Lesson 4 Assignments

[Lincoln Hoppe]

Lincoln’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is these pieces are nicely moveable and changeable and provide a nice template for seeing how my story fits into this model. I can see the value of the betrayal character as someone who tries or starts to make the change… but chickens out in the end. That betrayal act shows how great a journey and how hard it was for the transformable character to make.

Tell us your transformational journey logline.

Angelo is a timid soul living miserably by his father (and boss)’s rules until starts to fall in love with a forbidden woman for whom he must step out of his comfort zone only to discover his true talents and power.

Tell us who you think might be your Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role. Also, include: – Their vision: – Their past experience that fits that vision:

Juliet, Angelo’s love interest, is the change agent.

She has a vision of what he truly is and how it’s being masked by the oppression conforming life he’s trying to live

Tell us who you think might be your Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that character or characters fit the role.

Angelo is my transformable character. His old ways need changing and his new ways are where he will find true happiness and power

Tell us who or what you think might be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works in your story.

The oppression is characterized by Angelo’s dad. The CEO of his corporation that he insists Angelo take over one day… a corporation that Angelo can’t stomach or believe in, but he’s stuck and not ready to stand up.

The oppression is also the roles of Angelo’s birth. He’s born into the ‘dark side’ but that is simply not in his nature… but social pressures keep him firmly lodged where he’s at.

Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.

A betraying character could be Angelo’s friend/confidant, or the janitor at the company where he works. I like the idea of the janitor becoming his friend and urging him on, but then not strong enough to make the change on his own. They could be seen as paralell characters to the oppression… though Angleo is at the top of the food chain, and the janitor at the bottom.

This could also be the uncle character I had thought about at one time… who could be in the same boat, but can’t change

[Lincoln Hoppe]

Lincoln’s Part B of assignments – Analysis of Dead Poet’s Society

What is the change this movie is about?

From follower to ‘seizing the day’ in your own unique way

From loathing fear of your inner voice, to yawping out your voice to make the world better

Lead Characters

Change Agent

Mr Keating

Transformable Character

Todd Anderson (main transformable character)

Also, Charlie and Knox.

Neal seems to be a Betrayer along with Cameron

Oppression

The school (administration and philosophy) (and the 4 pillars of rigid scholarship)

How are we lured into the profound journey?

Following the profound teachings of Mr. Keating and the comedy mixed in.

Characters Changed most:

Todd

From shy and voiceless, to brave with his voice, and willing to make a stand for what’s right

Knox

From male school conformist to relentlessly pursuing and getting the girl

Charlie/Newanda

From one of the crowd, to non-conformist

Gradient of change: Foxussig on Todd Anderson only

Super shy

Carpe diem Speech seems to land on him then he writes it in his notebook later, but rips it up

Refuses invitation to study group

Genuinely smiles when hearing about dead poets society and poetry dripping from their tongues

He refuses invitation to go to Dps because he doesn’t want to take a turn in the spotlight

He actually goes to the meeting with promise of no reading aloud

Joins I’m the dancing and fun though quietly

Can’t answer mr Keating out loud in class

He’s the last person to step on the desk, setting the change being the Frist in the last scene

Writing poetry

Neal accuses him of not mixing things up, and refuses to let him off the hook when he refuses

Then he joins the chase game in the room from bed to bed, a first step in mixing things up

Is excited about his poem and then rips it up

He gets pushed into a breakthrough with his improvised poem

Todd is flattened by Neal’s death – his better in his mind and a betrayer of the new ways

Todd speaks out for the first time in defense of mr keating

Todd can’t stand up for Mr Keaton at his interrogation under pressure of school and parents

First Todd can’t make eye contact with mr Keaton… Then he blurts they made us sign

Then he takes his final stand, in the face of threat, and is the leader of this movement

Old way

Keep your head down don’t stand out

Is challenged when Mr. Keating forces him to find his voice in class, and proves he has one worth listening to

Is challenged by injustices happening to good people, and he must speak up

Profound moments

Neal getting told off by his father with no ability stand up for himself up

First carpe diem speech

Words and passion speech after ripping out Pritchard intro

Step on the desk and find your voice scene

Mr anderson thinks that everything in him is worthless and embarrassing. Isn’t that right Todd, that’s your worst fear

Getting pushed into delivering his improvised poem about the sweaty toothed madman

Knocks Calls possible girlfriend invoking Carpe diem (each boys has their own gradient)

Walking lesson

Making his desk set fly

Newanda keeps his name after being paddled and threatened

Neil’s delivering pick speach to his father and audience

Todd standing up in protest putting all the lessons together in one act of voice and defiance.

Profound lines

You guys are just as bad

Carpe diem boys. Sieze the day.. make your lives extraordinary

This is a battle, a war and the casualties could be your hearts and souls

Whatever anyone tells you words and ideas can change the world

Poetry romance Beaty love , this is what we stay alive for

That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse

You must strive to find your own voice because the longer you wait to begin the less likely you are to find it as well

Newandas challenge- are we just talking here or do we mean what we say?

Then you’re acting for him too. You’re playing the part of the dutiful son

O captain my Captain at the end

It seems like every lesson Mr Keating sets up in a lesson is paid off in the final act of Todd and the boys standing up and saying o captatin my captain.

His lessons are paid off in smaller installments as each boy challenges their fear and chooses to sieze the day!

Profound truth

We each have a voice that must be sounded to the world (for our benefit and for the world’s). Sieze the day and use it!

[Laura Woodworth]

Laura Woodworth’s Lead Characters

What I learned doing this assignment is I will need to find a way to show the internal/spiritual components of Rachel’s change.

1. Logline: A disillusioned news reporter receives prophetic warnings of terrorist attacks and discovers a new depth of prayer (faith) that stops evil before it becomes the evening news.

2. Change Agent: God. God is calling her to stand in the gap and intercede. His vision: he sees her as able in him to pray the kind of prayers that will stop wickedness. He has dealt with “doubters” before (i.e. Thomas, Peter in the Bible) and he knows she can become who he envisions her to be as a participant in advancing his kingdom in the earth.

3. Transformable character: Rachel: disillusioned from the loss of a child, she feel disqualified, let down, doesn’t see that prayer has helped her situation. And, in her mind, she’s the last person God would entrust with a calling to pray.

4. The Oppression: the evil terrorist plot to bring America to her knees, to take over the government. They keep planning – and increasing the scope of their attacks – and God keeps warning Rachel.

5. Betraying Character: the FBI agents that Rachel’s husband works for who suspect her of being involved or aiding/abetting the terrorists. The very government that she is fighting to save.

[Michael Williamsen]

WIL: even assignments can be part of the learning process. I gained more clarity on the plot and characters arcs just writing out the assignment.

TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY

Victoria is sweet single mother struggling to live on her ex-husband’s alimony and child support.

Her ex finds his kid-napping suspects are being killed by a serial killer.

Her new billionaire/criminal defense attorney boyfriend is the answer to her problems.

Serial killing evidence starts to point back at the sheriff.

She starts to suspect her new boyfriend is involved in the kidnapping ring. His deception keeps her on the hook.

Victoria’s daughter disappears.

Ex-husband and boyfriend wage war against each other.

The kidnapping investigation reveals there is also a connection to a large ring of human trafficking and sex slavery.

She is alone to find her daughter.

She manipulates both ex and boyfriend for clues of her daughter.

She enlists the help of the Mexican Mob to over through the kidnappers to rescue the children. Her daughter is not found in the rescue mission.

She sets her ex and boyfriend to meet in a final showdown in hopes they will reveal where her daughter is.

Her ex reveals he has Victoria’s daughter just as he shoots the ex. The ex’s phone was on with Victoria on the other line.

She escapes out of the country with the help of the Mexican Gangsters and is reunited with her daughter.

The boyfriend announces his is running for State Congress. (the big profound moment)

CHANGE AGENT The Mayor would be good as he is the best friend with the ex/sheriff and they both trust him. Mayor gets blackmailed and betrays Victoria and ex/sheriff about mid story. Could be the ex but Victoria thinks he took her daughter. Another interesting possibility would be the boyfriend as he is great at deceiving her with her hope for him to be the “one.” He changes her for the good accidentally.

TRANSFORABLE CHARACTER has to be Victoria as she is the only one who changes for the good. The rest end up dead anyway.

OPPRESSION: Kidnapping ring which is revealed to be also a human trafficking and sex-slave ring escalation the impossibility of Victoria finding her daughter.

BETRAYING CHARACTER: Pretty much all characters betray Victoria. Maybe stretch one’s betrayal out longer or have the boyfriend’s betrayal not revealed to her until the very end when he admits he has her daughter.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 5 months ago by  Michael Williamsen.

[Erin Ziccarelli]

Erin Ziccarelli’s Lead Characters

What I learned from doing this assignment is: the breakdown of four characters. The concept of a betraying character is new to me, and I’m excited to include one in my script. I will better understand the concept once I watch Dead Poets Society.

Tell us your transformational
journey logline.

When a forgotten counterfeiter inherits a rival family member’s estate, he questions his ties to his family and their black-market businesses.

Tell us who you think might be your
Change Agent and give a few sentences about how that character fits the
role. Also, include: – Their vision:
– Their past experience that fits that vision:

Roger Tate: Roger represents and sets the vision early in the movie. We know he served time, and now he has moved on to a life of normalcy. He has a family, does an honest day’s work, and is living a more fulfilling life than Alex. He’s constantly trying to help Alex and Scarlett see that there is a better way of life. He goes through a lot to try to help them and bring them together. It’s his vision and constant belief in the philosophy that people can change that keeps him going and keeps him wanting to help them.

Vision – past experience that fits that vision: Roger is from the North neighborhood – he was once a counterfeiter and black marketeer. He has left the old ways behind and is grateful to be living a more honest life.

Tell us who you think might be your
Transformable Character(s) and give a few sentences about how that
character or characters fit the role.

Alex Donovan: Alex is feeling lost and forgotten. He is alone and has lost hope (old ways). He inherits the Caden estate, meets Roger, and goes to rehab. He has a love/hate relationship with these changes, but complies because Roger leaves him no choice. He struggles with becoming his own person and making it apart from the family, but in the end he emerges as a man standing on his own two feet. His loyalties now lie with his daughter, even though she is from a rival family.

Scarlett Brennan: Scarlett is stuck in a dead-end job and struggles with her status within the family. Her eating disorder is the result of her insecurities and need to belong, have a support system, and feel that she’s part of something important. When she’s hired by Alex, she goes along with it because of the money and because she hates her job. As she struggles with her role within the Brennan and Caden families, her relationship with Joe, and her discovery of Alex’s identity, she finally adopts new ways of abandoning the family and learning to trust Alex. At the end, her loyalties lie with him.

Tell us who or what you think might
be The Oppression and give a few sentences about how The Oppression works
in your story.

Richard Brennan: Richard is the face of the family politics. He is the “boss” of the North neighborhood and holds power over Scarlett and Joe. He will not stop until he has Scarlett under his authority and loyal to him. He feels threatened upon discovering her relationship to Alex. He lives by the belief that no one changes and that last name is everything (the opposite of the profound truth).

5. Tell us who you think might be your Betraying Character and give a few sentences about how that character fits the role.

Joseph Byrne: Scarlett’s lover and die-hard North neighborhood family member. When she voices her distrust of Richard Brennan, Joe starts to see the light on how toxic the family business is for them. He struggles with the reward Richard’s offering him and his desire to “belong” in the family. He chooses Richard over Scarlett in the fourth act, sealing his fate and almost ending her life.

[Stephanie Henry-Ricchi]

Stephanie Henry-Ricchi’s Lead Characters

What I learned in lesson 4A is spotting the characters that fit each category. Mostly, that I may thing a certain one fits the Betrayal Character, for example, but if I really look, it may very well bean entirely different character than I once thought. Which is why the DEPTH of the character is so important to recognize.

TRANDFORMATIONAL LOGLINE:

When the world is threatened by a deadly illness that is not visible to the naked eye, one woman must fight her way out of homelessness and find strength. Because she has been told that she is the one chosen to save humanity.

CHANGE AGENT:

Suzy (lead protagonist) because she was once a stable, thriving woman, thus knowing what life was like before she became homeless, hopeless and vulnerable. She also finds the courage to fight her way back to a full life by first helping others.

TRANSFORMATIONAL CHARACTER:

Kelly ( character introduced later) because she is the one who connects the audience to the story. With no hope and desperate, she can make the audience want to help her. She goes from no self worth to finding her voice enough to stop the abuse she’s been going through.

THE OPPRESSION:

Mr. Warren (lead antagonist) lives off the pain and desperation of others. A lead instigator in infecting the world with the cause of the fatal illness. He control, demeans and uses those in need of help by manipulation.

BETRAYING CHARACTER:

Mrs. Warren (lead antagonist wife) after following her husband and condoning the evil he inflicts upon the good people of the world, she sheepishly stand up against it and voices that she will no longer be apart of the problem. But, she is still too weak of a person too be a part of the solution. She betrays both her husband, her elite community and even those in need.

[Stephanie Henry-Ricchi]

Stephanie Henry-Ricchi’s Part 4B Analysis of Dead Poets Society

Change in this movie?

Fighting against oppression, conformity as well as finding your voice.

Lead Characters:

a) Change Agent:

Neil Perry causes the major shift in his roommate Todd and the others. Always pushing for greatness. Neil had lived with the guilt and shame put upon him and made sure that his classmates did not feel the same.

b) Transformational Character:

Todd is the definite choice for this, his change was very slow but once he made the change the momentum sped up and he never reverted back to his old ways of feeling worthless and unheard.

Oppression:

In my opinion this was Neil Perry’s father. He was the king of shaming his son, and showing his disappointment. The need his father had for perfectionism would not allow his son’s true self to remain happy and alive.

I was lured into this profound journey:

because I have experience, personally, most (if not all) of the feelings that were circling throughout this movie. Speaking as an audience member, one takes stock of how their life is going and how the lives of those we love can be empowered by us. Learn to listen.

Who changed the most?

All of the boys who stood on their desk in the last scene. The symbolism of those still seated showed that the group of boys Mr. Keating impacted, were positively impacted for life. They took a risk that in their old ways would have never happened. The new way of life for them will be one that they show and speak their truths.

Gradient change: (levels)

The group was ISOLATED within themselves and even as a group in the beginning, still not bucking the system, being too careful not to get in trouble. BATTLING the school and family seem to be the ultimate fight. ADVENTURE into their Dead Poets Society hidden club and Knox finding courage to go for love with Chris. SELF ACCEPTANCE was in a sense good at times with themselves as a group or individually but also very sad because Neil accepted that he would not be imprisoned for 10 years in a life that made him unhappy. RELATIONSHIP to each other and Mr. Keating, proving to themselves and him that they had been listening and learning.

Old ways and beliefs being challenged:

was the only way that Todd could and would change. The shift was inevitable but the biggest shift was that he actually wanted and did change.

Profound moment:

Neil’s “last performance” both in the play and in his life. Realizing that the sacrifice his dad constantly said he was giving for his son was the other way around. Neil was sacrificing himself to try to please his parents. When he realized that it would never be enough, he was left with the only choice he felt he had, taking his life. Ending the fathers disappointment for him.

Profound line(s):

Neil: “I was good, I was really good” Neil: “no more yielding”

How did the ending pay off the set up of the movie?

Full circle from Keating standing on his desk to the boys doing the same in the last scene.

Keating divulged his weak and lonely feelings he had at the school when he was a boy, seeing it in all of them and then, just as he rose to live fully he gave the boys the same opportunity.

Profound truth?

Being authentically who we are is the first step we take as we stop being who others want us to be.

[Wayne Petitto]

Wayne’s Lead Characters

What I learned from this assignment is how to intensify conflict and oppression with more dynamic characters and how to better integrate their past life experiences into their current day wounds and “old way” traits that need the change.

1. Transformational Log Line: Jeannie & Peter were respectively Joan-of-Arc and Bishop Pierre Cauchon (who’d burned her at the stake) in their past lives. Today they are dating as they discover their past lives and experience underlying spiritual wounds that plague their lives and relationship.

2. Change Agents: Jeanie is Peter’s Change agent as his growing love for her motivates him to stand up for himself, see people as faillible and redeemable with forgiveness and grace. Peter is Jeanie’s change agent as her growing love for him motivates her to forgive men specifically Peter, and help them free both their souls.

3. Transformable characters: Peter needs to forgive himself and everyone around him, and to stand up for himself, finding the courage in faith over dogma. Jeannie needs to forgive men and forgive people through grace and understanding.

4. The Oppression: Society oppresses Peter and Jeannie and over-pressures their relationship. When the world learns of their past lives, Peter receives death threats, and Jeannie receives worse, requests for healing from terminal diseases.

The Betrayers: Josh & Smitty are the only fellow students that they confide with, and who eventually leak the story which ends escalating from campus news to world news.