Lesson 10

[Timothy Barley]

Tim’s lesson 10

[Raz Ray]

Subject Line: Raz Ray Level 1 Emotions.

What I learned from doing this assignment? I knew that when writing these kinds of scenes of anxiety, fear, and relief, you will also experience them as you write. If you wrote them, the audience can feel them as well.

Anxiety: The hero enters the tiny time capsule with the snake in her hand and shuts the door. Her Mentor activates the time capsule. MENTOR: “Our enemies have already stormed the Monastery, and they are here to kill us any minute, so we don’t have much time. I’ll activate the time capsule, and you’ll be transported 400 years into the future. There, you’ll meet powerful beings ready to help you. Good luck; the future awaits you”. The Mentor turns on the machine, and in a flash of light, I have disappeared and reappeared in another place and a scarier predicament worse than the last. My metal time capsule has disappeared, and I am stranded in mid-air, falling thousands of feet towards a rock-hard Earth.

Fear: The fear of falling has my eyes opened and closed, my jaw tight, and my heart rate pumping crazy. This is how I die. Suddenly, I fall through a swarm of black and purple bugs in the air, and they immediately latch onto my body. Millions of bugs have now covered my body like a cocoon and are slowing my acceleration towards my ending.

Relief: Right before my body splattered into the ground, the velocity of my fall had changed, and I was now hovering 6 feet above the ground, my whole body covered in insects except for my face. I am breathing fast, but my heart rate is slowing down. I realized my life had been saved by something unusual.

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[David Halligan]

Dave’s Level 1 Action Emotions

What I learned doing this assignment:

I like this story a little more with every lesson.

Outline a scene that includes Anxiety, Fear, and Relief. This scene is at the midpoint.

– A deliveryman pushes his wobbly Brass Era motorcycle to the command center where other drivers have various problems with their vehicles making them unable to complete their rounds.

– The Hero worries that he will lose his business. He is not his usual cheery self until a picture of his ex snaps him out of it.

– He preps himself to hit the road. (Think: Aragorn arming himself before the Battle of Helm’s Deep. Add a stirring orchestral score.)

EXT. QUAINT VILLAGE – COMMAND CENTER – DAY

A weary deliveryman pushes his wobbly Brass Era motorbike toward the command center garage where he finds other drivers having similar trouble with their vehicles. It looks like a triage scene from “M.A.S.H.”

INT. COMMAND CENTER OFFICE – DAY

A huge village map is awash with tiny blinking red lights indicating undelivered goods.

The hero wheels his desk chair around the office as one antique phone after another rings and jiggles on its hook.

HERO

Please hold on. Please hold on.

His pet parrot squawks in desperation and flutters wildly in its ornate Victorian cage.

A copper tea kettle spouts off on a hot plate.

The parrot escapes, flies from one perch to another.

PARROT

Please hold on. Please hold on.

The Hero is about to erupt until he sees a snapshot of his ex. (We know by now that his ex is the love of his life. She’s engaged to the Villain, and the Hero hopes to get her back as much as he needs to save his business.)

FADE TO:

The Hero girds himself for battle: leather jacket and helmet, goggles, studded gloves.

EXT. COMMAND CENTER – DAY

The Hero mounts his trusty Vespa GS scooter, fires it up.

Two helpers load him with messenger bags full of goods to be delivered.

The Hero kisses the photo of his beloved, then races off through the town square.

INT. COMMAND CENTER – DAY

The parrot is on the hero’s cluttered desk. It cocks its head at a phone that remains off the hook.

PARROT

Please hold on. Please hold on.

[Kevin Lobo]

Kevin Lobo’s Lesson 10: Level1 Action Emotions: Anxiety, Fear and Relief

What I learned…is that each of these 3 emotions can be an excellent guide to writing out the opening scene and setting the tone of the movie with a definitive guide, giving it a structure.

Create a scene that uses all three of these Action emotions.

1. Look through your outline and choose a scene that could use anxiety, fear, and relief.

My opening scene(s)/sequence captures all of these 3 emotions, setting the tone of the movie.

2. Create an outline of the scene that includes each of the three emotions.

Anxiety:

· The opening scene is a home preparation underway by the hero and his wife setting up the house for a birthday party for his brother.

· There is a very evident conflict between the two as she detests the event and the very presence of his brother. We get a sense of the trouble that the brother always brings (the hero promising that the brother has given up his gangster ways and drug filled life).

· The Anxiety peaks as the brother arrives, and right behind him, an armed gang raid the house, taking the three hostage. The ruthless nature of the gang leads to extreme anxiety as to what they want and what it their purpose.

Fear:

· Fear strikes the hero and his wife as the brother is ruthlessly beaten up, and taken away.

· The fear psychosis continues as the departing gang, leave a note for the hero to show up an undisclosed location and not to call the police. The hero becomes aware that the gang were not there just to pick up the brother as part of some gang related activity but there is something more to their demands and he is about to be sucked into something bigger.

· The gang also leave the hero in fear when they hit upon his beautiful wife warning him about watching out lest something take her away.

· The hero is left in fear at multiple levels.

Relief:

· The hero fearfully goes to the location that is given.

· His immediate relief is that he is told that the brother will not be harmed if he fulfills the gang’s demands. His relief, with a catch is that it was not the brother the gang were after – it was him.

· While there is catch, and he knows his life is about to be turned upside down at the demands they are making of him, his mission is something that involves his IT Cyber skills that he is very good at.

3. Write the scene as a first draft, highlighting anxiety, fear, and relief.

· This scene is a work in progress and will be added to the notes shortly.

[Mary Goldman]

Mary’s Level 1 Action Emotions

What I learned doing this assignment:

The importance of the rise and fall of anxiety/fear/relief.

INT. SKYE’S BEDROOM – EARLY MORNING

Skye lies in her bed, the room darkened with vertical blinds. Her alarm clock wakes her with a soft insistent beep. She stretches, turns towards her bedside clock to turn the alarm off: 5:00 am. She gets out of bed, heads to the bathroom.

INT. SKYE’S BATHROOM – EARLY MORNING

Before the mirror, Skye washes her face. Grabs a towel, dries it. Blinks. Takes a little moisturizer and rubs it into her face. Leans towards the mirror to inspect closer. Turns to the open bathroom door–

–A hooded, masked MAN stands in the doorway. Skye FREEZES. Lightening quick, she grabs a water glass and whips it at the man, who ducks and steps forward. She kicks, aiming for his groin, but he grabs her leg and YANKS.

She falls back, hits her head against the edge of the tub.

INT. SKYE’S LIVING ROOM – EARLY MORNING

Skye sits in the dark room, unconscious, bound with zip-ties to a chair, her mouth gagged, head bowed. Slowly she comes to, lifts her head. Shakes it. Groans. Starts struggling, tries to get free.

The man takes a laptop, sets it on the dining room table. Opens it toward Skye and presses a button. A video plays.

Skye stops struggling, focuses on the laptop: It’s Leah, disheveled, hands bound, face tear streaked. She’s terrified.

LEAH
Skye, please do what they want.

Please. These people are–are dangerous. I don’t know what they want, but whatever it is, please, please do it. Please help me–

The video cuts off abruptly. The man shuts the laptop. Puts it in his backpack. Slings the pack over his shoulder. Leans down and cuts the zip-ties. Leaves.

Stunned, Skye slowly pulls the gag out of her mouth.

[John Puffer]

John’s Level 1 Action Emotions

What I learned… found myself getting anxious just writing this thing! Adrenalin’s good, right?

Outline:

· Anxiety: Julie has just discovered that she and Evan, who’s driving, are being pursued by thugs, closing in on them. The bad guys are shooting at them, but the bullets are bouncing of the bulletproof rear window. Julie hops onto the split, folded-down rear seats, reaches into the car’s trunk for her two Glocks.

· Fear: Evan tells her that there’re six jars of hand-made napalm in his overnight bag that maybe she should grab out of the non-bulletproof trunk. Evan drives evasively, but there’s traffic.

· Relief: Julie and Evan each throw out the jars. Julie ignites an inferno by shooting at the areas where the napalm jars landed and smashed.

INT. TAURUS – DAY

Julie takes a bite of her sandwich, checks the rear-view mirror, sees a large SUV storming toward them. JULIE

Check the rearview.

EVAN

They seem in a hurry.

JULIE

Let’s us be too.

BULLETS bounce off the rear window.

Julie hops onto the folded-down rear seats.

Reaches for her GLOCKS.

EVAN

SHIT! Is the trunk bulletproof too?

JULIE

Wasn’t in the budget.

EVAN

There’re six jars of napalm in my bag.

JULIE

WHAT???

EVAN

I said, there –

JULIE

I HEARD YOU!

Julie scrambles. Grabs her Glocks and Evan’s bag.

JULIE

NAPALM! JESUS! (returns to the front seat)

She and Evan throw the jars out their windows.

Julie fires at the road, POW POW POW…empties her magazine. IGNITES the napalm into WALLS OF FLAME and SMOKE.

EVAN

That ought to stop them.

JULIE

It’d better. (grabs, bites into her sandwich)

I’m famished.

[John Puffer]

John’s Likeability/Empathy/Justification

What I learned…to organize my thoughts and take a more disciplined approach when working the beats of a story.

LIKEABILITY/LOVABILITY

· A. A Mining Engineer, Evan is smart, personable, respect-worthy, and good with chemicals and explosives.

· B. He loves people and animals. His lifestyle isn’t conducive to having a pet, but he feeds/befriends a fox on the mining site.

· C. he’s trying to make the world a productive, better place in his own professional way.

· D. Evan doesn’t rescue anybody but cares enough to keep those around him safe.

· E. Way more analytical than funny, but he is playful.

· F. His kindness shows through in his interactions with people.

· G. Evan’s not religious, but his actions and decisions are of the highest moral standard. He doesn’t understand why the world can’t be a more friendly, less violent, more welcoming place.

EMPATHY/DISTRESS

· A. Evan was beaten, had a mine site compromised by thugs, and had his cache of rough diamonds stolen from two mine sites.

· B. He’s never had time for a serious relationship.

· C. The actions of these thugs have gotten him badly injured and then, later on, fired. He’s become a liability, an unlucky charm, and no one will hire him.

· D. He’s being victimized in a way that forces him to fight back in a dangerous manner counter to his personal credo and moral compass. Thugs only understand the violent path, rarely reason.

· E. Evan resolves to fight fire with fire, use stealth and intelligence to out-maneuver the thugs.

· F. Still feeling the sting of his first encounter with Vovk, Evan knows the stakes have become life or death.

JUSTIFICATION

· A. Evan was injured, his partner killed, and rough diamonds stolen at the first mine site. His professional reputation has now been tarnished with the events at the second site.

· B. Evan is bullied and threatened in a restaurant by locals.

· C. Three times Evan is attacked while driving, attempts on his life.

· D. The revenue lost in both mine raids was in the millions. Not Evan’s money, but in his charge, and he’s determined to get it back and restore his industry reputation.

· E. Vovk and his thugs have to be stopped, get their comeuppance.