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Post day 1 Assignment Here
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Empire- Lesson One
What I learned during this assignment is: Power, greed and family have deep roots and ties, even when the family seemingly breaks apart.
Light Outline: The story of a broken, fragmented family who seeks their own piece of the business when the patriarch entrepreneur learns he has a terminal disease.
1) Big Picture Hooks: Distinct personality differences yet same goals. Family comes from desperately poor circumstances. Each member is suspicious of one another.
2)Main character (Lucious) knows he has limited time line to choose the right person to take over the business
3) Big Picture Hook of ‘Empire’ : Each main character embarking on their own journey to grab their piece of the business in the manner they want to obtain it.
4) Amazing and Intriguing Character(s) : Lucious and Cookie. Based on the pilot I want to know where they come from, how they got together and where that will take them now.
5/6) Empathy/Distress: Lucious having limited time to choose a leader for the business he built from the ground up. What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character? Lucious’ learning he has ALS. Cookie having endured 17 years incarcerated.
7) Layers/Open Loops: How Lucious and Cookie got together, what drew them to one
another in the beginning? How did they become ruthless in realizing their goals?
8) Ask this: Who will take over Lucious’ Empire business?
9) Inviting Obsession: How will this family make the business go forward or how will the
business go down in flames?
10) Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?
Lucious, ex-wife Cookie (mother of their three sons) view their roles in the business
differently. All want power in their own way. Lucious’ view conflicts with his three
sons, yet he has little time to preserve his legacy.
Catherine Cole Nov. 16, 2021
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from Lost:
Big hooks: airplane crash. survivors try to get rescued.
Main Characters (empathy / distress): Jack is a leader / doctor who takes responsibility and saves lives. Kate wants to help him. Charlie is a tagalong who wants to be famous for his band.
Situation: They are alone on an island, crashed, some injured, no rescue in sight. A monster threatens them. The monster takes the pilot. The monster might take Charlie but Jack risks his life to save him.
Open Loops: where is the black box?
where is the black woman’s husband?
Where is the tail end of the plane? Are there any survivors?
Is Charlie a drug addict?
Inviting Obsession: we want the survivors to survive and be rescued.
for my series:
the hero is a boy who discovers that he is a wereskunk. He turns into a skunk when he is sprayed by a skunk and becomes a boy again when he eats a rotten egg.
He is up against several conflicts: 1) the mayor wants to take his family skunk farm by eminent domain for a new pharmaceutical company. 2) there’s an owl that likes to eat skunks.
transformational journey. Boy goes from freaking out about his new body to enjoying his super powers and secret identity.
Boy discovers that his dad is also a wereskunk, as is his Aunt Abigail. All this has been going on around him and he never noticed. This trait is due to a meteorite that crashed on the family farm. The meteorite rock is also useful for pharmaceuticals.
What makes it incredibly interesting? Boy turns into skunk at inopportune times, and also into boy at inopportune times.
What haven’t we seen? I don’t think anybody has done this before. The closest is My Favorite Martian.
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RIVERDALE
5 Star Model
What I learned about this assignment is gaining an understanding of how the writer has tickled our feathers of intrigue to draw us in to watch more of the show. I am just scratching the surface of what goes into a Binge Worthy TV program and will slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together, like a delicious meal, slowly adding all the ingredients till it delights our tastebuds so much we devour the plate in one sitting!
1. Big Picture Hook: It’s a Town of shadows and Secrets, Who Done It, Murder Mystery type.
2. Amazing & Intriguing Character; A mixture of high school kids, with a range of nerds, cheerleaders, hot jocks, and wicked/bitchy teenage girls, and girl next door types. They have a diverse cast with black/asians/LGBTQ characters.
3. Empathy/Distress; The fact that Archie slept with his music teacher and they heard a gun shot makes us feel both empathy and distress for him. Also Betty reveals her heart to Archie and it’s not met in return, we feel sorry for her.
4.Layers/Open Loops. They create the mysterious death of Jason, when at the very end of the first episode his body is found at “The Rivers Edge” (title of 1st episode) having been shot.
5. Inviting Obsession. All the actors are beautiful/attractive to look at, so one would assume on a very basic/surface level this would attract teenagers to watch the show. On a deeper level/beneath the surface, the characters have more depth to them as we are slowly being allowed into their lives and discover more about them and what makes them tick. Their secrets, their struggles and ambitions. By creating a mysterious death of one of the town’s teenagers, the audience is drawn in for the simple answer of “Who is the murderer”? The teenagers, teachers and parents are written in a way that we (the audience) want to know more about them and what makes them tick. Who is going to get involved with one another and what relationships will fall apart. The intrigue is two fold, one the murder and two finding out more about the people in this small town.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Brenda Clarke.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
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Lesson One – Five Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment: Character is at the core of creating the BIngworthiness of Stranger Things. Ten major characters are introduced in 55 minutes and at the end of the episode I was totally invested because I was either worried for, empathized with, was suspicious of, or found the characters adorable and complex. Because half the main characters are kids, the monster set-up put me on edge from the beginning. My obsession will grow out of concern for their welfare. Cheap trick? Maybe, but it works like Gangbusters.
Stranger Things – 5 Star points
1. Big Picture Hook: Monster! The cold opening of Episode One makes it clear there’s a monster on the loose. This will imbue everything that happens with tension and foreboding.
2. Intriguing Characters: The four boys are smart, exuberant, irresistible. When Will goes missing we feel a visceral loss, even though it’s only a few minutes into the episode. Will’s mom and older brother are stunned and incredulous – we feel their helplessness. The police chief is there to counter hysteria and inject cynicism. Nancy and Steve are self-obsessed and seem unaware, but that just makes us feel like they will soon get sucked in to …what? Then Eleven shows up on the run with no backstory and makes an electric fan stop with her mind. WTF? How did she get away from the guys with the guns?
3. Empathy/Distress: The disappearance of Will is certainly distressing, but the arrival of a mysterious team of Hazmat-suited technicians lets us know something greater and more sinister is going on. Mom’s panic is completely relatable, as is Will’s brother’s attempts to keep peeling her off the ceiling (Winona Ryder is pitch-perfect here.)
4. Layers/Open Loops: What about the monster? Did it take Will? Who is Eleven? What are they doing in this secret facility? Did they make the monster? Why do they need to kill Benny when they find Eleven in his diner? When did Matthew Modine get so old?
5. Inviting Obsession: Where is Will? What is this laboratory? Are the other three boys the next to disappear? Is Nancy setting herself up to be hurt by Steve? Is Mom going to lose it? Is the brother somehow involved? Why are guys with guns chasing Eleven? When the boys go out to look for Will against the strict orders of the Chief, they run into Eleven in the woods. We are SO hooked!
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BINGE WORTHY SHOW: JESSICA JONES
What I learned doing this assignment is…
That a binge worthy pilot requires several key components to work synergistically: 1.) Have an engaging lead character – even if the lead is an anti-hero like Jessica Jones is initially. 2.) By creating empathy and distress for that lead character repeatedly, we are willing to follow them to the climax. 3.) The climax must be powerful and set the stage for the rest of the conflict throughout the season. In this way, the climax of the pilot isn’t meant to lead to a resolution. It’s more like the Inciting Incident of a feature film, where events are set in motion from which there is no turning back for the main character(s). By ending on this sort of emotionally jaw-dropping cliffhanger, the audience is compelled to start binging more episodes to find out how in the world our heroes will get out of this mess.
Assignment 1: Make a light outline of the show
INTRO: Jessica Jones, voiceover narration, setting the context as a private investigator in New York City who excels at finding the worst in people. When her clients get upset with her, she handles them with uncanny strength.
ACT 1: Jones’ contact at a high-end law firm gives her a job to serve a court summons on a sleazy gentleman’s club owner.
We learn that there was a previous case involving a man, Luke Cage, that she can’t seem to let go of. During this scene, she experiences a strange vision of a man whispering threateningly in her ear.
Two parents of a college student named Hope hire Jones to find out what happened to their missing daughter.
Jones goes to the apartment of Hope’s college best friend. (This scene and the previous one have funny and colorful supporting characters.)
Jones serves the summons on Gregory Spheris, the sleazy gentleman’s club owner using her super-strength.
ACT 2: Back at her apartment, she wakes from a frightening dream of the same mysterious man who whispered in her ear earlier, only this time he licks her face. She recites a litany of streets like she did in the earlier scene, to calm herself. She receives a call from her lawyer friend; check is on the way.
Jones goes back to the neighborhood bar where she saw Luke Cage before. They talk, he invites her in to the bar, she accepts. They flirt, then have sex.
Afterwards, she goes into his bathroom and discovers a picture of an African-American woman that causes her to break down into tears as if she knows her. She quickly leaves while apologizing to Cage.
ACT 3: Jones is awakened by a phone call from Hope’s mom. Jones explains that Hope has been using a credit card to buy something “special” for her secret boyfriend.
Jones goes to a restaurant where she discovers that Hope and her boyfriend were there and the boyfriend somehow convinced the waiter, the sommelier, the chef, and others to act out of character. Jones has a flashback to when the restaurant was a different restaurant and something similar happened to her.
Jones runs to the hotel where Hope’s parents are staying and demands to know who referred them to her. They explain it was a man with an English accent. She tells them to fly back home immediately and goes home. Tries to buy a plane ticket to Singapore and use Hope’s credit card but the card has been cancelled. She tries to get a loan from her lawyer contact but Hogarth refuses. Hogarth is revealed to be cheating on her lesbian lover with her secretary from the office.
Jones goes to the apartment of Trish, a talk show host. They have a troubled history. Jones thinks the mystery man is back and Trish argues that he died a year ago. Wants Jones to go back to counseling for her PTSD. Jones rejects the idea and insists that he’s back, and is responsible for Hope’s disappearance. Trish urges Jones to stop him before he does something terrible to Hope. Jones denies that she is a hero. Trish acquiesces and says she’ll give Jones the money to leave the country.
Jones is in a cab ready to go to the airport when she has 2<sup>nd</sup> thoughts and goes to a penthouse apartment in uptown instead. She sets off the fire alarm and breaks into one of the apartments. Inside she discovers Hope and asks if Killgrave is still here. Hope says he’s gone but she violently resists when Jones tries to take her away from there.
ACT 4: Jones and Hope are in Jones’ office. Jones tells Hope that none of it was her fault. Hope’s parents arrive and they leave with their daughter. Hope thanks Jones by telling her that she saved her life.
Then, just as she gets to the elevator, Hope pulls out a gun from her purse and shoots her parents multiple times. By the time Jones gets to her, it’s too late. Hope has murdered her parents. Jones’s first instinct is to flee but she instead chooses to go back and “do something about it.”
Assignment 2: List the 5 star points for the show
1. What is the big picture hook of this show? One is the theme that, when a person is confronted with unwelcome news, they can ignore it or do something about it. Another hook is that it’s about a superhero suffering from PTSD who opens her own detective agency. Upon further reflection, it seems to me that the foundational hook for this series is about Courage. Can an emotionally-damaged, self-destructive person find the courage to do the right thing in the end?
2. What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting? Jessica Jones has super-strength but her mind is wounded from an extended encounter with the mind-controlling villain Killgrave. Jones suffers from PTSD and has trouble connecting with others. Despite this, she is amazingly compassionate, even in the midst of terrible tragedies that make her want to flee. Killgrave is one of the most disturbing villains I’ve seen in awhile. He seems to have a huge appetite for causing chaos, pain, and death. His mind-control powers and his intellect make him more than a match against any superhero. Hope is a tragic victim of circumstance. She has been manipulated by Killgrave into killing her beloved parents and must now somehow convince the authorities that she wasn’t responsible for a double homicide.
3. What situation causes us to feel empathy and distress for this character? Initially, it’s the fact that Jones is suffering from a traumatic past experience. By the end of the pilot, we feel distress because she must now help Hope prove to the world that Hope is not responsible for murdering her parents. There are key moments that make us empathize with Jones. In the first act, she sees a bus driving by with an advertisement for Trish’s talk show. We have no idea what the exact nature of their relationship is, but from the way Jones stares at it before turning away with a complicated expression on her face, we get that this is someone she cares about but is also ambivalent about.
4. What questions are created by the first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season? This show masterfully poses the question of: how does an emotionally unstable private eye who drinks too much and is prone to making bad personal decisions prove that a young woman wasn’t in her right mind when she gunned down her parents in a very public manner?
5. How does this pilot invite obsession by creating the need to see every single episode? It does it by presenting the audience with a deeply flawed yet engaging lead character in Jessica Jones. We get to see how she struggles to be a good person in the midst of many challenging circumstances. Then, it ends the pilot by sinking her into a HUGE dilemma: help her client Hope prove that she killed her parents while under the influence of a mind-controlling villain.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by Frank Kim.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 5 months ago by
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Lesson 1 Mod 1
What I learned: One thing that caught my attention was that the characters were brilliant, yet their flaws were what made them attractive and made me eager to see how they dealt with them. The plot lines were sophisticated but not complicated. The complications were more relationship-oriented.
Example Show: Scandal
Make a list of the 5 Star Points for that show.
Big Picture
Hooks
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A group of whip-smart “gladiators in suits” are the good guys who are
willing to fight dirty.
</div><div>Amazing and
Intriguing Character</div><div>
Olivia Pope: she inspires awe; she worked for the White House; she doesn’t
look tough but is totally unbeatable when she “negotiates”; she cares
about her employees’ love life; she had an affair with the President (he’s
still after her and she’s still in love with him); she gathers “strays” on
her team who need fixing; she relies on her gut and “her gut is never
wrong”—except when it is
</div><div></div><div>
Empathy /
Distress</div><div>
Her affair with the President: she’s heart-broken and tried to do the
right thing but she still falls for his BS; Olivia is also distressed
because she handled a young woman harshly because she trusted the
President
</div><div>Layers / Open
Loops</div><div>
Olivia’s affair with the president; how the newbie Quinn will fit in and
what needs fixing in her; Abby is in love with Steve who just got engaged;
Steve is worried because he was a philanderer
</div><div>Inviting
Obsession</div>
I want to see Olivia break loose from the president! I care about the
characters and what happens to them; the world of DC and power brokers is
interesting;3. Watch the same first episode A SECOND TIME while looking at your 5 Star Point analysis. This time, your purpose is to see beyond the obvious answers. Assume there is more to learn and discover it!
Added above
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May i still post my 1 Assignment? I would appreciate it so I may catch up.
Thank you ..
Kitty Hopper
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BIG LITTLE LIES – S1-E1- “Someone’s Dead”
What I learned from this assignment is….Being fairly new to ‘streamers’, I learned that the pilot does not have to be linear. That the viewer can be ‘dropped’ into a situation not know anything and that ‘flashback’s and ‘flash forwards’ work and people can talk to the camera without knowing who or what or why..as long as the audience discovers..and usually in ‘quick’ dialogue to keep it current, the characters and situations make you want to come back…and back again.
Characters are introduced driving children to their first day of school, though you only see angle of mothers but the full faces of the children riding in back.
No sound but breathing as people at a costume party as police enter and speak of a murder.
Police interviews (short) with minor characters talking mainly about: Madeline Mackenzie, who we now see driving daughter Chloe to 1st grade and first day of school and ‘the’ mother in town
Stops in traffic, she is stop in traffic by driver in front car-teen-txting on phone and driving.. Confrontation with teen driver and discovered her teen daughter in back, who won’t leave the car.
She trips and another car stops to help. Jane Chapman-new to town-driving son Ziggy-and she drives them to the school and the friendship begins. Chloe: “My mom is an active talker’
Madeline greets friends and introduces Jane. Rich, successful business woman Renata Klein and daughter Emma, Celeste and her twin boys and x-husband Nathan & new wife Bonnie with their daughter Sky.
Police interviews @ murder and flash backs thruout. Towns people giving a couple sentence of insight to Madeline…and the others.
At pick up time, teachers tells parents Emma has been choked with neck mark and Ziggy is pointed out but Jane believes him when he says ‘no’. Renata threatens Ziggy.
Dinner family time for Madeline is contentious w/teen daughter Abigail and husband Ed tries to smooth things, though she complains @ her x-husband and fears ’empty nesting’.
Secrets are everywhere;Jane Chapman sleeps with a gun under her pillow; Renata feels ‘disliked’, Celeste is alternating being praised and abuse by her much younger husband..
And why do we keep seeing a woman in a blue dress, show prints on the beach, and the ocean?
1) Big Hook: murder?-who, when , how, why.
2) Characters: nice homes on the water but all are unsettled and problems to find
3)Empathy/Distress: All interesting characters and dealing with situations and the children and husbands..
4) Layers/Open Loops: Why did Jane move to this town? Something very strange about Ziggy?What is with the ‘blue dress’ and the ocean/water? Who got murdered and how did it happen at a splashy event? What ‘blow up’ is going to happen now?
5)Inviting obsession: Caught in these women’s lives…and this town…and what is going on..
AND who was murdered…how and who did it??
Thank you for letting me post late…
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AMERICAN HORROR STORY – 5 STAR MODEL
What I learned doing this assignment is: Multiple layers of character drama and complexity and introduction of a compelling setting and group of characters create a platform that makes the show “Binge-Worthy.”
Big Picture Hooks: House that harbors mayhem, body parts preserved in jars of formaldehyde, bizarre sexual practices and murder; family moves in there because angry, angst-ridden teenage daughter tells realtor ‘We’ll take it; dev. disabled girl and creepy murderous mother appear in house unexpectedly, all the time; marriage in distress following pregnancy miscarriage and creepy maid insinuates herself into being employed Harmons, and then shape-shifts into young, kinky maid to seduce Ben.
Intriguing Characters:
Vivien Harmon – middle-aged woman keeping husband at a distance, past issues and trauma, had miscarriage 6 mos. before affair, buys dog to replace miscarried child; told by physician she needs hormone treatment (to make her look and feel younger), discovers husband having sexual relations with a younger woman.
Ben Harmon – Psychiatrist husband who cheated on wife Vivien after miscarriage of their second child, buys large Victorian house at knock-down price which had been recent site of murder-suicide, interested in kinky, younger women, cannot control himself; cannot separate psychotic patient from his daughter Violet.
Violet – lone wolf, non-conformist; angry, sad, principled [won’t rat out her assailant in school fight], engages in cutting behavior, insists on exacting revenge against fellow student who attacked her, lures student to house to be terrorized b father’s psychotic patient Tate.
Adelaide DD Mongoloid Girl – constantly shows up inside house presaging death within the house.
Constance, Adelaide’s Mother – intrusive creepy bitter- angry about men bitter over jilted by lover-husband for a younger woman.
Moira – Maid – psychotic, forces her way into home insisting she has always been caretaker of house, tempts Ben sexually. Insists that the house has “feelings,” and that it will exact revenge if mistreated.
Tate – patient, kills people he likes because he believes life is just suffering. Wants to relief them from their suffering. Son of a promiscuous woman who’s now dead. Constantly invades house and engages with Violet even though his only purpose for being there is psychiatric treatment by Ben.
Empathy / Distress:
Vivien twice traumatized (miscarriage; husband’s infidelity); tries to protect family and create wholesome life, struggles heroically to protect family and repair marriage. Ben succumbs to desire, lust, tries to improve marriage and life for himself, Vivien and daughter; buys house try to repair marital issues, work within hime to be closer to family.
Moira, Tate, Constance and Adelaide constantly showing up in house.
Layers / Open Loops.
Constant intimations and threats of violence; visions of death, violence and mayhem. Sexual temptation of Ben by Moira. Vivien and Violet experience bizarre visions and encounters.
Inviting Obsession.
Events presage further violence occurring in unexpected ways. House and especially basement, as well as creepy characters appearing, consistently promise violence, trauma and death.
Michael Greco
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“What I learned doing this assignment is… that I learned for the first time how a serial series meant for streaming should be presented. How to create enough intrigue to compel the viewer to go on the ride and see where it leads.
“INVASION” Apple + 5 star model
Big Picture Hooks
What is going on? Something has invaded planet Earth? What exactly?<div>
</div><div> What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?They are several random characters from completely different walks of life. They are a cross section of humanity- they represent “us” as residents of Earth
Main Characters—The small town sheriff, The Long Island family (loving mother-medical BG, cheating father, son, daughter), The female Japanese astronaut & her JASA lesbian lover, the soldier in Afghanistan, the British school children
Empathy / Distress
Mother- (caught husband cheating, went to Harvard med school, but didn’t finish)<div>JASA lesbian lover- must keep (her/ their) relationship a secret-she just lost the woman she loves-.Black American Soldier in foreign land cutoff from fellow soldiers, School children’s hierarchy- leaders and followers (bully vs weak kid)4. Layers / Open Loops
What type of alien race is invading Earth? Why? To what ends? How will the main characters deal with them? Will they survive? Will humanity be wiped out or enslaved? Can we defeat or repel them?5. Inviting obsession
It creates the need to have the unanswered questions answered. It does a great job of titillating the audience into wanting to accompany these characters into a situation where they themselves have no idea of what they will encounter or what the outcome will be. I
We need to SEE THE MONSTER(s) We need to know who, where, why & when! WTF is going to happen?
</div></div>
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The Young Pope
What I learned doing this assignment is that a story and characters need to pull an audience in to a situation where you are interested and want more.
Main Situation- A young Cardinal named Lenny Belardo becomes Pope of the Catholic Church and takes the name of Pope Pius XIII. He rejects the beliefs of his predecessor and turns to the Nun for advice who raised him in an orphanage.
Characters: Pope Pius XIII
Sister Mary: The Nun who raised him in a orphanage who is his Chief of Staff.
5 Star
1. Big Picture Hooks – Pope Pius III becomes the new Pope from America and Cardinal Voiello believes he will continue the beliefs of the Vatican and the Catholic Church.
2. Amazing and Intriguing Character – Pope Pius XIII is rebellious and Sister Mary tries to convince him to be conservative.
3.Empathy/Distress – He has no emphathy for others causing chaos.
4. Layers/Open Loops- He gives a speech that shocks people.
5. Inviting Obsession – He challenges the Catholic Church.
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What I learned from this assignment is that you have to build a lot of layers and intrigue into both the plot and characters to make a show that totally addicts people.
BW Show: Vampire Diaries
Vampire Dairies takes place in small town. The Main characters are mostly high school students and a new guy comes to town who happens to be a vampire.
Big Picture Hooks
Ask this: What is the big hook of this show?Vampire Diaries: Elana is high school student who lost her parents so the audience feels bad for her. She becomes intrigued with a hot new guy with a secret.
My show: Jane is a vegan who gets turned into a vampire.
Amazing and Intriguing Character
Ask this: What makes these main characters intriguing and interesting?Vampire Diaries: Elena looks just like a woman from Stephan’s past, more than 100 years ago who he has in one of his diaries. Bonnie, Elena’s friend seems to be possibly discovering she has psychic powers due to her lineage of Salem witches. Stephan has a brother, Damian, a vampire who seems to want to destroy Damon but we don’t know why.
My show: Jane is a vegan who is also a vampire and has to find a way to satisfy her thirst for blood ethically. Marc is the vampire who saved Janes life after a terrible accident. He might be in love with her but he also is trying to break free from a controlling situation with the vampires of Orange County. He is just starting to awaken in himself a desire to be compassionate towards humans when previously he was disconnected due to humans being his food source. Lucy is the main vampire bitch who wants to keep control of Marc. Not sure if she loves him or just has a narcissistic need to control him.
Empathy / Distress
Ask this: What situation causes us to feel both empathy and distress for this character?Vampire Diaries: We feel compassion for Elena because she lost her parents and is just learning who she is as a person as her grief has changed her. We want Elena to be happy.
My show: We want Jane to succeed and live so she can take care of her ailing mother and continue her mission for saving animals.
Layers / Open Loops
Ask this: What questions are created by this first episode that can only be answered by watching the entire season?Who is Katherine? Why does Elena look like her. Why does Damon want so badly to destroy his brother? Will Elena and Stephan get together? Will Elena get over her grief.
My show: How does Jane get blood in a way that fits her ethics? How does she keep her secret? Does she get together with Marc? Does Marc change to be an ethical vampire, or does he turn Jane to becoming like the rest of the vampires? What is “the farm?”
Inviting Obsession
Ask this: How does this pilot create the need to see every single episode?Vampire Diaries: I want to know what happens to Elena and her friends. Will they be safe from the vampires? Why does Elena look just like this woman from the 1800s?
My show: Starts with the death of the main character, and by the end, she transforms into a vampire. How will she cope?
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The Americans – 5 Star Model
What I learned doing this assignment is that true human passion and depth of character are more compelling than political or societal roles, and that passionate violence grips attention.
Big Picture Hooks – Two KGB agents pose as an American couple during the cold war in 1980’s Washington D.C.
Amazing and Intriguing Character – Assigned to a false life by the KGB, Philip and Elizabeth Jennings struggle with love for one another and allegiance to job and country.
Empathy / Distress – Philip and Elizabeth must balance past demons, present danger and protection of their family while carrying out their KGB assignment.
Layers / Open Loops – The pilot creates the need to know if they will survive, as KGB agents and as a couple, or will they flip together or apart.
Inviting Obsession – We identify and become obsessed with a perilous love story.
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