Lesson 8

[Paul Penley]

Paul P’s Profound Ending

1. What I learned: I learned that my original Profound truth may not be what works best for my story. I’ve had to brainstorm more on what I want to say.

2. What is your Profound Truth and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending? You were created for a purpose. Hone your skills and leave your mark on the world. or Failing to plan is planning to fail.

3. How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change?
CA – Johnny – Dies leaving his brother with all the tools he needs to suceed in life.
TC – Billy – Succeeds in defeating the Angels after abandoning his gun and staying six steps ahead.

4. What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?
– opening scene Billy fails to learn a lesson.
John Sr. tells his boys, “Failing to plan is planning to fail. Stay six steps ahead if you’re two.”
– Billy watches his father and brother die trying to protect him. His father didn’t have a plan.
– Billy and the Outlaws rob the bank of Mexico. Billy has set up an escape route and leads his gang to safety.
– Billy splits up the Outlaws and plans their reunion in a place no one would go.
– Billy fails to plan ahead as they enter the Mission. The outlaws are trapped.
– Johnny isn’t dead and he saves Billy from a challenge.
– Johnny and Lupo has planned for the day of his brother’s arrival.
– Johnny dies in the fight and tells Billy he made a mistake Lord Balin can’t be defeated.
– Billy is driven to continue the fight and revenge his brother and father.
– Billy overcomes his fear or heights and uses the knot his brother tried to teach him in the opening scene to defeat Lord Balin.
– With Johnny in a coffin, Billy and his surviving Outlaws are allowed to ride out of Hell.
– As Billy’s wagon crosses over the salt wall we see inside Johnny’s coffin. Johnny’s hands begin to twitch. “Six steps if you’re two”

5. How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens?
– My story makes it clear that “Nobody has ever returned from the Spanish Mission.
– Show that all the characters at the Mission are the souls of their original selves.
– Explain Dante’s Nine Levels of Hell
– The Mission burns – Simulating Hell.
– The Apache keep everyone inside.
– They crossed the river Styx to enter the mission.

6. What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds?

Inside the coffin we see Johnny’s hand twitch as they cross the wagon crosses over the salt wall. “Six steps ahead if you’re two. Failing to plan is planning to fail.”

[margo meck]

Margo’s Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment is. . .how important it is to have a destination in mind and a map to get there.

1. My Profound Truth is “devastating loss can lead to a bigger life.” At the end of my story my protagonist is recognized as a world-class athlete by winning an international competition.

2. My Transformable Character (the protagonist) goes from losing her big dream of marriage and having a family to stepping onto the world stage of international sports competition.

3. The setups/payoffs in the end of this movie that give it deep meaning include: the protagonist begins the story with having a small-town world view and small dreams and at the end, her world has expanded to being on the world stage by participating in international competition.

She goes from being shunned by her community by small minded people because of what her parents did, to being accepted and respected by her peers for who she is and her extraordinary talent and not measured by what her parents did.

4. The taboo of incest follows her throughout the story and she is riddled with shame. Even in the final act she has the choice to walk away from the competition in order to keep her taboo a secret. Her decision to face the threat and continue with the competition is surprising. Her determination kicks her talent into high gear and she wins the competition which is also “inevitable but surprising.”

5. The Parting Image that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds is that her ex-fiancé attends the competition wanting to reconcile because of her huge success, but he can’t get through the crowd to her because she is surrounded by friends and fellow competitors cheering her first big win. (I don’t have a final line yet that would leave us with the Profound Truth yet.)

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by  margo meck.

[Lonnie Nichols]

Lonnie’s Profound Ending

What I learned from doing this assignment: I learned how to set up a profound ending, partly by “reverse engineering” that ending and creating better “set ups”. Also, I learned how important and powerful the final images of a movie are.

Assignment: Design your ending to have a profound impact.

1. What is your Profound Truth and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending?
Title: “Rubytown”

1. Profound Truth:
#1 The power of one person to change/heal a city.
#2 (or) The power of one person.
#3 (or) Aliens are among us, and they can help humanity

2. How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change?

Transformable Character is Ruby, the teenager who gets hooked on drugs, then gets healed/helped/saved by and advanced group of aliens. After resistance and sabotaging from the locals, especially the Mayor Drug Kingpin, she is able to
1) clean up the town, and
2) prove to her friends and family that she was healed by this advanced group of beings and she wasn’t lying.
Change Agent is Jupad, an alien who looks and dresses like a human. His mission is to help Ruby, but he starts out in an arrogant and platonic fashion which pushes Ruby away. Eventually he understands human emotions better, and develops compassion and empathy towards humanity while pulling Ruby into his sphere of influence.

3. What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?
Set Up/Payoff: Ruby and her family are adamant that ETs do not exist. She then proceeds to get hooked on drugs after her father’s accidental death, only to get abducted and healed by aliens. She assists in healing her small town.
Also: The mayor of the small town appears to be a supporter of her and her family, only to be discovered to be the drug “kingpin”. Ruby gets clean and takes him down.

4. How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens?
Because Ruby is addicted to drugs, we don’t know if she’ll make it out. Then she goes missing which adds to the mystery, but because she is a good person, we know somehow things will work out. The surprise is that aliens have helped her heal physically and emotionally.

5. What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds?
The ending has 2 critical reveals:

1. A court room scene in which Mayor Eddie Pasconi is being sentenced for his part in selling/pushing drugs to teens in his town, causing at least one fatality.

2. Final: The ETs that healed Ruby, and coached her through some tough times against the drug lords, are seen flying away. To that point no one, not her friends or family members, believed Ruby when she told them that aliens had saved her from disaster.

• This reply was modified 5 months, 1 week ago by  Lonnie Nichols.

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Roeder’s Profound Ending

What I learned doing this assignment is to tweak my profound truth and shape the ending to express it.

1. PROFOUND TRUTH:

Instead of judging creatures by their features, let them show what’s special inside.

How will it be delivered powerfully in the ending?

Rosemary knows Kyo’s more than what the alien pandas created him for. He’s her son. He can fight Incisor’s “programming.” There’s something special inside of him. She stops fighting him and gives him the chance to show what’s special inside, to make a choice.

There’s something special inside of him, free will. He can choose to fight for his father, Incisor, a giant panda, in wiping out the humans as he was created for or to join her and fight against Incisor and his panda invaders.

She fends off humans who are out to get Kyo now too.

Gives Kyo a chance to show who he really is, the Promised Panda. She loves him no matter what choice he makes. She can’t help it, can’t fight it anymore.

When Incisor attacks Blaze, Kyo shows what’s special inside by protecting Blaze by attacking Incisor, his father.

Rosemary and Kyo team up, and show what’s special inside:

Rosemary sacrifices her life to save Kyo’s (showing what’s special inside her)

But Kyo, the promised panda, nibbles Rosemary to regenerate her back to life. (Showing what’s special in him.)

When Kyo almost kills his father, Incisor, Rosemary even sees something special inside Incisor, inside her enemy, inside this creature, this alien giant panda that inseminated her. She realizes that she’s partly to blame for this because she artificially inseminated Incisor’s daughter against her will, and that’s why he’s been against her, that’s partly why he chose to abduct her, experiment on her and inseminate her. And put a panda inside her against her will, because he felt she deserved it. But now, she’s glad he did, because she loves Kyo with all her heart.

Kyo becomes the new leader with what’s special inside: he believes humans and pandas can live side by side, can learn to live together. Can stop judging each other. If his mom can do it, anyone can.

Kyo gives invading pandas a choice, leave Earth or live in peace with Earth’s creatures, like his human Mom Rosemary. A deal is made: if we stop inseminating pandas against their will, they’ll stop doing it to us. If it’s their will, fine, but no forced breeding.

Kyo’s special in that he says his first words, the first talking panda.

Rosemary sees what’s special about the pandas, how each panda has something unique about them, and by treating them right, they treat her right.

2. How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change?

ROSEMARY (Transformable character):

Rosemary fights for her panda son Kyo and trusts him to make the right choice even though he triggered the alien invasion that could wipe out the human race.

Rosemary becomes part of a team when she teams up with Kyo to fight Incisor, Kyo’s father and his invaders.

Rosemary becomes a good mother, sacrificing her life for her son’s. She cares about Kyo so much she stops him from killing his own father, Incisor (which she thinks could be damaging to Kyo) even though Incisor leads the invasion.

Rosemary thinks she should be the one to kill Incisor, who abducted her, experimented on her, and inseminated her with an alien panda against her will. But now, she’s glad he did, because she loves her panda son Kyo with all her heart. She can’t kill Incisor.

BLAZE (Change agent)

Blaze taught Rosemary his vision: that her son Kyo is the promised panda, but now Blaze goes through denial that Kyo
triggered the invasion.

Blaze goes through his own stages of grief, and suffers doubt, but his protege, Rosemary, comes to believe in Kyo, stops fighting him, and gives him a chance to be the promised panda Blaze foresaw.

Incisor attacks Blaze, and Kyo shows he has free will by protecting him and attacking Incisor.

Rosemary uses the training Blaze gave her to fight for her panda and team up with him against Incisor and the invaders. Blaze, inspired, and his team of woman warriors fight side by side with Rosemary and Kyo against the invading alien pandas.

Blaze taught Rosemary she’d have to make sacrifices for Kyo, and she now sacrifices her life to save Kyo’s.

Blaze goes down in battle.

As Blaze lies dying, he sees Kyo nibble Rosemary’s neck to regenerate her back to life, proving Blaze right: he is the Promised Panda.

3. What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?

Blaze’s vision that Kyo is the promised panda is fulfilled.

Blaze’s training of Rosemary to protect Kyo is paid off as she does.

Rosemary trying to join the team is paid off as she becomes part of the team with Kyo and the others.

Blaze and Rosemary passion for each other in training sessions is paid off at the end when Rosemary’s pregnant with his baby.

4.How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens?

We see Kyo is the promised panda, but it’s surprising after we find he was made to trigger the invasion, and sent the signal that caused the invasion.

Incisor claiming to be Rosemary’s father is surprising but inevitable since he inseminated her.

Rosemary sacrificing herself to save Kyo is surprising but inevitable as she’s the mother, she’s been trained to protect him no matter what, and make sacrifices for him.

Kyo nibbling her and bringing her back is surprising but inevitable as he is the promised panda and we’ve seen his teeth regenerate instantly.

5. What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds?

Kyo touches Rosemary’s stomach, which moves. Kyo shrieks.

Rosemary’s ultrasound shows what’s special inside her now: a fetus. Is it panda? No, it’s a healthy, human fetus.

[Margaret]

Margaret’s Profound Ending

What I learned from doing this assignment: My envisioned ending did not have a profound impact. I needed to rework it for setup/payoffs and a lasting image.

1. What is your Profound Truth and how will it be delivered powerfully in your ending?
Title: Rag Dolls

1. Profound Truth: God created each of us for a specific purpose, to carry his message.

2. How do your lead characters (Change Agent and Transformable Characters) come to an end in a way that represents the completed change?

Transformable Character is Margot, a fearful woman who lost a granddaughter at the hand of the Nazi’s. She transforms into a bold and courageous resistance worker, even in the face of death. The Change Agent is Helene, living a posh life in the home of her son, a Nazi officer. She became an active spy for the resistance and bravely faced arrest when she betrayed her own Nazi son.

3. What are the setup/payoffs that complete in the end of this movie, giving it deep meaning?
Set Up/Payoff: Set up is Margot’s use of a rag doll to send a message of comfort to a child, it pays off as she makes rag dolls to send intelligence to assist the smuggling operation of children from Lyon, France through the alps to Switzerland.

4. How are you designing it to have us see an inevitable ending and then making it surprising when it happens?
We think that the spy network has been destroyed, only to find that Margot has stepped up and recreated the network, opening a Rag Dolls mending shop. She then mends clothes for the messengers and they personally carry the message through patterns in the sewing/stitching.

5. What is the Parting Image/Line that leaves us with the Profound Truth in our minds?
A resistance worker walks away from the “Rag Dolls” shop with his mended uniform stitched in a way to carry a message. The profound truth is that we each are designed for God’s purpose, to carry His message.