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Day 4 Assignment
Reply to post your assignment.
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13 Replies
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Emmanuel’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment is the villain must have a compelling storyline otherwise there is no conflict.
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<b align=”center”>David’s Villain’s Tracks.
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”It can be intriguing to put oneself in the mind of a Villain. However, if the Villain is really evil, then one can become uneasy. It is more difficult to imagine how a Villain will act and their scenarios than for a Hero.
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?
· Preexisting plan. Get the Aliens to leave by whatever means necessary even if many people are killed.
· Ruth – Villain 1. To use her followers in the Cult to create so much chaos that the aliens, actually benevolent to mankind, will leave Earth.
· Benedict – Villain 2. A wealthy scientist who is developing a mind-control device, like the one the Aliens use, to destroy the Aliens.
· Saul, the Hero, has a personal vendetta against the Cult and is following orders from the Agency to destroy the Cult. He will interfere with the plans of both Villains.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
· The Villains have fanatic and paid assassins, Agency contacts and spies, standard weapons, robots, scientific weapons etc. They can attack Saul, his family or friends, trick him and block his activity through the Agency.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
· Secrecy and hidden agents. Guerilla warfare means the Villains choose their fights. Support of the public. Scientific discoveries. Money. Fanatic and paid followers.
· The Villains can choose the time and place of their attacks and bring enormous resources to them.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
· Ruth is captured by Saul and shot numerous times in the most painful spots and left to die.
· Benedict is subjected to his thought control device and left a pain-racked idiot.
PREPLAN – HERO INTERRUPTS.
VILLAINS: Ruth and Benedict HERO: Saul Miller
BACK STORY: Told briefly in flashbacks, conversations or reveals.
Ruth: Born into a Survivalist family in Idaho. Intense and unforgiving fringe religion. Molested by father and brothers. Twenty-five when Aliens came. Only survivor of her family. Sterilized. Became itinerant, charismatic preacher. Assembled the Cult from her followers. Selected the most fanatic and wealthiest. White-hot hatred of the Aliens. Wants to create as much chaos as possible, hoping to drive Aliens away. No conscience or morals.
Benedict: Born into wealthy scientific family. Indoctrinated with intellectual superiority. Educated in Anthropology, EE and Computational Linguistics. Resents being subordinate to the Aliens, although he envies their power. Believes he can rule the world, or at least the USA, once he gets rid of the Aliens.
FIRST ACTION: Ruth plants some of her Cultists in a peaceful demonstration in front of a school. She orders them to shoot the children. When they start killing children and teachers, Saul, one of the parents who happens to be an average FBI agent, is picking up his daughter. He kills some of the Cultists and drives the remaining ones away. He rescues several of the children, but Ruth, angry at the interference, kills his daughter and cripples him. Ruth is disguised, but has a disfigured hand.
RECOVERY: Saul is appointed to the Agency, tasked with protecting the aliens. Ruth is informed of his appointment by a spy in the Agency. Dismisses him as useless cripple. Saul works tirelessly with sensei to learn martial-arts that fit his injuries. He works with the Agency weapons-group to develop a weapons-cane. Saul is driven by hatred of the Cult. While Saul is recovering, he is investigating the Villains. A few facts about the Villains are revealed here.
FIRST VILLAIN MEETING. Saul goes to meet Benedict on a routine inquiry. He takes his tough assistant, Susan, with him. Was told Benedict is a source of information. Benedict fills in some facts about Aliens (for audience too). General information about how mind-control can be: selective, its limitations, transmission and effects, and Alien culture and goals (benevolent, but alien compared to human) etc. Benedict misleads Saul on some points and doesn’t tell him he is developing a mind-control device and battle-robots. He also points out an EMP device that he had developed, hoping it would destroy the Aliens’ ship, but if failed because it had a limited range.
WEAPONS: Ruth and Benedict have access to all conventional weapons. Ruth has fanatic followers and can hire professionals. Benedict has money and has developed robots that can be programmed to be fighting machines. Benedict is also developing a mind control device that is similar to the one used by the Aliens. He wants to use it against the Aliens, but it can be used against humans.
FIRST ENGAGEMENT: Ruth plans to plant a bomb in a shuttle that supplies the Alien ships. The Cultists assemble the bomb, set the timer and send it to the airport for loading. Saul is informed by an Agency source that some of the Cultists are meeting. He and Susan go to the site and fight with the Cult. They take one prisoner and force him to talk. They use a fake video of an Alien eating a live person and threaten him with being lunch.
SECOND ENGAGEMENT: Saul and Susan go to the airport. The Cult knows they are coming and set up an ambush. When Saul finds the bomb, they are pinned down by close and sniper fire. Saul and Susan fight their way out and delay the bomb loading. One last Cult member has them in his sights, but he is next to the bomb when it explodes.
CHANGE OF PLAN: Ruth considers Saul to be a danger now. She orders a directed attack against him. She uses a contact at the Agency to lure him into a trap. He suspects the contact and has taken precautions. The attack results in a major car chase with Cultists throwing car after car and assassin after assassin against him.
CHANGE OF PLAN 2: Ruth decides to go after Saul’s family. Ruth captures his wife. Saul gives himself up in exchange. He is placed in a cell. His weapon-cane has a laser he uses to cut his way out. He uses the laser, mini-gun and knife blade in the cane and his karate-skills to break out.
END VILLAIN RUTH: While a prisoner, Saul overheard Ruth planning a major meeting of her chief henchmen. Saul assembles a small team of trusted colleagues and goes after them with machine guns, rocket launchers, RPGs, etc. They destroy the group. Saul stops Ruth from escaping. She laughs at him, saying she will be released, because everyone hates the Aliens. Saul shoots her in her kneecaps, stomach and blows her jaw away. He then closes and locks the door. As his group come up to him, he tells them that the area is clear.
MISTAKE: Saul goes back to headquarters. Tells his traitorous boss that he killed the head of the Alien enemies. The boss thinks he killed Benedict, who was running him. He blurts out enough for Saul to realize that there is another Villain. Saul makes his boss talk by burning off his foot with the laser.
LAST ACTION: Saul returns to Benedict’s factory at night. Brings Susan. After they enter, they are attacked by hitmen. They kill them all, preferably in Wick style. Just as they think they are in the clear, the robots that have been doing simple chores are reprogrammed to be fighters by Benedict. They attack. Susan draws them off and Saul goes after Benedict. He finds him in his laboratory beginning to activate his mind-control device. If it doesn’t work, it may kill humans or anger the Aliens enough that they will destroy most humans. Even if it does work, will the consequences be worse than before? Benedict is protected by a dozen robots. Saul is out of ammunition, exhausted and his cane is discharged.
END VILLAIN BENEDICT: Saul is helpless as Benedict gives the order to kill and the robots advance. Just then, Susan about to be killed by robots too, pulls the switch on the EMP device and the robots collapse. Saul drags Benedict to the mind-control device, pins him in place and turns on the machine. Benedict shrieks, writhes and becomes a pain-racked, babbling idiot.
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Omor Net’s Villain Track
What I learned doing this assignment is the Villain’s mission is as important as the Hero’s mission — and I need to further develop my Villain’s mission track. But here’s a start.
RETALIATE: When his gang of thieves start turning up dead with their hands cut off, Omor Net suspects a rival Moroccan dipper gang is behind it. He sends out his assassins to retaliate.
MISTAKE: One of Omor’s thieves escapes the attempt to kill her. She identifies the would-be killers not as Moroccans, but as our heroes — the American couple. Omor orders his gang to find and torture the two.
AMMENDS: Omor tries to make amends with the Moroccan gang leader by offering him Romanian girls. The Moroccans accept, and add their assassins to the hunt for the couple because Omor lies and convinces them the couple is posing as Moroccans.
BLACKMAIL: Omor has footage of cops with his underage girls at one of his brothels in Amsterdam. He blackmails them to help find where the American couple is staying. They provide surveillance footage.
ACROSS BORDERS: When our couple narrowly escapes Amstedam, Omor tracks them to their Danube River cruise, which will be passing right along the Romanian border. He flies to Bucharest and enlists the well organized and heavily armed assassins from the international cartel’s headquarters.
POSING: Omor and his squad of killers pose as Romanian police to board the boat. The plan is to pretend to be arrest the couple so they can take them back to Bucharest and torture them mercilessly.
FITTING ENDING: Our couple recognizes Omor and realizes the fake police are gang members looking for them. Through a day of cat-and-mouse on the cruise ship, they kill and cut of the hands of a number of the gang members. They dress as chef’s (her occupation back home) and present the hands to Omor for dinner. Omor runs scared, they push him off the back of the ship, and he gets ground to bits by the propellers.
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Janeen’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment is that I still don’t have a really clear vision of my villains. I’ll definitely be updating this as more details come into focus.
Villain Track Questions
Villain’s Plan —
Pre-existing: Foreign agents think they have turned a Secret Service agent who covers the President’s parents. The plan is to kidnap the parents and force the president to transfer a huge ransom into numbered accounts and release members of their network that are being held by the CIA. The SS agent has a counter-plan to use the President’s parents’ doubles as decoys and let them get kidnapped, with trackers installed in their clothing and personal items so they can be traced and rescued when the top members of the network are identified and captured.
Ways the Villain can attack or destroy the hero:
Beat the hero up in the mall, but get outsmarted by the mall cop, planting a tracker on the hero.
Suspect the double agent was in on the rescue and shoot her.
Follow close enough so that they can see when he trades cars — if he kidnaps the President’s parents, it’s safer than if they do it, so it’s a Win-Win for them – or so they think.
Track the hero via the tracker they put on his clothes after he makes the parents change clothes and leaves them in the old car.
Recognize they are being followed as they drive across country following the parents. It’s the “turned agent” they thought they killed.
They notify their bosses.
Bosses send assassins to clean things up, killing the bungling agents and not recognizing that they are being followed by the unturned agent.3. What advantage does the villain have and how can they exploit that? The Villain has trackers more insiders besides the SS person. Those people are feeding him info on where the couple have gone. Intel.
4. Fitting End: The mastermind is caught/killed when he comes to “verify for himself” that the parents are the real deal and prove to the president that he has them.
Villain’s Track
PLAN: To use inside double agents to kidnap the President’s parents and force the President to transfer a huge ransom and release members of a terrorist network before killing them and escaping.
MISTAKE: The parents’ SS agent only posed as a double agent — still working for US.
ATTACK: The snatching of the parents at the mall goes wrong when the mall Santa (hero) intervenes to escape with the parents. The SS agent, their inside woman, is killed.
PLAN: Track the mall Santa to track the parents.
DEMAND: They tell the President they have his parents anyway, thinking they will be easy to catch with all of the trackers, and the President says he won’t deal until they are all on camera together.
CHASE: The mall Santa changes cars and makes the parents change everything they are wearing and carrying to avoid trackers but the villain is only one step behind, finding out what they’ve done.
SETBACK: The villain’s car is derailed at a rest stop by an unknown person (the SS agent who is tracking them to track the parents)
A BREAK: The boss sends in assassins to clean things up and gets intel that the SS agent is alive and on the trail of the parents so they track her with help from their government insiders.
CAPTURE: They follow the SS agent when she leaves her car to follow the parents, and they capture all 4 of them in the house.
DEMAND: They call the President who tells them that they have the doubles. They decide to kill the four.
DEFEAT: The SS agent and Santa, with the parents’ help, defeat the terrorist assassins.
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Action Assignment 4 – Create Your Villain Track
Ira Drower’s Villain Track:
What I learned doing this assignment was how to brainstorm a plan of attack from my villain. If my villain is truly a master of his/her plan they should be capable of changing the attack sequences when things don’t go as planned. I recall the plan by Barzini as he attacked Don Corleone in The Godfather. He set things up in advance but was finally taken out by another master at planning an attack – Michael Corleone.
A. What might the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?
Captain Miller planned the initial attack on the secret Alien prison believing it was abandoned. He has used war and his overseas missions over the years to rob and plunder banks, museums, and antique dealers for personal gain. Returning to the states he brought in ten commandos to gain entrance to the closed military site. These men are experts at killing and are heavily armed.
B. How many ways can the Villain, Captain Miller, destroy the hero, Frank?
Captain Miller has access to munitions, military grade weapons such as bazookas as well as his contacts in the underworld who have fenced his previous thefts. He also has the sitting Senator of the state at his disposal. He uses a local cattle rancher to stir up trouble for Frank as well.
C. What advantage does the villain have and how can they exploit this in the movie?
The villain is on a military sponsored mission to determine radiation levels and toxicity of the area surrounding the closed base. The military brass and Captain Miller are unaware of the activity at the Alien prison. Captain Miller can call on the police, both military and local if need be as well as his superiors and other agencies to put pressure on Frank.
D. What would be a fitting end for this villain where they pay for what they have done?
Have an alien devour him or blow him up along with the facility. I opted for something else. (Ensures a Movie Sequel)
Retribution: Captain Miller kills two treasure hunters who stole his documents showing gold shipment to Area 54 (Former military site now housing Alien prisoner)
Siege: Captain Miller sends in his team of commandos to locate and secure gold. They run into Frank and his wolf pack who take them out. Miller drives off in the van he uses to observe and direct the commandos.
Dilemma: Captain Miller must find another way into the site. He first secures cattle rights for Rancher Dan on land next to Area 54 by using his contact with the state Senator.
Plan: Captain Miller convinces his superiors to conduct toxicity and radiation level testing at Area 54 since cattle are now grazing nearby and may enter the nations’ food chain. He volunteers himself.
Decision: Captain Miller shows up and demands Frank’s boss have Frank take him to Area 54. Frank shows him the site but not the hidden prison.
Regroup/Plan: Captain Miller dumps the mutilated bodies of the treasure hunters inside Area 54. Police are called into investigate. Miller puts the full court press on Frank.
Twist: The Professor, who maintains the prison from inside conducts an unauthorized teleportation experiment borrowing a cow from Rancher Dan’s herd which unleashes an Alien and setting off tremors felt by the town nearby.
Controlling Authorities: Miller calls in U.S. Geological Society who he can manipulate to gain more access. The wolf pack keeps them at bay. He uses the missing cow as an excuse to have them culled.
Revised Plan: Miller contacts his mob connections to bring in some muscle to deal with Frank.
Capture: The mob boss discovers Frank’s new girlfriend is his old flame who stole from him. Miller, the mobster and Rancher Dan kidnap Anna, Frank’s girl and force her to take them to the wolves’ cave where Miller is convinced that is where the gold is hidden.
Another twist: A horde of Alien hunters, MUFON agents, angry town folk, etc. descend on Area 54 to tear the place up.
Battle for Area 54: Frank stampedes the cattle driving the citizens away. He and his wolf pack confront the kidnappers as Frank’s boss activates a self-destruct of the site to prevent anyone discovering the Alien prison.
Fitting Ending: As Area 54 is collapsing, the Professor conducts another teleportation sending the Alien prisoners to a new site. Frank fights with the mobster and his henchmen. The wolves back the mob boss, Rancher Dan, and Miller into the teleporter area where they are transported to Siberia.
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Something that occurred to me after posting. Once Ruth is killed, there is no personal reason for Saul to continue his vendetta. Will he go after Benedict for political, ethical, social or humanitarian reasons? Was there an epiphany that made him change his motivation?
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Mary’s Villain Track
What I learned doing this assignment – I have been putting more effort into fleshing out the hero and his motivations and beats of the story. It’s helping to delve into the Villain’s process.
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot. <div>
Pre-planned – Kidnap Sam and sell him south into slavery
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?PunishStarve himBeat himThreaten verballyTie him/ lock him upHumiliateNo medical aid when neededKill his friend Joe
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?Has all the weaponsHas a gang/networkKnows boats and the territoryFew would challenge a white man in pre civil war south.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Kidnapping gang Livlihood taken away, money gone, relationships shattered, captured and imprisoned or killed. The gang goes after the villain for not delivering.
2. Include labels with each step of their plan.
Develop your own set of labels, but make sure you clearly show decisions, plans, and actions your Villain takes.
•LURE KIDNAPPING VICTIM/CAPTURE – lure Sam onto boat with promise of work and tie him up in hold. Get other boys with same techniques
•PLAN: Sail to Gang hideout in Maryland to pick up additional crew and larger ocean going boat to sail to New Orleans port. Gives his standard THREAT if anyone tries to escape speech.
•REACT to ESCAPE attempt with higher THREATS and beating. Sam makes an attempt to escape and Eb realizes he needs to treat him more harshly. Uses food as weapon.
•PLAN: “Indoctrinate” the boys into their “slave story” so they don’t arouse suspicion.
•PLAN: Sail South, stopping only at “gang friendly” ports.
•REACT to Sam’s undermining of slave story when tries to sell him.
•HUNT for Sam when he escapes into southern Choctaw territory (threatens Indians?) and PUNISHES other boys, especially Joe.
•DECISION: Sell troublemaking Sam and boys as soon as they can.
•RETALIATION: Eb beats Joe, Sam’s friend, and lets him die.
•FITTING ENDING: When Sam hints to potential slave buyer that he’s freeborn, Eb’s authority to sell these kids is questioned and the kidnapping scheme unravels. He loses all the kidnapped boys, his money and is pursued by the authorities and his gang
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Kathy’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment is I can create ruthless villains.
Logline: As a dangerous hurricane tracks northward toward NYC, a rookie detective uncovers a smuggling ring with ties to important members of NYC society.
What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? There are 3 villains; the terrorists, the hurricane, and the mayor.
Pakistani terrorists have a pre-existing plan to sell stolen antiques to finance a terrorist bombing of the UN building.
There is another villain and the ticking clock: The hurricane tracks northward from the Caribbean as the story progresses, increasing in force as the story action increases. Reporters hound the mayor for ignoring the hurricane. It will hit the city and the city is not prepared.
The mayor of NYC is a hidden villain. At an auction, the mayor meets the director of Christies. He tells her that they should speak in private. After shutting the door to a conference room, he grabs her ass and kisses her. She slaps him. He says, you’ll regret that, as she hurries out. The next day, the mayor tells his aide to research her finances. A week later, he puts a report on the mayor’s desk. There are suspicious deposits in her bank account from an art gallery. She has been taking bribes and using the money to pay her mother’s nursing home bills. The mayor tells her that he wants part of the money. She unhappily agrees.
Ruthless art thieves from Pakistan have a secret operation stealing antiques and selling them at Christie’s auctions. They don’t tell the director of Christie’s that they are using the money to buy weapons for an attack on the UN building. She takes money as a finder’s fee and will lie to Danny to keep her secret.
What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie? They continue their plan as if nothing is wrong. They know the director will keep silent because she needs the money. They have another heist is in motion: Cargo workers at LGA steal a painting from a secure cargo area and take it to a warehouse. After the thieves realize that Danny knows about their plan, they kidnap his wife, forcing a confrontation.
What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Death
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Erin’s Villain Track!
What I learned doing this assignment is: It’s very helpful to think about the movie from the villain’s POV and how they are trying to achieve their goal, as if they were the protag. Also, I don’t have a clear picture of what the actual action set pieces will be and I need to do a lot more brainstorming.
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?
– The Villain’s plan is created after the Hero escapes prison. The Villain is a respected FBI agent who will use all their resources at their disposal, legal and illegal
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
– Hunt them down with FBI resources using legal channels; skirt correct protocols and break the rules to get the Hero; contact a group of domestic terrorists the Villain has been working with to get them to do illegal things the Villain can’t do; go rogue and try to get the Hero 1-on-1
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
– They are a respected FBI agent in a position of authority so they have all the FBI resources at their disposal, they have the backing of the public and the media in this very publicized manhunt, they have the help of a domestic terrorist organization they’ve been secretly working with, and the people in this organization are bound by no rules
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
– Not sure yet whether it’s better for them to be caught and exposed and put in prison for life or to die; maybe the first
2. Include labels with each step of their plan.
DISCOVERY: The corrupt FBI agent finds out her ex-SEAL brother has escaped prison and knows she has to make sure he’s captured
BEGGING: She makes a case to her higher-ups to have her on the team that’s hunting him down, even though they say it would be a conflict of interest; she says she’d have an edge since she knows him and she wants to see him captured. At first she’s denied but then someone even higher up than her superior intervenes and gives the okay.
HUNTING: She and the rest of the team take orders to go about the manhunt in the correct way, using all the resources they have and the correct protocols to track down a man who’s escaped prison. At least once, and maybe twice, they come very close to capturing him but he outwits them at the last moment and escapes.
PESUASION: She has a talk with her brother and tries to convince him to give himself up. She thinks she’s getting somewhere but then he stuns her with the information that he knows about her illegal activities and he’s going to expose her once he gathers the evidence.
CHANGE OF PLAN: Now she’s not intent on capturing him, but making sure he dies as quickly as possible.
THE ACCIDENT: When things are progressing fast enough for her, she gets desperate and sees an opportunity when an accident leaves her superior, the one calling the shots, on the brink of death. Instead of saving him, she lets him die. Then has the higher up who had intervened for her earlier put her in charge of this task force, giving her the power to call the shots.
SKIRTING THE RULES: From here, she has some people on her team do things that are iffy. She gets some push back and is harsh with those that defy her. Others are happy to carry out her orders, since the end justifies the means, and it’s clear her brother is a terrible man and needs to be caught ASAP, even if that means doing something illicit.
ENLISTING HELP: She also gets the domestic terrorist organization she’s been working with secretly to help out, feeding them information so they can go in and kill him.
CONFRONTATION: The two finally meet face to face and it seems like she’s got all the cards but in the end she’s captured.
FITTING ENDING: She ends up in jail and he’s now free.
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Mark Dotz
What I learned doing this assignment is: A Villain is a complex character and not just an archetypal character. Yes, they are bad, but why? And I really liked writing the “tracks”. That helped me really brainstorm and boil down the villains steps.
Hero- Damian, the squire, AKA the boy
Hero- Isabella, the secret background chamber maid
Villain – Sir Archibald, self proclaimed greatest Knight ever
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ASSIGNMENT:
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero?
Hunt down and kill the Hero Damian after he has escaped from the dungeon.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?- Sending all of his men after Damian doesn’t work, he has to draw him out so he burns a local village down destroying civilians homes. Then he attacks the kings castle and directly goes to kill the king.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie? – The Villain has an army at his disposal and is enslaving more soldiers.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? – He is killed by the king and then finished off by Damian, the Hero who has foiled his plan.
Villain Track – Version 2 Plan, before Damian and Isabella discovered Archibalds plan, Archibald would have killed the king and ruled the kingdom.
Deception – The Villain, Sir Archibald, has played the long game. He is friends with the king and training his illegitimate son, a squire. But Archibald wants the kingdom to his own and with no true Heirs to the kingdom (illegitimate sons need not apply), Archibald can take the crown for himself.
<b class=””>A simple plan just got easier or did it? – Archibald sends his men out into the kingdom to read a decree that Archibald will be the new king and will be taking over the kingdom by nightfall. By way of the sword Archibald’s men order obedience or death as they go from village to village and they kill any opposition. Archibald claims – “A trail of blood will fix most of the kingdoms problems.” In the distance the scullery maid, Isabella, hears that Archibald decided to kill the king and the boy. Damian, he has locked up in a dungeon. So she gets the horses to destroy the dungeon and break Damian free from the dungeon.
To crush a bug – Archibald wants to use the Kings Young son, Damian, as a hostage and use him to take the kingdom for his own. Only Archibald has underestimated the young squire. When Archibald goes down to the dungeon to kill Damian he discovers he is gone and is enraged with anger. Archibald says “I was trying to do it the nice way. The nice way isn’t working. We will Kill the child and kill the king.” Having escaped the dungeon and swimming a dangerous moat, Damian and Isabella head into the forest. Where Isabella has stashed a few weapons of her own, an old sword and a bow and arrow. Damian is unaware of Isabella’s role and why she broke him out. Archibald commands his troops to focus on finding and killing Damian, which includes doing controlled burns trying to draw Damian out. It works. Damian is drawn out because of a village fire. Him and Isabella struggle to save the lives of the villagers and their children. Damian is cornered and he attacks the pursuers and outwits and out-battles them with the help of Isabella who also shows signs of being highly skilled in combat. Damian says “Pretty good for a scullery maid. I never thought someone who cleans chamber pots could swing a sword like that. “ as they stand over the dead bodies, Isabella responds “I’m glad he’s gone. His chamber pot was particularly nasty.”
The next morning after a romantic encounter, Damian and Isabella are attacked. They fight off a dozen men.
Stop the King from fighting back – Archibald will now head to the kings castle and he will decimate the castle and kill the king. He approaches with a powerful arsenal of catapults, soldiers and archers during the dark of knight. Isabella disguises as one of the men and disables their fire catapults, while Damian distracts them and warns the king with fireworks. The broken fireball equipped catapults are launched and fall apart causing Archibald’s men great losses. In anger, Archibald picks up his sword and leads a group that pull down the castle’s draw bridge while Isabella and Damian Catapult themselves inside the castle walls. Now, Damian, Isabella and Archibald all are fighting the kings men in a race to get to the King’s door.
Corner the King – a fitting end for a villain – With Isabella and Damian knocking out guards on their way to the king they are unknowingly, clearing the way for Archibald, and leading him directly to the kings door. Archibald is quick to take him but the king is tough and fights Archibald until the death. As Archibald is dying, the King reveals that Isabella was a princess captured from a battle in China by his men and he grants her freedom. Assumed dead, Archibald leaps up with his last bit of murderous energy and Archibald attempts to kill Damian, but Damian gets the upper hand on Archibald and the King is able to place a last deadly blow towards Archibald, killing him. With his last breath the King screams out to his kingdom from the highest point in the castle and declares Archibald dead and Damian as his successor. Isabella looks around at all the death and destruction and asks “what do we do now.” Damian responds “Rebuild.”
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Renee’s Villain Track
What I learned doing this assignment is that creating the villain track is just as important as creating the hero’s track.
A. What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot.
The plan is created on the spot when the hero shows up at one of their “human” auctions.
B. How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero?
Sends a different “slave” to the room. Sends a 20 man hit team. Kidnaps the hero. Brings the corrupt police into the mix. Kills another “slave” that helps him. Hides the kid he’s trying to save. Engages him in a fight and tries to kill him.
C. What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie?
As the leader of an international human trafficking ring he has thousands of people at his disposal. He has bribed the local police, and the Thai government tends to turn a blind eye to the problem because they’ve been paid off/blackmailed into silence.
D. What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done?
The leader is killed, and the ring is disbanded.
2. Include labels with each step of their plan.
Villain: a head of an international human trafficking ring.
Hero: former special forces operative and retired FBI agent.
In the moment plan: The villain’s plan is conceived the moment the Hero shows up at one of their auction events. From that point on he takes action to protect his investments and eliminate the threat.
Suspicion: the villain recognizes the hero from somewhere, but can’t place him.
Switch: villain sends a different “product” to the hero’s motel room to see how the hero reacts.
Decision: realizes who the hero is and sends a group of men to kidnap him.
Plan: hides the “product” away in a secure location guarded by dozens of heavily armed men.
Capture: captures the hero and tortures him. The hero kills everyone and grabs the “product”
Retaliation: kills the woman who has been helping the hero.
Escape: flees the country in a high speed boat.
Fitting ending: dies at sea (not sure how yet.)
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Sung-Ju Suya Lee Hero’s Villain Track!
Lesson 4: Create Your Villain Track
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
I love the statement, “Great villains make great movies.” Villains are also action-oriented people. I love the idea of having a villain track. Never really thought of it like that before. Especially having two types of villain tracks – unplanned and planned. I like deep diving into the villain’s minds – their plan, decisions, and actions. I am still examining the Villains, which makes this more exciting to do/write. Just a bunch of thoughts, still not coherent, but getting there.
Concept:
When a group of old timers at a veteran’s retirement home win the mega lottery, they buy an old cruise ship to sail around the world with their extended families, but pirates attack their ship in South-East Asia and the veterans must face the last battle of their lives to save their families.
Heroes: Old time veterans
Villains: Pirates in South-East Asia (2 boat loads), 2 Pirate leaders, one for each boat
1. Ask the Villain Track questions to discover your Villain’s plan, decisions, and actions.
What might be the Villain’s plan to accomplish an evil outcome or to annihilate the hero? The plan could be pre-existing or created on the spot.
Siege/Attack: My story has a bit of both of the villain tracks – planned and unplanned. Pirates didn’t initially plan to attack the veterans’ cruise ship, although they are Pirates of the high sea. They have attacked other boats and ships before to get money, equipment, drugs, etc. They get a call from one of the crew members of the cruise ship as they are sailing into the Pirates’ area. They gather on 2 boats, but don’t really have a plan on how they will attack the cruise ship. They fumble onto an idea as being refugees and need help escaping, so the veterans will try to help them once they get the Pirates onboard.
Mistake: Pirates didn’t know that the cruise ship had Veterans onboard, who aren’t afraid. And, still have some military knowledge. Plus, Veterans and their families know the layout of the cruise ship, and all its idiosyncrasies/malfunctions.
Take Hostages: Pirates kidnap the grandchildren for ransom – from the Veteran’s mega lottery win.
Weapons: Pirates have guns, AR, rocket launchers (to sink the ship), radios, laptop, etc.
Controlling the Situation: Break the ship’s radio and disables the internet, so Veterans can’t call for help. Initially, I had the ship’s radio break down because the ship is old and falling apart. So, this is situation is new for me. Make the Pirates control the ship and their siege is under their control (although they don’t know about the ship’s layout or its malfunctions).
How many ways can the Villain attack or destroy the hero? A fire erupts on the ship. Or, Pirates cause the fire so a ticking clock now activates. Veterans want to save their families, so must give all their mega lottery winnings ASAP. Causes more chaos for both the Pirates and Veterans (and their families). Pirates blackmail one of the Veterans into giving up the money, so they can escape. There could be an explosion on the ship, which also make sit more imperative for the Pirates to get the money ASAP. They are not mechanics and don’t know how to fix the ship.
What advantage does the Villain have and how can they exploit that in this movie? They have the guns, laptop, radios, etc. They call for back-up. More Pirates come. They kill a Veteran’s family member (not a child) and a crew member.
Surprise/Capture/Dilemma/Retaliation: Veterans kidnap one of the Pirates’ leaders’ son as a retaliation, as a stand-off, maybe in trade for the Veterans’ own grandchildren. So, now the Pirate leader must choose his son, money, his own death by the other Pirate leader, etc. This causes a fracture within the Pirates organization. Two different teams of Pirates. Can they overcome this and work together to get the Pirate’s leader’s kidnapped son back? Pirates boats are sabotaged, and they don’t know how to release the tender boats on the cruise ship.
Meeting: Pirates gather many times to figure what to do next since this wasn’t what they were expecting, Veterans fighting back.
What would be a “fitting end” for this Villain where they pay for what they’ve done? Pirates are trapped inside the cruise ship as it sinks, partly due to the ship being old and partly due to them shooting the ship in various areas. They bang on the windows, doors, try to shoot their way out, but all drown. Veterans know the layout of the cruise ship including some finicky door locks, so they can escape.
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Linda’s Villain Track
What I learned doing this assignment is the villain must make a lot of moves in action movies to keep escalating the conflict.
Villain Track Questions:
A. Terrorist’s plan was hatched over a period of time while he was radicalized. Deadly conflict at the border is the first step in the plan.
B. Orders men to use children, women, and anything else they can to get across the border. Kidnaps Border Commissioner’s son. Rallies and sends thousands to break through the border. Paid hit on Commissioner. Going to kill his son.
C. Thousands of terrorists who have no morals. It’s his plan so he has the strategic advantage over it. He has been tracking the Commissioner and his son so he knows his moves, which is how he is able to easily kidnap his son. Kills a child to show Commissioner what he is going to do to his son.
D. Terrorists’ plan blown up and all taken down. Terrorist knifed by one of the children he abused and then killed by his own father who chooses his estranged son over him.
Clear Villain Plan:
1. First Action: Deadly conflict at the border.
2. Thwarted: Commissioner stops teams of terrorists he sends to cross the border to enact his plan.
3. Dilemma & Retaliation: Don’t want to enrage Commissioner, but need to control him.
4. Capture: His son.
5. Decision / Trap: Kill children to draw him out.
6. Plan / Movement: Move the son to another place.
7. Plan / Power: With Commissioner distracted, sends thousands to the border to overpower it.
8. Escape: Escapes attempts against his life.
9. Plan / Day of Reckoning: Orders the final implementation of his plan to kill millions of Americans in 50 cities.
10. Fitting Ending: Trapped into giving away details of the plan, which is used to thwart it. Terrorist type fight that takes out his inner circle. Child stabs him. Forced into an execution style killing like he does.
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