Lesson 8

[Alfred Dunham]

Alfred Dunham’s 4 Act Structure

“What I learned doing this assignment is –

To understand the story’s fine points, one must understand where those fine points are derived. Otherwise, the story becomes an aimless wander.

ASSIGNMENT 7

Create a first draft of your 4-Act Structure.

1. Tell us the following:

Concept:

A teen, more dead than alive, is wheeled into a special hospital unit for low prognosis patients and discovers he’s “on a voyage of the damned,” but he refuses to accept his fate, despite the scorn of his fellow travelers who essentially become the classic “Job’s Wife” – “Curse God and die.”

Main Conflict

The teen refuses to accept his loss of life as he has known it, and everyone attacks his hopefulness:

a. The older man plays on Albert’s (and his own) fear of death,

b. The younger man plays on Albert’s (and his own) fear of living and

c. The Nurse, though understanding Albert to some point, plays on his fear of permanent loss of friendship/family/social relationships, i.e., his church and natural family.

2. Fill in each of these with the answers you have right now.

Act 1:

Opening

Nurse Helen wheels Albert to his room – and warns Archie and James to leave him alone.

· Inciting Incident

“It’s a miracle.” The next day, Albert seems completely cured.

Turning Point

Albert relapses. Archie and James are emboldened in their critique of him.

Act 2:

New plan

Albert agrees to take it easy. Take his medication. Get well

Plan in action

Albert sets a routine.

Midpoint Turning Point

Albert still relapses and is embarrassed. Archie, followed by James, taunts him relentlessly.

Act 3:

Rethink everything

Albert invites the other two patients to join him. They refuse – deride him mercilessly.

New plan

Albert decides to go it alone if that’s what it takes.

Turning Point: Huge failure / Major shift

Albert becomes depressed – feels he’s a joke — relapses.

Act 4:

Final plan

Concentrating on only his physical condition does not suffice; Albert comes to understand the need to develop his mind, too.

Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict

a. James, seeing Albert struggle, decides he doesn’t want to live like that. Dies.

b. Archie, after he loses James as a disciple, becomes violent in a rage against Albert and Nurse Helen.

c. Nurse Helen calls security.

d. Nurse Helen and Albert are now alone, and they are despondent – and feel responsible — for what has happened.

Resolution

Nurse Helen receives a call – In prison, Archie’s true identity is discovered (he’s been hiding out on the street as a homeless person), and he is killed in a prison fight.

Albert finally understands Nurse Hellen, as well as himself.

Albert invites Nurse Hellen to join him in their search for how to live beyond tragedy.

She accepts. He will become her surrogate son, and she will become his surrogate mom.

Albert leaves to resume his life, difficult as it will be.

Epilogue:

Graveside: A very old Albert decorates Helen’s grave as he recites his productive life and love for her as his “mom.”

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Laree Griffith.

[Mark Roeder]

Mark Writes Great Hope/Fear

What I learned doing this assignment is to create an emotional journey by brainstorming dangers, increasing tension and alternating fears with hope.

Concept: The ground caves in during a graveyard screening for a movie’s cast and crew, and the corpse of a writer who didn’t get credit for that movie won’t let them leave.

Main conflict: Skylar’s corpse won’t let them leave the graveyard.

Characters:

Magdalena, a producer/editor, the director Everest’s wife, who cut out Skylar’s writing credit, and has make-up and effect skills too.

Skyler, a writer who didn’t get credit for a movie being screened by cast and crew in a graveyard (who is buried in the graveyard).

Everest, the director who took credit for writing the movie being screened.

Ivy, an actress who was married to Skyler, but brought his script to the Everest, the director who took credit for it, and cheated on Skyler with Everest, who gave her the part in it.

ACT 1:

HOPE: Magdalena makes it into graveyard screening for cast and crew.

THREAT: High wind warnings, flash flood warnings.

HOPE: Going to do it anyway.

THREAT: Wind blows screen down.

HOPE They set it back up.

THREAT: rain.

HOPE: Canopy,

THREAT: Warned not to do screening,

HOPE: Movie starts.

THREAT: Lightning

INCOMPATIBILITY: OPPOSING NEEDS/DESIRES: Everest cut Ivy’s part down.

HOPE: Magdalena helps Ivy restore her part and cut Everest’s part down on her laptop.

INCOMPATIBILITY: Everest catches them whispering and cutting down his part and walks off

HOPE: Ivy goes to console/talk to Everest.

OPPOSING NEEDS/DESIRES: Everest cheats on Magdalena with Ivy against a tree near Skylar’s grave.

HOPE: They’ll get away with it because Magdalena’s consumed by the movie.

OPPOSING NEEDS/DESIRES; Magdalena catches them.

INCOMPATIBILITY: Magdalena threatens divorce

HOPE: Everest doesn’t want that.

OPPOSING NEEDS/DESIRES: Magdalena threatens to cut Ivy out and recast.

MIND GAMES: A real Earthquake seems to match an earthquake on screen.

DANGER: DESTRUCTION: lots of destruction when earthquake happens. Ground caves in.

ENVIRONMENT: earthquake makes them fall.

HOPE: they are all OK

TRAPPED/PRISONER: they are trapped below ground.

WHAT IS THIS CHARACTER AFRAD OF: Magdalena claustrophobic, afraid of being buried alive

HOPE: Ivy says she can fix the damage

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES: Ivy’s still in the character of the supervillain or person with supernatural powers on screen and thinks she is that character and that she caused the earthquake.

DESTRUCTION: Coffins sticks out of sides of new sunken graveyard formed.

HOPE maybe they can use the coffin sticking out to help them climb out

TP/INCREASING TENSION/IMPENDING DOOM: Skylar’s corpse comes out of his coffin and won’t let them leave.

ACT 2:

MIND GAMES: movie keeps playing inside sunken grave onto the dirt wall.

HOPE: Magdalena unplugs projector from cable that hangs down.

MIND GAMES: it keeps playing.

HOPE: They can use the cable to help them climb up.

DANGEROUS: As they climb, cable falls down and they fall.

HOPE: Someone grabs a leg bone which sticks out of the side.

DANGER: Destruction; it breaks.

HOPE: They hit a ledge.

INCOMPATIBILITY: TRIGGERING EACH OTHER: Between Everest and Magdalena all kinds of things about their marriage under the surface bubble up under this pressure.

HOPE: they work a few things out:

INCOMPATIBILITY: TRIGGERING EACH OTHER: the cheating is brought up

TRAPPED/PRISONER: Magdalena kicks Everest onto Ivy and they fall down.

INCREASING TENSION: WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN: Everest and Ivy fall through a coffin when they fall into a grave and get stuck in it with rats in it.

HOPE: Ivy climbs out of coffin and helps Everest out.

INCOMPATIBILITY/ MIND GAMES: Everest accuses Magdalena of setting the whole thing up with Skylar, faking his death, using her make-up and fx skills to make this happen on set to get revenge on Everest and Ivy for cheating on her.

FEAR: Magdalena wishes that were true, but didn’t even know they were cheating before this.

MIND GAMES: He has good arguments and examples of why it’s fake.

FEAR: Skylar attacks Magdalena.

HOPE: Everest thinking Skylar’s not really dead, blocks Skylar and pulls skin off him.

FEAR: It’s real skin with bone underneath, too thin for make-up

UNPREDICTABILITY Psychological issues: Ivy believes she is the character.

HOPE: Everest trIes to convince her she’s not.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES: Ivy calls Everest by his character name and that causes conflict between them.

HOPE: Ivy tries to use her supernatural powers on Skylar.

FEAR: She doesn’t have any supernatural powers:

HOPE: She knows she’s Ivy now.

ENVIRONMENT: TRAPPED/PRISONER: Skylar uses supernatural abilities to create flood, wash them down more.

ACT 3:

OUT OF CONTROL SITUATION: Flood sends them down farther than before completely out of control sinking. Could die.

HOPE: Magdalena survives.

DESTRUCTION: Massive destruction by flood, skeletons and corpses everywhere in water.

INCOMPATIBILITY: FORCED TO DEAL WITH EACH OTHER: Magdalena steps on ivy

HOPE: Magdalena decides to save Ivy.

FEAR: Ivy thinks Skylar signed a contract with an evil spirit, the one the script was about. She thinks it’s real and it possessed him.

HOPE: She thinks it’s there in the graveyard, and they need to destroy it.

MIND GAMES: Magdalena disguises Ivy and Everest in zombie-make up.

CLAUSTROPHOBIC: Everest’s allergic to the make-up which makes him itch.

HIDING OUT: Everest and Ivy are literally buried underground

MIND GAMES: Have to rise like zombies to throw Skylar off

RESTRICTING: Make-up and/or mask is restricting.

HOPE: Magdalena searches for the contract,

CLAUSTROPHOBIC: She has to search a grave, can’t find it

HOPE: Gets out of that grave, trudges on

UNPREDICTABILITY: COULD ATTACK AT ANY MOMENT: Flood water could come around a corner at her.

HOPE: Gets head above water, swims through it

UNPREDICTABILITY: Rats come after her

HOPE: Throws them off

PERSON ON THE EDGE: Dead bodies and Skeletons everywhere.

HOPE: Climbs over them.

PERSON ON THE EDGE: Make up/mask driving Everest crazy.

HOPE: It helps his acting as zombie.

DANGER: Injury: Skylar injures Everest when he sees through Everest’s bad acting.

HOPE: Magdalena finds the contract. It gives Skylar supernatural powers if he keeps their souls there.

FEAR: Skylar comes after her.

HOPE: She burns contract, and Skylar burns.

ENVIRONMENT: DANGEROUS : Skylar’s ash reforms and he comes back to life 10 times more dangerous than before.

DEATH: Skylar kills Everest and Ivy.

ISOLATION: LOSS OF COMPANION: Magdalena loses only companions in there, including her own husband.

ACT 4:

HOPE: Magdalena digs tunnel and plans to break contract Skylar made by digging her way out.

DANGEROUS: Skylar comes after her in tunnel.

HOPE: She cuts off Skylar’s limbs

DANGEROUS – Arms and legs come after her, choking her.

HOPE: Chops his leg into pieces

ATTACK: – Skylar’s disembodied hand grabs knife and chops her foot off

HOPE: She blocks the bleeding and fights the hand with a knife, cutting its fingers off

DANGEROUS: His body parts reform into Skylar.

HOPE: She cuts off his head.

DANGEROUS: Disembodied head bites her.

HOPE: She smashes his disembodied head in.

TICKING CLOCK: Each time he comes back stronger, deadlier, meaner. More dangerous, more evil.

ENVIRONMENT: TRAPPED/PRISONER: Skylar buries her in tunnel.

CLAUSTROPHOBIC – Has to overcome claustrophobia to get out.

HOPE: Digs tiny tunnel out

TICKING CLOCK: Gas from bodies and stuff making it toxic down there.

FEAR: She passes out:

HELPLESS/TICKING CLOCK – Water rushes into tunnel

HOPE: Water revives her

WHAT’S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN – Buried alive.

FEAR: Outside graveyard, a body rises.

HOPE: It’s Magdalena, alive.

HOPE: Through the graveyard fence: she sees Skylar dissolve because she broke his contract with the evil spirit. She got out.

MIND GAMES – it’s all a reality show. Skylar’s really not dead, just tricks all along.

TICKING CLOCK: Only has thirty seconds to decide whether to take the $200,000 for escaping the graveyard or do the next show or she loses it all.

OUT OF CONTROL SITUATION – Magdalena attacks all the equipment used to film the show.

[Tom Carroll]

High Concept: When your bomber is taken over by a rogue AI and ordered to nuke Beijing, China, how do you know the order is real (and what do you do if it isn’t)?

Conflict: The internal conflict about contradictory orders and the external threat represented by the rogue AI.

Reason for Containment: The bomber is isolated from its chain of command, so everything takes place inside the aircraft.

Characters:

• Pilot: Captain Rachel “Raptor” Davis – Transformational Journey: Rachel Davis goes from being isolated in her career to opening up to her crew to defeat an evil intelligence.

• Co-Pilot Major Jack “Hammer” Thompson – Transformational Journey: Jack Thompson goes from denying his strengths to openly using them to help people he considers his inferiors. He finds purpose in this.

• Systems Officer: Lieutenant Mark “G.S.” Rodriguez – Transformational Journey: He goes from being solely a tech geek to understanding the dangers posed by AI in the “brave new world”

• Weapons Officer: Sergeant Kyle “Joker” Reynolds – Transformational Journey: He releases his inner feelings for his family in order to make the world safer for them and for everyone else

THE INFINITE POSSIBILITIES – HOPE/FEAR

ACT 1

HOPE: Each crewmember waxes poetic about life in the Air Force.

THREAT: A code is received that places the bomber into Failsafe mode and orders it to attack Beijing, China. Pilot tries to maneuver the plane, but to no effect. She is locked out of the controls. The plane begins to change course toward the Chinese coast.

HOPE: Pilot isn’t worried. There must be a mistake, right?

WARNING: Tech guy – the code is correct. The code book was validated before leaving the base.

HOPE: Weapons guy says there is no way they have a live nuke on the plane. He’d know.

FEAR: Co-pilot, an Air Force lifer, says that orders are orders. It’s a federal crime to disobey the Failsafe condition. The pilot had better watch herself.

DANGER: Several banks of lights on the weapons panel strobe, freaking everyone out.

HOPE: Tech guy checks the systems and figures a way to return the panel to normal. Nothing to worry about here!

DEATH: Co-pilot relives the violent history of the Chinese, especially how they treat prisoners of war.

WEAPONS HOT?: The panel that controls the weaponry in the bomber’s bomb bay lights up. The automatic systems are doing a maintenance check on each of the nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Each appears to be serviceable and ready for launch.

HOPE: Pilot notices that the nuclear function lights are not lit. The nukes must be conventional warheads, still deadly, but not loaded with fissionable material.

HOPE: Pilot goes through routine checks and appears to take control of the bomber. Everyone sighs with relief.

ACT 1 TP: SAFETY DESTROYED: … one of the indicator lights on the weapons panel flashes green to indicate an active nuke and the controls are ripped away from the pilot and return to autopilot. The heading moves again toward the Chinese mainland.

ACT 2

NEW PLAN: Tech guy starts a deep dive into the bomber’s systems to find answers.

HOPE: The pilot talks calmly to the crew to help them focus and calm their nerves

WOUND/DISPAIR: The pilot talks about her distant father and how he never failed on a mission. The implication is that she and they will figure things out and do the right thing.

LOST RESOURCE: The pilot’s console lights and indicators go dark and take away any information the crew might have gotten from this resource.

HOPE: Tech guy grins and fishes out a pocket compass – at least they’ll know what direction they’re flying in.

LOSS: The sudden electrical arc renders the tech guy unconscious, causing him to fall and hit his head on a metal console.

ISOLATION: The bomber roars over the beach, heading into China. The crew realizes they are completely on their own.

HOPE: Tech guy regains consciousness and states categorically that the plane attacked him because he was trying to regain control. He knows what to do.

TICKING CLOCK: The plane dives and begins flying “nap of the earth” to avoid radar detection.

HOPE: Tech guy gives the pilot a definitive plan that will enable them to regain control.

ACT 2 TP/MIDPOINT: DISCLOSURE: The weapons guy goes into the bomb bay and verifies that they have an active nuke onboard. Right then the plane’s engines cut out and it begins to drop.

ACT 3

DANGER: The bomber’s engines restart and the plane aims itself at a nearby cliff face.

HOPE: The tech guy has a risky plan to disengage the weapons systems, rendering their aircrat threat neutral

RESTRICTING: There is no time to argue about whether to do this or not. The pilot shouts down the co-pilot.

HOPE: The tech guy initiates his plan and the arming systems go dark, indicating that the nuke is no longer a threat. Control returns momentarily to the pilot’s station and she takes control of the plane.

UNCERTAINTY: Can the pilot pull the plane up in time to avoid crashing into the cliff’s face?

DESTRUCTION: The bomber scrapes against the edge of the cliff. The plane is still functional, but no one knows if anything was damaged that they might need.

HOPE: Weapons guy acknowledges that tech guy’s work deactivated the bomb.

LOST RESOURCE: The plane returns to remote control mode and the indicators once again indicate that the nuke is active.

HOPE: The weapons officer recognizes that he needs to neutralize the nuke. He isn’t sure he can do it. Just then the co-pilot says he can talk the weapons guy through it. This is unexpecte news that fills the crew with amazement.

INCONGRUITY: Weapons guy needs to feel he can trust the co-pilot.

ACT 3 TURNING POINT: ALL IS LOST: With the weapons guy trying to get to the bomb inside the bomb bay, and the co-pilot talking him through … a countdown starts that means the crew has a minute to deactivate the bomb.

ACT 4

HOPE: Co-pilot says that they can do it. They just have to get going and to not look back.

SOLUTION: Co-pilot runs through the steps to deactivate the bomb. When the countdown gets to ONE, the bomb shuts down.

MIND GAMES: The co-pilot and the tech guy cheer, but the Co-pilot stops them. He says that they didn’t neutralize the bomb … it should have gone off.

HOPE: Everyone acknowledged that this can’t be and that they are being toyed with. Their courage surges and they vow to find out what’s going on and to stop it.

DANGER: The bomber is getting closer to Beijing and the nuke is still active.

HOPE: The pilot inspires everyone. She can’t be part of destroying the lives of millions of Chinese people. She doesn’t see how the US would want that either.

DANGER: The AI breaks in and verifies that it has been playing games with the crew and their mission. It now feels that the crew has earned a quick death at the hands of the Chinese. It then releases them from its control! Chinese aircraft intercept the bomber and line it up in their sights.

HOPE: Co-pilot gets on the radio and speaks fluent Chinese. He uses rapid language to warn the Chinese pilots. Everyone is again agog at what the co-pilot can do.

DANGER: The bomb bay doors open and the panel once again lights up. The Chinese swoop again in pursuit.

WORST: The atomic-tipped cruise missile deploys and rockets off into the distance.

HOPE: The pilot goes supersonic to catch up and uses her plane to upset the cruise missile, causing it to crash harmlessly into the ground below.

• This reply was modified 1 year ago by  Tom Carroll.