Day 3: Three turning points

[Vincent Ovalle]

I chosed Act 2 TP: Rose refuses to give Chris the keys.

This is a good example for the turing point because it’s exciting. They reduce the protagonist to his lowest point with circumstances and provacations: his dog sick ,physical conflict with the brother ,rose control issues he becomes very emotional.Until he start to experience a manic depression moment ,and physically longues at the bro and falls down hard. Mom aggravates the situation with a conditioned hypnotic cue. Literally sends him to the lowest point.Now he must learn the lesson from act 1 to complete the change in the character arc, and then test iwhat he learned in the big confrontation of the climax.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 11 months ago by  Vincent Ovalle.

[Justin Justin Sabestinas Sabestinas]

I have not seen either of these movies yet, and I want to watch Get Out all the way through before watching clips, so I’ll just share my insights on Bridesmaids. It was interesting watching a major turning point without any context other than a basic idea of what the movie is about.

The scene has three simple but major beats: 1. A surprise trip to Paris. 2. Annie’s blowup as a response to this surprise. 3. Lillian’s angered response to Annie’s blowup which culminates in her dis-inviting Annie to the wedding.

The point of no return is initiated by Annie’s over-the-top attempted destruction of the party cookie and chocolate fountain. She’s trying to burn a bridge with Lillian and possibly with all the other bridesmaids.

<font face=”inherit”>Even though this film is nothing like what I’m writing, here’s what I’m taking away from it: I have often thought of “turning points” and especially midpoint “point-of-no-return” beats as external and obstacle-driven. I still believe those most often should be, but this </font>scene<font face=”inherit”> is a great example of how a turning point can be internal and relational. Two characters’ feelings about each </font>other<font face=”inherit”> have reached an absolute breaking point, and the relationship cannot be the same moving forward without some major form of reconciliation. I’ll keep </font>chewing on this and see where it might apply to my script.

[Anis Taylor]

I watched each scene and looked deep into what made the scenes great. The key to what I was looking for was how to create a circumstance that would set our protagonist on a journey where there is no turning back.

In Get Out Act 1 TP – The Mom catches Chris walking in the house after smoking a cigaret. This action causes a natural reason for Chris to sit down in the couch to listen to his girlfriends Mom. In this scene the Mom, slowly hypnotizes Chris in front of his eyes, when he is thinking that Hypnosis works with a pocket watch. From there she sends him to a sunken place. When this turning point happens there is no going back physically because Chris body has fallen to a sunken place. It also is a turning point at the end of Act 1 because now Chris is aware that there is something strange going on.

[Renee Miller]

In Get Out, Jordan Peele did great with the turning points. Each of the three turning points increased the stakes for the protagonist and the uncertainty the protagonist felt about the situation.

In the first act’s turning point, Chris unknowingly gets pulled into the family’s ploy when Rose’s mother catches him coming in from smoking. He sits down with her, and she ultimately hypnotizes him without him realizing what is happening. This pulls the audience into the story because they wonder what is happening and how it will affect Chris and Rose.

The midpoint pulls Chris and the audience further into the story, and by now, Chris is starting to suspect that something is off with this family and their friends, but he can’t put his finger on it, creating more suspense for the audience.

The second act’s turning point is incredibly effective. Not only does it create anxiety for the audience, but it also reveals an important betrayal in showing Rose’s participation in her family’s plans. From this turning point forward, the movie is full of suspense and uncertainty about whether Chris will make it out alive. It does a great job of moving into the climax and resolution of the movie.

[Rice Rice]

After viewing the scenes, I discerned what made each great. The Act 1 TP in Get Out was the spell-binding and subtle hypnosis of Chris that caused him to confront his inner demon with no possibility of returning to his carefully crafted mental safe zone. The mid-point TP was powerful in that it was an intriguing projection of the moment Chris realized he had to conform to the norms of the community and become a shell of his former self or Get Out to retain his own identity. The Act 2 TP where his girlfriend refused to give him the keys communicated in a devastating way to Chris that he was alone and had to rely upon his own resources to complete his life-saving journey to Get out.

[Shannon Collier]

Bridesmaids – This scene is great because it’s so relatable. Who hasn’t wanted to flip out like this, but play it out in our head a million times instead. Except Annie actually does it. It’s so satisfying, mortifying, hilarious, and devastating. Comedy at its best – the audience revelling in a character’s horrible situation and choice of actions. Massive entertainment value in this scene. The turning point is practically right off the top of this scene. The setup from the previous scenes, and into this sickeningly sweet, over the top, perfectly extravagant party, allows the turning point to come in with a bang. Annie has been controlling her behaviour up to this point, but her insecurities combined with an overstep by Helen, cause Annie to tip over the edge from which there is no going back, and so she rides it all the way down. It’s so satisfying and painful to watch; and it’s clear this is the point where everything changes.

<font face=”inherit”>Scene Arc – Starts in with the perfect party and Helen giving Lillian the ultimate gift & punch in the gut to Annie; Annie reaches her breaking point and begins to pour out her feelings; she looks for allies, but left isolated, tries to convince the other party goers of her position through wilder and wilder actions and </font>accusations; the scene climaxes when Lillian confronts Annie; Lillian gives Annie an ultimatum, to which Annie storms off; the scene ending with Lillian breaking down in front of her guests, revealing a hint of Lillian’s bottled up feelings.

The dialogue in this scene is on point for someone who is letting go of all the negative thoughts she’s been holding in, there’s no control, no rational, it jumps between thoughts, no concern for consequences. Once Lillian jumps in, it’s a full blown argument – voices are elevated, feelings are intentionally being hurt, emotions are raw and revved up.

This scene is all about conflict. Annie vs. Helen, Annie vs. Party Goers, Annie vs. Lillian, Lillian vs. Helen, Annie vs. Party Goers, and ultimately Annie vs. Annie (her own insecurities around her less than stellar life).

This scene sets up the next part of the film, the upwards battle for our heroin, climbing out of the pit she’s dug, through self discovery and with the help of true friendship.

[Courtney Hill]

Get out TPs were suspenseful. In TP1, the tone of the movie lets you know that something is off with the mom. It starts off as a normal conversation until you realize that the main character is having a reaction to to Rose’s moms conversation. When I first watched the movie, I don’t think it was that obvious that he was being hypnotized, but I knew something wasn’t right.

TP2 with him accidentally triggering one of the victims. There is truly no going back in the scene. You can’t wipe that from your memory. It wasn’t a normal reaction, and I could’ve buy the excuse from the family.

TP3- what a twist! The movie was set-up to believe the girlfriend is on the main character’s side. The main character knew he had to go, the family is closing in on him, and his escape partner turned on him.

[Anna Burroughs-Merrill]

I chose the Bridesmaids clip.

Most of the misery in Annie’s life is her sabotaging herself with poor choices, but things go from bad to worse when she allows her insecurity about the wealthy, beautiful Helen upstaging her job as “Maid of Honor” and best friend of the bride to provoke her into a temper-tantrum. Her destruction of the cookie and dive into the chocolate fountain are absolutely hilarious because they are so typical of the “id” which resides in all of us (but which most of us learned to suppress once we were no longer toddlers). This results in her getting disinvited from Lillians wedding. Its the final nail in the coffin of an already-shitty life.

From here, she can only go up (we hope).

This turning point is very different from the Act 3 break my current WIP takes (which will rip the audience’s heart out as I kill a favorite character in a very sadistic and gratifying way), but the concept can be used at the other turning points in my script.

[Randy Hines]

In the first scene, the twist is the hypnosis. After a very warm greeting and discussion to butter him up, she engages a hypnotic tactic with the teacup and its rhythmic sounds. This in conjunction with a traumatic event in the protag’s past, sets the path to the sunken place, a point of no return – innocence, and sets the tone and stakes for the rest of the story.

The second scene relates to the flash photography which removes the black man from his thrall, his bloody nose perhaps the manifestation of his physical struggle to free himself. Our protag sees this struggle and begins to put the pieces together especially when, after the black guy “calms” down, he’s back to normal as if nothing happened.

The third scene it’s the keys that the girlfriend states she has in her possession but won’t share them for our protagonist to escape. Subsequently, the hypnotic catalyst of the teacup sends our protagonist into the sunken place for further experimentation. There’s no going back to his and Rose’s relationship after this betrayal.

I learned that a well-placed and setup twist can make the difference in an compelling a reader to continue reading your story. Mini-twists can be employed to do a similar thing in scenes throughout the narrative. This what creates a page turner.

[Susan Willard]

After watching three Turning Points of “GET OUT”:

My insights into what makes the scenes great:

1. Act 1 TP: Missy hypnotizes Chris:

The interaction between Missy and Chris is What makes this scene great. The audience is shown the interaction, not told. The fact that Missy is so subtle as she uses words, tones, attitude, and even her spoon hitting the cup to control the hypnosis is very powerful. Chris’s reactions are unexpected until the audience realizes the depth of what is happening. Great scene.

2. Midpoint: Logan freaks out — “Get Out”:

The actions and interactions of the two characters again make this scene great.

Logan is almost robotic in his movements. He is disjointed from reality. When he snaps back into reality because of the picture flash, he wants to warn Chris to “Get Out”. Chris now absolutely understands what is going on. He may not have all the pieces, but he now realizes how big the trouble is.

Once put back under control Logan is again robotic and controlled. Everyone is pleased with his apology. But Chris, now knowing the truth as seen through Logan’s transitions, is truly terrorized, and the audience sees it in his actions and facial expressions. Great job.

3. Act 2 TP: Rose refuses to give Chris the keys!:

The betrayal is drawn out with mounting danger, building great tension in this scene. The audience, and Chris, are led to believe that Rose is indeed fumbling through the bag looking for the keys. The scene could go either way. But as the other characters act more erratic, the possibility of getting out of danger thins.

Here Missy’s control through her words, and the spoon against the teacup are pivotal. You can almost see the shift in Chris, as he fights to hang on to reality. He finally is trapped with Rose says she can’t give him the keys, and he should already know this fact. He’s doomed. He again is trapped way

My insights into what makes the turning points work:

1. Act 1 TP: Missy hypnotizes Chris:

The turning point of Missy hypnotizing Chris works because when the scene ends Chris is no longer in reality. He is mentally locked into the deep, dark abyss of his empty mind waiting for Missy’s controlling commands.

We, and the audience, are on the edge of our seats waiting to see what is next. How will this affect Chris. What will Rose do? What will Missy do? We want to know.

2. Midpoint: Logan freaks out — “Get Out”:

The turning point of the Logan freaks out – “Get Out” scene is set up when Logan freaks out and yells “Get Out”. Logan shows up the drastic change created in his personality and reality by this action.

The turning point is realized at the end of the scene, the pay off for the setup, when Logan comes back to the entire group of people and apologizes for his seizure and yelling, brought on by Chris’ picture flash. We, just like the audience, realize that the picture flash brought Logan back to reality. But now Logan has been put into hypnotic compliance.

The actions and dialogue twists put Chris through the mental terrors of more complete realization of the situation he is in, as the audience experiences along with him.

3. Act 2 TP: Rose refuses to give Chris the keys!:

Rose’s betrayal of Chris is the punch that makes this turning point work.

Rose uses Chris’s trust in her to mislead him as the others can get him into their control, as they have done to others.

Rose is a part of his danger, not a trusted girlfriend. Once she says to Chris that she can’t give him the keys, final horror sets in, but it’s too late because he is again caught in the deep, dark, empty recesses of his mind, only to be controlled by Missy’s will.

[jay miracle]

The hypnotism scene works so brilliantly on so many levels – her clever manipulation and techniques – the figurative and literal descent of Chris into the hell of his “sunken place” – he is now trapped and lost in that deep space.

The intro scene to the whites and the token black on the surface quite simple, yet clearly there is a level of danger that Chris is about to experience when his lost brother loses it and tries to warn him. Chris is becoming further aware that everything is not right.

“Give me the keys” is such a scary moment – particularly when we realize that Rose is in on this as well. And Chris is immobilized by the audial triggers. He is back in his sunken place and there’s no escape. Every shot powerfully conveys his lost state.

This was particularly helpful for my midpoint in my script. I discovered an entirely new approach to visually represent how trapped and imprisoned my lead would be. He’s alone, surrounded by a series of barbed wire walls and several soldiers. It drastically helped enhance the midpoint.

[Zev Ledman]

ACT 1 Turning Point – We see Chris ambushed by Rose’s Mom as walks in from the outside after smoking. Chris is unsure why Rose’s mother wants to talk to him but at the same time wants to be cordial. Is it about his smoking? Is it about Rose? He’s aware that Rose’s mother does hypnosis, but he thinks it requires a specific device (like a clock swinging back and forth) in order to hypnotize anyone. So, he’s unaware that her calm voice and her continual stirring of the spoon are drawing him into a hypnotic state of mind. When he can’t move, she knows he’s in a hypnotic trance and has him wander into a deep abyss. From an audience standpoint, we’re aghast as to why is she doing this to Chris. For what purpose? And, why Chris? As an audience, we want to know these questions, but we know Chris will never be the same.

Act 2 Turning Point – Several of the guests engage Chris in a conversation regarding the fact that he’s black and how that has impacted his success. Chris is polite but will have none of it. Rather, he addresses the only other black man to get him to answer. That person is calm and composed. But, the more he talks, the more we realize that something is off. There’s no emotion and the older woman next to him seems to guide him. As Chris has now become suspicious of everyone around him (including the black man), he takes a picture of the man, not realizing that the flash is still on. The flash triggers a dramatic response from the calm, composed person as if taking him out of a trance, almost like he woke up to what was really going on. In desperation, he tries to warn Chris to leave. The man is then subdued and taken away. Many questions arise. Why was this person hypnotized? What purpose does he serve? In reality, is he a prisoner in his own mind? Later, we see the man docile and apologetic again. He seems to have reverted into his trance state with the help of others, especially Rose’s Mom. All this elevates Chris’ suspicions and distrust of everyone other than Rose, who seems to be oblivious to everything.

Act 3 Turning Point – Chris is desperate to leave. He keeps asking Rose for the keys, but she’s having difficulty finding them. Rose is the only person he can trust. A young man is by the door twirling a lacrosse stick in a threatening manner. An older gentleman approaches in the adjacent room and asks what his purpose in life was with a faint warning that everything eventually except the divine humans who are locked in their cocoons (human bodies). Young Man takes a swipe at Chris. With this bizarre chain of events, Chris realizes that things are getting stranger by the minute & he’s got to leave NOW! He yells at Rose to get the keys several times in desperation. Rose finally produces them but informs him that she can’t give them to him. Chris steps back coming to the realization that he’s on his own and can trust no one. When he charges the Young Man, Rose’s mother tapes her teacup, putting him back into a hypnotic trance. Why is Chris even there? Was he selected for an experiment? Is there any way out, or will he become a docile and compliant person like the only other Black Man?