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Lesson 6
Reply to post your assignment.
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10 Replies
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Greetings from beautiful Greenland! We are very close to the Arctic Circle today!
Subject line: Claudia’s Genre Conventions
My vision: To become the best screenwriter I can be, and to find success in the industry.
What I learned from doing this assignment is: focusing on the genre conventions in each piece of the broad outline helps to elevate the concepts and the tension in the screenplay.
Title: Wings of Grace
Concept: A nurse in the WWII Women’s Army Corps battles racism,
sexism and incompetence as she tries to save the life of a badly injured
Tuskegee airman.Genre: Drama
Drama conventions:
Purpose: High emotional and interpersonal stakes for the
characters.Character-driven: Their internal journey drives the film’s
events and progressions.High stakes that come from within.
Emotionally resonates.
Challenging, emotionally-charged situations.
Brainstorm ways to deliver the conventions more effectively and build those parts into your 4-Act Structure. List your structure from Lesson 6 along with the improvements that come from the Genre Conventions.
Act 1:
Opening: Grace receives the blessing of her priest and her
father as she reports for duty as an Army nurse. She becomes friends with Ann,
an independent and outspoken woman who is completely different from – and is attracted to – Grace.Inciting Incident: Grace meets Booker, a Tuskegee airman. She
is immediately drawn to him – and also notices how others treat him. Ann notices the attraction and is jealous; she is
falling in love with Grace and seeks to draw Grace closer to her.Turning Point: Grace follows the directions of a doctor even
though she and Ann both think his diagnosis is wrong – and Ann, a more experienced nurse, urges her not to do
so. Grace’s patient dies because of the incorrect
treatment.Act 2:
New plan: Grace
starts listening more to Ann and questioning those in authority.Plan in action: Grace falls for Booker, who holds her at arms’
length. She writes to her parents about Booker and confesses to her sister
that she is falling in love. Her parents respond forbidding her from any
kind of relationship with “a man like that” or she will be disowned. She is torn between her love for
Booker and love for her family. Ann is secretly pleased, knowing that a
relationship between herself and Grace could be more easily hidden as a friendship.Midpoint Turning Point: Booker, through incredible piloting
while simultaneously shooting down enemy aircraft, saves a pilot’s life.
On their return to base, Grace
sees that the pilot refuses even to acknowledge
Booker or his heroism – as do the other pilots and officers at the base.Act 3:
Rethink everything: Ann asks Grace, “What makes you think they
– your parents, the priest, the doctors, the commanding officers – know
more than you?”New plan: Ann and Grace start to get subversive. They pilfer
medical supplies so that the wounded Black soldiers can be treated
medically as well as the White soldiers. And when they think the doctors
are incorrect in their diagnoses or treatment recommendations, Grace and
Ann do what they think is right, not what they are told. Recovery rates in
their ward begin to soar.
But their racist, misogynistic commanding officer – the same one who
misdiagnosed the patient in Act I – tries to undermine them.Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Grace confesses her
love to Booker, but he rejects her. He says there is no way a man like him
and a woman like her could ever be together in the world as it exists
today. She asks, “But isn’t that what we are fighting for?” He is
resolute. Ann tells Grace
that nobody has the right to dictate who you
love. Grace finally realizes that Ann
is in love with her – and that Ann is letting her go.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Booker is badly
injured in an air battle. As Grace is treating his wounds, the Germans
mount a counterattack and the forward hospital is under siege. Everyone is
ordered to leave, with as many patients as they can take. But Grace
refuses to leave Booker, who is too injured to move. Ann stays with them – ultimately sacrificing herself
so that Booker and Grace can survive.Resolution: Grace’s heroism saves herself and Booker. He admits
his love for her and agrees that they should try to find a place where
they can be together –
even if that means they can never go back to the US.-
Nice work! What takes you to Greenland? Fantastic!
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My Vision: I want a space that is dedicated to writing, so I can have an entire wall for notecard storyboarding. I want my projects to advance in competitions and then be requested by the studios. I want to see those projects in festivals, in theaters, on streaming platforms. I want writing and producing to be my full time job.
What I learned doing this assignment is I need to start thinking bigger. Listing all the possible threats, brain storming and placing those elements within the outline. I feel like I started doing that and I know there’s room for improvement so that didn’t freeze me during the process.
Title: 8 Balled
Concept: After Eddie kills a drug dealer in self defense, a dirty cop forces Eddie to take the drug dealers place. Eddie pulls on a thread that reveals corruption at the highest levels.
Drama/Thriller
life and death situations
Mystery/intrigue
Villian: dangerous, devious, wanting power and money
Emotional high stakes
real life situations
Act 1
Opening: Eddie turns down a promotion at work
Inciting Incident: Spills an 8 ball of cocaine at a party that wasn’t his.
a) Ducassi, the drug dealer forces Eddie to replace the spilt drugs by any means necessary.
b) Eddie fails at armed robbery and faces a panicked Ducassi, Ducassi threatens to kill Eddie’s female friend and Eddie kills Ducassi out of reflex.
c)Eddie is viewed as a hero in town, but someone is watching Eddie from afar.
Turning point: A Dirty Cop forces Eddie into the drug business.
Dirty Cop reveals Ducassi worked for him and threatens him with trumped up charges unless he does as instructed.
Act 2:
New Plan: Eddie struggles in the drug world. Gets advice from non drug dealing friend.
Eddie gets swindled by two addicts.
Dirty Cop angrily gives advice. Tells him to use his killing of Ducassi as currency and make things happen.
Eddie takes over Ducassi’s route, two distributors try to take advantage of Eddie’s lack of game, but Eddie quickly reminds them who killed Ducassi
Eddie makes first kilo delivery, two higher end distributors test Eddie, when Eddie tries the tough guy act the two give Eddie a tough love lesson, drop loose cash on the fallen Eddie, then gives a yank on Eddie’s early stage rat tail. Confirmation Eddie is the Dirty Cop’s stooge.
Plan in Action: Eddie understands the Cop has done this to many people.
Eddie makes a pick from a cartel source, many angry looking eyes on him, not a friendly exchange.
Eddie is pulled over for a break tap stop at stop sign, the drugs are in the back seat.
Mid Point Turning Point: Eddie needs to fight back. If he doesn’t he either going to prison or end up dead.
Act 3
Rethink Everything: stress of double life effecting his job.
Friend dies from fentanyl overdose with drugs provided by the girl he saved from Ducassi.
Eddie contemplates life at the house where he spilled the drugs, next door is the foreclosed farm and Eddie sees a plane perform a night landing. He sneaks though the farm field and sees an unmarked car from a 3 letter agency taking bundles into the trunk. He’s spotted and they give chase, the plane takes off.
New Plan: Eddie needs to contact law enforcement outside the state, federal level. Eddie decides he can’t trust Iowa law enforcement and makes plans to visit Minneapolis.
Turning Point, Huge Failure, Major Shift: Eddie makes contact with the Feds in Minneapolis. They already know who he is.
An agent gives him a key card and give him directions to the buildings parking garage
Agent tells Eddie it would be very valuable if someone was able to gather information on a cartel meth distribution route.
Act 4
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Eddie springs his plan to show law enforcement coercion and other crimes.
Eddie tracks down the safe house with the meth. Tracks who visits the house. Bikers, truck driver, Dirty Cop
Dirty Cop threatens Eddie for not providing enough C I work and not bringing in enough income. Eddie had wired the location for sound and video.
Eddie messes up a deal and lures the Dirty Cop into trap where Dirty Cop is taken into custody.
Resolution: the dirty cop is removed, Eddie is off the hook, but the institutions continue on under the guise of national security.
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Tony J. Scott Genre Conventions
I learned how the genre conventions will keep your story on track while creating.
· TITLE: Two Years Past Freedom
· GENRE: Syfy Horror
· HIGH CONCEPT: In a world where The Vatican is at war with The Vampire Nations a young black woman, Najah Blackman, a black history major, must time travel to kill her pure blood vampire ancestor before someone else does or she’ll spend the rest of her life as a vampire, changing history forever.
Scyfy Convention:
PURPOSE: To cause us to think outside of our own world.
FANTASTIC WORLDS: The world of the story is dramatically different from
our current world, in one or more major ways. It could be our world with
some major shift.
ACT 1:
Opening: There is a 20 year war raging between the Vatican and the Vampire nations and no sign of a peace agreement. On the front lines Vatican Royal guards are being slaughtered as well as suited for war Vampires. However for the rich and powerful Vampire elite, life couldn’t be better. In the fortress home where Najah lives with her elite family, it’s her 21<sup>st</sup> birthday party and transformation celebration. The whole family is present as well as higher up vampires from various dynasties. However after a traumatic memory is triggered she refuses go through with the transformation. She doesn’t want to become a vampire. Najah finds out that the current Vampire leadership, her father, is corrupt and doesn’t want peace with the humans at all. They only want to control humans as a food source.
Inciting Incident: Najah meets with her history professor, her uncle, who finds his way to her bedroom through a secret corridor, and discovers a way to end the curse for her. Najah takes an IV bag full of dead man’s blood to the crypt of her sleeping ancestor to slip it into his cocktail and kill him. She is caught trying to permanently end the life of her ancestor who is currently lying in a sleep state in the family mausoleum until a time pre-determined a century later.
Turning Point: During her birthday party, Najah is given a gift that causes her to time travel. The gift is a family heirloom given to her by her uncle at her birthday party. The first night she is locked away in her room she is briefly swept away to the year 1863.
ACT 2:
New Plan: When Najah returns to the present and confides secretly to her uncle what happened. He gather many documents from the fortress archives to study. Najah discovers the location of her vampire patriarchal ancestor in the year 1863 and plans to time travel to kill him on the plantation where he is a slave. Her ancestor has to die by her hands, a blood relative, to break the curse.
Plan in Action: Najah has no control over when she can time travel; it can happen at any time. Her only clue is a dizzy spell. To find out who her ancestor is and kill him, Najah has to fit in with the slaves on the plantation deceiving the slaves and the slave masters. Najah has to convince everyone that she is a bonded slave from a different plantation on loan to pay a debt but must return periodically.
Midpoint Turning point: Najah discovers that the kindest person on the plantation, the one elder she is most fond of is her ancestor that she has to kill. Najah notices that he is wearing the same family heirloom she was given on her birthday. He knows her plans for him but keeps it to himself. He explains who he is and how he became a slave. She discovers that he and the slave masters have a mutual agreement when it comes to the tobacco farming and use of slaves and how they are able to live in peace.
ACT 3:
Rethink Everything: Najah is called back to the present/future and researches more about the time period and discovers it is the era of the emancipation proclamation and that her great ancestor plays a major role. She’s concerned about reshaping history. She discovers that all slaves were set free in 1863 by the emancipation proclamation. Najah is summoned back to the past.
New Plan: Najah confides in the elder telling him her dilemma and why she doesn’t want to be who she is destined to be and there is only one way to prevent it. Najah realizes that it is her great elder who is calling her back to the past for a reason, to fulfill a prophecy in the future. “From future’s past will peace come.” Najah confesses to her elder that she is from the future. She explains the conditions of the war and horrible fate of human kind in the future and why she can’t be a vampire. Najah finds out that Josiah was forcefully put to sleep in the future because he wanted to garner a peaceful existence with the humans like in the past.
Turning Point: Vampire Hunters arrive at the plantation operating as Emancipation Proclamators who go from one plantation to another spreading the news of freedom but also killing vampires along the way. Najah and her uncle research the archives and discover more about Cpt. Stanley and his freedom squad.
ACT 4:
Climax: Najah has to kill her ancestor before Cpt. Stanley can or she will live her life as a vampire in the present. She has to save her ancestor’s life by killing the soldiers.
Resolution: After the soldiers are all dead, Najah can’t bring herself to kill her ancestor. She embraces who she is and falls in love with her history and family heritage. She returns to the present. The battle has made its way to Najah’s front door. Her father, scheming for more power and to head the family arms the Fortress for the battle. Najah sneaks to the crypt and releases her elder. He assumes head of the family and calls for a temporary cease fire. He puts a stop to the current Vampire agenda and leads the Vatican/Vampire peace accord. She searches the history books to now discover that Najah has to make one final trip to the past because the freedom news did not reach the slaves in Texas for another two years because she killed the emancipation proclamators before they could reach Texas delaying freedom for over 250000 slaves.
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Maureen’s Genre Layering
MY
VISION: By nurturing fun and curiosity in the writing process,
I will do my very best to create a successful writing career full of
love, full of awe, full of productivity, and full of joy!What
I learned doing this assignment is how difficult it can be to keep it simple when ideas are flying through your head. I see the importance of it, but it was tough. I did the best I could while still trying to lay in as much genre convention as possible. It seemed as if the genre was all in the details, so I tried to balance that with keeping it to a minimum.Title: The
Sovereignty CodeConcept: A
psychologically damaged genius invents a new mode of hacking and
stumbles upon a plot to trick the
nations of the world into giving up their sovereignty.Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller
PURPOSE:
Thrill
with high stakes/plot twists/suspense/adrenalin packed
climax.LIFE
AND DEATH SITUATIONS. Danger
at every step — physical, emotional, or mental. Hero always in
danger or under threat of future danger.MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE:
Mystery must be solved
to survive. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert Villain’s plan.
Suspense from the danger the Hero faces.HERO:
Unknowing, unwitting, but resourceful heroVILLAIN:
Dangerous, devious, and unrelenting. Committed to destroyMAIN
EMOTIONS: Suspense, intrigue, mystery, tension, anticipation,uncertainty,
surpriseAct 1:
Opening:
Establish
Daniel in impenetrable ‘Safe Cave’ Bunker. No face to face contact w
outside world. Covid precautions gone overboard. Compulsion, Paranoia & Confusion. Takes Anxiety pills. Finds escape and
amusement in unique AI/VR world he created a new transformational
code for, which allows him to spy on people.Using
his New Code, Daniel sneaks into to a Elite VR Spiritual Retreat
Space called ‘Reboot’ and quickly figures out that it is a Conspiracy Group’s Space
masquerading as a Retreat Space. Daniel is intrigued. ‘Reboot’ becomes his new amusing obsession.Inciting
Incident: While spying on ‘Reboot’,
Daniel witnesses the murder of a member threatening to blow the
whistle on their plan.Freaked
out, Daniel compulsively investigates ‘Reboot’, trying to find out
who they really are and what is the ‘Plan’ they keep talking about
in their space. All the while, Daniel keeps one step ahead of
Reboot’s counter-intelligence coding. They have copped on that
someone is spying on them, and they are looking for him.Turning
Point:
“Reboot’ locks onto Daniel’s physical position. Daniel sees they
have found him. He has to leave his Bunker. Out of a pure survival
instinct, he wills his ‘hesitancy impulse’ to stand down, grabs his
most important gear, and escapes.Act 2:
New plan:
Find another safe space and stay alive.Plan in action:
Not only on the run, but also tortured with anxiety and disoriented
after leaving his bunker for the first time in 4 years, Daniel
struggles to cope, going back to his old haunts to find a safe space
to be while he figures out what the hell is going on and what to do
about it. Reboot
Goons are waiting for him wherever he goes. Daniel keeps managing to
slip away by hacking on the fly into systems that they are using,
seeing how they are tracking him, and shutting off their
surveillance piece by piece. He finally finds safety in an old clock
shop he has keys for, but no online connection to. While there, he
figures out what Reboot wants- to manipulate the Sovereignty Vote.Midpoint:
2d Turning Point Daniel goes
to FBI Headquarters to tell them about Reboot. While
waiting with a Rooky Agent for a Detective to arrive, Daniel
sees the Reboot Goons who were after him. They are FBI agents!
Daniel sneaks out, but not before FBI spot him and chase him. Using
all his wits and skills, he sends them in the wrong direction. The Rooky Agent corners Daniel in an alley and calls for help. The
Goon Agents shows up and also holds his gun on Daniel. He commends
the Young Cop then shifts his aim to shoot him, but Daniel knocks
him off target. The stunned Rooky fires back at the Goon. The Rooky
is killed. The Goon, wounded, drops his gun. Panicked and shaking,
Daniel grabs the gun and runs out of the alley.Act
3:Rethink
Everything: The News that night
carries the story of a cop killed by a psychotic escapee- with
Daniel’s photo. Daniel sleeps on the street, scared out of his mind
and struggling to come to terms with the breadth of this conspiracy. He needs to clean up his act for real now, if he wants to survive.New
plan: Seek the help of the only person he trusts, his
old Physics Professor, Gideon. But before he can approach
Gideon, he has to come to terms with his past betrayal of
his Professor, in preparation to face Gideon.A
Reboot Goon FBI Agent visits Gideon, asking about Daniel. Gideon
tells them that they had a falling out and he hasn’t seen Daniel in
over 5 yrs. Gideon’s wife, Johanna bluntly tells the agents she and
Gideon would both be happy to turn in that little bastard if he
shows up.Daniel
follows Gideon home and knocks on the outside study door. Gideon
opens it. Says nothing. Breaking down, Daniel apologizes. Gideon
lets him in, then looks down at the FBI card on the table. He slips
it in the drawer. Johanna arrives home and calls out to Gideon.
Gideon tells Daniel to stay put and be quiet, and steers Johanna
away.When
Gideon comes back, Daniel
tells Gideon everything. Gideon knows some of the players Daniel mentions from his
investigations, and they follow some clues together, finding more
answers and brainstorming what they can do about Reboot.When
Johanna goes out of town, Gideon and Daniel make a plan to
use a very special University Science and Computer Center where his
Johanna has her lab, and Gideon knows a few
people there that can help them expose Reboot.Turning Point 3:
Huge failure / Major shift: Working at the
massively advanced Computer Center, Daniel figures out the last
pieces of the mystery puzzle of how Reboot is going to manipulate
the vote. At the next moment, he realizes that this Computer Center
is the heart of Reboot. Johanna comes in and comments that his Code
found those hidden files faster than she thought it would. Believing Gideon has betrayed and lied
to him, a dejected Daniels lets Johanna talk him intojoining Reboot, and sharing his Code.Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict. The stage is set for Nations' Heads of State to vote on giving up sovereignty to a new World Body. Reboot is confident of the outcome. But before the vote can take place, Daniel fights his way up on the stage of the arena, and exposes the Reboot Plot as the whole world watches. A Reboot sniper shoots him, wounding him, but he continues, proving his case to both the Voting Heads of State in the room, and the people of the world watching on
the media of their various sovereign nations.
Resolution: The Anti-Sovereignty Resolution is defeated. Daniel also planted a whistle-blower code set to go to every newsroom on the planet and simultaneously, full hardcopy evidence of the Reboot Plot and everyone who was a part of it-- from within their own framework. Reboot members are arrested or go into hiding, and investigations of collaborators go forward worldwide. Daniel celebrates with Gidean and other friends, confident and unafraid, proud of what he accomplished, and ready for a new life.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Maureen Tilyou.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Maureen Tilyou.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
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Mahee’s Genre Conventions
My Vision – I want to be a great writer who is well-respected and recognized in the industry, with successful books published and blockbuster movies produced. I want to create a successful movie franchise that audiences all over the world will love, rave about, look forward to, and continue to enjoy many years from now.
What I learned from doing this assignment is to adjust my four act structure to build genre conventions into it.
Title – Realm: Gates of Wrath
Concept – When a prominent black historian studying an ancient tribe is brutally murdered, his son must embark on an interdimensional journey to find the assassin.
Genre – Sci-Fi/Thriller
PURPOSE: To explore the implications of alternate/parallel worlds, a what-if scenario of our lives being mirrored somewhere else in the universe. Causing us to think outside of our own world.
FANTASTIC WORLDS: The world of majority of the story is dramatically different from our current world, in one or more major ways. It’s our world juxtaposed with another world with a major shift.
SCIENCE: The circumstances and world are based more out of science and what it would look like in an alternate world.
MYSTERY/INTRIGUE/SUSPENSE: There’s a mystery that must be solved to bring order to our world. Intrigue is the underhanded and covert plan the protagonist is unaware of. Suspense comes from the danger the protagonist faces.
Main Conflict: An evil extraterrestrial warlord sends his assassins to kill Professor Campbell for spreading the ultimate truth. To seek revenge, Trevon takes the help of Sean, an interdimensional traveler, to embark on a journey in pursuit of the assassins. When he arrives in the alien world, he is shocked to learn that his interdimensional journey was pre-planned by a race of beings with a purpose – to help them win a long-standing war.
Trevon Campbell’s Old Ways:
-He is a high-strung, confused, agitated youngster who blindly follows a crooked politician, Reverend DuVernay.
-Disagrees with his father’s old school philosophy.
-Lacks self-confidence and is susceptible to be influenced by hegemonic people.
-Possesses a herd-mentality.
Trevon Campbell’s New Ways:
-He is the last hurdle standing between Reverend Duvernay and the congressional seat.
-Embraces his father’s philosophy and takes over the task of fulfilling his ambition.
-Is knowledgeable and confident, willing to fight for a greater purpose.
-Able to think individually with a neutral mindset.
Act 1:
Opening:
-In a remote wide-open field, Reverend DuVernay is standing with a few politicians and world leaders, looking up at the sky, as a shiny extraterrestrial spaceship descends.
-An extraordinarily tall alien warlord resembling a pharaoh emerges and stands as everyone kneels before him and kisses his hand.
-Professor Cedric Campbell addresses a large audience of historians and black leaders, defending a disputed theory about the roots of the black race and their ultimate purpose.
-The conference is cut short when his son, Trevon and a mob of angry protesters barge in and go on a rampage destroying everything.
Inciting Incident:
-Trevon watches, utterly deadpan, as Reverend DuVernay derides his father’s old-school philosophies and warns that a new insurrection has just begun.
Turning Point:
-Professor Campbell is brutally murdered in his own home.
Act 2:
New Plan:
-Trevon tries in vain to find a link between Reverend DuVernay and the murder of his father.
Plan in Action:
-He realizes he must expose Reverend DuVernay’s lies and deceit. Organizes his mob friends to stalk and eaves drop on him.
-All he can find is that a homeless man was in his father’s house the night of the murder. There’s also a cryptic note scribbled on the bedroom wall.
Midpoint Turning Point:
-The homeless man is actually an extraterrestrial assassin who has come from a distant alien world to kill Professor Campbell.
-Trevon gets a warning he may be next.
Act 3:
Rethink Everything:
-Trevon uses his father’s research to find clues about the assassins. Uncovers several references and historical links to a certain Planet X located in Sirius star system.
-He convinces a reluctant Sean Madden, an interdimensional traveler, to help him. But they only have forty-eight Earth-hours to complete their mission or risk getting permanently lost in time.
New Plan:
-They embark on an interdimensional journey to Planet X.
Turning Point – Major Shift:
-Planet X is being run by the crooked regime of an evil warlord 1ONTAE. He’s the same alien pharaoh who had come to Earth to unleash chaos, violence, and hatred.
-Trevon meets FALLAG (FA33AG), his extraterrestrial father fighting for the rebellion, and TALIYA (TA3IYA), his extraterrestrial alter ego fighting for the evil regime.
-To help the rebellion win the war and restore order back on Earth, Trevon must run against time to entice TALIYA away from 1ONTAE’s regime.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:
-TALIYA joins the rebellion. A bloody revolution ensues.
-Trevon helps TALIYA kill 1ONTAE and end the war once and for all.
Resolution:
-TALIYA installs his father FALLAG as the emperor and himself as the protector of the alien world. Peace is restored.
-As seconds trickle down, Trevon and Sean embark on their return journey to Earth.
-Trevon returns a completely changed person, happy to see order restored back on Earth.
-But there is more he needs to do. He must fight for a greater purpose by fulfilling his father’s ambition.
-He runs against Reverend DuVernay in the elections.
-Sean’s return journey doesn’t end well. He loses his way and gets trapped in a forbidden world.
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Will Jennings: Genre Conventions
My Vision: I will write movies that are extremely funny and entertaining that bring a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment to a world starving for true enjoyment.
What I learned from doing this assignment is how spicing up the humor brings the fun alive.
Title: True Fairy Tales
Concept: Two young princesses come from a Fairy Tale World to try and make Earth a better place. Whatever they envision on their cell phones and tablets, comes to life.
Genre: Comedy
Act 1:
Opening: In a fairyland castle, the Queen’s twin daughters are being sent to planet Earth to help make it a better place.
Inciting Incident: The girls are introduced in school and a rude girl embarrasses them in front of the entire class. The twins realize their mission will be difficult. Game on.
Turning Point: The girls decide to throw a party for all the uncool kids and the bad girl shows up with her mother’s motorcycle gang. The girls scare off the motorcycle gang with drones. One has a trooper siren, another flashing cop lights, and yet another pretends to be a police helicopter.
Act 2:
New plan: The girls try contacting the authorities to assist.
Plan in action: The harder they try, it becomes obvious that the police and city hall are not interested in giving any protection from the gang. They create a briefcase with counterfeit money and try their hand at bribing. They are shocked to find out every public official they hit on wants a piece of the pie.
Midpoint Turning Point: The girls find out that Brandi’s mom is the leader of a crime family and they have put a lot of people in danger. They call Hollywood producers in an attempt to get Brandi’s mom on America’s Most Wanted. After every rejection, they do Cagney saying, “You dirty rat.”
Act 3:
Rethink everything: They take a trip back to Fairyland to formulate a new plan against such fantastic odds. At the Saturday Night Royal Gala, everyone says how much they love watching them on the Earth jumbotron. They are just a hysterical riot trying to reform corrupt earthlings.
New plan: They suggest bringing muses and fairies back to Earth to gather evidence against the crooks. Immediately, the muses and fairies go into kickbox training while music like “Kung Fu Fighting” is playing.
Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Goons break in and destroy all the electronic equipment that they brought from Fairyland. They can no longer defend themselves from the gang.
Act 4:
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: The gang summons all of their mobsters to the twins’ house to show them who is boss once and for all. While in invisible mode, the muses jump on some of the bikes and ride off while everyone thinks the motorcycles are running with no riders. The fairies and muses appear and disappear while punching out the bad guys until they split.
Resolution: The state’s attorney uses the evidence to send mom and the gang to prison and the girls are now the undisputed leaders of the new cool kids. The entire gang is packed into a jail cell, strumming tin cups against the bars while singing blues tunes.
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Anna’s Genre Conventions
My personal vision: to get my writing mojo back.
What I learned from doing this assignment: I don’t think “thriller” is a perfect fit for my story. Nor are any of the other listed genres. While it has many thriller elements, it is more of a mystery/suspense story with action sequences due to what hero does for work. Nor do I wish to artificially shoehorn all of those elements in as it detracts from the mystery. I found a literary definition of “conventions of the suspense genre” and that appears to be the closest fit.
Title: La Sirène (The Mermaid)
Concept: A Coast Guard maverick suspects that his wheel-chair-bound oceanography professor, who holds the fate of his career in her hands, is involved in a series of terrorist attacks against poachers by killer dolphins.
Genre: Mystery / Suspense
Main Conflict: Jacob is investigating a series of boat fires that the owners claim were caused by “killer dolphins.”
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Improvements for thriller genre:
Act 1:
- Opening: Before they intercept Gome’s boat, play up the “hide and seek” element of hiding in the fog, waiting to snag fishermen on their way out of port before dawn. We don’t know until they board the ship that this is routine.
- Inciting Incident: Add a shot of an apparently friendly dolphin sticking its head up next to a boat of recreational fishermen. Play up danger to hero’s crew as they pull people off a burning boat.
- Turning Point: Point out the stakes if Jacob doesn’t complete training and come up to speed on catching poachers.
Act 2:
- New plan: When Jacob reports to classes and meets Lorelei, play up the friction between him and the young, idealistic “tree huggers”. Lorelei is very blunt about Jacob’s lack of knowledge.
- Plan in action: Two more “ship explosions.” Add shots of dolphins before Jacob’s team gets called out. Montage of some of the things the Navy trained dolphins to do before they scrapped the program as Jacob pieces together a link between the damaged ships and poaching activities. One of the explosions results in a death.
- Midpoint Turning Point: A major ship accident, this time a ferry. Jacob and his crew are in physical danger as they pull frantic passengers out of the water. Passengers report seeing a pod of dolphins.
- Later that evening, Jacob posits a question in class about whether the dolphins could be acting on their own? Lorelei lets something slip that makes him realize she MIGHT BE THE RINGLEADER.
Act 3:
- Rethink everything: Jacob submits an inquiry into Lorelei’s background, but an order to “back off” comes straight from the Pentagon.
- New plan: Suspecting a cover-up, Jacob becomes more aggressive in investigating the poaching incidents. Meanwhile, two more “boat explosions” occur, larger targets and several deaths. A fellow “coastie” is badly injured.
- Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift: Jacob spots a pod of dolphins on his ship’s sonar and orders his crew to pursue the creatures, rather than to assist a civilian vessel. The owner shoots at them with a speargun and makes a break for it. Jacob orders his crew to give chase. The ship is swamped, his pilot is badly injured and the eco-terrorist gets away.
- He gets chewed out by his C.O., and then he learns his pregnant wife was rushed to the hospital and may lose their baby. He withdraws from classes at WHO and turns in a request to be transferred (busted back down) to the regular enlisted ranks.
- Lorelei seeks Jacob out. She has insight into what the eco-terrorist is up to and his next target.
Act 4:
- Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict: Jacob sets up a trap, but an incoming hurricane puts his ship on standby for emergency response. Under cover of the incoming hurricane, the terrorist sends dolphins to attack the target, and then tries to escape, but Jacob chases and his crew rams the boat, causing it to flip over. They search for the terrorist, but are thwarted by the dolphins. Jacob calls in for a search and rescue team, but is told “no go.” A local fishing vessel has sunk in open water and they need him to pilot a rescue team out past the bar.
- Jacob is to pilot a recovery team – including Lorelei — out into the hurricane and 30-foot waves. Gome’s ship capsized. Lorelei unclips the fiberglass shell of her racing wheelchair and, ‘lo! She has a tai! Gomes ship is tangled in a net. It appears the fishermen will drown, but then Lorelei sings. Whales appear and lift Gome’s ship to the surface. Lorelei helps the fishermen swim to safety.
- Resolution: Back on shore, Lorelei invites Jacob to transfer to base where the rest of her people work with the Navy. He gets a call from the hospital. While he was out saving the world, his wife delivered a healthy baby boy.
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Genre Conventions
I am a uniquely amazing, inspiring, prolific, and successful writer/director whose name alone sales. I have a huge following because I help change the world for the better.
What I learned doing this assignment is that I come to accept that my story is more of a drama than thriller. The main character’s life is not enough at stake. It’s more of a heartbreaking story with discoveries, but no life or death situation.
Missing in Costa Rica
Genre: Drama
Based on a true story, a sister retraces the steps of her missing sister in a foreign country.
Protagonist Character: Victoria
• Logline: A newly wed, newly immigrant writer desperately tries to find her sister lost in Cost Rica while keeping her family afloat.
• Unique: She’s an immigrant, a newly wed, and now she has to save her sister while keeping her family and parents together.
Arc Beginning: happy, newly wed, and sister/mother/daughter
Arc Ending: hurt, lost, heartbroken sister
Internal Journey: starting a new life with new prospects
External Journey: lost her sister but better relationship with her husband
Old Ways: rely on sister, not value husband words, happy, believe in life
New Ways: lost, value husband, weight of family.
Act 1:
• Opening
On a thriller film set. Victoria is the 1st AD.
A crisis between the DP and the producer she has to resolve.
Intro of history of the two sisters, Mia and Victoria, growing up as twins, in synchronicity. Ends with them promising to buy a house and grow old together.
• Inciting Incident
Victoria calls Mia for her birthday and plans to visit her in Costa Rica in a couple of months. Mia is acting weird, and not confirming any info.
Mia’s words take priority over Victoria’s husband’s – for Victoria.
• Turning Point
Mia’s husband calls Victoria – Mia has disappeared for 10 days.
Act 2:
• New plan
Victoria freaks out. Sickness. She wants to go find her sister in Costa Rica, but she has to also comfort her mother, daughter, and family in Canada.
When her father hears the news, he decided to go to Costa Rica, to kill her husband.
Victoria’s husband refuses to go a 3rd world country. Fearing the worst as a white American.
• Plan in action:
Victoria heads to Canada crying in her new husband arms. Beginning him to go to Costa Rica, find her sister and calm her father down.
Time is of the essence to find Mia.
In Canada, Victoria announces the bad news to her mother, daughter and the rest of the family.
She organizes communication with Canada, France and USA Embassy.
She files a missing report. Cops show up at her door!
Victoria gets access to Mia’s emails and discovers an email addressed to her, but was never sent. Mia starts the email with “If you read this, I’m either dead or in a coma”! The letter is delusional, angry, accusing her husband of wrong doing and asking for revenge. Mia has also attached all her credit cards info.
She starts a website for her sister and creates a missing person paper.
Her husband finally caves and goes to Costa Rica with her father.
They meet with the local police, Canada, France and USA Embassy, and a missing person foundation who turns out to be the most helpful.
put the missing person posters up everywhere – but people take them down afraid it will drive tourism away. They are threaten to stop looking for Mia.
Other cases of missing persons are announced.
Victoria tries to raise funds, but shocked at the little amount family members provide.
Victoria receives Mia’s belongings and tries to decipher or find information/a clue through them.
Costa Ricans report unreliable, unverifiable sights of Mia, mostly to push investigation away from the touristic area – even to other countries.
Friends and family members each have their own theories: kidnapped for her organs, for human trafficking, moved to a retreat/community, was pregnant and escaped, her husband sold her to pay a debt.
• Midpoint Turning Point
Mia cannot be found.
Victoria’s husband and her father return home, empty handed.
Victoria also returns home. She is devastated, heartbroken.
Act 3:
• Rethink everything
Victoria starts to rely on mediums, hoping to find her sister another way. None of them say the same story. Except that she is between life and death, probably drugged, and some repeat that she’s in some sort of caged environment.
• New plan
Victoria meets with a friend of Mia while in Costa Rica, she describes someone else, a very different Mia, fearful and anxious.
• Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift
That same friend sends an angry email to Victoria saying that her husband has seen Mia on a bike with a friend. So the entire story is fake! But she won’t respond to Victoria’s call/email.
Victoria reports the information to the local police who goes to see the husband to check – only to find out that he believes he was wrong. Costa Ricans seem to enjoy lying.
Trolls watch Victoria’s movie and finds one about a missing person. They accuse Victoria of possibly setting up the entire story to boost her film career.
Act 4:
• Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict
A chef at the new work place of Mia’s husband finds Victoria and tells her that he tells people that his wife died in an accident in a ditch. He is convinced her husband killed her, he has been lying and stealing money at his new job, and he already had a new girlfriend when Mia disappeared.
But none of it is enough to be proven or used.
Her husband’s passport have been removed and Mia had mentioned before that she didn’t think he was allowed back in Canada anyway.
• Resolution
Mia didn’t want to be found.
Victoria has to let her go.
Nothing has been solved. Her family is broken for it.
Victoria has grown a stronger bound with her husband.
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Concept: A couple on the verge of breaking up is brought back together by the challenges of living in a haunted house.
ROMCOM
1A: he can feel it all slipping away
1B: both of their living situations suck and get suckier, he thinks in terms of helping her, suggests they live together
1C: it’s haunted (and I’ve already failed, whee)
1D: still dunno
2A: I can’t please an unpleasable again, it’s just like my father!… is Lacy just another one??
2B: solve the problem and impress her
2C: ghost immovable; girlfriend increasingly interested in the ghost more than anything
2D: the ghost needs help and empathy… also finding out that L was about to break up with him before they moved in together? still unsure
3A: how did I not see that; is there a point to even trying, now??
3B: help the stupid ghost then, it’s what she wants
3C: great, now the ghost is stuck AND even sadder, and I’m less one girlfriend
4A: no, I will fight for what I want and think is right ANYWAY
4B: it worked, on both counts! ghost is gone and we’re together and happy coz I’m all arced and shit and so is she!
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