Day 4 Assignments

[Dalisia Coppersmith]

SUBJECT: The Hook

I’m not sure I’m posting in the right place. The forums are by Day but the assignments are in sequential numbers. Also not sure what I’m supposed to post, because at the end it says to keep this to ourselves. So I’ll just answer the two questions:

A. How did this process work for you?

I really enjoyed this method of brainstorming for a strong hook/high concept. When I looked at the elements, I realized the basic story I want to tell was pretty bland without adding more complexity and unique aspects. Very helpful!

B. What did you learn doing this
assignment? That even when you think you have a high concept / strong hook, it’s probably not all that unique. So we have to MAKE IT UNIQUE by mining for those extra details.

[Larry Maenpaa]

I agree with you, Dalisia. It is sometimes confusing as the sequencing between “Day _ Assignment” headings and “Lesson __” do not always align. I would be easier to simply head the postings as “Lesson #___ Assignment.”

[Michele Le Blanc]

What I learned in this assignment is to look at each character from the inside out to create more appealing, complex characters.

But the subtext issue needs much more clarification (if anyone from Screenwriting U is reading these).

The instructions are not clear as to whether we are supposed to actually post the work we are doing or not. I’m seeing mostly not.

[Andre]

1. Andre’s Character Depth

What I learned doing this assignment is more than any other type of movie, a contained movie needs character depth.

Hidden from the audience, early on, from the writer.

Depth- What’s beneath the surface that makes this character so much more interesting and creates unique experiences for the audience?

[Dalisia Coppersmith]

Posting again because I don’t know whether to put calendar Day 4 stuff here or Assignment 4. Here’s my assignment 4.

Dalisia’s Character Depth!

What I learned from this assignment was that each of the prompts you provided can bring in depth and conflict in organic ways. In a family story, their wounds intersect with other characters and the subtext can be intertwined in ways that other stories can’t quite reach. The either/or dilemmas exist for everyone—we just have to find them. I especially appreciated the character to character analysis, because I discovered three additional conspiracies to include!

With each character, create a simple profile:

Mom: Wants to stop the wedding but needs to find her new, post-spy-life identity. Wound is that she never had a mother and had no idea how to be one. She must either stop the wedding/stop the assassin, or sink into domestic nothingness (worse than death).

Dad: Wants to bake in peace but needs to continue protecting his family. Secret is that he was the catalyst behind his wife being pushed into retirement…AND he hired the Fiancé to guard his daughter. Agenda is to help the Fiancé evade his wife!

Daughter: Wants to get married to avoid assignment to Siberia but needs to feel loved by her mom. Secret is that she’s a spy—not a grad student…and her Fiancé doesn’t even know!

Fiancé: Wants to get married without being killed by Dad, but needs to feel a lot cooler than he actually thinks he is. Secret is that Dad hired him to guard Daughter. Dilemma is either get away with the surprise wedding or be exposed as a con man to his fiancée.

Brother: Wants to keep confidences and write his novel, but needs to feel respected by his dad. Wound is that he always felt “less than” Daddy’s little girl. Secret is that he’s known about the family business (spying) all along. Secret identity is the puppet master.

Assassin: Wants to kill the whole family, but needs to forgive Mom for breaking his heart and taking down his company (wound). Secret is that has located Mom and plans to kill her—then has to follow them to the surprise wedding venue. Secret identity is maybe the wedding officiant?

[Behee Batjargal]

Character Depth

What I learned from doing this assignment is the given tools helps not only with character depth but also helps me to come up with other parts of the story like a potential ending.

[Larry Maenpaa]

What I learned doing this assignment is that by using the 11 different ways to look for depth it helped to define the characters more fully, add dimension and motivations for what they were about to engage in. It pushed me to look at background more which would provide the conflict points between the two characters.

1. Character Profile: Henry Magos

Henry is a somewhat “bent” inventor and foremost authority on automated cars, which, he believes, will be the basis for a green economy.

Motivations

– wants to hold those he feels are ruining the planet and hold them accountable

– seeks revenge for the man who destroyed his mother’s life

Secret

– has adopted a persona of a “green avenger;” he takes action as a “crusader” against those who are adversely affect the environment

– he is the bastard child of oil baron Bentley Monroe II

Wound

– when Henry’s mother rejected the love advances of Bentley Monroe II, Bentley set out to destroy her credibility, thus her career; Henry saw his mother descend into alcoholism and eventual suicide

Subtext

– the methods of Henry’s “crusade” are illegal and he does not want his identity discovered.

Layers

– Henry and Bentley Monroe II have a shared past through Henry’s mother; Bentley Monroe II was wounded by the rejection and Henry by the suicide of his mother

– Bentley Monroe II had disbanded a company that Henry had worked for just as Henry was developing a key breakthrough; Henry was out of work and the project money stopped so he could not continue his work

– each is at odds with the other: Bentley Monroe II wants to forestall electric auto development so as he can continue to rake profits while Henry wants to eliminate obstacles to saving the planet

2. Character Profile:

Motivations

– Want: continue to build a empire

– Need: live up to his father’s unrealistic expectations of how the father defined a “successful businessman”

– he is a “collector” of things, businesses, money, people

– power hungry

Secrets

– has had shady dealings via government contracts

– coverup of a serious oil spill

– has had a series of affairs

– manipulated company info to enhance stock values of his companies

Wound

– after being rejected by Henry’s mother, his first and only true love he became misogenistic

– father never satisfied with Bentley Monroe II’s efforts to build an empire; Bentley kept trying to live up to unrealistic expectations and could not reconcile his perceived shortcomings

Subtext

– Bentley Monroe II is fearful that his secrets will come out and he will be ruined

Layers

– fearful of failure

– fearful green economy will ruin him

– fearful his past will come out

[Connie Hood]

I’m working with a true story, but it still needs much tighter dramatization of the people and their relationship to a special house. The exercise clarified the relationships between the three main characters – a woman, a child, and two husbands- and their role in saving a massive 1909 home. It’s not all about the career driven/goal oriented mother. The two men must be tightly woven into her narrative.

[Connie Hood]

The exercise clarified the relationships between the three main characters – a woman, a child, and two husbands- and their role in saving a massive 1909 home. It’s not all about the career driven/goal oriented mother. The two men must be tightly woven into her narrative. I’m working with a true story, but it still needs much tighter dramatization of the people and their relationship to a special house.

[Mary Spiers]

Mary’s Character Depth!

What I learned doing this assignment…It’s very helpful to flesh out the characters at the beginning. I can see how this will help my writing of scenes and escalate the conflict as the story goes along.

1. With each of your characters, go through all of these questions to see which might fit for your story.

Rachel

Internal Character Depth

Motivation: Want: to be successful in the way her mother wasn’t Need: to trust people<div>

Secret: She steals perfume secrets/ she fakes a lot.

Wound: she doesn’t trust women because her grandmother who raised her was harsh

Subtext: she is hiding her own feelings of inadequacy and duplicity. She may overcompensate, control, avoid, project by not trusting others.

Layers: As the movie progresses we discover Rachel operates from a façade and is trying to cover for this.

Ashley:

Internal Character Depth

Motivation: Want: to find safety and comfort/ control in a country life</div><div>

Need: to be appreciated/loved by someone she cares about.

Secret: she wants a friend, someone who accepts her.

Wound: was rejected by the “popular” crowd, never felt she fit in.

Subtext: being sarcastic, blunt and foul-mouthed keeps people at a distanceAlso, she is suspicious of “superficial city people”.

Layers: She starts by being glad someone is there, then sarcastic, etc, as a way to push away. Finally admits her lonliness.

Character to character

Conflict: The conflicts that will emerge:</div>

Trust and suspicion as more comes out that Rachel is hiding things

Being “real”

Control over who is right about science vs. intuition re the way to heal Rachel’s problem.

Higher education vs. common sense.

City vs. country life

Hidden Agenda: While hiding out Rachel looks for an angle to profit from “natural products” that Ashley makes.

Conspiracy: Rachel has someone who is covering for her at work.

Intrigue: Since Rachel has stolen secrets from others, some in the corporate world are out to get her.

[Erin Ziccarelli]

Lesson 4: Erin Ziccarelli’s Character Depth!

What I learned from doing this assignment is: the breakdown of internal character depth, character-to-character depth, and character situation. All three must conflict with each other to create a compelling story.

Character: Claire is a lighthouse keeper who must guide a ship through rocky seas.

Internal Character Depth

Motivation:

Want: to leave
(external goal)
Need: stay and be
successful at the job (internal unfulfilled drive)

Secret: Claire was responsible for
the shipwreck that killed her husband and lost her the gold that was going
to help them.
Wound: Every opportunity she had to
leave and passed up since her husband’s death. She grew up in an exciting
life and is bored/trapped.
Subtext: Claire hides her husband’s
death by talking about all the great things they were going to do.
Layers:

Financial
problems/need for money to update and keep the lighthouse
Claire’s
beginning and end conversation with the Coast Guard officer (about the
ship) and mention of the bank robbery
Gabe’s arrival
and mysteriousness, pushing Claire to reveal her husband’s death, his
cause of death, her involvement in his death, and work through her grief
Claire’s
communication with the Captain, helping her to become less afraid
What you see v.
what it is – the imagined aspects of the story

Character to character

Conflict: Claire v. Ship Captain
(her inadequacies), Claire v. Gabe/her husband (Claire’s reveals and
guilt), Claire v. Banker (financial problems)
Hidden Agenda: Claire wanting to get
out and ready to leave
Conspiracy: between Claire and the
Coast Guard officer helping her to leave on that ship (the thing that
Claire has been wanting all this time)
Intrigue: Gabe helping Claire – why?
He’s the spirit of her husband.

Character Situation

Dilemma:

Turning in Gabe
(punishing the bank robber) v. letting him stay (helping her guide the
ship)
Leaving the
lighthouse (getting to finally live) v. staying with the lighthouse (no
one else will do this job – they’ll have to shut it down)
Guiding the ship
(she feels like she’ll cause a shipwreck) v. not guiding the ship (the
ship will most certainly go down, at least she won’t be responsible)
Facing her grief
(painful) v. not facing her grief (leaves her as an island)

Secret Identity: Claire as a
competent lighthouse keeper v. Claire as an incompetent, out of control,
scared, and grieving excuse of a lighthouse keeper