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Lesson 1
Reply to post your assignment.
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12 Replies
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Game of Thrones s1e1 5 Star Model
1. Big Picture Hooks
A exiled 20-yo and her useless brother seek to conquer the Five KingdomsWill an honest man survive the court politics
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character
The girl and her brother are living on the charity of strangers without power, money, or an army.Will naivety and honour be enough
3. Empathy / Distress
That she is being sold by her brother in exchange for assistance in conquering the Five Kingdoms.That Ned is not able to overcome Robert’s enemies
4. Layers / Open Loops
What will happen to the girl? How will she be treated by her new husband? How will her brother’s arrogance and stupidity harm their cause? Will she gain agency in this world?How will Sansa and Arya survive. Will the North have it’s revenge.
5. Inviting Obsession
What will her fate be? Will she find her dragons? Will she get her army?Will justice win through or will the evil Lannisters defeat the forces of good.
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Breaking Bad 5 Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is that I am going to have a lot more detail than a 2 hour feature film. It’s kind of like putting a novel or two into a forty to sixty hour series. Breaking Bad has 62 episodes, so the writers have lots of space to expound on the story whereas a feature film has to keep it pithy. I guess the feature film is a form that I have a bias towards since I grew up on them but series that are binge worthy are a totally different animal.
Big Picture Hooks
A chemistry teacher turned drug dealer
Intriguing Character
How will this underpaid chemistry teacher evolve into a meth dealer and will he succeed in earning the kind of money he wants to leave behind for his family?
He is proud of making the best product due to his chemistry skills.
Empathy / Distress
Suffering from cancer, wanting to leave wealth for his family after he’s gone, getting even with the couple who screwed him out of an invention when they were all younger.
Layers / Open Loops
His brother-in-law the DEA cop, the cartel rep. who owns the chicken restaurant chain, Saul his attorney, his marriage, his son, the greedy chemistry company lady.
Inviting Obsession
The love making scene at the end of the pilot transitions right into episode 2, brilliant, you can’t click off because you want to know what happens next and especially if you contrast this scene with the earlier scene where his wife is watching the end of her eBay offering while giving him birthday sex. Why the difference? It is because Walt feels empowered selling his illicit product because it makes a lot of money. He’s no longer a weak high school teacher making a low salary. He has empowered himself-morals aside-he has empowered himself. The audience then wants to know how this plays out.
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Mr Robot 5 Star Model
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?” An unreliable narrator with mental health issues might seem like a poor choice for a main character to carry a multi-season show (as opposed to a film) BUT if you do it right, with an actor who is so engaging you can’t look away and also charismatic and empathetic, and you create a word around them that is fascinating, it actually can work.
5 Star Points for Mr Robot:
*What is the big hook of this show? A vigilante hacker who suffers from delusions takes on the world’s biggest “Evil” Corp to save everyone, but most importantly his childhood love, from their predatory practices.
*What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting? Elliot is suffering from delusions (and other unnamed mental disorders), making him an unreliable narrator, but also he’s extremely sympathetic as we see him use his unique genius to act as a champion, taking down a child porn network, protecting his therapist—and a puppy!—and also deciding (albeit reluctantly) finally to risk everything to take up the fight against E-corp.
*What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character? We feel his aloneness—more than mere loneliness, his feeling of being “other” is so severe that he self-medicates with a carefully managed regimen of illegal drugs just to function. It’s both sad and distressing, especially when we see how hard he struggles to manage any social interaction at all only to be repeatedly misunderstood and rejected.
*What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season? Can Elliot actually take down Evil Corp? Will he destroy himself and/or Angela (his childhood friend/love) in the process? Who is Mr. Robot? Is any of this even happening or is it all—as Elliot himself fears—just another of his delusions?
*How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode? It combines mystery (Elliot’s mental health, the anonymous hacker collective, the sinister new E-Corp CTO) with thriller pacing, unique characters who are both heroic and vulnerable, and a fascinating world we haven’t seen before: vigilante hackers.
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Breaking Bad 5 Star Model
What I learned – seeing how the Five Star Model appears in this show makes it clearer how to bring that to my script
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Big Picture Hooks
</div><div>The outrageous premise (a high school chemistry teacher becomes a meth cook) coupled with the cancer diagnosis, the family’s financial issues and the question of how this will work out
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Amazing and Intriguing Character
Walt, an ordinary man, leaves his ordinary world late in life after having been diagnosed with lung cancer, and runs the risk of being found out or killed at any point. Can he keep his secret from his wife and his brother-in-law DEA agent?
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Jesse, Walt’s partner, while seemingly irresponsible and addicted to drugs, shows signs of being dependable and a competent ally despite his low-life persona
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Empathy / Distress
</div><div>His disease, his family condition, his vision for taking care of them, his distress at being caught (he thinks)
Layers / Open Loops
</div><div>Can a high school chemistry teacher actually succeed as a meth cook in the violent world of drug cartels before he dies of cancer</div><div>
Inviting Obsession
</div>It plants so many seeds for further discovery that you have to stick around and see how they turn out
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Working hard every day to become the best writer I cn be and as result I become the best writer in Hollywood.
What I learned from this exercise is how incredible and clear the beginning of Breaking bad is set up and how clear we and his fellow actors see Walter/
Module 1 – Lesson 1: What is a Binge Worthy Show?
ASSIGNMENT:
1. I picked Breaking Bad and since I am a big fan of the show and I felt this was my chance to really understand the setup for this whole show and how incredible and complete the character transformation becomes.
Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: The big hook of this show is taking a good man who leads a boring life and turning him into a ruthless drug lord.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: Walter is a Science teacher who leads an uninteresting and often ridiculed life by his family and his employer. He is a good teacher but boring. His students mock and disrespect him.
What makes the main characters intriguing and interesting in this series is the absolute transformation Walter goes through and the effect it has on those characters around him. Walter starts as someone who is ridiculed during his birthday party as boring by his own brother law to someone who is a ruthless, brilliant drug lord with millions of dollars and control over a vast criminal empire. His family and friends are dragged into his toxic world and as a result of his actions they pay the ultimate price.
Empathy / Distress
We feel for Walter because of the level of disrespect he receives from those in his life. The diagnoses of cancer he receives put his life and mortality in perspective for the first time. Walter can’t catch a break and the audience is pulling for him because of this. we are saddened by his plight. We also understand that as her sees his mortality slip away he decides to do what he has to leave his family well cared for. This is something every family member can relate to and emphasize with.
Layers / Open Loops
The biggest question we ask as an audience is what will he do to help his family after he is gone. Additional questions like how will he be able to pull off the meth production right under his family’s nose as well as his brother-in -law’s watchful gaze. How will he become a bigger than life player in a very dangerous world and what happens to those around him as he delves deeper into this deadly world.6. Inviting Obsession
As Walter and his partner amass great wealth, his problems mount even more. How does he hide this money and the criminal enterprise from prying eyes. He has finally achieved the level of respect he never had as teacher which spurs him on even more. Unfortunately, this cause emotional conflict between his true good self and the drug lord he has become, but he cannot walk away from it now. Even if he wanted to, the big players in the drug world will never let him.
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
The pilot brilliantly explores the faults in Walters life and what is completely wrong in Walter’s life that would drive him to make meth. We as an audience can see this and feel empathy for Walter and root for him. We see the scene at the drug house and how Walter is intrigued and unafraid. This is a side of Walter that we never saw coming. The audience wants to see what is next.
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Riverdale 5 Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is…alluding to character connections without spelling everything out is more fun for the viewer.
Big Picture Hooks: Was Jason’s death an accident or murder?
Amazing and Intriguing Character:Cheryl Blossom-only one who knows what happened on the boat w/Jason
Betty-appears innocent and perfect on the surface, but willing to defy her mother
Jason Blossom – dead, but did something awful before he died to Betty’s sister
Jughead/Narrator – his connections to the other characters not explained
Veronica Lodge – new girl at school w/NYC persona that’s very different from others in Riverdale
Archie Andrews – conflict with father over life path and shared secrets w/teacher Alice Cooper
Hermoine Lodge- what did her husband really do to be arrested and what did she know?
Fred Andrews – shared past with Hermoine, not yet revealed
Empathy / Distress
Cheryl Blossom- her twin brother died/she’s using his death to get attention/power
Betty-Likes a boy and it’s not reciprocated/she has to be perfect to be accepted by mom
Jason Blossom – he died/He hurt Polly
Jughead/Narrator – he is helping viewer understand the story/He’s been hurt by Archie at some point
Veronica Lodge – It’s hard being new girl at school/her dad was arrested, yet she stands by him
Archie Andrews – not living up to parent’s expectations is hard/he’s willing to keep secrets to protect himself
Hermoine Lodge- she’s experiencing fallout of her husband’s actions/she received delivery of cash, but why?
Fred Andrews – built a company and wants legacy to continue/he puts his own desires above his son’s interests.
Layers / Open Loops
Did Cheryl shoot Jason?
Who knows what really happened?
What did Veronica’s father do?
Will Archie and Ms. Grundy rekindle their fling?
Will Archie end up w/Betty or Veronica instead?
Inviting Obsession
Character relationships are intertwined and those are likely to unravel after Jason’s body is discovered revealing he was shot and the arrests will begin the next day.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by Mary Guinane.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
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BRIAN BULL – 5 Star Model
“What I learned from doing this assignment is…
By breaking down another show into beats and then applying the 5 Star Points I was able to dissect the show and get to the heart of it. It also gave me a few ideas for my own show. At first I thought there was no similarities between my show and this show but after this lesson it opened my eyes to a few possibilities.RIVERDALE
Light Outline of the Show
The Blossom Twins, Cheryl and Jason, go boating on the 4th of July. Cheryl comes back and Jason is presumed dead from drowning.Veronica and her mother move into town.
In the local diner Archie and Betty are eating when Veronica shows up to pick up her food. Archie is distracted by Veronica presence while Betty is talking. The school has assigned Betty to give Veronica a tour of the school the next day.
At school, Archie is with is football teammates. Betty is giving Veronica the tour. Kevin is gay beyond doubt. There’s something about Veronica’s dad we don’t know yet.
At the school assembly, we find out through flashbacks of Archie’s that he and the Music Teacher had an affair over summer.
Veronica’s mom and Archie’s dad, Fred Andrew’s, dated in high school.
Over the 4th of July, Archie and the Music Teacher heard “fireworks/gunshot” at 6am.
During cheerleading tryouts Veronica and Betty bond and make the squad despite Cheryl’s wishes. Veronica puts Cheryl in her place.
Football practice Archie is offered a varsity position.
Veronica confides in Betty she wants to be a better person than she was before moving here. Betty confides her sister, Polly, is in the mental hospital because of Jason Blossom turned on Polly, her mom broke Polly.
Archie/Betty/Veronica all agree to go to the dance together as friends.
At home, Betty challenges her mom regarding cheerleading.
Smithers, the Butler, gives Veronica’s mom a bag full of money which came from her ex-husband.
At the dance, Archie wants to meet the teacher for personal lessons. There is a LOVE TRIANGLE going on between Betty/Veronica/Archie with the Teacher on the outside looking-in.
At Cheryl’s after dance party, Veronica/Archie go into the closet and kiss. Betty leaves the party. All three are DISTRESSED!!!
Veronica goes home.
Archie goes to the diner and see Jughead. Jughead says just talk to Betty – like you should have with me. INTRIGUE!!!
Archie/Betty – Truth be Told – Archie is NOT IN LOVE with Betty.
Kevin and some guy go to the river and find Jason with a bullet in the forehead.
With the discovery of Jason the world has changed – shadows/secrets. Monday an autopsy, Tuesday an arrest.
END OF EPISODE
BIG PICTURE HOOK
Betty and Veronica both like Archie, however, Archie has feeling for the Music Teacher which is taboo.Jason Blossom didn’t drown but was shot in the forehead.
AMAZING and INTRIGUING CHARACTERS
ARCHIE
Has a muscular build.
Wants to be a songwriter.
Doesn’t really want to play football but he’s good at it.
Had an affair with the Music Teacher over the summer.
Has two adorable girls interested in him – Betty and Veronica.
BETTY
She’s in-love with Archie.
She’s an All-American girl, pretty, sweet and kind.
She’s friendly and appreciative.
She’s quick thinking.
She’s learning to stand-up for herself.
VERONICA
New girl in town.
Friendly and out-going.
Has a crush on Archie.
Speaks her mind and can be confrontational at times.
Goes after what she wants.
Sometimes loyal and sometimes not.
Wants to become a better person.
Cares for people/friends.EMPATHY / DISTRESS
ARCHIE – He has wants and desires like any high school boy. He wants to do the right thing but sometimes it conflicts with is desires. He wants the teacher but he knows it’s wrong, he will settle for Veronica but it will hurt Betty, he doesn’t want to play football but it will help him down the road.BETTY – She is so sweet but we’re afraid her heart is going to get broken by either Archie or Veronica or both.
VERONICA – She’s the new girl in town and is just trying to figure things out and make some friends but she makes some bad decisions which will hurt those she is trying to befriend.
LAYERS / OPEN LOOPS
What really happened to Jason Blossom now that we know he has a bullet to the head? Will Archie get together with the teacher? Will Archie start dating dating Betty or are they just going to be friends from now on? Will Archie date Veronica? What’s Jughead’s role in all this? What did Veronica’s dad do? What is the deal with Polly, Betty’s sister? Will Betty and Veronica remain friends?INVITING OBSESSION
How is this going to turn out for Archie/Betty/Veronica is the big question? -
ASSIGNMENT ONE: PRISON BREAK – 5 Star Model:
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
1) What is the big hook of this show?
2) What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?
3) What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?
Will Michael and his brother escape.
Will Michael even survive as other prisoners are already targeting him.
Will the truth come out as to who really killed the Vice President’s brother.
5) How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
We know that escaping from this maximum-security prison will take some work, luck, help and skill.
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Finally able to reply.
1. The Big Hook: Breaking Bad, Walt, An ordinary chemistry teacher learns he has cancer and decides to sell crystal meth, when his brother in law, a Drug enforcement agent allows him to do a ride along and Walt sees it is a fast way to make big money and leave his family taken care of financially as he approaches his own death.
2. Intriguing character and emotional hooks: Walt seems so mild mannered and somewhat milk toast, which he readily admits to, because he has always gone along with the crowd and never really rebelled or stood his ground. He is “good” kind, almost shy, and admits he has never done anything really with his life. But desperate to provide for his family he also falls into the most desperate world imaginable, drug lords and crystal meth production on the border of the US and Mexico. As the story progresses we see that he is a thinker, using his skills as a chemist. He rarely seems to care about his new business associate Jessie, who give him entry into this completely different world. He does not even seem to understand the politics of his decision. He is fastidious, calculating, and manipulative, to those he perceives as intellectually “stupid.” He is really smart intellectually, but has no street smarts. However he is courageous as things move forward as he faces most dangers with a kind of stubborn confrontation, as in, what can they do to him really, he’s already a deadman.
3. Jessie Pinkman, who is at the lowest street level of the trade, does understand so much more about the politics of the situation, but really does not have overview, nor does he want it. He just wants to be a small time criminal doing business in his drug neighborhoods with his friends and even lives like that old phrase from Bob Dylan, “to live outside the law you must be honest.” His intrigue is that he is even ethical in his pursuit of that kind of living, paying his dues, having boundaries, no child killers or killings, with a kind of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid sort of rebellion. That comes from his family of origin’s shadow side. So like the old movie Saving Grace, there is a line in the drug world that once past enters an oblivion of hells, going ever lower and deeper, till all that is left is a bunch of machos like crazed roosters sticking out their chests and screaming that they own their little piece of turf. Each drug level has its norms and rules of killing, or being killed. Jessie is the gateway character to that underworld. But because he has middle class roots he is not really ready for what he will soon find there either. He is a kind of noble innocent bad guy, able to distinguish right from wrong but unable to choose wisely. He also has been rejected by the regular business community which does not hold any options that really will ever interest him.
4. Inviting Obsession, so with these emotional hooks, and intriguing characters and this desperate situation for everyone all around, this strong admixture of middle class values, “everything for family” and underworld lack of values, but still including the “everything for the family” motif. But this is like the Mafia, kill or be killed, obey or be destroyed. So it creates an enormous curiosity about how all this will ever be resolved. It is the impossibility of any resolution that makes this a real tv addiction. LOL All puns intended.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by C Holmes.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by C Holmes.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
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Mr. Robot 5 Star Model
“What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
Keep the 5 Star Model in front of you just so you honor and answer those
questions. When you look for it it’s right before you. Not to mention I watched a show I really didn’t care for, but it has me wanting to know….
Big Picture Hooks
Immediately I wanted to know why he was calling out the guy in the coffee shop. Was it money?
Quickly it was acknowledged it wasn’t for money it was just because he could.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Elliot has a plethora of flaws mainly emotionally and mentally. It seems he never realizes the level of intelligence that he is at. He is being treated for schizophrenia and he is always paranoid. It did seem in the most unlikely places all eyes were on him. Being unpredictable makes us wonder what he’s capable of. Out in the real world on the streets he is like any other guy of his age. Behind closed doors he has deep emotional scars. His father died and his mom wasn’t very kind. His intelligence is lightning and a bottle. Most people in society conform to the norm with pre-programmed responses and never step outside that box. Elliott can and will any time he wants.
Empathy / Distress
In some ways you feel sorry for them and in other ways you worry about him. He
clearly roots for the underdog and goes to bat for the girl I believe he’s in
love with. But he doesn’t feel good enough for her. He smarter than the norm
and always seems to be one step ahead of everyone else. When asked a question
He seems to figure out the answer that he knows the person wants to hear yet
still has the ability to mentally think of the answer he would like to say.Layers / Open Loops
1. What was the objective for planting what they did in the CEOs computer?
2. Elliott has passed several tests, but is he just simply a pawn or a piece to
a bigger game?3. Will Mr. Robot’s group be something that Elliott will be heavily involved
with or will he constantly battle them from the other side of the fence?
4. What’s up with Elliot Angela? Is there a future?
5. Will Elliott realize the magnitude of what he’s done and any effects it will have?
Inviting Obsession
Something this complex cannot be told in one or two episodes let alone one or two seasons. This is an extremely calculated well-thought-out show. The
blueprint has been drawn, the foundation before us and they will build it.-
This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by James Ace Chapman. Reason: errors
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This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by
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Lesson 1: What is a Binge Worthy Show?
1. I picked the pilot for The Handmaid’s Tale.
2. 5 Star Points
1. Big Picture Hook: A woman struggling to survive in “a dystopia wherein a theocratic totalitarian society subjects fertile women called “handmaids” to child-bearing slavery” (to paraphrase Wikipedia).
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character: The story follows Offred (birth name June), a young woman whose husband was killed and her daughter taken away after an attempted escape, and who has been confined to a role as “handmaid”.
3. Offred evokes empathy and displays distress because of her struggles to survive in this abusive society, and because she clearly resents the oppression she lives under and desires a better life.
4. Layers/Open Loops: What kind of life did Offred/June have before? How did this society come into being? How will her relationships with her oppressors, her fellow handmaids, and a possible romantic interest evolve? How will she overcome the obstacles she faces?
5. Inviting Obsession: Offred’s stakes are very high (life or death) and the suspense and paranoid atmosphere are intense.
3. I not only watched the pilot a second time, but I downloaded the script to analyze the differences between the original writing and the finished production.
4. What I learned doing this assignment is: I noted how the character was introduced in an action scene that represented her central conflict; how flashbacks were used to show how things have changed; how her relationships with both her oppressors and her fellow handmaids were developed; how life and death threats arose in the society; and how the story was developed between scenes of individual conflict and scenes representing the broader life of the community.
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I learned from this assignment that in the pilot of ‘Revenge’, there is a cocktail of delicious story appetisers served in quarter portions. To be more specific, they are:-
1. Big Picture Hook: In the pilot, we meet a beautiful young woman intent on taking revenge for her father’s betrayal, which occurred when she was a small child. The event led to his being jailed and ultimate death. The story is compelling because she has a dual identity of a sweet carapace covering a ruthless true self. She is an anti-hero with an unwavering commitment to avenging her father. The pilot holds its audience with a compelling premise of justice, betrayal, and revenge, as the title suggests. We are not told why. The central hook is enhanced by the underling taking on the wealthy and powerful elite of the Hamptons. It gives an intriguing mix of suspense and drama and the satisfying notion of the underdog challenging the status of the affluent class. It is a story of Samson taking on Goliath.
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character: In the present, we meet characters involved in her father’s past and gain insight using flashbacks as to their role in the conspiracy that created her father’s downfall. The information is given sparingly, like pieces of a jigsaw being pulled together, and a picture slowly emerges of what has engendered her anger and desire for revenge. We become increasingly intrigued as she begins to act out her plan. Our interest is maintained and heightened as we are progressively pulled further and further into the story.
3. Empathy / Distress: In several scenes, we witness her suffering as a child, where she changes from having an idyllic childhood to becoming a jailed juvenile delinquent. We sense her pain and empathise with her trauma.
4. Layers / Open Loops: By judiciously only slowly releasing the reveals so that each new piece of information merely begets a further question, the audience is constantly left with open loops that engender even more devotion to seeing the whole series.
5. Inviting Obsession: By the end of the pilot, the audience develops a strong emotional attachment to the underdog protagonist, which transfixes us to her journey. A complex web of relationships bound into non-linear storytelling puzzles the audience and compels them to anxiously await a positive outcome.
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