Day 3: Three Turning Points

[Colleen Patrick]

I’m having trouble following this format – what Three Turning Points? Where are the scenes? And I have not been able to find “subscribe”

[Colleen Patrick]

Found it ..

Bridesmaids:

1. A fountain of subtext overflows in every action and word, making this scene (well, these scenes, actually) great. Annie’s feeling hurt, jealous, betrayed, imagined exclusion, insult, loss and grief take precedence – but right behind it are gleeful one upswomanship with over the top “gifts” from Helen – who got all her ideas from Annie – for the bride, Lillian, previously considered Annie her bestie, who just wants to enjoy her shower, not understanding what Helen has done.

2. Three turning points: 1) Helen’s gift of a Paris trip to have Lillian’s dress designed, measured and made there; 2) Annie’s overwhelming response to this betrayal and extravagant gift. All the ideas Helen got for Lillian’s shower were given to her by Annie. 3) When Annie leaves. Lillian is now torn even though her (ex?)bestie furiously dashed off, declaring she would not be part of the wedding.

[Lynn Vincentnathan]

BRIDEMAIDS

This scene is likely turning point 3, starting at page 82 of the 109 page script.

Apparently Annie’s anger has been building up during the story and she finally and totally loses it totally — jealously over her best friend being taken over by a really rich woman. It’s funny because of all the antics Annie gets into and harsh, funny words.

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My own 3rd turning point is when the Texas grid goes down during the worst ever freeze — putting the wedding (and marriage) in jeopardy, again for the 3rd time.

My 1st turning point is when Jim finally snags reluctant Ellie into a non-commitment “situationship,” and the implications don’t look good.

The 2nd is when those implications play out and they have to call off their wedding/marriage off due to opposing obligations and life plans.

[Ann Marie]

Get Out.

For Get Out (A film I haven’t seen) the first turning point is truly shocking and certainly brings the character Chris into another world, where everything he knew or believed up until this point has radically changed. He world has literally and metaphorically turned upside down and he can never go back to a point before this turning point, because reality has truly shifted for him. It is a very effective turning point because it is a complete twist to where the story was going (girl brings boy (of a different race) home to her wealthy eccentric parents, most of whom are white and middle aged or older.

As the mother turns her spoon, she brings Chris to a place in his childhood where he was traumatised and although he is a very savvy young man, he literally falls under her spell and finds himself trapped in a sub-world at the end of this scene. Talk about a twist and turning point, bringing the story in a whole new direction – now not only must he try and work out where he is, he must find a way to get out or he will be lost in this hellish limbo forever.

The second turning point, which I guess is the midpoint, is perhaps not as apparent to me, but it is a very intriguing scene, so I was curious that it was also called a turning point. We see the character meet another young black man, around his own age, with his arm draped around a middle aged white woman. All the crowd are intrigued to know if Chris sees being African American as either an advantage of a disadvantage and unable to answer such a provocative question in these surroundings, he turns to his fellow African American for an answer; as the young man appears to answer in a hypnotised/comatised/unusual manner, Chris takes a photo of him and the flash does something to him….suddenly his demeanor changes and he races towards the man, telling him to ‘Get Out’ It is a shocking scene and in hindsight, will appear more as a warning than an attack but it is quickly brushed off as a traumatic reaction to the flash. This young man later comes in and apologises, back in his semi-comatosed state. I guess Hal points this out as a MidPoint/Turning Point, which I can accept, as it is quite shocking and intriguing, lending more weight to the oddness of his situation and environment, yet rather than twisting the story in a new direction, it adds intrigue

(As i haven’t seen the film, the first turning point where he is in limbo, may have been easily explained away to Chris as him fainting, so this second MidPoint is now a warning to ‘Get Out’ – the creepiness of the place is beginning to close in on him…and it is therefore effective for it reeks of danger and otherlyness that is waiting for Chris.

The Third scene /third turning point has another big reveal and twist.

It is now very clear that he is in danger as members of the family approach him and will not allow him to leave the house. All the doors are locked and his only hope if for his girlfriend to find the front door keys. The brother takes a swipe, now putting him in real physical danger. It is the move he most feared, his suspicions were correct – they are after him, but to add extra spice to the sauce, the girlfriend who has been searching frantically in her bag for the keys to the front door, suddenly finds them and dangles them before her, telling Chris that of course, she cannot give him the keys.

They are all in it together, everything he believed is a lie, the one person he trusted is part of this horror show and just as things couldn’t get any worse, they do…. he is again trapped in this sub-conscious limbo with no way of getting out.

It is a great turning point because we the audience cannot see how he is gong to escape this one (I’ll have to watch the movie now).

Very effective turning points in keeping the audience engaged while introducing new levels of suspense and intrigue, forcing the main character to move forward as there is now no way back, that world is no longer an option and this new world must be battled/won/conquered before the character can be truly free.