Lesson 6

[Andre]

Subject: Andre’s Mystery Sequence

What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
War is profitable. Perpetual warfare via dividing and conquering.

How many ways can they cover that secret? These become the mysteries.
Answer- How many agencies / departments are involved in big government?
SECRET 1- Perpetual warfare. Divide and conquer. When there is no enemy, create one.
COVER UP 1- In 2018, the US indicts five GRU Unit 26165 officers associated with APT28 for cyber operations (including close-access operations) conducted between years 2014 and 2018.

SECRET 2- APT28.
COVER UP 2- APT28 reportedly compromised the Hillary Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2016 in an attempt to interfere with the U.S. presidential election.

SECRET 3- Labeling/associating our Hero with terrorism (modern day warfare), to monitor him, to gain access to his knowledge and secrets.
COVER UP 3- Apartment 28. Scapegoating our Hero. Creating the enemy. False attribution of a us citizen with a foreign threat group.

SECRET 4- Drug dealing.
COVER UP 4- The US Anti-Doping Agency and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

SECRET 5- Nuclear weapons manufacturing and storage.
COVER UP 5- A US nuclear facility.

SECRET 6- Creating chemical biological weapons.
COVER UP 6- The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and The Spiez Swiss Chemicals Laboratory.

SECRET 7- False Flag attacks.
COVER UP 7- Oil pipelines. Derailing trains. Forrest fires. Disrupting financial systems. Food shortages.

SECRET 8- Getting everyone else involved; either with us or against us.
COVER UP 8- And other organizations.

SECRET 9- Rules for thee, none for me.
COVER UP 9- Hegemony

SECRET 10– Controlling the negative narrative of the negro.
COVER UP 10- Juneteenth.

Secret- False promises with potential high returns.
Coverup- Reparations.

Secret 10- Engaging in cyber warfare (modern day warfare).
Cover up 10- Plausible deniability.

Secret 11- Creating the Federal Reserve.
Cover up 11- Taxation; Pimping America.

Secret 12- Control and own the dissemination of information.
Cover up 12- Free and open press.

SECRET 13- The illusion of independence; false freedom.
COVER UP 13- 1782.

Sequence the mysteries so that each one leads audience to the next one. Include ONE Red Herring mystery.

Story MIS
Story Mystery 1: APT28.
Story Mystery 2: Divide and Conquer. Is there a profit to be made from war?
Story Mystery 3: Was there an attempt to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election? If so, by whom / what / how / when / where?
Story Mystery 4: Have there been cyber-attacks on The US Anti-Doping Agency and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)? Nuclear weapons manufacturing and storage facilities, The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and The Spiez Swiss Chemicals Laboratory?
Story Mystery 5: Have there been occurrences regarding Oil pipelines, Derailed trains, wild forest fires, disrupted financial systems, food shortages, ports of entry (marine, rail)?

Intrigue 1: Falsely accuse innocence of crime(s) they did not commit.
Intrigue 2: Resources (gold, silver, platinum, uranium, cobalt, etc).

Suspense 1: Future wars.

Hero MIS
Mystery 1: Why is there a file labeled APT28?
Mystery 2: What is Hero prodigy of?
Mystery 3: Why is Hero targeted?

Intrigue 1: Hero lives in apartment #28.
Intrigue 2: Is issue bigger than living in apartment #28?

Suspense 1: Who or What can he trust?

Villain MIS
Villain Mystery 1: State secrets. Money over loyalty.
Villain Mystery 2: False flag attacks. Physical and cyber.
Villain Mystery 3: Lawfare as Warfare. Legal system as a weapon.
Villain Mystery 4: Trust not their smiles, for they deviously display their fangs.
Villain Mystery 5: Distorting history for future generational confusion.
Villain Mystery 6: Replace their God, with your own likeness.
Villain Mystery 7: Always have an enemy, even within the ranks. When there is no enemy, create one.
Villain Intrigue 1: When there is no enemy, create one.
Villain Intrigue 2: Money over loyalty.

Villain Suspense 1:

Red Herring MIS
RH Mystery 1: Is RH guilty of the charges?

RH Intrigue 1: Is RH contracted by us government?

RH Suspense 1:

The first mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.
File labeled APT28. The same apartment number Hero lives in.

What I learned is…
No need to be perfect today. Just like my audience, I am solving a puzzle. Answer will come, today, tomorrow, some when I have solved other pieces of the puzzle.
Mystery: Anything that is kept secret or remains unexplained or unknown.
While it is a mystery to us, it is a secret for the Villain.
The Villain is just protecting their secret by covering it up. Those cover-ups become the mysteries of the story. So the Hero is seeing the cover-up, then having to figure out what is the secret beneath that cover-up.

Why does the Hero have to solve the mystery?
Rule: The opening mystery forces the Hero into the sequence of mysteries of this movie and never lets go.
Why? Because anyone in their right mind wouldn’t stay in this story unless they were forced to. So out job as writers is to design that first mystery to demand that the Hero solve it.

Mystery versus overly complicated
• My job is to create the experience of mystery for the audience, not to overload them with too much complication.
• I want my audience trying to solve the puzzle.
• I do not want them to give up on it.
• Mystery should be clear. This is not about hiding the mystery, it is about hiding the secrets.

Main Structure
The way mysteries show up in a movie is Cover up/ Secret. The audience sees the cover up first and believes it. Then, through the efforts of the Hero, the secret is uncovered and we are shocked to find out the truth.
But when you lay it out on paper, it is pretty obvious what happened.
Rule: The cover up is presented as a reality up front.

How do I create the mysteries?
When watching the move, we are enthralled by the whole M.I.S. pattern that is happening. But when I create it, it can seem so simplistic.
The audience experience is Cover up, then Secret.
The writing strategy is Secret, then Cover up.
When I, the Writer, create it, I start with the secret first.
• What is the secret my Villain is trying to hide?
• Once I have the secret, I brainstorm possible cover ups. Then I present the cover up as the reality.

Secret/Cover up process:
• Start with the Secret.
• Brainstorm how that could be covered up.
• Write the cover up as the reality.

Mystery Chains
• A mystery doesn’t just show up as a single moment.
• It is a series of moments, with each one engaging us deeper into the mystery.
• Cover up first, then secrets start to unravel by the end of the movie.
• Purpose of mystery chains is to cover the villain’s secrets, while keeping audience engaged in the process of trying to figure out what really happened.
• The last mystery is all about the Villain. With the Red Herring exonerated, the focus of the investigation is finally on the actual Villain.

The Solution: Start at the end.
1. What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
a. Go to the end of the story and identify the big secret.

He is a prodigy, that through his work, something has been identified, that will have world changing implications. And they don’t want anyone else having access to him, even if that means character assassination to destroy his credibility and reputation.

b. The big secret often points to other secrets that need to be covered.

2. How many ways can they cover that secret? These become the mysteries.
a. Make a list of my main mysteries (coverups) that must be solved to discover the final secret.

3. The first mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.
a. What is the mystery that the Hero absolutely must solve that lures him or her into the other mysteries?

4. Sequence the mysteries so that each one leads us to the next one.
a. If I lay out the three or four main mysteries, they will imply a sequence.

5. Create a Mystery Chain for each main mystery.
a. What series of “mysterious” events make up each main mystery?
b. How do those events cover the secret of the Villain?

The Red Herring Mystery
One of the mysteries of my story will be the Red Herring mystery. I present it just like the other mysteries; however, this person will turn out to be innocent.
The main purpose of the Red Herring is to create misdirection while the Villain gets away with most of his or her plan. If the main mystery of my story is a straight forward pursuit of the actual villain, it is much easier to solve, and less entertaining. Instead, I need to keep my audience wondering and investigating two or three suspects.

Key: Convince the audience that the Red Herring actually did it.
1. Select a Red Herring Character and give them a hidden reason to feel guilt or to be scheming about something else.
2. Create a mystery around them – Did they do the real crime?
3. Create a trail of clues that leads us to believe they did it.
4. Lead us up to the moment that we are going to bust them.
5. Discovery – They didn’t do it.
6. This either becomes a clue that someone else did it or it leaves audience having to rethink the previous clues pointing in another direction.

• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by  Andre Howard. Reason: Secrets and Cover ups

[Matteo Ribaudo]

This is quite elaborate, kudos to you being so thorough!

[David Harper]

David’s Mystery Sequence

What I learned doing this assignment: This is hard.

Here’s what I have so far. I will need to continue developing it, but this is it for now:
Alex Cogan’s plan is to get Dante Lewington, AKA Andrew Durant, back to Baltimore. Baltimore is home base for Cogan, and he can do whatever he wants there. The police, the DA, everybody is in his pocket in Baltimore. Outside of Baltimore he’s weaker, and there are rival mobs he would have to contend with as well as the law. So he has to get Andrew back to rBaltimore.

Goal: To kill Andrew, taking revenge for his betrayal and to get back his credibility within the organization.

Intrigue: Having the authorities in his pocket, having henchmen who can do his dirty work, having at least one informant in the FBI, faking situations to get Andrew back to Baltimore, etc.

Covers Secrets: He’s in hot water with his superiors in the organization. Everything filters up to New York, and his Baltimore operation is one level below that. He had lied to the New York bosses and told them that Andrew had been “Taken care of,” But when Andrew returned to the scene his superiors gave him an ultimatum. Either you take care of this now, or we will. Then we’ll take care of you.

The Strategy

1. Send a couple of henchmen to snatch and grab him.
2. Have fake FBI agents come to take him to a new safe house, but it’s a setup.
3. Call him and ask him to come to Baltimore, with vague undertones of threat.
4. Stage an event in Baltimore that makes Andrew want to return on his own. (Like his mother dies, and Andrew wants to go to the funeral.)
5. Kidnap someone Andrew cares about and use that as leverage to lure him there.

[Matteo Ribaudo]

Day 6 Crafting Your Mystery Sequence

“What I learned is that having a well thought secret can broaden your scope of misleads and cover ups to keep the audience guessing.

What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
Magdalena is feeding her daughter blood from bad men so her daughter doesn’t get caught being a vampire.

The first mystery is why is our hero’s best friend trusting this woman(Magdalena) to lead them into the jungle when all the other guides say its not safe to go.

The second mystery is why is this woman talking about her dead daughter like she’s still alive.

RED Herring:
Why is the hero being lead to do dangerous activities when his best friend who knows he’s got a bad knee and hates snakes and bugs.

Red Herring:
Is our hero’s best friend trying to kill him after finding out he has motive after years of verbal abuse from our hero.

Why would Magdalena leave them lost in the jungle at night?

What is lurking in the jungle at night and stalking them?

Why does his best friend lead him to the cave where Magdalena is waiting for them?

Who is the girl named Lilith in the cave if Magdalena’s daughter is dead?

What is the strange fanged mouth piece on the mantle for?

What is Lilith’s health condition as she looks ill and has a reversion to sunlight?

What condition does lilith have that skips a generation?

What happened to our hero’s best friend as he has gone missing? And why is Lilith now feeling better?

How can our hero escape Magdalena deep in the jungle with no sense of where to run? The jungle can kill him if he leaves and his life is in danger if he stays.

What sacrifice must our hero make to save Lilith at the end?

• This reply was modified 10 months, 2 weeks ago by  Matteo Ribaudo.

[Chris Wood]

Chris Wood’s Mystery Sequence

What I learned doing this assignment was, well… a whole lot of structure and layers to my original concept that I would not have probably imagined without working within the MIS framework. Also to continue to let the process take the idea forward. I’ve changed a lot and let go of a lot since my original concept.

What is the big secret that the Villain is covering up?
He has restarted Project Parallax, a secret eugenics experiment designed to breed and harness the power of ESP superhumans.

How many ways can they cover that secret? Those become the mysteries.
By seducing Samantha into the ESP program at Rayburn.
By distancing himself from Allen and saying the government spooks are no good.
By letting Samantha go with David to Rapture.
By seducing Megan as an ally against Samantha.
By leading the FBI to Rapture and coming along for the ride to make sure that everyone turns themselves over peacefully.
By tricking the academic and military intelligence communities that he is a good guy, just a maverick researcher, but one who could be a valuable resource and ally.
By using his persuasiveness to build a small but loyal agency of well placed operatives, including Dr. Marquis Allen. Assorted evil nurses and loner geniuses. He looks for the same prey as Eliajah Kahn.
By tracking down all of the Rainbow Children and excising them to the Western US, where they can be more closely monitored, studied, and evaluated for re-congition into Project Parallax.

The first mystery must engage the Hero into solving it.
Why did Samantha’s new roommate Betsie have a psychotic break?

Sequence the mysteries so that each one leads us to the next one. Include ONE Red Herring mystery if you can.

Why did Samantha’s new roommate Betsie have a psychotic break?
She was a reclusive transfer student
Samantha kept getting “bad vibes from her”
She spent a lot of her time in the psych labs
Could the psych labs hold the answer?

Who is the Navy Lieutenant collecting Betsie’s things? [herring]
Why did the government show up?
What was Betsie journaling about?
Why does Meg know about Allen [he snoops in the past, in the department]
Why does Dr. Allen want Samantha to leave the University?

Why does Samantha suddenly wake up with ESP?
Did something happen at the psych lab?
How does she ace the Zener card experiment?
How come David doesn’t seem to have any thoughts?
Why is Dr. Forsythe so confused?

Who is the girl stalking Samantha at the cafe? [herring]
Why is Holly stealing Samantha’s letters?
What is the Cult?
Why are they robbing banks and storing weapons?
Is Elijah Kahn a prophet?
Why are people being kidnapped into Rapture?

What is the purpose of the secret eugenics program Project Parallax?
How is the Cult involved?
Why does the landowner look the other way?
What was Forsythe doing in the Korean War?
What is the connection between Allen and Forsythe?
Is Samantha pregnant?
Why does the FBI answer to Forsythe?
What’s in the secret building at the top of the mountain?

Who is the Rainbow Child?
Back to Korea
Samantha gives birth

• This reply was modified 10 months ago by  Chris Wood.