Lesson 6

[Mark Wakely]

Mark Wakely’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

What I learned doing this assignment is that multiple layers add surprise and intrigue to your story, keeping the audience engaged throughout.

The location for the story holds only one layer/surprise: it was meant to have been constructed differently, which would have prevented the dilemma the characters are in.

Character Layers –

Surface Layer: They’re a team that seemingly works together well.

Beneath That: Each character has aspirations that differ from their assigned roles. One character has no aspirations, just barely concealed bitterness.

How Revealed: The dilemma they face encourages them to open up about who they really are, putting them at odds with one another. Two of them have a secret relationship the others were unaware of, causing the bitter character jealousy and anger. The fourth character harbors a secret of something he did years earlier that put them all in the danger they face, something discovered by the bitter character entirely by accident, who then conspires to turn the other two against the fourth character and seek revenge.

[Tom Freyer]

Subject line: Tom Delivers Multiple Layers!
What I learned: Brainstorming potential layers via plot, character, and location gives me multiple story devices to surprise and intrigue the reader/audience.

1. Brainstorm potential plot layers.
• Major scheme revealed: D’Andre is the true talent behind all of Junior’s hits
• Mystery revealed: D’Andre doesn’t spill the beans because Junior buried D’Andre’s crime
• Thought it was one thing, but it is another: Thought D’Andre is the bad guy but it’s Junior
• Major shift in Meaning: D’Andre is the one with morals
• Hidden history : Junior despised by his successful father
• Hidden plan: D’Andre and Meghan planned to quit and run off together

2. Brainstorm potential character layers.
• Secret identity: Junior was a rich kid, D’Andre was the real gangster
• Intrigue layers: How will they escape death on the mountain? Why does Junior use D’andre? Why does D’Andre accept Junior’s fame? Which of her lovers will Meghan side with?
• Hidden relationships and conspiracies: Junior’s and D’Andre’s secret agreement, Meghan and D’Andre’s secret agreement
• Hidden Character history: D’Andre was a gangster, Junior was a privileged rich kid

3. Brainstorm potential location layers.
• Hidden operation: Distracted fan puts wrong fuel in the TurboProp plane
• Deeper meaning: They’re actually all dead: It’s just Junior’s last breainwaves trying to straighten everything out
• Trap to draw prey: Junior fixed the fuel swap to crash the plane and get rid of D’Andre
• Unique sub-world: D’Andre wants Junior dead to cash in on insurance

4. Tell us about the layers you’ve chosen.
• Surface Layer: Junior G is is successful and popular Rapper trapped in a plane crash
• Beneath That: It’s really D’Andre’s life he raps about –D’Andre is the real talent behind Junior’s hits. Killing D’Andre would keep Junior’s secret safe
• How Revealed: D’Andre makes him confess on phone recording as they prepare to die in the plane crash. Junior decides to take the phone rom him,
kill D’Andre and Meghan to protect his secret.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Tom Freyer.

[Paul McGregor]

Paul’s Delivering Multiple Layers!

5. What I learned from this assignment is that it turbo-charged my plot. Thinking about layers led me to a breakthrough in terms of my characters and the change bears some similarities with Sixth Sense. Now, one of my characters is actually dead and has come back to save her daughter, who has no idea who this woman really is.

4. Chosen layers
A. Characters:
i. Real-estate Agent
Surface: a real-estate agent showing two clients around a House for Sale.
Beneath that: She died giving birth to the Female Client. The Female Client was told a lie about how her mother died. Not till the end does she have any inclination as to the true identity of the woman trying to sell her the house.
How revealed: the true identity is only revealed at the end of the movie, when all the evidence shows that the Real-Estate Agent was a visitor from beyond the grave.

ii. Female Client
Surface Layer: An attractive, respectable-looking but somewhat washed-out woman in her early thirties.
Beneath that: has been suffering depression for years and tried to commit suicide. Does not understand her own mental states. Occasional consumer of drugs to lighten the load.
How revealed: When the Male Client turns up at the house, they recognize each other as supplier and customer.

iii. Male Client
Surface Layer: Moderately successful businessman.
Beneath that: His most successful business are the drugs he sells. Buying the house would be part of his money-laundering.
How revealed: When he meets the Female Client and they recognize each other.

B. Plot
Surface Layer: The two clients received invitations to visit the House for Sale. They each go along with different motives. We see the Real-Estate Agent selling the qualities of the house while the two Clients interact with each other and with the Agent.
Beneath That: the Real-Estate Agent died giving birth to the Female Client in that very house. She has come back from the dead to try to save her daughter at a critical time in her life. She also seeks to save the Male Client so that he drops the drug-trafficking and settles down and marries her daughter.
How revealed: The reveals emerge at different moments throughout the movie. Sometimes just hinted at; only at the end, when the Real Estate Agent is no longer around, do we see actual evidence.

C. Location
Surface Layer: It is just a House for Sale, and a possible place to live for the Female Client and an investment possibility for the Male Client.
Beneath that: It is the house in which the Female Client was born and lived till she was 5 years old. The Male Client lived in the house next door. It is in one of the bedrooms that the Real-Estate Agent gave birth to the Female Client and died.
How Revealed: throughout the movie there are some strange coincidences that suggest that there is more to the house than meets the eye. Strange, supernatural happenings occur, particularly in the bedroom.

END

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Paul McGregor.