Day 8 Assignments

[Janeen Johnson]

Janeen’s Show Mysteries: Assignments 1 & 2

What I learned doing this assignment is more details emerge as I answer these questions and vague ideas for suspense and cliffhangers and clues become lists of things I have to weave into the episodes of the show.

Assignment 1

Big Little Lies Mysteries

Big Picture Mysteries:

1. Who is Ziggy’s father? (Jane’s rapist)

2. Will Jane kill him when she finds out who he is?

3. Who was killed at the school event and why and by whom?

Smaller Mysteries:

1. Who attacked Annabelle?

2. Why is Jane so secretive?

3. Why is Madeline so jealous of Bonnie?

4. Why is Madeline so set on doing the play the committee thinks is “not for kids”?

Assignment 2 — My Binge Worthy show

Mystery 1 — Shocking Event Mystery

A. Shocking Event: Molly dies in a pickup/train crash believed to be a suicide

B. Secret: She was leaving her abusive husband and he was chasing her and she was petrified and didn’t see the train.

C. Investigation: They found the note, typed up on her computer in one of her files, under her user ID. It was up on the screen when the investigators got to the house. No tracks indicating she was trying to slow down. Terrible accident that was found to be a suicide.

D. Investigation:

Who was killed: Molly, Jim’s husband, friend of Mike and Mindy’s

What: was she doing? Trying to escape from her abusive husband — she had planned to leave him and was heading away when she hit the train

When: 6 months before the show starts

Where: On a road leading from the Jim and Mike’s farms to town

How: Her car, no sign of braking, rammed into the side of a train engine at high speed.

Who did it? Her husband was chasing her and she knew he would kill her if he caught her so she was so focused on him that she didn’t see the train.

Why did he do it? Because she was leaving him and he thought it was for Mike who had been her high school boyfriend and who had been talking to her a lot lately — to try to talk her into leaving Jim, not an affair.

E. Part Withheld: Jim typed up the suicide note after the death, had known she was planning to leave him and had made her private files accessible to him so he could see what she was up to.

Mystery 2: Over Time Mystery:

Cover up: Cara doesn’t tell anyone that she thinks her Silva work may have caused them to crash — she wanted Mindy’s life and had been in love with Mike in college before he met Mindy and fell head over heels. She doesn’t tell anyone. Jim doesn’t tell anyone that he had drained their brake by hitting it from underneath with a rock so it will look like an accident if anyone figures out there was no brake fluid in the wreckage. <div>

Secret: 1. Cara was in love with Mike before he met Mindy. 2. Cara is reluctant to use her Silva because she knows it works — too well — or at least she is pretty sure that’s what happened to Mike and Mindy. 3. Jim’s son saw his dad messing with the car, but doesn’t say anything.

Reveals:

1. Cara tells her work friend about her Mike/Mindy history before she gets the news of their death and the friend remembered and asks “Isn’t that the one….”.

2. Jim’s son is very troubled and finally confronts his dad at the end of the season. — cliffhanger.

3. Mike told Randy that the reason Cara never came to the farm was because he had told her so much about his relationship with Molly when they had hung out that first semester — before he met Mindy. He had never dated Cara — well, he didn’t think they were dates.

4. Jim’s son gives his little brother an envelope to hide that explains what he saw in case his dad kills him.

5. Jim has always suspected he might be Mike’s son because Molly rebounded to him so quickly after the formal breakup.

6. Mike had always been nice to the kid because Jim was so mean to him, not because it was his kid.

Investigation:

Who: Mike and Mindy are killed

What: They run into a train without even trying to stop — or so it looks — no skid marks

When: The opening scene of the show, but after feeling something bad will happen in Mindy’s Silva work..

Where: The same crossing where Molly died

Parts Withheld:

How: Broke the brake line so it would look like natural damage, not sabotage

Why: Because Jim is insane with hate, jealousy and grief

Who did it: Jim

Also withheld:

Jim’s handiwork

Jim’s son seeing it

Jim’s reasons for treating his older son so badly

Jim’s accusations to Mike and Mindy about their role in Molly’s death

Jim’s growing anger since Molly’s death

</div>

[Sharon Scherle]

Jean’s Show Mysteries: Assignment 1 & 2

What I learned doing this assignment is that like the other lessons, it’s important to brainstorm how the show can create mystery. It needs to be planned beforehand for me to be able to weave in clues starting from the pilot.

Assignment 1:

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

A. Shocking Event: Stefan reveals to Elana he’s a vampire.

B. Secret: Mayor Lockwood, Sheriff Forbes, and Logan Fell have got the watch invention from the original Gilbert that can find vampires.

C. Investigation:

Who: Elana wants details from Stefan. It all started with Katherine Pearce in 1864.

What: Stefan wants Elana to trust him.

Where: Stefan takes Elana to his families original
home.

When: He’s been 17 since 1864.

Why. Katherine used both the Salvatore brothers. She wanted both of them.

How:
Katherine compelled both brothers.

Part Withheld: Damon really loved
Katherine. Stefan made Damon drink blood to complete the process of
turning because he didn’t want to be alone.

<div>

A. Cover-up: Mystic Falls was infested with vampires in 1864 and the founding fathers killed them all.

</div>B. Secret: The town council all know
about Mystic Falls past and now plan to kill the vampires now in Mystic
Falls. The rest of the town remains clueless.

C. Reveals:

Who: The Salvatore brothers signed the original Founding Fathers declaration. The town council have the Gilbert watch
to track vampires.

What: Damon is careless with his kills.

Where: Mystic Falls is a center for the paranormal: vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids.

When: The town council figure out the latest killings are from a vampire.

Why: More bodies are found with the tell-tale
bite marks.

How: The council has the journals from the past that they use to figure out how to kill vampires. They shoot wooden
bullets.

Part Withheld: The vampires from 1864 survived and are stuck in a cave below the original church ruins. Katherine escaped
and has been out in the world all that time.

Assignment 2:

THE VAULT

A. Shocking Event: Sharra is attacked and a man from 1825 shows up to investigate.

B. Secret: What is Vault Agency, why do they want to recruit
Sharra, and why is someone trying to stop her?

C. Investigation:

Who are: Lazarus and Tanner, the Wolfe?

What: is the real purpose of Vault Agency and its agents.

What is it with the strange property of their tattoos and Vault
logo and Sharra’s physical reaction to it?
When: are they from? They can time travel.

Where: is the Vault located. Where does,
Faolan, Tanner, Lazarus, and Sharra last vanish to?

Why: Why is Faolan avoiding others from the Vault?
Why is Sharra so important to Lazarus?

How: Lazarus from the future left Lazarus from
the present a note to recruit Sharra.

Part Withheld: Sharra’s brother is behind
Sharra’s attacks, and he’s conned his way into finding out the secret to
time travel.

A. Cover-up: Everyone thinks the Vault is a
thing/place when in reality, it’s an entity, and it’s dying.

B. Secret: Who knows and what does Sharra have to do with it?

C. Reveals:

Who knows: Only Lazarus and Faolan, but Sharra finds out because it needs her to.

What does it want: It feeds off the electromagnetic energy from humans and is slowly starving because the numbers at the Vault have significantly dropped.

Where does Grayson fit into things: Grayson
unknowing is part of its plan – the catalyst to push Sharra to discover its
true nature.

When: They are in a time loop that revolves around
Sharra’s family, and can’t get fixed until the Vault has more energy to
break free from it.

Why haven’t they told anyone else: Full disclosure before assimilation is a lie. Everyone has been deceived and it’s why
Faolan left.

How: All those who joined have one thing in
common – they’ve all experienced tragedy that has scarred them for life, a
procurer to being accepted by the alien life-force because it creates
stronger electromagnetic energy.

Part Withheld: The Vault is in the 4^th
dimension and is an alien force. The agrylium infused into their brain is a part of the alien. The Vault has chosen Sharra due to her empathic nature to be its advocate for survival. If it dies, all those connected to it will die too.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by  Sharon Scherle.

[Rob Sutherland]

Rob’s Show Mysteries

Doing this assignment I learned that every episode has a carefully curated mix of previous mysteries being deepened, new mysteries being created, and some mysteries being resolved with new revelations. Mixing new mysteries with some previous questions being answered encourages us to keep watching to find out more; as well as new challenges we also get little hits of “success” along the way to make the chase worthwhile.

Assignment 1: Mysteries in “The Vampire Diaries”, as at Episode 8

Smaller mysteries / new revelations:

What is the disembodied voice and the presence stalking Stefan at the beginning of Episode 8. It is Lexi, an old vampire friend

Lexi is more powerful than Damon because she is older, but she drinks blood from the Blood Bank, not from live humans. Stefan refuses to do this out of fear that this will lead to “addiction”, loss of control.

Big picture mysteries:

Will Elena and Stefan get together in a lasting relationship?

Will Damon turn good? Will Stefan defeat him or be defeated by him?

Who is Katherine, the vampire who turned Stefan and Damon into vampires, and what is her connection with Elena? Is she just a lookalike, a reincarnation, or is Elena a vampire herself without knowing it? Where is Katherine now? Is she still alive? Where has she been since?

Who is Bonnie and what are her powers? What is her talisman / pendant really for and where did it come from?

What are the rings that Stefan and Damon have which protect them from daylight, and why are there only two of them? Who made them and how?

What did Damon really do to Jeremy in “taking away his suffering” and causing him to study, etc?

What is Damon’s “diabolical plan” and how do killing Lexi, “curing” Jeremy, tormenting Stefan and sharing Vervain with the Council fit into it?

What is the “Council” and how did they find out about vampires?

In relation to Bonnie’s dream, what is “coming”?

Assignment 2: Mysteries in “Mirage”

Mystery 1: Shocking Event Mystery

A. Shocking Event: Julia is attacked by a demon and rescued by David

B. Secret: Who is David / The Mirage and how does he know so much about demons? How can he see them hiding amongst humanity?

Demons are at large and trying to kill Julia

C. Investigation: The audience is set up to find out who David is

Who: David / The Mirage is an ancient spirit

What: The Mirage hides secretly among mortals and fights evil, seeking a way to become human

When: He cannot remember his past beyond the last few hundred years

Where: Throughout history he has lived all over the world

Why: David is weary of immortality and seeks to find peace in a limited human life

Ultimate reveal 1: David was once human but his spirit became severed from his body as a result of a huge trauma.

Ultimate Reveal 2: David betrayed his wife and family, resulting in their death, which was the trauma that brought into being the demons who hunt him.

Mystery 2: Over time mystery: who are the demons and why are they trying to kill Julia?

A. Cover Up: David is made out to be the only one who can see through the demons’ human disguises. He can see them and hunt them.

B. Secret: The demon leader is using the skull of the human being David once was as a mask / disguise, so David cannot see through his human disguise as he can with other demons. Only Julia can.

C. Reveals:

Who: Demons are trying to kill Julia. David is the only one who can stop them.

Missing:

What: David’s own skull is a disguise he cannot see through – because we are always better at seeing other people than we are at seeing ourselves.

When: The demon leader found the skull centuries ago and took it to “hide” within it.

Where: The skull was encased in a tomb in an ancient catacombs.

Why: The skull is a disguise that David cannot see through, so the demon leader can hide from him, appearing as a normal human to his supernatural sight.

How: David comes across a riddle: “Your enemy hides in you.” He wonders at the meaning until it is revealed that his enemy, a demon is hiding inside a piece of his own physical body.

Ultimate Reveal: “Your enemy hides within you” is more literal than David realises – when he learns of his ancient betrayal of his family and that he is the source of the demons.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by  Rob Sutherland.

[Gloria Katch]

Bingeworthy TV, Lesson 8: Inviting Obsession

What I learned during this assignment was: To try and fit in a mystery or secret to spice things up. I looked to the wound first to just pick the most immediate/obvious thing to find. I will probably have to dig deeper and have yet to figure out how it will be spaced out and revealed for the most impact.

Assignment 1; Big Little Lies – The 8^th episode is the last one in the first season and solves the big mystery that’s run the entire season about who raped Jane. It turns out to be Celeste’s husband Perry. Celeste manages to get away from her husband and goes to the costume party. When he tries to talk to her in private, she refuses. A fight ensues and the women (Madeline, Jane and Celeste_try to stop Perry from dragging her away and Bonnie, Ed’s wife sees it and charges at him, knocking him down the cement stairs, where he hits his head and dies.

That is the first time Jane, who is fairly new to the town, saw Celeste’s husband and recognizes him as the guy she dated and the guy who raped her.

So, there are a lot of mysteries surrounding why Perry had an affair when he seems so in love with Celeste? Why did Bonnie go into a rage and push him so hard? We know little about her past that’s a secret. We know she was in some trouble previously.

At the end of season one, we discover Madelaine had an affair and we wonder if she will resume it? We don’t know why exactly?

What is it in Celeste’s past that allows her to stay married to Perry this long when he was so abusive? Celeste’s mother-in-law is interested in speaking to the police and telling them that Celeste was planning to leave her son and has a son by another women etc. This could be problematic for a lot of people.

Renatta’s husband made some shady financial dealings and lost a lot of money? What did he do exactly and how will this affect their marriage?

Assignment 2: Part 1 – The Shocking Event

A. Perhaps, the shocking Event is that even though Stuart is diagnosed with M.S. – maybe the diagnosis is wrong.

B. The doctor is an alcoholic and he read the lab reports and made a wrong diagnosis, except that he doesn’t know it and wouldn’t admit to it if he did.

C. Investigation: Perhaps, Stuart has a friend look at his lab reports later on figures that he has something else wrong with him. It could also be that the gets a bad reaction from taking the wrong drugs.

4. WHO: His doctor

What: Wrong diagnosis

When: When Stuart first goes to the hospital

Where: At the hospital in one of the rooms

Why: doctor’s overstressed and has too many patients from emergency that weekend.

How: Mix-up at the hospital. Wrong blood work.

Part withheld: Stuart has Muscular Dystrophy instead or some other similar auto-immune disease that isn’t as bad, or perhaps life-threatening or worse for his goals in life. (However, this is a comedy, so I don’t want it to end in a tragedy or become depressing.)

Part 2, The Over Time Mystery

A. The cover up: Stuart’s wife has an affair with Frank.

B. The secret is that she had an affair earlier — long before Frank’s wife died.

C. Someone Frank knows from university who lives out of town runs into him after 20 years and mentions he saw his wife and Frank having dinner in another city, when Stuart was on a conference. He thought his wife was home.

D. WHO: His wife.

What: Her affair

When: It started 10 years earlier

Why: Stuart has been married to his work and doesn’t give her enough attention. Frank was no longer attracted to his wife. She had trouble with her plumbing after three children.

How: They got drunk at a neighborhood party. It was easy to be seen together because everyone knew the two couples were friends.

Part withheld: The length of times they had been together. Perhaps, his wife got pregnant at 41 and had to get an abortion, because she felt too old to have another child or didn’t want Stuart to get suspicious.

[r. reid jr]

Ron’s Show Mysteries: Assignment 1 & 2

What I learned doing this assignment Is that this approach gave me a lot of things in the story and plot I can spread out but have a plot the audience will want to follow and be amazed as things are slowly revealed. Very applicable to my story writing.

ASSIGNMENT 1: Show Lost

Bigger mysteries: stranded people believing commonly that they will be rescued.

TWISTS AND TURNS

Jack-on the surface he doesn’t have faith easily. And the mystery of this is revealed slowly with flashbacks. And numerous people have approached him about changing but that was only known if you watch the flashbacks as he had set back after set back with family and then with patients who didn’t return to good health.

GROUP VS INDIVIDUAL

As groups of people survey the island the discover and see many things.

Even in SMALL GROUPS there are mysteries of what is a sealed room doing in the middle of the jungle and each person has a mysterious reaction or way they handle those mysteries.

INDIVIDUAL

Each person reflects on what they are seeing and we get glimpses of their thinking “now” behavior that came from flashbacks we see in vignettes/small flashbacks.

SUMMARY EFFECT on STORY

The stories are simple on the island but as people react, interact with danger and each other in new situations we see the need to establish a surface characters and did down for him or her or them later in the story to add more or reveal more and more layers as things go on in the series.

All of the Watch the next episode of your Example Show and focus on the mysteries that have been created in that show. Also, notice the difference between the big picture mysteries that are a big part of the plot across the entire season versus the smaller mysteries.

Tell us about the mysteries from this show.

Deadline: 24 hours

ASSIGNMENT 2:

Show#1 : SIGMA 2619

PREMISE: HUMANOID ALIEN IS TASKS WITH RETRIEVING SOME TECH THAT WAS STOLEN BY HIS EMPLOYER OR HIS FAMILY/PLANET WILL BE KILLED/SUFFER.

Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.

1. Create your Shocking Events Mystery

THE MYSTERIOUS BANK ROBBERY BY PEOPLE WHO DON’T HAVE ANY MEMORY OF CARRYING IT OUT. AND THEN THE ATTACK OF MAN IN THE PARK AND HIS MEMORY DISAPPEARING

• A. Cover up: SPECIAL AGENTS DISPATCHED RATHER THAN LOCAL POLICE OR FBI.

• B. Secret: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN AND CAN ANYONE PREDICT WHEN SHE WILL STRIKE NEXT.

• C. Reveals: THAT PEOPLE COMMITTING CRIMES DON’T KNOW THEY ARE DOING ANYTHING WHEN THEY SUDDENLY WAKE UP OR OUT OF A TRANCE.

• WHO IS BEHIND EVERYTHING? WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT AFTER THE ATTACK IN THE PARK? WHERE WILL THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN STRIKE NEXT? WHEN WILL THE ALIEN AND AGENTS WORK TOGETHER? WHY ARE PEOPLE BEING USED? and How WILL THE ALIEN SOLVE THESE MYSTERIES WITH THE HELP OF THE AGENTS OR GO IT ALONE?

• Part Withheld: THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN AND THE ALIEN WHO CAN’T REMEMBER HER.

2. Create the Over Time Mystery

• A. Shocking Event: THE PEOPLE WHO ARE UNDER THE SPELL OF THIS TECH ARE COMPELLED TO CARRY OUT ROBBERIES AND OR MURDERS. BUT THE MYSTERY IS WHY AND HOW ARE THEY AT ALL CONNECTED.

• B. Secret: WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN BEHIND THE THEFT OF THE TECH?

• C. Investigation: THE SPECIAL TASK FORCE OF 2 AGENTS EACH BRING THEIR OWN BAGGAGE AND AMBITIONS TOWARD THIS JOB.

• WWWWW and How:

WHO-IS THE ALIEN SENT TO GET THE TECH AND WHO IS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN? WHAT DOES THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN WANT? WHO OWNS THE TECH? WHERE DID IT COME FROM? WHY IS THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN USING IT? HOW WILL THE HUMANOID ALIEN GET THIS TECH BACK FROM THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN AND HOW CAN HE TRUST THE AGENTS OR SHOULD HE TRUST THE AGENTS?

• Part Withheld: THE MOTIVE OF THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN AND DO HER AND THE ALIEN ACTUALLY KNOW EACH OTHER? **I WAS THINKING OF HAVING PART OF THE ALIEN’S MEMORY BE A LITTLE BIT FOGGY.

Show #2 THE KIDNAPPING OF CASEY K

Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.

1. Create your Shocking Event Mystery- and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.

• A. Shocking Event: THE KIDNAPPING OF THE CENTRAL LIFE OF THE PARTY FROM HIS OWN PARTY.

• B. Secret: WHY WAS HER KIDNAPPED.

• C. Investigation: A GROUP OF HIS MISFITS AND FRIENDS TRY AND LOCATE HIM BEFORE SOMETHING CAN HAPPEN.

• WHO KIDNAPPED HIM? WHAT DO THEY WANT? MONEY, POWER OR LEVERAGE? WHERE ARE THEY GOING TO LOOK FOR HIM FIRST? WHY SHOULD THEY WORK TOGETHER? WHEN WILL THEY FIND HIM-IN A WEEK OR A FEW DAYS? and How WILL THEY DO IT WHEN THEY CAN’T STAND EACH OTHER AND ARE MOSTLY STRANGERS?

• Part Withheld: THE MOTIVE FOR THE KIDNAPPING.

2. Create the Over Time Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.

• A. Cover up: SECRETS OF THE CHARACTERS AS THEY COOPERATE WITH EACH OTHER.

• B. Secret: EVERYONE WHO HELPS IS HOLDING SOMETHING BACK

• C. Reveals: THE REAL REASON PEOPLE ARE HELPING TO LOOK FOR CASEY K.

• WHY IS CASEY SO IMPORTANT TO FIND? WHO KIDNAPPED HIM AND WHAT IS THEIR LONG TERM PLANS? WHEN WILL OTHER PEOPLE’S SECRETS BE REVEALED? WHERE SHOULD THEY START FIRST? and How WILL THEY RECRUIT PEOPLE TO WORK TOGETHER OR SHOULD THEY WORK ALONE?

• Part Withheld: CASEY’S PAST RATHER THAN THOSE HELPING HIM.