Lesson 2

[Beverley]

I think this is the right place. Sorry if I am mistaken!

Beverley Wood’s First Three Decisions:
Answer the question “What I learned doing this assignment is…?”
I’m on my fifth rewrite (although admittedly at least one was more of an ‘edit’) and have discovered that I believe I know the profound truth of my story. I started this course expecting to work on a new story I am doing but my head kept coming back to this one (I Know You’re Out There Somewhere). The audio analysis of The Matrix was awesome and really taught me a lot, I’ve got plans.
What is your profound truth?
Love never dies because death is not the end.
What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
I want people to stop fearing death, for themselves or their loved ones. Even just a little bit. I know it’s a tall order.
What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Metaphor

[William Weeks]

Interesting idea–Of course, if death is not a consequence (as it wasn’t in Groundhog Day)–then a lot of Hollywood stories would lose a lot of their suspense. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we became more concerned with the beauty in the world, relationships, and making a better world for all than focusing so much on greed and the fear of death?

[Nadiia Pavlyk-Vachkova]

Nadiia Pavlyk-Vachkova’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment is:

1. What is your profound truth?

Don’t let your inner light fade!
OR
No matter what, keep your inner light shine! / No matter what, keep your inner light up!)
OR
Follow the call of the heart, it will preserve your inner light, even at moments of darkness, even in the most difficult times of frustration and injustice.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Audience Change = It empowers us to believe that no one injustice will break a person, who has kept the inner light, trough following the call of her hart and saving her self-identity.

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?

THE AS-IT-HAPPENED CONFLICT/ THE EMBELLISHED AS-IT-HAPPENED CONFLICT

Historical events (World War II, World War I)

Show-Business (Opera world)

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Nadiia Pavlyk-Vachkova.

[mark.napier2022@gmail.com napier]

Mark N First Three Decisions

What I learned is a different perspective and approach to telling my story.
Give us your three decisions.
1. What is your profound truth?
In life you get knocked down many times, but with perseverance and fortitude you KEEP STANDING!
(Beneath that?) When combating an adversary, you have to re-evaluate and adjust your tactics, principles and morals.
(Beneath that?) Don’t compromise your values, nor rule out street justice.
(Beneath that?) Stand your ground.
(Beneath that?) Turn weaknesses into opportunities for success.
(Beneath that?) A pinch full of convincing lies is better than a handful of truth.
2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience? Do not be complacent with “Big Brother” (CIA/FBI)…. Demand higher expectations and accountability.
3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through? My story is based on truth and though I have no issue with embellishing or highlighting points of interest for entertainment and flow, I think ‘The Cause is the Background’ is perhaps the best approach. The Cause is about accountability (including street justice) and restoring honor. The foreground story is about a CIA Whistleblower who seeks to restore his abandonment of self.

[William Weeks]

William Weeks First Three Decisions
What I learned from this assignment: Having these ideas in mind from the start aids in organizing ideas, and in maintaining focus through the writing. It is good to realize that they may change over time (and often do).

1) Profound truth: We benefit from facing history even if it is uncomfortable.

2) Change in audience: Facing the truth of abusive law enforcement was done by Chicano activist lawyers over 50 years ago–and gave us tools we now need to recognize and embrace to make a more perfect union for all of us.

3) Embellished as it happened conflict: The first Chicano activist lawyer, Oscar Acosta, with more guts than sense–but went where no one before him had gone. Richard Cruz—Who called out the church that had been so important earlier in his life—and also threw light on forced sterilizations. Miguel Garcia—Who came from Mexico not speaking English, discovered the need for case law, brought us the Pitchess Motion (the most effective tool for weeding out abusive cops) and the Murguia Decision (which states any case based upon unequal enforcement of law collapses on the sands of discrimination). He was successful before the Calif. Supreme Court three times—the first coming only a year from when he was first admitted to the CA Bar Association.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  William Weeks.

[Diane Keranen]

Diane’s First Three Decisions
What I learned doing this assignment is to tell a story that resonates with audiences on a deeper level than the story itself. Much like the whole is greater than its parts.
1. What is your profound truth?
“Thank you for your service” is an ill-fitting tribute for combat-trauma affected veterans as it falls into a notion that overly romanticizes war and soldiering.
2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
Think critically about what “sacrifice” means when we “appreciate the sacrifice of our young men and women in uniform.”
3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Generational perspectives and stories. Three with an as-it-happens vehicle and the other with flashbacks (four generations presented in a structure similar to the films Crash and Traffic that use parallel stories.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Diane Keranen.

[Sandee Magliozzi]

Sandee – First Three Decisions

What I learned is that there will be more power in moving an audience than in inadvertently preaching to an audience.
I thought it would be useful to include a rough logline of my story first, it helps me keep big picture as I dive deeper.

Staying Wild, Climbing Home
On the verge of making an Olympic team, 17-year-old street kid turned climbing sensation, Liz Autumn is called home to Yosemite when her foster mother, NPS park ranger Claire suffers a life-threatening accident investigating Clayton Harrow’s, a corrupt seismologist, illicit mining operation. Armed only with her climbing skills and a deep love for Yosemite Liz decides to take up the fight for Claire and her beloved park, but she must learn that there is strength in unity and overcome her reluctance to trust and rely on others if she is going to save Yosemite from environmental catastrophe.

1 . Profound Truth: Strength in Unity
Liz starts her journey believing that her solo efforts and personal achievements are all she needs and the pinnacle of success. However, as the narrative unfolds—punctuated by her return to Yosemite, her engagement with environmental threats, and her interaction with her closest allies—it becomes clear that collaboration and trust in others is the only way they can defeat Harrow. She may climb mountains alone, but Together, we move mountains.

2. Change the Movie Will Inspire in the Audience to value the power of collective effort in overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges
The story aims to inspire its audience to recognize and value the power of collective effort in overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges and addressing critical issues such as environmental threats. By witnessing Liz’s journey from isolation to community leadership, audiences may be more likely to:
• Reevaluate their own approach to challenges, recognizing that seeking help, bridging differences and collaborating with others can lead to better outcomes.
• Gain a heightened awareness and concern for environmental issues, feeling more compelled to take action or join community efforts in real-life conservation and activism.
• Appreciate the importance of environmental stewardship and the impact that individual actions can have when aligned with a collective goal.

3. Entertainment Vehicle: The Cause is the Background
We utilize the dynamic and visually compelling world of climbing and adventure as its entertainment vehicle. This choice allows the story to be told through thrilling physical challenges and the dramatic backdrop of Yosemite’s landscapes, making the narrative both engaging and visually spectacular. The sport of climbing metaphorically underscores themes of trust, risk, and overcoming obstacles—both physical and emotional. This setting not only serves to captivate and thrill audiences but also seamlessly integrates (fingers crossed) the film’s deeper messages about environmental conservation and community collaboration into the plot’s progression and the protagonist Liz’s transformation.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Sandee Magliozzi. Reason: Formatting didn't track with cut and paste

[Angela Booth]

Hi everyone,
What I learned by doing this assignment is how easily my profound truths can be transferred to new environments, showing me that the profound truth is the core element of the story, not the setting/entertainment vehicle.

1. What is your profound truth?
We need to look inward to find our true selves. Once found, we need to live with integrity to be truly happy.

2. What is the change your movie will cause with an audience?
3 characters have transformational journeys:
Anne: Goes from scared and unsure of herself to confident and believing in herself
Audience: When we face our fears, we are free of them.
Calli: Goes from wearing a mask to revealing her true beauty (inner and outer)
Audience: We are each good enough as we are. When we believe in ourselves, our truth shines through.
Jodie: Goes from privileged life to devastating loss.
Audience: No matter what life throws at us, we have to keep going.

3. What is your Entertainment Vehicle that you will tell this story through?
Conflict – as it happens. (but with flashbacks 🙂

[Christy Bley]

Christy Bley’s First three Decisions ; Lesson 2
What I learned during this assignment: there are at least five different Entertainment Vehicles I can tell my story through. And that my animated feature most probably must be told through metaphor, and that I must put the cause in the background while I create entertaining stories of the people in the kid-friendly cartoon format as they attempt to stay happy amidst the unaddressed unfairness of the destruction of their marina and town by petty bureaucrats out for vengeance against the innocent inhabitants who happened to speak the truth.
1. What is my Profound Truth?
The answer is: A fish out of water is not the same thing as
A fish that is OUT OF WATER!
2. What change do I want the audience to walk out with after seeing my movie?
I want them TO FEEL HOPEFUL about an American tragedy THEY FELT NOTHING ABOUT until seeing the movie, to the point where they’ll support the cause themselves and some will become activists and some screenwriters, and one or more of them will help save out town.
3. What is the Entertainment Vehicle I have used to tell this movie?
This animated feature film is told through a metaphor – with a cause in the background that’s at first in the way, then eventually becomes more.

[Mitch Haraguchi]

What I learned doing this assignment is that your initial idea easily can change if you think about it deeply and profoundly.

1. WHAT IS YOUR PROFOUND TRUTH?
Dealing with a person with a different background would make you uncomfortable and instantly lead to hate. However, hate typically comes from ignorance. Or hate is another form of rejection to change. Don’t be afraid to change!
No matter how different he or she looks, people are essentially the same.
Don’t be exclusive, be inclusive.

2. WHAT IS THE CHANGE YOU WANT AN AUDIENCE TO MAKE?
By experiencing what the main character goes through, I want the audience to change from being indifferent to others to caring for others. However, this type of change is difficult or impossible if you are happy with the status quo and have no intention to go out of your comfort zone.

3. WHAT ENTERTAINMENT VEHICLE WILL YOU CHOOSE?
Road trip. I love the genre of “road movie.” My screenplay is a road movie that takes place deep in the Midwest.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Mitch Haraguchi.

[Beverly A Ihnen]

Beverly A’s First Three Decisions

What I learned doing this assignment:

I loved the data in this lesson. Already I’ve expanded and reassanged the concept of what the character is up against in her transformational journey, and the insane background against which the story can be set. There is a real historical time frame (LA Riots of 1992) and real people and activities that inspired this story idea, and which I had originally determined not to use, opting to create instead a similar situation in a fictional place and time. But perhaps not. I also found that I have expanded the depth of the story simply by kicking around the exact wording for the profound truth of the story. And because this is a new script being created, I am not locked into any of my previous random ideas. Nor for that matter am I locked into these.

1 WHAT IS THE PROFOUND TRUTH OF THIS STORY?

Never regret yesterday. Life is in you today, you make your own tomorrows.

WHAT IS THE CHANGE YOUR MOVIE WILL CAUSE WITH AN AUDIENCE?

The audience should feel that there is a greater purpose for their lives than mundane existence, and that they can find and achieve that purpose, no matter where they begin or how insufficient or insignificant they may feel at the beginning of their own journey.

WHAT IS YOUR ENTERTAINMENT VEHICLE THAT YOU WILL TELL THIS STORY THROUGH?

The Cause is the Background.
Foreground story is the never-ending ups and downs with the transformational character’s life, love and relationships, the fact that she doesn’t recognize her own strengths and internal abilities, and thus assigns cause for both her successes and failures to others. This becomes entangled with the equivalent to the LA Riots of 1992 or maybe it IS against that exact conflict. And the key characters almost all have their own part to play in that greater conflict as well as their roles in the drama of Katrina’s life.

[Natalie Hawkins]

Natalie’s First Three Decisions:
What I am learning, is the idea of organizing a story around a single profound thread. I have been seeing parts of my story, and haven’t known what the story is, or will be.
Profound Truth: love is the answer.
Audience Change: the audience will be inspired to behave more intentionally, to be curious, to see a non-zero-sum world.
Vehicle: I have been imagining a scientist traveling around the US talking to experts, asking them questions, as part of her research, her curiosity to solve a math/science problem. It will be in part a road trip, or maybe a few road trips.

[Kelvin Garvanne]

Kelvin Garvanne: First Three Decisions

Out At Home : Based on a true story, Emmett Ashford overcomes adversity to become the first Blackumpire in Majr League Baseball.

My profound truth is a person is responsible for choosing their own life path.

My movie will cause people to realize that pursuing their life path has costs. They can not follow their chosen path without challenges, especially if their path goes against accepted social values and beliefs.

Doing this exercise I realized the Emmett Ashford story can be told through several vehicles: SPORTS, HISTORICAL EVENTS, and BUSINESS.

Emmett challenged what his peers and society thought was the life path for a Black man. Emmett challenged what the sort of baseball thought was the role of an umpire. Emmett challenged the constraints of a chaning society struggling to resist and accept color lines being broken. Emmett chose to leave his wife and family to pursue his life path because his wife didn’t believe it was possible to achieve. Emmett Ashford was haunted by leaving his family, something he did not want to do because his father had left their family.

This exercise helped me consider more aspects of the lead characters personality and his antagonists. Emmett was challenged by his past, his present, his future, his desire to achieve something others couldn’t imagine, which defied the place a Black man was expected to take in America at that time, and event the role a father and husband should assume in their family.