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Lesson 8
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Kevin Lobo’s Lesson 8: Why Do We Care?
What I learned…In thinking and writing out this section, I learned this is the heart of any story, especially action where this critical piece can get lost. If not there, this likability/empathy piece can quickly get identified as gaping hole, leaving audiences with an incomplete feeling of caring for their hero and his journey.
ASSIGNMENT: Brainstorm answers to Likability/Empathy / Distress/Justified
for your Hero.LIKABILITY/LOVABILITY
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- A. Other
people like or respect the character – He is a super cyber specialist.- B. The
character shows love for something – He loves his wife and brother (not fully
reciprocated).- C. They’re
trying to do something good – He uses his cyber skills to protect the vulnerable
– schools, healthcare, public infrastructure…for the common good.- D. Save the
cat — rescue or do something good for someone else – he throws a birthday
party for his undeserving, gangster brother.- E. Funny,
humorous, witty – despite his wife’s negativity and nagging nature, he
stays positive, caring and funny.- F. Kindness –
in the little acts that he does to make life special for his brother.- G. Good moral
decisions and actions. Being on the right side. – Knows his skills can
earn him a fortune on the dark web but chooses to stay on the good side
for just a regular 9-5 job and salary.EMPATHY / DISTRESS
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- A. Undeserved
misfortune – His brother is captured – He sees the ruthless nature of the
abductors.- B. External
Character conflicts – He must go against everything he has stood for – become
a cyber criminal himself.- C. Plot
intruding on life – His wife is lured away. He cannot go back home.- D. Moral
dilemmas – He must go to the
criminal world to procure what he needs to do the criminal task – obtain hardware,
a secret location and a weapon.- E. Forced
decisions they’d never make – Find the negative and criminal ways to take
down a rival entity’s IT infrastructure.- F. Wound
attacked – He is attacked by the
rival gang, goons when he goes into crime infested neighbourhoods, by his
own controlling gang and ultimately by the authorities themselves.JUSTIFICATION
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- A. The
character or their family abused –
His wife and brother are both taken away and are in physical danger.- B. Threatened
by others – By the controlling gang, the rival gang and the government.- C. The Hero is
the victim of attacks – he is physically attacked when take to be given
his mission, attacked by goons and the government agents when he
infiltrates back.- D. They’ve
suffered major losses – Has lost his home, possessions, wife and brother/- E. The Villain
or their representatives have trespassed – Besides the many physical ways,
the most demeaning one is that his vulnerable wife is lured into a full
relationship with another man.MY HERO — WHY WE CARE
In the opening scene, the hero is throwing a small birthday party for his brother. We see the confrontation with his wife and through her arguments, we learn of the brother’s drug life and his ganster background. We see his positively through it all and also some moral burden to keep supporting his brother.
Now, we see his real life as he steps back to work with the abduction of his brother on his mind. We see him dive in to prevent a cyber attack and rescue a health network being taken down – something that would potentially endanger many lives.
We see him being congratulated and felicitated all the while we see him pained as he knows he is setting out on a mission that negates all of this.
He knows his relationship with his wife is fragile, if she discovers what he is doing will alienate her further and above all it will be a big fall from grace for him.
He begins to see physical action and violence in his life for the first time. He takes his first unwilling steps into a life of crime. Going into crime ridden neighborhoods, procuring hardware, computers and guns from the underworld and setting up a secret attack lab.
He returns to his home, to see his wife leaving, with a rich man, whom he recognizes as a criminal and then loses his home as it is attacked by the rival gang and the government agents.
His good life as we knew it, is now over. He moves to the secret crime ridden location, must keep moving constantly, stay in the shadows, literally and virtually, and then surface to infiltrate the government cyber locations that he once protected and considered as hallowed.
Through all of this we see his dilemma and his resolve still to ensure that he does not bring down any government infrastructure as collateral, does not real hurt any of the good security doing their regular job!
What caused those emotions? His love for his wife – who he knows he can win back; and his love for his brother who he knows he can bring back to the good side.
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Dave’s Hero’s Likability/Empathy/Justification
What I learned doing this lesson:
This assignment is difficult because I don’t know my hero yet. He’s still a man with no name in a story I probably won’t write. But I’m learning and enjoying this course.
LIKABILITY
– Hero’s diligence inspires the quirky townsfolk.
– He is resourceful, changing tack quickly when needed.
– He is generous with his employees.
– His pleasant manner impresses even a robot.
– His team drives Vespa scooters. Who doesn’t love Vespas.
– He doesn’t realize how funny he is.
EMPATHY/DISTRESS
– He has no name yet. Maybe it will stay that way.
– He is outmanned when the rest of his crew are attacked by drones, run off course, and had their vehicles stolen.
– His own trusty scooter is sabotaged by the villain.
– The odds are always against him, but we love underdogs.
JUSTIFICATION
– He longs for his ex who is now with the villain.
– He wants to preserve the unique character of the village.
– He has everything at stake in this competition/race.
FIRST ACT SEQUENCE
Opening – Hero leads delivery service from a command center in his picture book village. He is punctual, efficient, and meticulous, and he demands the same from his crew.
His men drive a variety of old fashioned bicycles, scooters, and carts. Tradition is what Hero values most.
Inciting Incident – Villain starts a rival service using robots and drones.
He has a long-standing disdain for Hero. He despises his cheerfulness and industry, and he has stolen Hero’s girl.
Hero’s men and Villain’s robots clash as they vie for customers. Just as Villain had hoped.
Hero realizes the village isn’t big enough for the both of them. Which is what Villain is counting on.
End of Act 1 – Hero challenges Villain to a great race to decide who will stay and who will go. I hear The Clash!
He must save his business and in doing so preserve his little town. And hope to get his girl back by exposing Villain as a villain.
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Mary’s Hero’s Likability/Empathy/Justification
What I learned doing this assignment: That it’s crucial to illustrate these qualities in my hero in order to earn the audience’s empathy, in order to create a hero they will want to root for. To think about how I can show these qualities in a way that will have the audience’s buy-in by the end of Act 1 (or hopefully sooner!).
1. Opening:
Intercut scenes of Skye in pursuit of a criminal (on motorcycle, doing parkour, sharp shooting, etc.).
Flashback: scenes of her in gymnastic competition (parents and sister, Leah, cheering her on, high-fives from teammates and coach).
Back to present: Ultimately, Skye brings down the target but injures her leg in the process.
Skye meets with her superior. Because of her injury, Skye is taken off active duty—she requests to be placed in a training for de-escalation techniques. She tells her superior that she wants to stay out of active duty for good. She’s had enough violence.
Flashback to bombing of parents and journey to U.S. with her younger sister, Leah.
Skye brings gifts for her co-worker, Jade’s children. Jade, her closest friend, is an expert in digital forensics.
Skye’s superior wants to get her back on active duty, so he sends her to the CIA Body Tech Lab where she’s to be fitted with exoskeleton gear, but she walks out. She’s determined to stay off active duty.
2. Inciting Incident:
Andros, a Russian crime boss, targets Skye, sends his main henchman to break into Sky’s home and overpower her. The henchman then shows her a video of Leah, who has been kidnapped. Leah pleads, for her to cooperate. The henchman has a tattoo on the inside of his lower arm—a clue to who he is/who sent him (okay, so this is pretty cliche—will try to think of another type of clue).
3. First Turning Point at end of Act 1:
Skye turns to her friend, Jade. She helps Skye discover who is behind the kidnapping.
Skye goes back the the Body Tech Lab and gets fitted for a pair of power leggings.
4. Mid-Point:
Andros sends Skye an encrypted message, revealing what he wants in return for her sister: classified info about locations of nuclear subs.
Flashback to Andros negotiating with a Russian official: he will get a high political position in return for the info.
Now it’s not just her sister’s life at stake, but the security of the country as well
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- A. Other
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