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Day 5 Assignments
Post your Day 5 assignment here.
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12 Replies
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Frank Jordan’s Day 5 Assignment (The Three Gradients)
What I learned today is that the core, or heart, of the profound story is built upon three gradients or sets of journey’s (emotional, action, and challenge/weakness models). The Emotional gradient can be “forced change” or “desired change.” Could it be both? The Action gradient will drive the plot, and the Challenge/Weakness gradient will expose weaknesses (old ways) that the Transformable character must overcome (new ways).
1. I will use the “Desired Change” gradient.
2.A.a. Emotional Gradient: EXCITEMENT.
2.A.b. Action Gradient: Freddie arrives at training camp. Thrust into new world of conformity/rigid rules. Meets Sgt. Heller (change agent). Meets Cpl. Thomas (betraying character). Meets new recruits.
2.A.c. Challenge Gradient: Expectations. Weakness Gradient: Distrust of both Sgt. Heller and Cpl. Thomas.
2.B.a. Emotional Gradient: DOUBT.
2.B.b. Action Gradient: Comes in many forms, but primarily in having to deal with Cpl. Thomas’ racist antics and Freddie’s eventual confrontation with Sgt. Heller. “Why we here!” “It’s your duty!”
2.B.c Challenge Gradient: Accept circumstances OR deal with circumstance and risk punishment. Weakness Gradient: Lack of control
2.C.a. Emotional Gradient: HOPE.
2.C.b. Action Gradient: Again, comes in many forms, but focusing on two. First Freddie is challenged by Sgt. Heller in a hand-to-hand combat drill with rifles and scabbard-covered bayonets. After being humiliated by Sgt. Heller a few times in prior drills, Freddie finally takes Sgt. Heller down. Two, comes after arriving in France. After displaying leadership qualities, Freddie is promoted to Corporal.
2.C.c. Challenge Gradient: To gain respect. Weakness Gradient: Self-doubt.
2.D.a Emotional Gradient: DISCOURAGEMENT.
2.D.b. Action Gradient: Again, comes in many forms, but focusing on two. First, after arriving in France, Freddie’s regiment learns they have been loaned to the French Army because they are “better suited” fighting with the French and two, after Freddie’s promotion, his squad is celebrating in a cafe when six white American MP’s burst in and break up the fun. As the black troops are being shoved out onto the street, Sgt. Heller happens to pass by and see Freddie getting whacked with a club. Incensed, Sgt. Heller confronts the MP with the club and slugs him. “These are my men!” “These are Americans!” Sgt. Heller is hauled away. (Note: To the great surprise of Freddie and the men, Sgt. Heller returns a week later. He is now Lt. Heller and permanent leader of Freddie’s platoon.)
2.D.c. Challenge Gradient: Adapt to new circumstances. Weakness Gradient: Insecurity/Seems all is lost.
2.E.a. Emotional Gradient: COURAGE.
2.E.b. Action Gradient: Again, comes in many forms during three horrific months in the front line trenches, where Freddie has a near-death experience, but I’ll focus on the final courageous act. After a brief respite, Freddie’s regiment is ordered back to the front for the start of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. They are held in reserve while advancing behind a French Division and a Moroccan Division. A gap develops between these two divisions and Freddie’s regiment is ordered to fill the gap. Hill 188 stands in the way. The Germans defending the hill deploy a surrender ruse to expose Freddie and his regiment. The Americans are slaughtered by machine-gun fire. Cpl. Thomas (Betraying Character) dies in Freddie’s arms. Lt. Heller is mortally wounded. Freddie tries desperately to save his life, but he succumbs. Freddie is distraught. Lt. Heller had become his trusted commander and friend. Always had the backs of his men.
2.E.c. Challenge Gradient: Survival. Weakness Gradient: Lack of self-control (or is it?)
2.F.a. Emotional Gradient: TRIUMPH.
2.F.b. Action Gradient: Freddie turns towards the menacing machine-gun. With 50% of his Company dead or dying, Freddie makes his way across 50 yards of No Man’s Land, takes out the machine-gun and its crew. He leads a few squad mates in a pitched, hand-to-hand battle in the German first line trench then kills the German officer who initiated the surrender ruse. As Freddie moves onto the second line trenches, the survivors of his Company begin to advance under heavy enemy fire. Engaging the Germans in the second line, Freddie is mortally wounded. As the survivors of his Company pounce on the second line and win the battle for Hill 188, Freddie dies.
2.F.c. Challenge Gradient: Overcome obstacles. Moses, Freddie’s lifelong friend and comrade, holds him in his arms. “We done our duty.” Weakness Gradient: Freddie dies and leaves a wife and infant daughter behind.
Postscript Added Emotion: The audience learns Freddie was recommended for the Medal of Honor by two white officers after the capture of Hill 188, but his “misplaced” file languished in Washington, DC for 73 years. On April 24, 1991, Freddie Stowers is the first African American soldier from either World War I or World War II (out of 1.5 million that served in both wars) to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
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Paul’s Three Gradientsl
What I learned was heaps. The emotional gradient is great a useful tool to know and I think that I’ll apply it to other scripts that I work on.
What is the Emotional Gradient you’ll use?
Forced change consisting of Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance.
For each emotion of that gradient, tell us the following:
A. Emotion: B. Action: C. Challenge / Weakness: A. Emotion: B. Action: C. Challenge / Weakness: A. Emotion: B. Action: C. Challenge / Weakness: Etc..Denial – A) Emotion – Sue initially doesn’t think Martin’s sick and that he is joking. B) Action – Sue realizes he is not joking and calls the ambulance C) Challenge – Sue tries to keep Martin alive.
Anger – A) Emotion – Sue getting angry with the woman at birth/death registry. B) Action – Sue venting how inappropriate the worker was. C) Challenge – Overcoming the hurt of her son’s loss by turning the negative situation of losing her son into a positive one by promoting organ donation.
Bargaining – A) Emotion – Sue doesn’t want to say goodbye to Martin. B) Action – Sue wants to spend a few final moments with Martin before he is taken away and she has to be forcefully taken away. C) Challenge – Sue has to go home and deal with Martin’s empty bedroom, his funeral.
Depression – A) Emotion – Sue gets upset when she sees other boys that remind her of Martin. B) Action – Sue and Nigel drift apart as they both come to terms with the grief of losing a son in different ways. C) Challenge – For Sue to mend not just herself, but her whole family. She makes a decision on what to do with Martin’s clothes and bedroom.
Acceptance – A) Emotion – B) Action – Sue decides to travel to meet the other boy who received Martin’s heart. C) Challenge – Sue asks the other boy if she could put her hand on his heart to feel Martin’s heartbeat once more.
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Christine’s Three Gradients
What I learned doing this assignment is: I can go through these gradients MANY times in Trish’s travels. Almost on a daily basis. And although the entire cross country trip was a desired change, the unexpected challenges she’s confronted with along the way have forced many changes if she is to survive.
What is the Emotional Gradient you’ll use?
Overall: Desired Change.
Excitement: A: inspiration and planning; B: preparations; C: leaving home and friends /letting go
Doubt: A: unexpected challenges on short trip from Cambridge (work) to home (CT); B. family and friends raise fears at intervention; C: she considers possibility of never making it back home from trip / inexperience
Hope: A: grandmother’s support–take it one day at a time; B: she starts trip–people give her a thumbs up–homeless man says ‘this is going to change your life; C: breaks away / has had lots of challenging experiences in life but this is a new one
Discouragement: A: first unexpected drawback–cross winds on highway to NYC; B: has to pull over (coincidentally near ‘Welcome to New York’ sign); C: wind on road / never before experienced travelling with a such a huge amount of gear on bike
Courage: A: ‘Welcome to New York’ road sign re-inspires her; B: gets back on road; C: must make it to NYC / forget about big picture and take it one day at a time
Triumph: A: makes it to New York City; B: arrives at New Jersey Ho Jo; C: first encounter–impressed Wall Street broker that validates her success / her butt hurts.
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DAY 5 ASSIGNMENT – THE THREE GRADIENTS
Joshua Doerksen’s Three Gradients
WHAT I LEARNED DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT:
Creating Strong Gradients for my Lead Character will Force a Strong Change that will define the Transformational Journey.
1. EMOTIONAL GRADIENT: FORCED CHANGE
2. A.) DENIAL
B.) Bill Bishop cannot believe his sanity is in question.
Bill does not accept that he has created the emptiness he now feels in his life.
C.) CHALLENGE: Board of Directors insist on Mental Assessment/Fitness to perform duties as CEO.
WEAKNESS GRADIENT: Narcissism/Pride
A.) ANGER
B.) Bill reluctantly complies with Board insisted assessment.
Bill is defensive and dismissive with therapists and he withdraws into himself.
C.) CHALLENGE: Bill is not in charge – he has no control over his memories or emotions.
WEAKNESS GRADIENT: Regret/Remorse
A.) BARGAINING
B.) Bill tries to impress Dr. Pratt with depth of personality and emotional growth as he participates freely in his therapy.
C.) CHALLENGE: How can Bill make Dr. Pratt think highly of him and prove his own sanity.
WEAKNESS GRADIENT: How has Bill not realized his own emotional issues/deficit?
A.) DEPRESSION
B.) Bill is replaying his life in his mind and is haunted with some painful memories of loss.
Bill questions his own sanity and capacity to function as CEO of his own company, and his own worthiness in leaving a legacy at all.
C.) CHALLENGE: Bill loses any care or concern for his company or his drive for success.
WEAKNESS GRADIENT: Bill has lost his purpose and his definition for meaning of life/legacy.
A.) ACCEPTANCE
B.) Bill realizes how he has suppressed his fears over time.
Bill epiphany has him ecstatic and he recognizes that his behaviors will be characterized as “impulsive” and he may be considered unfit to run his company.
Bill chooses to risk losing his company over returning to his old ways (or ironically conforming to his established business model).
C.) CHALLENGE: Bill accepts the error of his old ways but must still choose to risk his company over his legacy.
WEAKNESS GRADIENT: EGO V. AUTHENTICITY
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Joseph Savage’s Transformational Structure Day 5 Assignment
While I have read about layering the build of the script before, this is the first time that I have had not just topics (character development, dialogue voice identification, etc) but a whole secondary structure to add. It has been a both an interesting and worthwhile experiment. And it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
Logline: An entitled and nit-picky medical student must learn to sew from a nursing home resident or lose the chance at having a career in surgery.
Main Character
The transformational character: medical student Alex Arragon
MMM Structure
1. Alex is beginning his senior year in medical school and is assigned a rotation at an inner city ER. He is only interested in surgery, so he finds working up all the other cases a waste of time, and it shows in his attitude. However, he loves doing surgical procedures in the ER, and he is assigned to sew up a forearm laceration from a woman who fell at a nursing home. He does the procedure and along the way tells the woman (Jackie Washington) that he is planning a career in surgery and can’t wait to get started. He is quite proud of his work, and he builds empathy through his talking to her with kindness.
2.When he gets done she looks at it, horrified. She suggests that if he wants a career in surgery he needs to be better at suturing. She offers to teach him. He gets angry, and leaves. A few minutes later, the attending physician comes in and checks the work, grimaces briefly, and then tries to play it off. She senses his discomfort, but is kind and lets it ride. A few minutes later Alex hears the attending talking to his colleague about the “hack job” the med student did. The second attending mentions he plans a career in surgery, and they both laugh, one saying “not in a million years.”
3. Alex decides to look at some YouTube videos, but soon realizes his work is awful. He decides to see if the old lady will still teach him. He looks up her address and tries to talk to her on the phone, but she is at a doctor’s appointment. He asks her to call.
4.She does, and he says he has reconsidered her offer. He then begins to explain how what he is going to do will be way above her level, but it’s always good to have some secondary practice. She suggests he change his name from Arragon to Arrogance, and hangs up.
5. He tries to find a senior resident to teach him, but they are already sleep deprived and don’t have time for him. One of them mentions he took lessons from an old seamstress for a while and it really helped. He calls around, but most of the shops have the work sent out. He finds a place and a person who is willing to help. He goes in great anticipation.
6. When he gets there, he finds the seamstress uses an advanced computer assisted sewing machine, and does little-to-no-work by hand. Now he knows why the resident mentioned an old seamstress.
7. He looks for someone who fits the bill, but runs out of options. Having no options and less time, he’s desperate, and now willing to eat crow to save his career. He calls Ms. Washington again. He apologizes and asks for another chance. She consents.
8. Their journey begins. She teaches him basic sewing technique, and with each session we learn more about her. Her father, a surgeon, taught her to sew when she was six years old, and clearly has taught her a lot about surgery. We also discover she is in the nursing home because she has terminal cancer, and she can no longer care for herself. We also learn she is from Senegal, and she has no family in the US, and she is broke from her cancer treatment. Furthermore, her family is very poor, and they cannot afford to come see her. She admits teaching him gives her a sense of purpose, and he admits he likes the lessons. We also learn about him as well, the pressure of his parents, his older brother’s death in Afghanistan, his mother’s subsequent alcoholism. Their bond grows, and she teaches him how to be a compassionate person as well as a skilled tailor.
9. He does his last rotation before having to apply to surgical residencies with a plastic surgeon. He is now much more humble and compassionate, and the attending surgeon is amazed how fast and how well he can suture. He even helps with an arterial leak that is difficult to stop because the surgeon doesn’t have an exposure angle. Alex asks to try it from his angle. The surgeon suggests they trade places, but he with the torrent of blood asks if there is time. The surgeon tells the scrub nurse to hand him the suture. Alex is able to stem the bleeding and save the patient’s life. Afterwards, he hears the surgeon tell a colleague that wishes his senior residents had the skill that Alex, as a medical student did.
10. He goes to the nursing home to tell Ms. Washington the great news, but she has been rushed to the hospital for a broken hip when she fell during transfer to her wheelchair. He rushes to see her, and stays with her until she is settled in at 4 am, when he has to leave for rounds, meaning hew will now go 30 hours without sleep. He continues to care for her and be with her in the hospital.
11. She does well with surgery, but post-op develops a blood clot in her lung and nearly dies. She is sent back to the nursing home, clearly much weaker than before. The day after she returns, he gets a letter of acceptance to Yale’s surgery residency, and he rushes to see her. When he gets there, all the residents are abuzz and look at him. Fearing she has died, he rushes to her room. When he gets there, there is a gaggle of press outside her room and he is bewildered. He pushes them aside to see her. She is weak but alive and smiles to see him. When he asks what is going on, one of the press informs him that his friend has won the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her pioneering work in endoscopic surgery. She gets a surprise visit from her family in Senegal, which was arranged by the Nobel Committee staff and the Senegalese Ambassador to the US. After she greets them, she introduces Alex as her new son.
12. Epilogue: Dr. Washington died 3 months later, and left the funds from the Nobel Prize to build an surgical clinic in Senegal for the poor. Alex goes there tend days every year to perform free surgeries for those in need. When he graduated from residency, he enlisted a team of surgeons and surgical residents to go with him. As of the time of filming this movie, they have completed 1,857 operations.
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Profound Assignment Day 5: Three Gradients
Emotional Gradient
DENIAL/ANGER – Nursing Home Resident makes adverse remark about suturing job on her forearm laceration to Alex (protagonist)
FEAR – Alex overhears the ER attending also remark about the poor suturing job creates threat to his career goal
DEPRESSION – Tries to improve on his own, but fails
DESPERATION—Calls nursing home resident to learn to suture, but his attempting to save face causes her to reject him
DOOM/REVERSAL— Tries other residents and fails, calls to apologize, relationship starts
FRUSTRATION—Given tasks which do not seem to directly relate (ala Karate Kid) but with no options, does the work
CONCERN—The change agent (Jackie Washington) gets sick, so he fears losing his only method of teaching
RELIEF—She improves and they return to their lessons
COMPASSION—But she is weaker, and he becomes concerned for her health and comfort – internal change to compassion
CONFIDENCE—He sees improvement in his work
HUMILIATION—She teaches him an advanced technique that an old attending doctor doesn’t understand and so he gets chastised as arrogant, even though he no longer is
ACCEPTANCE—He has a talk with Ms. Washington, has a heart-to-heart about learning to take abuse from patients, nurses, attendings. “My Dad was a black surgeon. He faced abuse you would shudder at. He always kept saying, you don’t know what is going on underneath people.”Armed with this knowledge, he resolves to make his work his strength
SUCCESSES—transformed inwardly, he is able to sew a wound so quickly that the attendings are astonished. A nurse notes his compassion and ability to calm a violent patient. He saves a hemorrhaging patient’s life using a specialized figure-of-eight tension suture.
WITH PAINFUL FAILURES—He fails to save a life of the nursing home resident that lives across from Ms. Washington. He gets undercut by another student (betrayer) who wants to apply to the same residency he does, and applies the “you don’t know what is going on underneath people.” Ms. Washington gets too weak to do his lessons on some days. He doesn’t get interviewed for the residency he realistically wants, and extends the “you don’t know what is going on underneath people” to “you don’t know what is going on underneath Anything.”
JOY/INTRIGUE—he gets interviewed for a residency he never dreamed possible, based on a letter of recommendation the committee found “of significant weight.” Given confidentiality requirements, they will not tell him more.
ELATION/TERROR—he gets accepted to Yale, but when he goes to show the letter to Ms. Washington, the residents are looking at him strangely and whispering. Fearing she is dead, he rushes to her room, but there is a crowd outside. He pushes his way in, and finds her perfectly well. She is receiving the Nobel Prize in Medicine for her pioneering work in endoscopy. A doctor comes up to Dr Washington and says, “this must be the prodigee you told me about.”
Alex blurts out that he has been accepted to Yale. The same man says, “She knows. She’s the one that wrote your recommendation, and I’m the one who wrote the letter you have in your hand.”
Dr. Washington adds, “see, you never know what is going on underneath people.”
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KZ’s Day 5 Assignment (The 3 Gradients)
What I learned is a way to dissect the story so that the change is plausible. I had never thought of weaknesses so explicitly. I believe this will improve my ability to outline so that I don’t find myself lost in the story without a clear way out.
1. Desired Change: Oliver wants to be the pursuer, not the pursued
1A. Emotion: Excitement
B. Action: Meets Tony
C. Challenge / Weakness: He waits for Tony to call
2A. Emotion: Doubt
B. Action: Tony warns him that Nolan is jealous, hints that he killed Raymond, the last guy to flirt with Tony
C. Challenge / weakness: Gary, whom he doesn’t love, offers him a safe haven
3A. Emotion: Hope
B: Action: Tony and Oliver bond
C. Challenge / weakness: Oliver finds out Nolan is attracted to him, can’t resist the admiration
4A. Emotion: Discouragement
B. Action: Nolan knows a lot about Oliver. Someone betrayed him. Was it Indigo or Tony?
C. Challenge / weakness: Falling back on his old paranoia
5A. Emotion: Courage
B. Action: Snoops around in Nolan’s apartment
C. Challenge / weakness: Jumps at every sound, sure that he’s going to get caught
6A. Emotion: Triumph
B. Action: Confronts Nolan, breaks off relationship with Gary
C. Challenge / weakness: about to back down at every moment
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Birgit Myaard’s Three Gradients
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What I learned doing this assignment is I have come to the realization that writing a limited series means I will have to have gradients within each episode as well as throughout the series and this sounds daunting and confusing. Wondering if each of these gradients must be completed per episode, or if a couple can be in one episode and the rest in later episodes. I obviously need more than 48 hours to think about this aspect of writing the episode Gentlemen of the Gridiron Episode 2: Opening Up the Game.1. What is the Emotional Gradient you’ll use? Desired Change
2. For each emotion of that gradient, tell us the following:
A. Emotion: Excitement
B. Action: Walter Camp gets invited to the meeting of the Intercollegiate Football Association Rules Committee, but is told he needs to sit the meeting out since each school can have only two representatives. He craves to be able to influence the game, but is only a freshman and Eugene Baker, the team captain, decides to take senior J.B. Atwater into the meeting with him. Camp listens in on the meeting and learns later from Baker that the other teams refused to play eleven men on the field. Yale will continue to be invited to the Rules Committee meetings, but will not be an official IFA member. Camp is excited that Yale will continue to play by concessionary rules for their games.
C. Challenge / Weakness: Wanting to influence the game / Lack of experienceA. Emotion: Doubt
B. Action: Camp plays his second Yale football game. This time it’s against Princeton, and it is brutal. Camp’s clothes get torn to shreds in the scrum, forcing his team to circle him and walk him off the field in a state of undress. Late in the next game, against Columbia, he tackles a player who falls and hits his head on the frozen ground, knocking him out and drawing blood. Camp thinks he has killed him and tells Baker he doubts he can play anymore. He is horrified that the player could have died and even more adamant that the game must be opened up. Camp is chosen during his junior year to be the Yale Eleven captain. He’s thrilled to be able to go to the IFA Rules Committee meeting, but they still don’t listen to him and he doubts they ever will.
C. Challenge / Weakness: Playing a rough game in which players routinely get injured / Doesn’t like the sight of bloodA. Emotion: Hope
B. Action: Camp has what he once admitted was his best memory ever: having the team convince him to stay on as captain when he threatens to resign after one of the players breaks curfew and Camp insists the rule breaker must leave the team.
C. Challenge / Weakness: Needs to assert leadership but not alienate others / plays by the rules to a faultA. Emotion: Discouragement
B. Action: Camp attends the Rules Committee, but they once again do not agree to field eleven a side.
C. Challenge / Weakness: ?A. Emotion: Courage
B. Action: ?
C. Challenge / Weakness: ?A. Emotion: Triumph
B. Action: The Rules Committee members solicit Camp’s suggested changes and agree to them.
C. Challenge / Weakness: ? -
Mark Smith/Day 5 Exercise
I learned about the gradient of emotional changes, actions, challenges and weaknesses as my protagonist moves from the Old Ways to New Ways in his/her transformation:
What is the Emotional Gradient you’ll use?
My protagonist, a school counselor after accepting his new job will go through the following emotional gradient, action. challenge, and weakness sequence:
Excitement/ accepting new counseling job/learning the “ropes”/trying to gain acceptance among teaching peers
Doubt/learning the school has major ethical flaws/testing the limits of is job/among the few who disagree with the power structure
Hope/meets with others after school who express concern/expresses concerns to principal/lack of confidence tested when gets “push back” from school administration
Discouragement/faces possible discipline from principal for reporting fraudulent grades and favoritism/willingness to overcome self-doubt to not back down/fear of losing new job and lack of self-confident and peer support
Courage/reports concerns to school superintendent and testifies at hearing/has bad review and possible firing/fears lack of financial support and reputation
Triumph and loss/school is forced to change though he is fired/maintaining his self-confident despite personal attacks by those with vested interest in Old Ways of school/New Way of looking at himself in preserving his belief in the principles of fairness and basic purpose of the educational system
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Suzanne Kelman – Three Gradients
I have learned is that underpinning the profound are three gradients – emotional, action, and challenge/weakness.
The emotional gradient is either forced change or desired change.
Action – Takes the character on a journey that will naturally produce the change.
Challenge/Weakness -The characters confront and solve the weaknesses that would normally keep them from achieving this goal, thus causing a leap in their performance.
Denial –
Emotional – MC doesn’t want to leave her mother, cannot believe her father is treating her the way he is.
Action – Decided to start a new job to get away from her home life
Challenge – She is a fish out of water in this new environment
Anger –
Emotional – She hates working with her new partner but has no choice
Action – They go through a number of exercises that forces them together
Challenge – She has to keep her job so can’t tell him how she really feels
Bargaining
Emotional – She decided to just give it a few months then she will leave
Action – She starts to plan her escape
Challenge – She still has to make money until then so she is trapped in this situation
Depression
Emotional – Then get worse at home she feels completely trapped. Sadness
Action – They go through a number of exercises that forces them together
Challenge – She has leave her home situation but still need to make money
Acceptance
Emotional – She starts to have feelings for her partner
Action – The last spy gets killed in the field she is the only hope to fulfil the mission
Challenge – She is not a spy and doesn’t have the training she needs. But will go anyway.
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Scott Richards’ Three Gradients
What I learned doing this assignment is yet another way to put depth, both character and story into the outline for a higher quality script.
I will use Desired Change Gradient.
Emotion: Excitement
Action: Deciding to spend a week alone in dead mother’s apartment. Freedom of solitude and free from supervising eyes.
Challenge/Weakness: C – live without support network. W – Addiction, self-loathing
Emotion: Doubt
Action: delivery of case of booze. Oddness of the smart home device. Mother’s Suicide. Father’s accident. Declaration of purpose.
Challenge/Weakness: C – resolve with case of booze. Character’s wound. Character’s values. W – addiction, self-loathing, no sense of purpose, greatest fear.
Emotion: Hope
Action: Dying plant. Various means of escape, rescue note, starting a fire to alert fire department.
Challenge/Weakness: C – sense of purpose, character’s want/need. W – self-loathing/ worth
Emotion: Discouragement
Action: delivery of booze, nude videos uploaded to social media apps, smart home device constantly puts her down.
Challenge/Weakness: C – having to face her wounds, self-worth and lack of purpose. W – Self-loathing, addiction, guilt.
Emotion: Courage
Action: hides analog phone, hides analog adapter to PC, going to the apartment, facing ex-fiancé, sending rescue note.
Challenge/Weakness: C – intellect vs tormenter. W – self-recrimination
Emotion: Triumph/Loss
Action: pours booze down sink, drinks from bottle, throws drugs away, mixes anti-overdose cocktail, defeats ex-fiancé.
Challenge/Weakness: C – hounded by smart home device, coercive control, gaslighting. W – self-loathing, addiction.
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Brenda Lynn’s Three Gradients
What I learned doing this assignment is how the 3 gradients of change shape and build the story. It took me a while to figure out how to use the technique, but finally made a huge break through. This is definitely one for the toolbox.
1. What is the Emotional Gradient you’ll use?
Forced Change: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance
2. For each emotion of that gradient, tell us the following:
A. Emotion: Denial
B. Action: Keeps learning French, Goes to Art Museum, Shows up at Frank’s Orientation for Lascaux.
C. Challenge: He planned to go to Lascaux. It is the top prize and he deserves it.
Weakness: Competitiveness, Planner
A. Emotion: Anger
B. Action: He goes to where Frank works and confronts him of stealing the position that he deserves. They get it a fight.
C. Challenge: His sense of entitlement makes him blind to the opportunity.
Weakness: Confrontational and controlling
A. Emotion: Bargaining
B. Action: Tells Appo that he will be there for a couple of weeks, but then he will be in France.
C. Challenge: David tries to take notes, but nothing electronic works in Tikal. He has to go analog.
Weakness: Sense of entitlement and control.
A. Emotion: Depression
B. Action: Monkeys have destroyed his room, eaten his books.
C. Challenge: Appo teaches him about the fire ceremony.
Weakness: So busy look inside, that he can’t see the beauty on the outside. Tries one more time to go to Lascaux.
A. Emotion: Acceptance
B. Action: He begins to learn the ways of the Maya.
C. Challenge: He has to make the choice of fulfilling his dream or following his destiny.
Weakness: He has to decide what is the most important thing in his life: dreams or destiny.
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