes first-contact with aliens. The aliens insist that she performs the interview but she must find out why the aliens are here and what they want. She finds out that she has to save humanity from extinction.
Conventions
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: A young journalist who has just lost her job for having too much virtue is offered the gig that all her piers wish they could have.
Dangerous Villain: Gray aliens who have just arrived on Earth. No one knows why they are here or where they come from. Or worse what do they want?
High stakes: After the interviewing reporter finds out she is the only one who can save humanity from extinction
Life and death situations: Are the aliens here to prevent or cause extinction
This story is thrilling because: Our rookie novice young reporter has to take on powerful aliens who have advanced technology and powers that we don’t know but are great enough for them to travel to Earth.Big M.I.S. of story
1) Big Mystery – Why are the aliens here?
2) Big Intrigue – Why do the aliens want an inexperienced rookie reporter to be the ones who make first contact?
3) Big Suspense – Can she figure out why the aliens are here before it’s too late? Can a rookie reporter beat powerful aliens?
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ASSIGMENT 2
KANNAN MENON Big M.I.S.
What I Learned from this Assignment:
I learned how you could start with a baseline set-up as a foundation to erect your story even if all the narrative elements have not been worked out.
Note: This narrative is so fresh I have not had time to name the characters, so I have just used letters as a place holder.
LOGLINE:
A, a young actress in New York, runs into Z, the step-father of her high school classmate from Malaysia in the lobby of a Manhattan hotel after an unsuccessful meeting with prospective investors in a movie that she has scripted. A learns her classmate and her mother were both killed in a car accident in London three years before. On learning of A’s failed meeting, Z intimates he could with funding the movie. Unknown to A, Z is the masterminded a $12B swindle in Malaysia that brought down the government and Z is now in hiding in New York.
1. What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but
Resourceful Hero:A is a young actress in Manhattan originally from Malaysia, who accidentally meets someone from her high school years who proves to be a threat to her life.
Dangerous
Villain:Z has executed a $12 billion financial swindle and is now in hiding in New York.
High stakes:
Z has systematically eliminated people in his past, including his ex-wife and step-daughter (A’s classmate), who might identify him.
Life and death
situations:A discovers in a random search that her classmate and her mother were actually murdered in their home and that her x- husband has disappeared.
This story is thrilling
because A (and her partner) have to escape from the Z’s deadly web involving
multiple police agencies and private actors seeking the money.2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: Who is Z and why is he interested in helping
A?Big Intrigue: The villain is trying to find “fall
guy” for his massive swindle. -
Subject line: Colleen’s Big M.I.S.
logline: A local Riverfield Detective discovers the first speed murder in her sleepy, neighborhood community and finds herself caught up in the dark consequences of the killers plans.
1. The conventions
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Cat is the local detective
of the sleepy community of Riverfield, MN.<div>Dangerous Villain: Rachel is traveling Business Consultant and resident of Riverfield that has decades of planned revenge to exact for being the victim of teenage bullying.
High stakes: The lives of 7 different women and men from
the Riverfield Highschool graduating class of 2001. Detective Catherine’s life.Life and death situations:
The death of 7 different women and men from the Riverfield
Highschool graduating class of 2001. The safety of the rest of the 2001 alumni
class of Riverfield.This story is thrilling because?
The unusual speed murders and following Detective Cat to
her potential speed murder.2. Tell us the Big M.I.S
Big Mystery: Who is the speed murderer of Riverfield?
Big Intrigue: The way Detective Catherine is unknowingly setting up all the victims for Rachel to speed murder and paving a trail for her own possible speed murder.
Big Suspense: Detective Cat is stepping closer and closer to Rachels list to be included as a speed murder victim with every speed murder case she investigates.
3. “What I learned doing this assignment is…?” to construct my story with the conventions and Big M.I.S.
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Mike’s MIS
Logline: After witnessing the assassination of his brother, an American Embassy official teams up with local police to find the killers and is drawn into stopping an impending coup.
What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Thomas, former special forces, and Deputy Head of Embassy Security
Dangerous Villain: Victor, Interior Minister, head of internal security
High stakes: The villain plans to take over the country
Life and death situations: diplomats’ death, killing Embassy and government officials
This story is thrilling because? Thomas must work with the Interior Ministry to solve the killings, but someone inside the Ministry is responsible
2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: Who killed two diplomats, and why?
Big Intrigue: Villain’s government forces have teamed up with the mafia to engineer a coup
Big Suspense: The villain has killed two diplomats, and will kill anyone that tries to stop the coup plot
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Subject line: Alan’s Big M.I.S.
Title: A BLIND EYE
Logline: A wisecracking Denver Everyman repeatedly risks his life attempting to save his sister from the sordid world of date rape drugs, missing girls and a sophisticated global sex trafficking ring.
What I learned doing this assignment: I’m missing a complete layer. I need to add BIG INTRIGUE to my story.
1. What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Jay Crockett, is a Denver everyman, (a Product
Manager for a tech start-up). His half-sister, Holly Sampson, gets
abducted, wrenching him with her into life and death danger. <div>Dangerous Villain: Orlando
Skoda, the ‘Rolex Creep,’ and his associates in a sophisticated sex trafficking
organization that abducts women and auctions them on the dark web.High stakes: The sex trafficking
gang has and will kill to snatch prized ‘spinners.’Life and death situations: In
scene one, Orlando threatens to kill Jay. Orlando kills one of his own gang
that’s been made by the police. The two most prominent gateways to sex
trafficking are runaways and fake modeling jobs. Madison is a teenage runaway
trafficked by the gang. The gang offers Erin a fake modeling job that
leads to her abduction and auction. Jay’s half-sister, Holly, is abducted,
auctioned, and sold to a Beijing Brothel. Jay is nearly killed attempting
to help rescue first-Erin, and then-Holly. Several traffickers are killed
during the rescues.This movie is thrilling
because? There’s a constant threat of sex trafficking to a number of young
girls and women throughout the story. Death threats begin in the opening
scene and the danger to Jay and others of being killed increases throughout
the story.2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: Who abducted Holly and where did they
take her? </div>Big Intrigue: YIKES! I’m not sure yet?
Big Suspense: Will Orlando kill Jay and abduct/sell
Erin? -
David Polcyn – B.I.S. – Assignment 2
What I learned – To approach the story from the perspective of the foundation (Big M.I.S/thriller conventions) and let the story grow from there, rather than the other way around.
Logline: When a Rockstar he attempts to blackmail is brutally slaughtered, a down on his luck tabloid photographer must navigate a web of corruption, human trafficking and murder to prevent his own liquidation and prove his innocence.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Joe, a down on his luck tabloid photographer who’s become quite skilful at the art of surveillance and security evasion.
Dangerous Villain: Vladimir “Claypool” – a former KGB officer turned “celebrity fixer”, heading up the blackmailing of powerful people to ensure they do organisation’s bidding.
High stakes: Joe’s life, Scarlet’s life (a trafficking victim) and Ella (Damien’s wife/Joe’s antagonistic ex, who became famous after they broke up), the exposure of the blackmailing/trafficking racket.
Life and death situations: A murdered rockstar, imprisoned and trafficked woman, murder attempts by former KGB assassins, Joe being framed for the organisation’s crimes.
This story is thrilling because? We are worried about Joe, who is clearly in over his head, as he moves closer to the truth, his untimely death is more and more a possiblity.
Big Mystery: Who killed the Rock Star (Damien Zhig)? And what happened to Scarlett, the young woman (Joe saw having an affair with Damien)?
Big intrigue: The shadow organisation of former KGB agents turned criminals, who are using dark money and human trafficking to control powerful people (celebrities and politicians).
Big Suspense: Will Joe survive long enough to discover who is trying to frame and or kill him and why?
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Catherine J’s Big M.I.S.
[Thriller] Day 2: The Big Mystery, Intrigue, and Suspense
ASSIGNMENT #2
“What I learned doing this assignment is: To not get ahead of myself; take the story-building one step at a time.”
Logline: “Some killers slip through the cracks.”
1. What are the conventions of your story?
· Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: NYPD Homicide Detective
· Dangerous Villain: The killer
High stakes: Identify the killer and get him off the streets
· Life and death situations: He’s using a weapon that is thus far untraceable.
· This story is thrilling because? The weapon is powerful and the detective is deathly afraid of it.
2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
· Big Mystery: The Detective has to first determine if a crime is happening and then try to identify/find the weapon and the killer.
· Big Intrigue: What is the covert, clandestine, underhanded plot that will live under the surface for most of the movie? Will this killer slip through the cracks?
· Big Suspense: What is the main danger to your Hero that will continue to escalate throughout the script? The Detective could also be a victim at any time…and/or so could her daughter.
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Ron J’s Big M.I.S.
What I learned: That the characters on all sides of the story are connected by the conflict and their goals. Therefore, it’s vital to clearly define the conflict and goals of your characters so that the story proceeds naturally with momentum.
Logline: An archeologist gets caught up in a hunt for the lost tomb of Jayavarman II to recover an ancient relic before an eccentric billionaire can find it and use its power to rebuild the Khmer Empire and rule all of Asia.
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Glory is an archeologist and expert rock climber. Quinn is a skilled MMA fighter.
Dangerous Villain: Billionaire Hightower has infinite resources including a small army.
High stakes: The fate of Cambodia and all of Asia could fall under the rule of tyrants led by Hightower. Glory’s mother may be in serious jeopardy.
Life and death situations: Glory and Quinn must battle Hightower’s henchmen in order to recover the stone.
This story is thrilling because? The fate of a nation and Asia is at stake as Glory and Quinn’s search puts them in ever increasing jeopardy battling Hightower’s men.
Big Mystery: Who is after her mother’s archeological findings and why has she gone missing? Why does Hightower raid temples and seek the Lingam Stone? Why is he building an army?
Big Intrigue: Hightower is trying to find Jayavarman II’s tomb and Lingam stone of power in order to rebuild the Khmer Empire and rule all of Asia.
Big Suspense: Glory and Quinn must fight Hightower’s henchmen who are seeking the same article and will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal.
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Subject Line: Frank Fuller’s Big M.I.S
What I Learned Doing This Assignment: I learned it takes a lot of time to boil down a logline into a succinct and intriguing premise. I also learned that it’s hard to get at the central M.I.S. elements but success at that really does help focus the story. (And I learned it’s hard to distinguish between what is a central mystery and a central intrigue.)
My Thriller Logline: The privileged but estranged son of the Secretary of Defense is assigned to a DARPA project just weeks after his twin brother’s streamed beheading in the Middle East and soon finds himself imperiled by a hideous conspiracy and a new weapon with massive geopolitical consequences.
The Conventions of My Story
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Charlie Ott, VP of business development at a Cambridge/Washington defense contractor and estranged son of the Secretary of Defense, gets assigned to a DARPA project. Soon thereafter, for no apparent reason, he finds himself gaslighted and targeted. Charlie must use his wits and a rusty, incomplete skill set learned a decade earlier from a short stint with the CIA to survive and prevent an unknown actor from carrying out a deadly conspiracy with massive geopolitical consequences.
Dangerous Villain: There is a villain and a villain behind the villain. Hi-level rogue Mossad members plan to take out the President of the United States with a new, undetectable weapon. Or is the target their own Prime Minister? Or the President of Iran? All are in play due to peace overtures. And who has supplied the weapon? Who is the villain behind the villain, and is there an even bigger plot playing out? Who is the ultimate puppet master?
High Stakes: Charlie’s a marked man. The leaders of three countries could be assassinated. And, as he begins to slowly realize, there is an even more fiendish plot at play that could affect millions.
Life and Death Situations: Charlie’s in escalating danger almost from the start.
This Story is Thrilling Because: The stakes are as high as they get: the Hero’s on the run; the President could be assassinated; there’s a hint that something even bigger is at stake.
Big Mystery: Why was Charlie’s twin brother beheaded, what was he doing in the Middle East and how does that play into Charlie’s predicament?
Big Intrigue: Who is the villain and what is the villain’s plan?
Big Suspense: Will Charlie Ott, his new girlfriend and his best friend survive and is his father somehow involved?
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BLACK SWAN EVENT Big M.I.S.
LOGLINE: A psychopathic cyberterrorist is planning to take control of eight of the world’s largest Central Banks during a scheduled test of international digital currency transactions, plunging the entire world into a devastating economic depression. David Hamilton, his best friend Paul, and a team of eccentric, elite cybersecurity experts must track down the terrorist and stop him. But “Phoenix” has his own team of assassins and cyberterrorists who know they’re on to him, threatening Paul, Ham, Ham’s family, and the world’s most influential but least known financial institution, the Bank for International Settlements, that coordinated and is overseeing the test.
THE CONVENTIONS:
UNWITTING BUT RESOURCEFUL HERO: David Hamilton (“Ham”) is an agent for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Paul is Ham’s former colleague from their days in a CIA cyber intelligence unit. Paul’s life is in danger because he recently discovered a plot to destroy the world’s entire economic structure and needs Ham’s help to stop the threat because neither he nor Ham can trust anyone else.
DANGEROUS VILLAIN: “Phoenix” is a ruthless cyberterrorist who uses the dark web to hire other cyberterrorists and assassins to carry out his plans. He is also a religious nutjob using the pretense of stealing trillions in cybercurrency in order to stop what he believes is the beginning of the end times with the creation of a one-world cybercurrency.
HIGH STAKES: The stakes are the equivalent of a nuclear attack that ends in global devastation. Money is worthless, no one can buy food or fuel, they can’t be paid for work. The entire world will be thrown into dire poverty resulting in violent protests.
LIFE AND DEATH SITUATIONS: “Phoenix” threatens to kill Ham and Paul if they don’t fix the problem they say they discovered that would prevent the digital currency test from proceeding according to plan. When Ham confronts Phoenix in his bunker, Phoenix threatens to blow up the Bank for International Settlements killing everyone inside if he isn’t successful.
THIS STORY IS THRILLING BECAUSE: “Phoenix” is ruthless and has access to a small army of assassins and cyberterrorists. He keeps Ham and Paul alive because they con him into thinking he needs them to make his cyberattack successful. His henchmen also threaten Ham’s family. There are escalating cyber and physical attacks that take place throughout the story.
BIG MYSTERY: Who is “Phoenix” and why is he trying to plunge the world into a global economic depression by taking over the computer systems of eight of the world’s largest central banks?
BIG INTRIGUE: How is “Phoenix” going to access these eight secure central bank computer systems all at once in what appears to be a global ransomware attack, and how can David Hamilton (“Ham”), his best friend Paul, and the small team of elite cybersecurity hackers Ham calls on for help going to stop this from happening.
BIG SUSPENSE: Can Ham, his best friend Paul, and the cybersecurity team stop “Phoenix” from plunging the world into disastrous poverty?
WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS ASSIGNMENT: I’ve been working on this story as an Action film leading to a series of films like Mission Impossible and Die Hard. What I’m learning is to incorporate the elements of a thriller into this script.
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Subject line: Sandra’s Big M.I.S.
What I learned doing this assignment is that learning from the masters is a great starting point to construct my story with the conventions and Big M.I.S.
logline: A billionaire purchases a rare manuscript and experiences a series of unexplainable and frightening events.
1. The conventions
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: Maxim
Dangerous Villain: Lilith, his daughter is using her friends to set up unusual events to frighten Maxim.
High stakes: Maxim doesn’t know if he is imagining things or if there is a curse that came with the manuscript.
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Life and death situations: Maxim thinks his life could be in danger.
This story is thrilling because?
The viewer won’t know where or how the events are transpiring.2. Tell us the Big M.I.S
Big Mystery: Where are the strange events coming from?
Big Intrigue: Are the events from a curse?
Big Suspense: Will Maxim get hurt physically or even loose his mind?
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HOUSE HUNTED
Logline: <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>House Hunted follows a young Brooklyn couple on a weekend getaway, looking for a house in the country. The house of their dreams soon becomes a house of horrors after they witness a brutal political murder and struggle to escape a certain death at the hands of a gang of white supremacists.
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I learned doing this assignment that my story has all the elements needed for a great thriller.
House Hunted
Logline: <i style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>House Hunted follows a young Brooklyn couple on a weekend getaway, looking for a house in the country. The house of their dreams soon becomes a house of horrors after they witness a brutal political murder and struggle to escape a certain death at the hands of a gang of white supremacists.
1. What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero: <div>
Alex is a Black woman from Brooklyn who, although fearful of violence and guns, must find an inner strength to save herself and her husband from being murdered.
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Dangerous Villain: Two of the members of the white supremacists gang are dangerous killers but the leader is a psychopath bent of doing all he can to overthrow the government.
High stakes: Alex and Colton must escape the basement they have become trapped in and the killers that are chasing them.
Life and death situations: Alex could easily be found hiding in a car by one of the killers who would kill her if she were found and in the end, as she and Colton are trapped in a ravine by one of the killers, she has to defend herself using a gun – something she never thought she would have to do.
This story is thrilling because? Our two protagonist are surprised by a violent gang, who commit a murder in the same house, and become trapped and have to figure a way out.
2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: How will Alex and Colton be discovered by the murderous gang?</div><div>
Big Intrigue: Why is the gang killing a federal judge?
<u style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Big Suspense: Will Alex be discovered by the gang and killed?
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