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Day 5 Assignments
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11 Replies
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June Fortunato’s SYMBOL day 5 of Subtext
What I learned: I changed the symbol I’d intended from Cliffside (not going to happen in Philadelphia!) to Garden. That makes more sense because Garden = Home. The exercise helped me to focus this scene and the rest of the screenplay on this symbol. Good exercise.
BACKSTORY & SYMBOL
The symbol of the garden is introduced on page 10, with the introduction of second lead, Kim, who goes to reclaim her home. It’s used again when she’s in the theatre and pots passion flower seed packets. In this scene, on page 55, Kim explains the meaning of the symbol with her story, and in the following scene (yet to be written) she takes Roy to her garden and then tears it out of the ground.
My introduction of ‘garden’ isn’t as direct as the dog in “As Good as it Gets” but it does symbolize finding home, and Roy becomes home. For Kim, Theatre also feels like home. For Roy, Kim feels like home.
INT. BELLEVUE HOTEL – SUITE – LATER
They sneak in and burst out laughing, pull out their hidden wine bottles and sprawl out onto the couches.
KIM What’s the best place you ever crashed?
ROY Better than this one?
Kim laughs.
KIM How about the most devious place?
ROY Supremo challenge. After you!
KIM My most devious place was in my own home.
Pause.
ROY I believe this requires both of us to have more wine as you are IN EX PLICK able.
Kim laughs. He pours more wine.
KIM The night my swindler brother and his sex toy kicked me out, they invited their snooty friends to celebrate. They sat in MY GARDEN! And drank MY bottle of Dom Perignon. I walked right in. Nobody noticed. I was invisible.
ROY Maggots.
KIM I stayed a month.
ROY Unseen?
KIM An apparition!
ROY Now that’s “Out of sight!”
KIM My mission was to make them think they were losing their minds. Their appointments cancelled. Things got moved and then moved back. They accused each other. One night when Ingrid was tearing Brian a new one, I left a tea kettle on the stove, shrieking. That fight was so bad, Brian went to a hotel. After that, I upped the game. Her car had blood on it. Windows were cracked. Clothes were torn and bleached. Ingrid was spooked! Finally, when Ingrid was in MY bathtub with her lover, I lit a fire under the tub and stormed out.
ROY That was the end of that lover.
KIM No, that lover was the man you saw trying to take me to Belmont. The smarmy creature from the lagoon.
ROY Ingrid must have quite the skills in the sack-o-la.
KIM And other places.
Pause.
ROY You won.
KIM Can you win? Against people who haunt you?
Silence. They get lost in their own pasts. Kim gets bedding and brings it to the couch. She snuggles next to him, and covers both of them.
KIM Sleep?
He nods. Roy puts his arm around her. The comfort takes both of them to a new place. In the quiet:
KIM I miss my garden.
INT. BELLEVUE HOTEL – SUITE – THE NEXT MORNING – EARLY
Kim wakes Roy with a whisper.
KIM We have to be quiet.
He nods.
We can’t stay.
She points to the shower and goes.
INT. BELLEVUE HOTEL – SUITE – A LITTLE LATER
When Roy emerges, Kim has breakfast waiting.
KIM Courtesy of a meeting down the hall.
Puts on his “Bogart.”
ROY I’m stickin with you, kid.
She curtsies. She laughs. They eat.
ROY Want to go to Atlantic City? There’s a carnival there.
KIM Yes! But first, I want to show you my garden.
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DEV ROSS – SYMBOLS
What I learned is how powerfully a chosen symbol can work to amplify the meaning of your story. The following scene is from a script I wrote 12 years ago that just YESTERDAY was place in the semi-finals of a screenplay contest. If I had known then what I know now, I could have used the symbol far more powerfully. The cemetery symbol below signifies how the past can dictate our future – but only if we let it. In Rome, Georgia, where the story takes place, the cemetery was the symbol of strong, prejudicial judgment.
FADE IN: EXT. MYRTLE HILL CEMETERY – FALL – ROME, GEORGIA – DAY
A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER statue stands guard over the hilltop cemetery whose souls keep vigil over the quaint town below.
RITA (V.O.) The town I grew up in was presided over by a cemetery. Fall leaves swirl around ANGELS and CHERUBS who pose atop the resting places of the dead.
RITA (V.O.) I always felt like we were being watched and judged by a bunch of dead folks. Photos of the smiling deceased framed by elaborate headstones…
RITA (V.O.) Of course my mama watched and judged too, only she wasn’t dead.
AST SCENE IN MOVIE –
EXT. MYRTLE HILL – DAY
The Confederate Soldier still stands guard over the graves and the town… all of it covered in amber leaves. Rita stands over the fresh grave of her mother, Jennie, now buried next to the man she never loved. In her mind’s eye, Rita sees her and Evie as teens meeting in secret, hiding amidst the tombstones of the dead. EVIE You know what you are, Rita?
RITA What am I?
EVIE You are my sonic boom of the south. Watching herself and Evie as young innocents, the Rita of today is overcome.
LIV (O.S.) Hey, you okay? Standing there is pretty Australian LIV, Rita’s long time partner.
Wiping away tears, Rita nods that she is.
LIV (CONT’D) It’s not right. Your mother never did get her comeuppance.
RITA No, she did. At the end, my mama was alone.
Rita takes Liv’s hand and they walk a path through the monuments that mark the fate awaiting us all… equally.
RITA (CONT’D) What was broken between me and mama wasn’t ever gonna be fixed. But if I could have just one wish to make up for it, I’d wish this: That all kids, no matter who they are, have love. Doesn’t have to be much else, just that, just love.
FADE OUT
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Matthew Frendo’s Symbol
WHAT I LEARNED: I learned how to create symbols that will be meaningful in a script. This will connect the audience to the script at a deeper level and add a new layer.
BACKSTORY: Alicia’s son gets called into the hunt over a misunderstanding. She illegally switches their bracelets, so she will go in instead of him. In this scene, she’s saying her goodbye. He’s scared to be without her.
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
In first scene, when Alicia is telling her son she’s about to go into the hunt, Alicia takes two buttons off of her shirt (because she has nothing else to give) that are spattered with their blood from before and makes a necklace out of them, one for each.
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence
will cause an audience response.When he says he’s afraid to be without her, she tells him that these buttons, with their blood are connected. And whenever they look at it, they’ll know the other is always with them. She tells him that it will give them strength to fight evil when it faces them and they have to fight it alone.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or
their situation. This is where a symbol is powerful.At climax battle, Alicia is about to lose…when she sees her child’s button in her hand, remembers the lesson she taught him and uses it to fight back and win.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Matthew Frendo.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Cameron Martin’s Symbol
What I learned doing this assignment is…How to be intentional with the story’s theme, and tie ideas I previously was concerned about in a nice bow tie. First of all, subtext is really freaking hard. This whole module has forced me to take creative backflips day after day. BUT, I’m confident the end result is going to be a better screenplay because of it. As for this assignment, the story’s symbol was staring me in the face from the beginning, and I had to start over and rewrite a number of the previous steps from the Horror class to come back to it. Sorry if this is a little sloppy and random. I’m creatively spent and running on little sleep. Bottom line is I learned that characters can be symbols that tie in a story’s theme in a way that makes that theme register in a clear and concise way.
Step 1. Introduce the Symbol. So, the obvious would be the aliens themselves. They already symbolize the nature of the greater danger that is the space hegemony and how authoritarianism and parasitic aliens essentially function the same way. That’s the greater symbol. For this assignment, however, a symbol is needed to connect the father and son’s relationship, because the story hinges on that to a greater extant than the political argument, which should remain in the background as purely symbolic. Therefore, the next obvious answer that connects the father and son is the mother, or at the very least something that reminds the two of the mother. However, to find that something, two questions must be answered: who was the mother, and what is her connection (if any) to the aliens? Or, perhaps the mother is something that is more reflected in the son. This is a concept I’ve already been considering for a while, and it makes sense that Sully who lost his wife would be more controlling of his son to ensure his wife lives on in some way. He only sees his Isaiah as a promise to his wife, not as an individual boy who’s coming of age. And, when he “protects” him by shoving him forward and accidentally sending him into a spore next, that’s where the story’s theme and the symbol ring loudest, as all the effort in preserving the life of his son, and by extension the memory of his wife, lead to him possibly killing his son in exactly the way he wanted to avoid in the first place.
The Theme of this story is “Controlling is Destroying.” The Hegemony controls its population to destroy itself. The aliens control their hosts to prey on victims. Sully controls information and his son. Therefore, Isaiah is the symbol. Sully announces early on that he is Isaiah’s only parent, and will keep him safe. How does he keep Isaiah safe? By controlling him to the point of killing anyone and anything that threatens his son. This culminates into Sully shoving Isaiah, and accidentally sending him into a spore nest and dooming him. Sully has to save his son not through controlling him, but through working with him and accepting him.
Finally, to help drive home the point, yes, a symbol such as the earmuffs Sully fashions for Isaiah using the headband that was his mother’s can be broken at that moment when Isaiah falls down.
FIRST SCENE
INT. SPACE COLONY – MEDICAL BAY – DAY
A small boy, ISAIAH, scrambles to get to his dad, Sully. Oblivious to the commotion around him.
ISAIAH
Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad! Dad!
Sully sees his son and motions for him to slow down.
SULLY
Jesus, Isaiah! Watch where you’re going.
Isaiah slows down, but keeps a beeline toward Sully, as other medical workers and patients dodge the pint sized juggernaut.
ISAIAH
Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad…
SULLY
(grabbing Isaiah’s shoulders)
What are you doing here?
ISAIAH
I made the most amazing discovery!
Isaiah doesn’t stop talking, completely ignorant of the other conversations going on.
ISAIAH
It’s so cool!
SULLY
That’s great. Tell me about it later.
(turning away)
Can I get an assistant here?
DR. MICK
Why am I surprised?
ISAIAH
I know! I know how the tunnels work! Everything! This whole colony! It’s perfect!
An ASSISTANT walks up to Sully and Isaiah.
ASSISTANT
Whatcha got?
ISAIAH
It’s all because we have to add moisture through the vents to keep it from being too dry here.
SULLY
(to Assistant)
Take him back to, to wherever he’s supposed to be. School. Take him back to school.
DR. MICK
Maybe you should join him?
ISAIAH
And because the vents have so much moisture in them, and they go to the outside—
Assistant
(to Isaiah)
Come on. This isn’t a safe place for little boys.
ISAIAH
(to Assistant)
In a minute.
(to Sully)
Dad—
SULLY
Isaiah, go back to school. It’s not safe here.
DR. MICH
Your son’s not the only reason it isn’t safe here.
ISAIAH
But, it’s not safe anywhere. Anyway, you gotta see this!
SULLY
(to Assistant)
Get him out of here.
The Assistant takes Isaiah by the arm, but Isaiah squirms and rips his arm free.
Isaiah holds himself tight, his arms wrapping around his torso like he’s in a straight jacket.
Each time the Assistant and Sully try grabbing Isaiah’s hand or arm, he pulls away, eyes fixed on the ground and humming a steady tone.
SULLY
(grabbing Isaiah’s shoulders and holding him still)
Isaiah, look at me.
Isaiah hums louder, tuning out the voices and avoiding the eyes all around him.
SULLY
Look at me, Isaiah.
ISAIAH
MMHMM!
Sully
If you can’t follow basic instructions, then you don’t belong here with me.
Sully places Isaiah’s closed fist in the Assistant’s hand, pats him on the back and on his way out of the medical bay.
Isaiah pulls against the Assistant, looking back at his dad, who forces himself to look away and find something else to work on.
The Assistant looks ahead and tries to get the attention of another adult.
Assistant
Can I PLEASE get a little help?
Isaiah pulls out a tiny spray bottle from his pocket and spritzes the Assistant’s hand.
The Assistant recoils, clutching her hand.
ASSISTANT
What the hell did you just spray me with?
Too late. Isaiah is already gone.
Isaiah stampedes through the medical bay, hurling anything he can touch between him and the assistant.
He snatches a flexible bronchoscope…
And ties it to a vent…
Throws the other end over a robotic arm attached to the ceiling.
Before Sully or anyone else can get to him…
Isaiah drives the bronchoscope down, using the arm like a pulley…
SNAP!
The bronchoscope breaks.
Sully, standing over him, pins him to the ground.
Isaiah struggles.
ISAIAH
MMMMMM!
Sully
What is wrong with you! Why can’t you just be…
Sully doesn’t allow himself to finish the thought.
Isaiah relaxes, tears in his eyes, looking off into space.
Sully picks himself up and examines the broken bronchoscope.
SULLY
(calmly as can be maintained)
I want you…to go. Please, just go home.
Isaiah continues looking off.
SULLY
Look at me.
Isaiah moves his head, but can’t look his dad in the eye.
SULLY
Isaiah, I need you to listen. Look me in the eye so I know you’re listening.
Isaiah looks up at his dad, and shuts his eyes tight.
SULLY
Isaiah? Kid?
(losing it)
Look at me!
Isaiah starts laughing nervously.
Sully lets go and stands up, pulling at his hair.
Isaiah gets up.
ISAIAH
Dad?
SULLY
Do you know what you broke? It wasn’t a line. It was a tool that could let us see and remove…medical term? Stuff that gets stuck in your lungs. I can’t imagine how that might be useful.
Isaiah
I’m sorry.
Sully
I need your help, because I don’t know how to FIX YOU.
SECOND SCENE
INT. SULLY’S APARTMENT – DAY
Sully rushes into his room…
To the dresser…
Opening it to his deceased wife’s untouched garments. He takes a moment before forcing himself to throw them aside, until he finds…
A headband.
Sully takes the headband and two of his wife’s shirts and runs to…
The kitchen. He pulls out two mixing spoons out of one drawer and a roll of duct tape out of another.
As fast as he can, he tapes the shirts to the ends of the mixing spoons, and then the spoons to the headband.
He bolts back for Isaiah’s room, makeshift earmuffs in hand.
He hands the earmuffs to Isaiah under the bunk.
ISAIAH
HMMMMMMM!
SULLY
Here! This is mommy’s! Mommy’s going to be here for you!
Isaiah, seeing the muffs, starts to shiny out from under the bunk, still clutching his hands to his ears.
When Isaiah’s out from under the bunk, Sully places the muffs over Isaiah’s head and hands.
Isaiah
(carefully taking his hands out from between his ears and the muffs)
Thank you, dad.
THIRD SCENE
EXT. SPACE COLONY – WALKWAY – NIGHT
The vent grate blasts off the roof as Sully, overdosed on adrenaline, tears out onto the roof, yanking Isaiah behind him.
ISAIAH
Stop!
An alien host crawls out of the vent after them.
It is beyond the point of discussion for Sully. They are getting the hell out of there.
Isaiah
YOU CAN’T GO THAT WAY!
Isaiah rages against his father’s grip like a rabbit in the clutches of a hawk’s talons, watching his father pull him into a trap.
Isaiah glances over the edge…
And bolts up and onto the railing, hoping for a chance to jump off of the roof before going down the walkway.
Sully, his sense of calm long gone and adrenaline flooding his brain, hurls Isaiah in front of him and down the ramp.
Isaiah stumbles to regain his footing…
And trips over the same spot he discovered before…
FALLING THROUGH THE WALKWAY!
Sully, seeing his son disappear, SPRINTS toward the chaos of the nest, where the boom box fell into the same hole Isaiah fell into.
Sully finds the hole…
Looking down…
And finding Isaiah with his mask broken, and his face smothered in spores.
ISAIAH
You killed me. You killed me! YOU FUCKING KILLED ME!
Sully reaches down, offering his hand – what have I done?
Isaiah stares at the hand, unsure of whether the hand belongs to someone who loves him or means him harm. He grabs hold of the hand.
Sully pulls him up, out of the pit. He takes a deep breath and holds it in, as he takes off his helmet and replaces Isaiah’s broken mask with his.
He lifts his son and runs like hell.
Behind him, the hosts are billowing out of the vent. In front of him, the worms are beginning the swarm; the deafening brown noise only calming the hive so much.
No matter – Sully beelines to the escape hatch.
He opens the hatch…
Sending Isaiah down…
With a torrent of horror closing fast on them.
INT. ESCAPE HATCH – NIGHT
Sully follows Isaiah into the hatch.
He closes the hatch door…
Onto the head of an infected!
Sully slides down the ladder, the mouth snapping shut just at the hair on top of his head.
He hits the bottom and collapses…
Looking up…
The hatch door thrown wide open, and the carnivores climbing down headfirst.
Sully dashes out the room…
Throwing the door shut behind him – fat chance of it holding.
INT. SPACE COLONY – HALLWAYS/LIVING QUARTERS – CONT.
He meets up with Isaiah, who’s rocking himself back and forth. His helmet’s removed and his hands are over his ears as he hums loudly. Where’re the muffs he made for him out of his wife’s old headband? Broken in half, and laying at his still small feet.
Isaiah’s eyes burn from the trickling of tears.
SULLY
(kneeling down)
Isaiah, we have to go.
ISAIAH
(shaking his head in denial)
LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA! LA!
SULLY
We don’t have time for this! Do you want me to carry you or dd you want to carry yourself!?
ISAIAH
(eyes wide, defiant)
Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!
Sully grabs his son – the little ungrateful shit!
Isaiah squirms, not letting Sully get a good grip.
Sully grabs Isaiah’s collar and drags him along the ground, hearing the frantic foot and palm steps heading straight for them.
INT. JUDE’S APARTMENT – NIGHT
Sully, still holding onto Isaiah’s collar.
Isaiah, running back into the room, hands over his ears.
Sully barricades the door – it’ll buy a few minutes, maybe more.
He turns to face Isaiah…
Who’s not there – not again. Sully hears a door slam. He rushes for the source…
Finding the closet he originally locked Isaiah inside of.
SULLY
Oh! Now you want to stay in there!?
ISAIAH
Go away! Just save yourself like you always do!
SULLY
I was saving you! Why couldn’t you just listen to me! Why, just one time! Just—
Sully begins to break down in tears.
ISAIAH
You never listen to me! I know more about them than anyone! I’m an expert!
SULLY
You’re just a child…
ISAIAH
I’m a worm! I’ve always been just like THEM! I didn’t want to be one!
SULLY
We can’t stay here…
ISAIAH
Go away!
SULLY
Isaiah, open the door, please…
ISAIAH
You don’t care! You never cared!
SULLY
Stop it!
ISAIAH
I HATE you!
Sully stops himself, allowing the words to bite as deep as intended.
SULLY
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I push you when I know it’s a mistake. Or when I don’t push you when I should. I don’t know what I’m doing. I never have. I never…
(formulating the right words)
I miss your mother. I miss the way she understood. I miss the way she spoke. Her voice. I wish you could’ve heard it. She would know what to do. She was everything you deserved. God, I…I couldn’t do this without her. And I hate myself, more than you do, for letting an accident bar me from even trying. I’m so, so imperfect for you. But from the first time you smiled at me, I’ve never stopped loving you.
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by Cameron Martin. Reason: Added secondary symbol. Or primary, depending on the point of view
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This reply was modified 3 years ago by
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Day 5: Subtext – Anita’s Symbols as Subtext
What I learned from this exercise: This helped me with a small dilemma I was having – how do I connect the dots between 3 characters when 2 of them have never met and don’t know each other (Cyrus, biological father to Harley – his daughter, unknown to him). Using the same symbol for the lab she works at and the DNA tests that reveal all the characters to each other was super helpful!
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
Beginning of Act Two:
Brilliant Harley graduates college early and is offered a prestigious job as a medical researcher in genetics with a big $$ Grant thru the DNA tracking company called ‘YourFamily’ – with the symbol of 3 stick figure people connected by their holding hands.
We see Harley working in this lab over the course of several scenes, locking the Company Logo (3 stick figures holding hands) into the audience’s mind. Here Harley displays the same cold ambition as her biological mother, exemplified by dispassionate experimentation and dissection of animals in the lab, and how her co-workers whisper behind her back about her cold detachment. One coworker (a guy) stands up for her – and later becomes her boyfriend.
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence
will cause an audience response.
Later in Act Two:
INT. CYRUS’ HOUSE – CHRISTMAS DAY
Cyrus’s wife gives the family (the 2 kids now in their young 20’s) each a genetic DNA kit as gifts. Cyrus looks nervous but agrees to take the test. The tests are from the ‘YourFamily’ Lab with the 3-person logo.
Later, Harley is able to access the Company database to find her biological parents there.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or
their situation. This is where a symbol is powerful.
This scene was already written, in Act Three:
INT. CYRUS’ HOUSE – NIGHT
Cyrus’s WIFE KAREN comes home, throws her keys on the hall table and picks up the mail.
Karen is delighted to see the 4 Fed-X type packets with the return address of ‘Your Family’ – the genetic DNA company Karen gifted her family with at Christmas.
She carries them into the living room, sits and tears hers open. She smiles at the report and sets it aside.
Karen then picks up her husband’s report and after a moment of consideration tears this one open too.
She begins scanning the results. She stops dead halfway through, her smile fading, shaking her head in denial.
We see what she does – the section titled:
IMMEDIATE KNOWN RELATIVES
Children: 3
KAREN
Well that’s a mistake!
Karen grabs the last two packets marked with her children’s names and quickly rips them open. She goes immediately to each report’s pertinent section and reads:
IMMEDIATE KNOWN RELATIVES
Siblings: 2
KAREN (CONT’D)
No, no, no, NO!
Karen jumps to her feet scattering the paperwork to the ground.
INT. CYRUS’ HOUSE – LATER THAT NIGHT
Cyrus comes home and throws his keys on the counter – echoing his wife’s moves earlier – he too scans the mail and tosses it back down, finding nothing of immediate importance.
Cyrus walks through the house into the mostly dark living room calling out as he goes.
CYRUS
Hey hon, I’m home!
He loosens his tie, flips on a light and goes to a sideboard to pour himself a drink.
Cyrus is startled to see his wife quietly sitting in a corner chair in the gloom.
CYRUS (CONT’D)
Oh hey! Didn’t see you there. Let me get you one of these too. We’re celebrating!
Cyrus pours a second tumbler of whiskey and walks it over to his wife.
Karen woodenly takes the offered drink. Cyrus is too revved up to notice her closed demeanor.
He lifts his drink in a toast.
CYRUS (CONT’D)
You’re looking at the next 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge! Babe, we’re off to <st1:place w:st=”on”><st1:city w:st=”on”>New Orleans</st1:city></st1:place>!
He’s beaming. Takes a large swallow.
Karen quietly puts her drink down without emotion.
KAREN
There is no more WE, Cyrus. WE are not celebrating. WE are not moving to <st1:place w:st=”on”><st1:city w:st=”on”>New Orleans</st1:city></st1:place>.
CYRUS (sputtering)
What are you talking about? This is what we’ve been working so hard for – all the campaigning and the hours of political schmoozing at those god-awful boring social events – all the sacrifice – it’s paid off babe! And who knows what this will lead to -I think I can go all the way –
KAREN
You can Cyrus. You can go all the way to hell.
She stands. He’s utterly confused.
Karen picks up the reports that have been on the coffee table, hands them to Cyrus.
He sets his drink down to look at them.
KAREN (CONT’D)
To be helpful, I’ve highlighted the pertinent parts.
The CHILDREN and SIBLINGS areas are highlighted.
So is the ‘YourFamily’ company logo – mocking him from the page.
CYRUS
I don’t understand – I thought – I mean –
KAREN
Genetics don’t lie Cyrus. You have had a child with another woman. So you can go to <st1:city w:st=”on”><st1:place w:st=”on”>New Orleans</st1:place></st1:city>, or go to hell. I don’t really care. But wherever you go, you will be going alone.
No longer able to hold in her seething rage she picks up her drink and throws it in Cyrus’ stunned face.
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Alice’s Symbol
What I learned, doing this assignment is I do have subtext, but I am shy to express it.
SYMBOL is set up by movie title
#1 PLANET [MIROPOLIS] #2 SEPARATION – two different though connected symbols
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
#1, the planet, is seen as a globe, with its two archipelagoes, West on the left, and Resort Area on the right, seen as a map with line tracing plane advancement, as Protagonist returns from weekend.
#2
OPENING SCENE:
‘Ongoing Experiment checking on how artificial nano-death works.’
LIFE STREAM moves ahead. Enclosed space. Current jumps over similarity of 3D objects. IT SNAPS. (Signal is Given.) Fork on its Way. Instead of ahead, LIFE STREAM turns left. Digitized Block walls move aside in symmetry, unveiling similarity of landscape. Life Stream gulfing into “open”.
QUESTION IN MALE VOIE(V.O.)
What new qualities did you acquire?
ANSWER IN FEMALE VOICE(V.O.)
I can move walls apart!
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence
will cause an audience response.
#1
INT. THANAKH’S APPARTMENT – NIGHT
Signal of Digital Clock on the wall, its disc white on the left and black on the right representing two Archipelagoes, to indicate global time.
ARTIFICIAL VOICE (O.S.)
TIME of MIROPOLIS has STOPED!
Arrows holt.
Thanakh worn out rests on the sofa. Awaken by signal, he glances at his wrist watch.
Digital Display with small window on top, showcasing Seconds and Minutes counting extra time.
Kiat didn’t call back.
#2
EXT. STREET PHONE BOOTH – DAY
Thanakh walks past long wall with slogan ‘WEST is ADVANTAGE. GET SEPARATION’ on it in huge letters.
At the start of slogan, huge photograph of smiling with assurance male is cut vertically on two equal parts.
Thanakh reaches phone booth, and dials his number.
RECEPTIONIST
ORGANIZATION. Officer in charge speaking.
THANAKH
This is Thanakh.
RECEPTIONIST
And what is your report?
THANAKH
No. I didn’t change my mind. I actually want ask you a question.
RECEPTIONIST
We don’t give answers for free. For the answer you need to pay back with report. Till next time!
Line disconnects.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or their situation. This is where a symbol is powerful.
#1
Part 2
OPENING SCENE
When second Archipelago gets destroyed, picture of globe, one sides darkens.
#2
Every next time someone separates, especially heroes, JUDGE, and SMC.
Two people separate at Part 1, and two at Part 2
Both parts end with it.
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DAY 5 Symbols as Subtext
Lisa’s Symbol
What I learned is that symbols can add meaning to the story and to the character’s journey.
BACKGROUND: Mary is divorced from Peter who gave her a necklace when they were first married. Mary never takes it off. Joseph is her current boyfriend who keeps proposing and she keeps saying it’s too soon since the divorce.
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
In a scene where Mary is talking to her friend Annie, Annie comments that Mary still wears the necklace that Peter gave her in the shape of an angel every day. Mary says it just means that she likes it.
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence
will cause an audience response.In a later scene, Mary dressed as Santa goes into the community center to put out a fire. As she enters the center her costume gets caught on the door frame. Mary has to tug and pull to get loose and the necklace clasp breaks and falls to the floor. Mary doesn’t realize it. After Mary helps to put out the fire, she’s busy relocating the events of the festival and hurries off. Joseph remains behind with Mary’s daughters.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or
their situation. This is where a symbol is powerful.In another scene, Mary realizes she’s lost the necklace and is heartbroken. She felt the angel protected her as Peter used to do. And when she runs into Peter, he secretly notices that she’s not wearing it any longer.
Near the end of the movie, Mary and Joseph are discussing their relationship and decide to break up. Before Joseph leaves, he hands Mary the necklace. He found it near the doorway after she left the center. Seeing the necklace again she realizes that she really loves Peter and runs to him.
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Anna Harper’s SYMBOL
What I learned from this assignment is; I love symbols, the exercise came at the perfect time to remind me of their importance. The work in progress, Old Buffalo Hospital, has many symbols throughout. It takes place in an aboriginal community. I have worked with indigenous people and built a business around symbols (Feng Shui) so I loved this exercise. Symbols are the subtext of the universe!
OLD BUFFALO HOSPITAL
BACKGROUND
SARAH WARWICK is a young single newly out of work mental health worker. She has a 5-year-old son Eli. Sarah is desperate to find work. The first encounter with the symbol is at the closing down of her place of work, Hearts and Hands Seniors Drop-In Centre.
INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL, EAGLE.
EXT.SUBURBAN RESIDENTIAL STREET/DAY
EXT.LARGE OLD HOUSE-DAY-ESTABLISHING
CHARLIE WUTNEY A noticeably elderly Aboriginal man approaches Sarah. Charlie opens a folded bandana he has in his hand, to reveal a silver eagle on a thin piece of deerskin leather.
CHARLIE
This is for you Sarah, it’s just a little something to say thank you. It belonged to my grandmother, she was a powerful medicine woman. Wear it when you need a little help. Then watch out for an eagle to show up.
Sarah hugs Charlie
SARAH
Thank you. It’s beautiful. Your grandmother’s? Are you sure Charlie? We don’t often get eagles here in the city, though we could sure use an eagle about now.
CHARLIE
Maybe it oughta be a horse? Had a dream about a horse last night. Couldn’t figure it out. Maybe it was the pickles I ate with my poutine. Maybe it was the poutine, too much gravy giving me wild horse dreams. This morning I had a brilliant breakfast, cold pizza, and coke, my fave eh Sarah? That caffeine fires up my old brain. Then I had this epiphany. You are going on a journey. That’s the meaning of the horse dream.
SARAH
I am going to miss you my friend and especially your stories. I’ll still be here in the city though, I am a city girl for sure Charlie. Maybe we’ll run into each other.
CHARLIE
No, I am going to stay with my sister. Heading out to Las Vegas on the Greyhound. Gonna play the slots, see some shows. And you are not going to be here either Sarah. My horse dream says you are going on a journey, a real big journey that is much more than going from one place to another. Look for eagles, Sarah.
Sarah hugs Charlie
BACKGROUND At the end of her witts with worry about finding a job, Sarah has very reluctantly taken a job in the Yukon bush, and now she is on her way to the hospital.
SCENE 2
SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY SO THE AUDIENCE WILL RESPOND
EXT.ESTABLISHING-DAY
EXT. AERIAL VIEW OF SARAH’S CAR ON A LONG ROAD THROUGH THE NORTHERN BUSH
INT.SARAH’S CAR-DAY
Sarah and Eli are singing the Skinnermeryrinky Dink song. Sarah is wearing the eagle talisman.
ELI
I’m tired Mom, and I need to go pee again.
Sarah
O.K. Give me a minute to find a good spot and pull over.
EXT. SARAH’S CAR-DAY
Sarah’s car rounds a sharp bend and comes to a sudden screeching halt. There are many buffalo (at least 50) on the road some lying on the road and some wandering around. One stops and looks right at Sarah.
SARAH.
Sarah screams, speaking fast, slamming on the brakes.
SARAH
Oh my God. Oh my God. We could have been killed, they are as big as a bus. What the F do I do now. Are they going to charge us? Maybe I should reverse. Oh Jesus..hold on Eli
Sarah roughly handles the car slams it into reverse, she starts to turn the car around throwing up lots of dust, and then slams on the brakes again. …
EXT.ROAD AROUND SARAH’S CAR-DAY
A motorbike roars alongside Sarah’s vehicle.
CODY JACK is a very handsome indigenous man, approximately mid 30’s, tall, well built. Wearing motorbike gear, with an eagle emblazoned across the back of the jacket.
ELI
An eagle! Look Mum!
CODY JACK
Good afternoon, nice day for a ride. The buffalo look happy. They must have had a good day of grazing and no one was shooting at them. Where are you headed?
SARAH
Oh my God. Thought we were done for, they are huge! I’m headed for Old Buffalo Hospital.
CODY
Yes, I thought so. You are Sarah, right on. Bonnie said you would be coming up the road. Nice to meet you. Looks like The buffalo are here to welcome you. An encounter with the buffalo means you are being welcomed.
SARAH
Really? Well that’s great. I’m just glad we haven’t been killed!
CODY
No worries Sarah. Follow behind me slowly. I’ll see you up across the bridge to the hospital.
Sarah moves her head to get a look at Cody’s jacket.
SARAH
Look Eli. There’s a huge eagle on his jacket. Eagles are good luck and blessings.
SARAH CONTD.
EXT. hospital ROAD-SARAH’S CAR and CODY’S BIKE-DAY
POV Follow the trip to the hospital. Car and bike pull up.
SARAH
Thank you so much for the escort. Who are you?
CODY
I’m the local expert on all things Old Buffalo, businessman, arranger of fun times, and man about town! It’s Cody Jack at your service, Miss Sarah.
SARAH
Thank you again. You probably saved us from death by Buffalo! I thought I would like to drive around the town first and get a look at the place.
ELI
I wanna go pee now Mom!
Sarah
O.K. There’s a perfectly good bush just here. I’ll come with you. Thanks Cody. We’ll be OK now, I can see the Hospital from here.
Sarah exits the car and walks toward Cody.
CODY
I can show you the way around the town if you like. Give you the full tour and expert commentary.
SARAH
You have been very helpful. Thank you so much. We’ll be OK It’s not that big of a place. I’m sure we will see each other again.
Cody stands a little closer to Sarah, she does not move, they don’t smile, or speak they look into each other’s eyes,
LONG BEAT
Then they both give each other little smiles. Cody mounts his bike and roars off.
SARAH
Well my God, what a start! I think I’m still in shock. O.K. if you are all done watering the grass, let’s go take a look at our new home and get something to eat.
ELI
I’m not hungry. I feel a bit like I’m going to throw up.
SARAH
O.K. let’s walk around in the fresh air for a bit.
ELI
Mom are you going to make me eat moose stew, Cause I will really get sick then.
SARAH
No, Eli, they have ordinary food here. I’m sure They have hamburgers and french fries in the hospital cafeteria, probably jello too.
ELI
OK, I’m alright now, only if I don’t have to eat a moose. Let’s go, I would like a hamburger and jello and french fries.
EXT.HOSPITAL ESTABLISHING-DAY
Eli shields his eyes and looks upward to the sky.
ELI
Look, Mum! It’s an eagle. Wow! Look at his huge wings, like a pterodactyl from Jurassic Park, he’s swooping like a kite!
SARAH
It’s a sign! Thank you eagle.
An eagle flies over the hospital building. Sarah and Eli are walking through the entrance doors.
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PS81 – Dana’s Symbol
What I learned from this assignment:
I couldn’t think of a symbol for my current script, so I returned to the script I wrote for the 30-Day Script class.
I introduced a badge as a symbol early in the story to identify my lead antagonist as an ex-cop, but I never considered using the badge to show my antagonist’s change. When I added the badge to the final scene, it created a strong message between characters that my dialogue could not capture.
I am now considering a symbol for my current script that will bring meaning to the end of the story.
Background
Frank and Jack are ex-police officers convicted of manslaughter. Jack holds onto hope to exonerate himself after being paroled, but Frank has left the past behind and intends to break parole and skip to Mexico for a new life.
This scene is when the audience first learns Jack is a police officer, when he opens a strong box at a security company and pulls out his gold badge.
In the final scene, Jack finally understands he not a cop anymore, that there’s no going back. He gives lays the badge on Frank’s body recognizing him as the better cop.
SCENE:
INT. SECURITY VAULT – DAY
It’s a warehouse of deposit boxes. Two men stand silhouetted against the light. One man opens a box while the other waits.
TWO KEYS are inserted into a lock and the door is opened.
The UNIFORMED GUARD draws the large box from inside.
Jack stands next to him carrying small flight bag. He follows the guard carrying the box.
INT. PRIVATE ROOM – DAY
The guard carries the box into the room and places it on the table. Frank follows him inside.
GUARD
There you are, sir. Once the door is closed, no-one can enter.
The guard steps out and closes the door.
Jack opens the box. He pulls out bundles of money and stuffs them into the flight bag. Fifty thousand or better. Next — a zippered gun case. He opens it and inspects the .45 automatic inside. Into the flight bag. Another gun case follows into the bag.
Jack hesitates when he spies what’s in the bottom of the box. He reaches in and pulls out —
A GOLD DETECTIVE’S BADGE
For a long beat, his thumb rubs the badge, remembering.
Jack stuffs it in the bag and zips up.
FINAL SCENE:
INT. RUSSIAN SOCIAL CLUB – NIGHT
CLOSE SHOT OF FRANK
His body laying on a bench, at peace. A gentle woman’s hand brushes a hair off his forehead.
OKSANA (O.S.)
Pupsick.
Oksana gazes down at Frank, sorrowed and tearful, but stiff upper lip.
OKSANA (CONT’D)
(in Russian)
Give rest, to thy servants with thy saints.
Oksana looks to Jack, standing across from her, and Simon a few feet behind. Her men are scattered through the club.
OKSANA (CONT’D)
We’ll give him a good Russian wake.
JACK
He’d like that.
Oksana looks past Jack at Simon.
OKSANA
Strange bedfellow.
JACK
He did for Frank.
Oksana nods her understanding.
Jack digs into his pocket and pulls out his gold badge. He stares at it long and hard, then PINS THE BADGE TO FRANK’S CHEST.
JACK (CONT’D)
Goodbye, brother.
Oksana signals her men and they cover Frank with a sheet.
She leads Jack to a table where a bottle of Russo-Baltique Vodka and two shot glasses sit. She pours two glasses and hands one to Frank.
OKSANA
And your friend?
Frank looks to Simon. Simon politely declines.
Oksana lifts her glass.
OKSANA (CONT’D)
Frank Valentino. A good friend.
JACK
An ever better cop.
They touch glasses and down the vodka.
Oksana unzips a small travel bag and hands Frank a passport.
OKSANA
The man who owned this doesn’t need it any more. And Mexican officials don’t check. But you should still grow your hair.
(handing him the bag)
Twenty thousand should get you to where you’re going.
Oksana and Jack share a silent moment, a last goodbye. Oksana kisses him on both cheeks.
OKSANA (CONT’D)
Goodbye, Jack Donovan.
Jack nods, looks to Simon, and they both leave.
Oksana watches another friend leave her life.
EXT. RUSSIAN SOCIAL CLUB – ALLEY – CONTINUOUS
Simon’s Mercedes is parked in back. Two Russians are guarding the car.
Simon and Frank leave through the back door. The Russians act like valets, holding the car doors open for them to get in.
INT./EXT. MERCEDES – CONTINUOUS
Simon starts the car. He looks to Jack. Jack nods, he’s ready to leave. The car drives off.
EXT. MERCEDES – MOVING – CONTINUOUS
Frank stares out the window, leaving his life behind.
CUT TO:
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ASSIGNMENT:
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KATES SYMBOL
What I learned doing this assignment is the symbol helped me to further hone the relationship between 2 characters, and gave Nia a great arc to and Kapow moment at the end. (NOTE: as well as seeing the dog in the scenes below he does appear a few her times.)
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
Luciana arrives at the town meeting with her Xolo (Mexican hairless) dog Hades – he is unusual, bold, fearless, and her companion. Most people are afraid of him.
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence will cause an audience response.
Luciana introduces her Hades to Nia at their first meeting – he immediately goes to her, something Luciana comments on. She tells her that these dogs were considered sacred by the Aztecs and the Mayans, both of whom believed that Xolotl had created them and granted them mystical powers to ward off evil spirits. In addition, it was believed the Xoloitzcuintli could serve as a guide to the underworld.
Nis remembers that her mother had such a dog.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or their situation.
Nia asks Luciana if she can borrow Hades to be on stage with her when she performs the final scene of the ‘play’ on the stage to let her father know she knows how Amahla (her Mother) died and why. Luciana tells her that she had given such a dog to Amahla. Darrogh has to accept that the game is over and Nia has won.
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Day 5 – Symbols As Subtext – Assignment
Mike O – Symbol
Create two scenes. The first scene introduces a symbol and sets its meaning powerfully (steps 1 and 2). The second scene can be later in the movie and it is the place where the symbol is used to cause or show change (step 3).
Follow these steps: Give us whatever background we need, then fill in each of these three steps.
1. INTRODUCE THE SYMBOL through its meaning early in the story.
2. SET ITS MEANING POWERFULLY enough so that just its presence will cause an audience response.
3. USE THE SYMBOL TO CAUSE OR SHOW CHANGE in the characters or their situation. This is where a symbol is powerful.
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INT. BEDROOM – EVENING
Brooklyn undresses, finds her flannel jamies and fuzzy house slippers.
As CAMERA PULLS BACK, we discover Brooklyn, besides being a creature of habit, is quite the interior decorator.
The room is warm and feminine: rich colors and textures transition into one another. Appealing. Tasteful.
She strides out of the room without out so much as a glance in the mirror. Inadvertently, she kicks the cat’s flickable, ping-pong ball.
Brooklyn watches it ROLL down the hall, mutters:
BROOKLYN “You’re safe, ping. Cat’s run off. Just you and me now. “
She walks down the hallway, stops, turns around and retrieves the ping-pong ball. Scarred, she turns it over in her palm, able to feel and see the teeth marks the cat inflicted.
BROOKLYN “It’s time you saw the Christmas tree and got into the holiday spirit. Nothing bad is going to happen, trust me. Cat’s gone.”
======SYMBOL’S IS INTRODUCED ABOVE MEANING IS SET BELOW ===========
Unwilling to face her fear, Brooklyn reaches for wine and the wedge of cheese on the cutting board. She inadvertently knocks the ping-pong ball off the coffee table.
Brooklyn COUNTS the number of times the ball bounces, watches it roll to the tree and STOP at the edge of the felt skirt.
BROOKLYN “Eight times (hits her) Eight days until Christmas, what are the odds?”
She coincidence makes her smile. She looks off, loses herself in the swirling antics of moth-sized snowflakes outside her window. Too many to count, she is instantly entranced.
=================== 20 pages later===============
INT. FATHER’S CABIN – NIGHT
Exhausted emotionally, Brooklyn sits at the breakfast table and stares out the picture window.
Pursing her lips, she reaches for her purse, accidentally knocking it over.
SLOW MOTION as it TOPPLES off the table.
SERIES OF SHOTS:
1. Car keys SPILL onto the floor.
2. Tube of lip gloss and hair ties follow.
3. Ping-pong ball BOUNCES away.
BACK TO SCENE
Ping-pong ball ROLLS across the room, comes to a stop under a bar stool.
BROOKLYN “Roll with it; that the message?”
With a SIGH, Brooklyn gathers up her stuff, retrieves the ball and returns it all to her purse.
=================== SCENE SHOWS THE CHANGE ===============
INT. FATHER’S CABIN – GREAT ROOM – NEXT EVENING
CLOSE ON dozens of Christmas bulbs, strands of colored lights, strings of popcorn, boughs of garland. Dripping tinsel, Brooklyn’s tree is to die for.
Brooklyn hands Tyler a small bulb.
BROOKLYN “Here, this one’s for you to put up.
Tyler makes a face.
TYLER “A ping-pong ball? (examines it) You painted a Christmas tree on one side and Frosty on the other.”
Tyler shows Brandon who nods and gives a thumbs up.
BROOKLYN “Silly ball was always rolling away. Figured if we give it a home and a purpose, it will stay put.
TYLER “Especially with this ornament hook you glued onto it.
Tyler finds a spot and hangs the bulb.
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