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Post Day 8 Assignment Here
Post Day 8 Assignment Here
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22 Replies
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Meg Stout’s Show Mysteries
Assignment #1
Thirteen Reasons Why (Episode 4)
A. Shocking Event: Tyler was stalking Hannah and taking pictures of her through her bedroom window
B. Secret: How did this affect Hannah, and why is there a picture of Hannah passionately kissing another girl, clearly taken by Tyler?
C. Investigation: Clay and the audience will discover what happened over the course of the episode
Who: Hannah tells us it was Tyler
What: Taking pictures of Hannah
How: As a peeping Tom at night
Where: Through Hannah’s bedroom window
When: At night
Part Withheld:
Why: Because Tyler loved Hannah and how natural she was for the camera and hoped she would date him someday.
How did this affect Hannah: Hannah makes it clear how threatened she felt, which Tyler doesn’t truly internalize until Clay takes a picture of a naked Tyler changing into his PJs and then texts the image to Tyler and others who have been named on the tapes so far.
A. Cover up: Kids tell their parents they are meeting with fellow students to work on homework, the parents believe their children are innocent and studious
B. Secret: The students are typically not working on homework – even the “good” ones aren’t pure
C. Reveals: Over time we see the students doing drugs, forcing one another to drink, engaging in masturbation, achieving various “bases”, both in heterosexual and at least one same gender situation. In addition we see the various sex-oriented hazing, represented by the bathroom walls and “the list.”
Who: Clay and Hannah and their friends, others by implication
What: Drugs, alcohol, masturbation, non-coital sex (so far)
Where: Mostly bedrooms and homes
When: Nights for sex, anytime for drugs and booze, when parents aren’t around
How: Situation dependent, varied to retain element of surprise
Part Withheld:
Why: Each transgression has its own reason, rarely because the kids feel empowered and confident
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;”>Assignment #2
Children of Heaven, Pilot
A. Shocking Event: John Bennett exposes seamy underbelly of Mormon polygamy to rapt Boston audience in 1842, but someone asks…
B. Secret: How did Bennett became privy to the stories he tells?
C. Investigation: Audience will investigate through watching Bennett’s trajectory from Ohio doctor to Illinois defender of the Mormons to a man from whom the Mormons have withdrawn the hand of fellowship
Who: Mormons, and possibly Bennett
What: Engaged in salacious, harem-style polygamy
When: 1840-1842 (Bennett is vague about some of these details to his Boston audience)
Where: In Mormon city of Nauvoo, Illinois
Part Withheld: Is Bennett a reliable narrator?
Why: Implication is that the sex is for male gratification, but why can Bennett provide first-hand reports?
How: How were members of a religious group convinced to so grossly violate Western marital norms?
A. Cover up: Both the fact of an illicit intercourse heresy and the fact of a perceived mandate to restore biblical marriage practices
B. Secret: Who is doing whom in Nauvoo and why?
C. Reveals: We see Bennett came to Nauvoo to become important, initially fighting to win them protections from past persecution. We’ll see that Joseph Smith does believe he has a mandate to restore biblical marriage, but the time is not yet right. When Bennett is disappointed in love, we see him rebound and set in motion the illicit intercourse heresy. Joseph uses the biblical marriage paradigm, including to protect women who have been abused or impregnated. Bennett learns of some of Joseph’s attempts to protect innocents and the fallen.
Who: Lots of people
What: Having sex outside of marriage or “marriage” when already married
When: Revealed over time who is doing what between 1840 and 1842
Where:
Part Withheld:
Why: Bennett for sexual gratification, others from being able to fit exchanging food and money for sexual access to the needy women, and the third group entering into covenants to protect women from the illicit intercourse heresy and its effects, plus restore biblical marriage.
How: The nature of the sexual relations (or lack thereof) is revealed over the course of the series.
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Emmanuel Sullivan’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is mysteries are placed throughout an episode, some are solved by the end and some the next episode. Then there are mysteries, usually one, that are revealed at the season finale.
A. Shocking Event: Two innocent agents, one FBI and KGB are murdered.
B. Secret: Stan Beeman, the senior FBI agent killed the KGB agent but is lying to his KGB mole.
C. Investigation: The FBI wants to know who killed their agent.
WHAT: Stan knows the routine of his colleague that was
killed and something is not right.WHEN: The FBI agent is noticed missing in less than 24
hours.WHY: The FBI agent was murdered because the KGB agent was threatened while leaving Martha’s house, a mutual love interest.
WHO: The illegal KGB agent that killed the FBI agent is
Philip Jennings.HOW: The KGB agent stabbed the FBI agent and took him to
a secret location.Missing:
WHERE: The FBI doesn’t know where the agent was stabbed
and where he died.Assignment #2
Mystery #1
A. Shocking Event: The senator’s wife is having an affair with his campaign manager.
B. Secret: The former president knows about the affair.
C. Investigation: How did the senator’s wife get filmed having an affair with the campaign manager.
WHAT: The incumbent senator and his wife attend the former
president’s nonprofit anniversary party.WHEN: The filmed incident happened at an evening party
celebrating the nonprofit’s second year.WHERE: The affair happened in a spare guest bedroom near
the ballroom.HOW: The campaign manager followed the senator’s wife as
she exited to use the restroom.Missing:
WHY: Why were the senator’s wife and campaign manager
tapped having sex.WHO: Who filmed the senator’s wife with the campaign manager?
Mystery #2
A. Cover up: The former president’s VP helps squash extramarital affair rumors from the press.
B. Secret: The former president and his chief of staff have a child.
C. Reveals: The VP’s wife learns that her husband is listed as a father of a child.
WHO: The president, his VP and now his wife are wrapped
in a possible scandal.WHAT: The press is closing in and asking questions.
WHEN: The affair happened 6 years ago.
WHY: The president asked his closest ally, his VP, to help him conceal the affair to save his presidency.
WHERE: The affair happened abroad during a flight on air force one.
Missing:
HOW: How did the press find out about the affair.
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Assignment 1
The Americans – the mysteries in the show
There are several mysteries in the show. Why is Keri Russell seducing an FBI bureaucrat, posing as a sex worker?
The first big shocking event mystery is why have they kidnapped this man, Timoshev, who suddenly runs away from them—why do they bind him and put him in their trunk?
Why can’t they take the wounded man, Rob, to the hospital—why do they just drop him off? Will he survive his wounds?
Why are they switching license plates in the alley?
We find out Timoshev is a defector; then, we realize they’re spies. The ship that is pulling away, were they supposed to put him on that ship back to Russia?
So, the next mystery is why were these two people recruited as spies to live as a married couple in suburban Washington, DC?
When we meet their children, we wonder, do the children know their parents are spies? And in later episodes we find out their children DO NOT know their parents are spies, so we are left to wonder—will they find out? WHEN will they find out? This is a mystery we wonder about over time.
Next, we meet Stan Beeman, the FBI agent who moved in next door. We have to wonder, was he a plant? Isn’t it a coincidence that an FBI agent moved in next door? This is another mystery we wonder about over time.
When they have the confrontation over Timoshev in the garage and Phillip wants to defect, why is Elizabeth resolute, refusing to defect? And why is he NOT resolute and willing to defect?
When we realize they have an arranged marriage, and they make love in the car after killing Timoshev, we wonder, are they going to actually fall in love?
Later:
We wonder if Stan is going to get involved with Nina, his mole. When he does, and we see his marriage is in trouble, we wonder, is he going to fall in love with her. He seems so unhappy.
We wonder if Stan’s wife can win him back? Their distance seems irreconcilable.
When Elizabeth and Phillip have a falling out over Phillip having sexual relations with his old flame, Irina—and she truly says their real marriage is over—will they fall back in love?
Will their falling out affect their ability to perform their jobs?
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What I learned doing this assignment is that I had started to develop the idea for my show or movie using a big hook approach and building on that.
I need to spend more time on this, but for now…
Assignment 1: Big Little Lies
Part 1 Shocking Event
Someone is dead
Who: don’t know
What: someone is dead
When: in the last hour
Where: at a fancy dress party/ball attended by Celeste Wright, Madeline Mackenzie
How: don’t know
Why: don’t know
Part 2 Over Time
Amabella Klein
Who: don’t know
What: is being bullied
When: over the last month
Where: at school
How: physical marks on her body
Why: don’t know
Jane Chapman
Who: don’t know
What: met a man and was raped
When: about 7 years ago
Where: in a hotel room
How: don’t know
Why: don’t know
Assignment 2: My Show
Part 1 Shocking Event:
Who: a group of 3 friends
What: 2 are killed, 1 has disappeared
When: in the past 24 hrs
Where: a Trail Head rest stop
How: stabbed
Why: don’t know
Part 2 Over Time:
Who: Jess
What: Investigates her brother’s disappearance with the same MO as the murder she’s been brought to town to investigate
When: now
Where: in the town where she used to summer vacation
How: part of her job as a Detective
Why: she needs to know what happened to her brother
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Jane’s Show Mysteries – what I learned from doing this assignment is that if I develop characters and then step back and think about how they might be connected on a variety of levels, magic can happen and a strong and compelling story surfaces. I feel like I’m developing interesting characters but I didn’t really have a strong sense of how they actually would come together. This assignment helped me solve that.
Up until now, I’ve really only thought about the characters and what they might be like if placed in an environment that they don’t function well in, even though it is a beautiful and healthy environment. This exercise really helped me with breakthroughs on how I can draw the audience into the intrigue of each character in a way that isn’t heavy-handed. It also opened up a whole ton of possibilities for overlapping layers of intrigue. I feel like some magic happened with this assignment!!
ASSIGNMENT 1: RIVERDALE
Big Picture Mystery – Who killed Jason Blossom and why?
Smaller Mysteries – What are the Blossoms hiding? What is the actual history between all of the parents? Is Veronica’s father the only guilty person for the crimes committed? Did Mr. Blossom rat out Veronica’s father? Is Jughead’s dad a killer? What does Cheryl know about the murder? What dark secrets drive Betty? Is she really unhinged? Why did Polly choose to live with the Blossom’s? What is going on with the gang member who is dating Kevin? Is the sheriff in the Blossom’s pocket or not?
ASSIGNMENT 2: 13 WEEKS
Shocking Event Mystery – Pilot
Shocking Event: Young guy’s body found in the wilderness. Looks like a bear mauling but turns out to be murder.
Secret: The guy is known to all four main characters.
Investigation: Shifts from Park Ranger to local sheriff to FBI over time
Who: Young guy with no ID.
What: He’s found naked with no indication of why he was in the wilderness
When: 12 weeks after the summer season began at the lodge
Where: Deep in the wilderness, or so it seems
How: Initially, appears to be a run in with a Grizzly bear or mountain lion.
Part Withheld: Why was he killed? Who did it? Why take all of his possessions? Who was he and where did he come from?
Over Time Mystery
Cover up: All four main characters know this guy from different angles.
Secret: One of them killed him.
Reveals: It starts when the authorities discover the guy was poisoned slowly and that his fingerprints show up on the staff in a maximum security prison.
Who: A graduate student working as a psychology intern in the state penitentiary.
What: His relationship with each of the main characters reveals their separate goals
When: During the last 12 weeks, but when and where take time to discover.
Where: Was he killed in the wilderness or not?
How: He connected to the four main characters – Susie’s abusive boyfriend; mole for gang Lucas is a witness against; is blackmailing Miguel’s brother; and is one of a string of Jodie’s mother’s boyfriends who Jodie believes tried to molest Penny.
Part Withheld:
1. Did each of them come to the park with a separate mission or did they all come with a mission to kill him. If so, how did they lure him there?
2. When was he actually killed?
3. Role of the man in the mountains
4. Why he was killed is the big reveal and we don’t find that out until the very end of the season (or series)
5. Will the killer get away with murder?
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“What I learned doing this assignment is…” I finally used the brainstorm 10 bad ideas to get one good idea and 1 of the 10 worked. I’m excited.
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.
1. Create your Shocking Event Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Shocking Event: Someone starts raping older women in the town. Everyone is horrified and upset. Ruby makes a promise at a town hall meeting that she will find the rapist.
B. Secret: The entire town has a secret underground network to get serial killers and rapists up to the gold country, so they can disappear (kind of like priests being reassigned and offending again). Does one of those men start assaulting and raping older women?
C. Investigation: Ruby identifies the rapist. Is he a man from this underground network? Concurrently, she’s also aware of her husband’s cheating and it’s starting to bother her, really bother her. We see her tracking the rapist. We see her tracking her husband and he cheats in his car.
WHAT: She overhears a conversation that she follows up on, and finds herself following a well-known person in the town. She and her partner, Curtis, conduct surveillance on him and catch him in the act; he gets away, but they save the woman from being raped. WHEN: Late one night.
WHERE: In a really safe, chic part of town. Missing before final episodes:
WHY: It’s where he lives, so he thought that might provide cover.
WHO: A pillar of the town, maybe a person on the city council.
HOW: He brings in a high-priced lawyer, and gets out on bail, and then disappears to another gold country town. But Ruby follows him, and realizes, he’s not going to rape older women any more when he’s so hot, but he starts contacting younger women supposedly for sex, but then he violently rapes them. Finally, his body is found injected with insect venom, and shot with an untraceable cartridge that no one has ever seen before. Law enforcement assumes one of his victims killed him during a rape. Part Withheld: Ruby is the person who injected him with venom, and then shot him with her father’s PS2, a Russian operative’s weapon that no one’s ever heard of. She gets away with it.
2. Create the Over Time Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Cover up: Ruby continues to investigate the murder of the rapist, and it’s a real investigation using manpower and resources, but every time her partner gets close, she gets him off the scent. Finally, he’s getting too close, and she digs into his background and finds out he murdered someone by accident. She threatens to reveal that publicly through Myra, the blogger, and gets him to lay off.
B. Secret: Ruby murdered the rapist, but has now decided she’s going to kill men cheating on their wives. She has a hundred rounds for her father’s PS2, and she figures that will get rid of a lot of cheaters, and scare the rest of the men from cheating! The stories she feeds Myra suggest it’s a vigilante woman, which is kind of is, except she a cop! And the chief’s philandering with other women in town is what is fueling it.
C. Reveals: Slowly, Ruby can’t keep all the plates spinning and her husband and others in the department suspect her; she’s frantically trying to keep her murders of cheating husbands a secret revenge, but it’s getting a lot of unwanted attention, and she has to step up her investigation into the murders.
WHAT: Ruby covers up that she’s murdering the cheating husbands.
WHEN: Late at night, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes in the morning.
WHERE: All over their small city. Missing before final episodes:
WHY: Because she’s enraged by her husband’s cheating.
WHO: Her husband, Brian ‘Thor’ Vinter, the handsome and popular police Chief.
HOW: She injects them with insect venom and if that doesn’t kill them, she shoots them with her father’s (who raped her using the same weapon) gun. Very symbolic. Part Withheld: The investigator is the murderer.
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Daniel Melin’s Supernatural and Athens, MN Mysteries
What I learned during this assignment is how intertwined the two mysteries often are, but how distinct they are from one another. They can be totally separate, but the shocking event, is usually just an overture of what’s still to come.
Assignment 1—Supernatural
I’ve cheated a little bit for this assignment, and actually watched two more episodes for this lesson, partly because the season is 22 episodes, which is much longer than many of the other example shows, and partly because the second episode I watched uncovered a little more of the Over Time Mystery than many of the previous ones.
1. Shocking Event Mystery
A.
Shocking Event: Dean shows up at Sam’s door for the first time in four
years and tells him that their dad has gone missing.
B.
Secret: Why has their dad gone missing and why won’t he reach out to them?
C.
Investigation: Sam and Dean use their father’s journal and talk to some of
his old friends, trying to figure out where he went.
Who:
John Winchester
What:
He went on a hunt and hasn’t been heard from since.
When:
A few weeks before Dean shows up.
How:
He was going on a hunt.
Part
Withheld:Where: Where did John disappear to?
Why: Why doesn’t he reach out to Sam and Dean?2. Over Time Mystery
A.
Cover up: Sam and Dean have no idea what killed their mother and Sam’s
girlfriend.
B.
Secret: Who or what killed Sam and Dean’s mother and Sam’s girlfriend.
C.
Reveals: Sam and Dean encounter their mother’s spirit in their old house,
and an old friend of their father’s tells them that what killed their
mother was powerful and evil.
What:
Killed Sam and Dean’s mother, and later, Sam’s girlfriend.
When:
The boys’ mother died when they were small kids, and Sam’s girlfriend dies
shortly after he reunites with his brother.
Where:
Mother: in their home in Kansas; girlfriend: at Sam’s apartment near
Stanford.
Part
Withheld:
Who:
An unknown supernatural entity.
Why:
Why is the evil targeting Sam and Dean’s family? Why has it been dormant
for so long?
How: How is it finding them?Assignment 2—Athens, MN
3. Create your Shocking Event Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A.
Shocking Event: A wolf attacks someone in Tom’s hometown, and Tom discovers
that it was actually a werewolf.
B.
Secret: Why is there a werewolf in Athens Minnesota?
C.
Investigation: Tom starts looking into whatever he can find on magic.
Who:
The wolf is actually a young boy named Eddie Halvorson, who disappeared
many years ago.
What:
He fell under the curse of Lizzie, a witch who took over a fairy court and
has been hiding away in it ever since.
When:
30 years ago.
Where:
At on old house, where Tom’s friend, Mark is now living.
Part
Withheld:Why: Eddie had an unhappy home with no father,
and so he fell victim to Lizzie’s tempting paradise.
How: Eddie agreed to stay in Everlasting Summer
and help hunt down the stag in the forest.4. Create the Over Time Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A.
Cover up: Tom is in a fairy castle that seems to be a perfect paradise.
B.
Secret: Everlasting Summer is actually held together by a curse that
affects anyone who goes there.
C.
Reveals: Tom learns more and more about the dark underbelly of Everlasting
Summer and about how Lizzie lures young boys there to join her pack.
Who:
Lizzie is a powerful witch.
Part
Withheld:What: She is out for revenge against he
husband, who has been turned into a stag.
When: Over 120 years ago.
Where: In a small village in Southern England.
Why: Lizzie’s husband abandoned her and their
newborn child, who died of exposure when she went looking for him.
How: She became a powerful witch and placed a
curse on him. -
LESSON 1 ASSIGNMENT –
JESSICA JONES AND SHADOW AND BONE – 5 STAR MODEL
What I learned about this assignment: to be more critical and question why I like some shows over others. I think it has to do mostly about how empathetic the main characters are and how intriguing the world they are placed in is.
JESSICA JONES
5-Star Points:
Big Picture Hooks – Jessica is troubled detective with super powers in a film-noir environment
Amazing and Intriguing Character – Why is she a struggling detective if she has the ability to be a super hero? Who is she spying on? What/who is she afraid of? Why does she use alcohol and sex to numb her?
3. Empathy/Distress – she puts herself in danger to help others even though she is terrified
4. Layers/Open loops – why does she have super powers? how did she end up being a detective? what is she afraid of? what is her connection to Trish? Luke?
5. Inviting Obsession – we want to know what she is going to do to help Erin and what powerful opponent she is facing to do it
SHADOW AND BONE
5-Star Points:
Big Picture Hooks – unique world divided by the dangerous Shadow Fold, and populated by characters that may have powers to defeat it
Amazing and Intriguing Character – Alina, half-breed Shu orphan who seems to have a power that she doesn’t know about; her bravery and deep connection on childhood friend Mal
3. Empathy/Distress – Alina is and underdog, shunned by others due to her race. She would do anything for her friend Mal, even volunteer for a perilous journey into the Fold.
4. Layers/Open loops – What is the Shadow Fold? How do some people have magical powers in this world? What are Alina and Mal’s secrets? What is Alina’s power? What will happen to Alina with Kaz and the Crows after her? Will Mal survive his injuries from the Volcra attack on the ship? Who is the Black General Kirigan?
5. Inviting Obsession – we want the answers to these questions and to explore this fascinating world more
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Stuart’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is my mystery is still a mystery. Hop-Frog is similar to Francis Underwood (House of Cards); he wants revenge and the audience sees that. We know his why and we’re engaged in the how it will play out. I’m exploring a deeper mystery to give it an additional layer. I’ve used creative processes to fill in some blanks for now. Still seeking, keeping it open, but I need to move forward and discover answers as I go. Looking forward to exploring other characters for additional mysteries and intrigue.
Assignment 1:
Watchmen’s Mysteries
Episode 8 focuses on the meeting of Angela and Dr. Manhattan/Cal and it interlaces several mysteries across different landscapes of time. Since Dr. Manhattan experiences time uniquely, the non-linear structure serves for the audience to experience (and empathize with?) Dr. Manhattan’s cross-temporal moments perspective in addition to Angela’s linear mortal experience. The time jumps weave/reference several shocking events – the Tulsa Massacre, the 11/2 Doomsday, the retreat of Dr. Manhattan to Mars (and decision to return to Earth), the hanging of Judd Crawford. Each could provide a shocking event mystery.
The pilot’s shocking event mystery: why was Judd Crawford hanged, and how does the young boy who survived the Tulsa Massacre connect?
The ongoing mystery: will the masked adventurers be vanquished and white supremacy be restored, and how does Angela connect?
The shocking event mystery for the episode: will the Seventh Kavalry destroy Dr. Manhattan.
Several mini-mysteries that engaged me in the episode. These provided engaging backstory that helped provide answers to Angela’s connection to the ongoing mystery.
How did Angela and Cal meet in Vietnam?
What was Cal’s accident giving him amnesia?
Why did Dr. Manhattan return to earth (and Tulsa)?
What is the connection between Dr. Manhattan and Angela?
Will Angela agree to have a dinner date with Dr. Manhattan? (this is the mystery that frames the episode)
Hop-Frog’s Mysteries
The Shocking Event Mystery:
A. Shocking Event: King Goplik’s army crashes Trippetta’s debutante’s party and massacres the people of Lavinia.
B. Secret: Secret 1: King Goplik’s Master of Ceremonies turned this practical joke into a bloodbath to please his king. Secret 2: To keep peace with Brattvia, the King of Lavinia has allowed King Goplik’s army to imprison a rebellious wizard but the king didn’t know it would turn into a blood-bath.
C. Investigation:
Part Withheld:
WHO: King Goplik’s army – the King’s Master of Ceremonies leading the party crashing.
WHAT: Goplik’s horrific practical joke becomes a massacre.
WHEN: Trippetta’s debutante’s ball.
WHERE: Trippetta’s family estate.
WHY: To terrorize and control; to imprison a monster-wizard (silence a rebel).
HOW: Crashing a fairy tale party to enforce power.
The Over-Time Mystery
A. Cover up: Hop-Frog: to survive, Hop-Frog serves as the King’s fool and becomes his confidante. King Goplik: arrange a royal wedding between his daughter and the prince of Balog. Believes he’s losing power. The World: fear of a plague that is turning people into were-beasts.
B. Secret: Hop-Frog: Hop-Frog seeks vengeance, and pits the king against his ministers. He becomes liberator. King Goplik: launches a grand practical joke to terrify his own people, and secure the alliance with Balog.
Reveals:
WHO: Hop-Frog becomes court jester and confidante to King.
WHAT: Hop-Frog creates mistrust and paranoia amongst King and his ministers. People are terrified by rumors of deadly plague.
WHEN: King Goplik’s masked ball.
WHERE: King Goplik’s castle, grand hall.
WHY: Hop-Frog: to kill King Goplik and his ministers, vengeance but then realizes he can liberate the people. King Goplik: to terrify his people into submission.
HOW: Hop-Frog convinces King Goplik to wear the costume of a were-beast to terrify his people. Hop-Frog twists the event into a public lynching/burning of the king.
Part withheld:
When and Where, ticking clock can be set early, but the How can be withheld.
Why: (Hop-Frog’s realization he can be liberator, revolutionary) may be discovered in the moment of vengeance delivered.
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assignment 8 – Big Little Lies the two mysteries
1. CREATE YOUR SHOCKING EVENT MYSTERY AND TELL US THE WWWWW AND H, ALONG WITH THE PART WITHHELD.
That Bonnie killed Perry at the Elvis/Audrey Trivia Night
A. SHOCKING EVENT:
That Bonnie and the women killed Perry, while he was beating Celeste and exposing his abuse and was discovered to be Jane’s rapist, and that his son Max abused Amabella
B. SECRET:
That perry abuses Celeste, that he raped Jane, that all the lead women were involved in and covered up the killing
C. INVESTIGATION:
Madeline and celeste keep pushing to find Jane’s rapist and Amabella’s abuser
WWWWW AND HOW:
Who- perry and all the women
What – the abuse, rape and max’s abuse of amabella
Where – in Monterey, the school
What – a murder that is justified and covered up by all the main characters
When – the night of the elvis/audrey event at the shool
Why – because Perry was the evil behind Celeste, Jane, Madeline and Renata’s issues and actions
How – an impulsive act from a sudden explosive discovery of perry acting out
PART WITHHELD:
That Perry was the cause of the rape, the abuse and amabella’s abuse
2. CREATE THE OVER TIME MYSTERY AND TELL US THE WWWWW AND H, ALONG WITH THE PART WITHHELD.
The revelation of the victim and the murders over time, that Max is amabella’s abuser, that Madeline is having an affair that is driving her Ave Q obsession
A. COVER UP:
That perry is an abuser and a rapist, that max is abusing amabella, that madeline had an affair and that is what is driving the AveQ fight
B. SECRET:
That the 4 women killed Perry
C. REVEALS:
The affair is revealed as the motivation for Maddie’s Ave Q obsession, Jane’s sudden recognition that Perry is the rapist, Celeste, Jane and Maddie’s sudden recognition that Perry is beating Celeste in the final scene and that he was abusing her all along. That Max is the one who choked Amabella not Ziggy, that Bonnie is actually the one who killed Perry
WWWWW AND HOW:
Who -perry is the victim, Bonnie the killer
What – a simple reflex push to save the other women he was beating up
When – the night of the Elvis audrey affair at school
Where – at the school trivia night
Why – because he was beating on the women
How – an impulsive push by bonnie
PART WITHHELD:
That all the women, really, killed Perry together and then decided to cover it up…we do not know exactly why at the end of season 1
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Sherri D. Coffee Module 1 Lesson 8 Mysteries
Big Little Lies
Mystery type 1: The Shocking Event – Perry is pushed down stairs at school fundraiser and dies.
A) Shocking event: Perry is beating Celeste at the fundraiser; Jane recognizes Perry as the rapist; Bonnie watching from afar, moves to push Perry down the stairs.
B) Secret: The women maintain that he fell down the steps contributing to his death. Meet in car to reinforce keeping the secret and keep Bonnie from revealing secret.
C) Investigation: The police continue to investigate and the case is open. Perry’s Mother arrives and starts asking questions. The community calls them the “Monterrey Five”. Bonnie stands in front of the police department and weighs her choices.
Mystery type 2: The “Over-Time” Mystery – the actual truth of Perry’s death, the rape, and his son Ziggy.
A) Cover up: The women stick to “he fell down the stairs” story vs he was pushed.
B) Secret: They keep the fact that Perry raped Jane and her son is his son secret.
C) Reveals: We find out that Perry is Ziggy’s father from Celeste asking about the money she is sending from the estate to Jane.
Bonnie continues to withdraw and confronts Madeleine who constructed the lie at the scene.
Celeste mother-in-law is suspicious of everyone surrounding her son’s death and specifically Madeleine.
The police investigators think Perry was pushed but cannot prove. Will they be able to expose the lie? Will they learn the truth about Perry?
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Sherri D. Coffee Module 1 Lesson 8
1. Shocking Event Mystery:
A) Shocking Event: Carlton pays an attorney to produce documents that remove Grace as executor of Sam’s will and evict her from the home they share.
B). Secret: Carlton is being blackmailed by his sisters and faces business ruin.
What has he done? Who knows what he did? How did he get the documents to remove her?
Why are his sisters blackmailing him?
C) Investigation: Grace fights back to find out what she can do to see Sam.
How and why did Carlton remove her from Sam’s life?
When will she find out?
Part withheld: Sam bailed out Carlton’s hedge fund and helped him hide money offshore.
2. Over Time Mystery:
A) Shocking Event: Grace is almost killed by the investigator following her. She is saved by the psychic next door, Harmony. Who hired someone to follow her? Why? What do they want? How can she protect herself? Where is she safe?
B) Secret: Harmony recognizes Grace from a past life and knows that she is in danger.
Who wants Grace dead? Why do they want her dead? What does Harmony know? Who is Harmony and how is she connected to Grace? When Grace moves out of her and Sam’s home, the housekeeper hides a file. Why did she hide the file? What does the file reveal?
C) Investigation: Grace fights back and explores all options to uncover the reasons behind the events that separated her and Sam. Who wants them separated? What do they want? Who is following her and why? Who is Harmony? Why did Harmony save her life? What does she know? How can Grace protect herself from the investigator? Why is her housekeeper still checking on her with a burned phone?
Part withheld: Sam’s children are sociopaths. Sam gave housekeeper instructions the day he went into a coma to protect the file if anything happened to him. Harmony knows that the only way to protect Grace is to guide her through her past life to uncover the secrets of today.
I learned to use my creative processes to create the two mysteries and explore the possibilities throughout the story.
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Lesson 8: Renee Brown’s Inviting Obsession Through Mystery
What I learned doing this assignment is…I have a big story here. I will need to weave this tapestry well to keep all these layers active as well as mysterious and cause for obsession.
ASSIGNMENT 1:
The 100:
Shocking event: The “inhabitable” planet is inhabited by a human tribe.
Mystery: Who are they and how did they survive the devastation?
Who is the renegade tribe man who helped Octavia?
Long haul mystery: What caused the nuclear war / devastation on earth?
What is Cain’s agenda? Why did the chancellor condemn his son?
<hr size=”0″ width=”100%” noshade=”” align=”center”>ASSIGNMENT 2:
Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.
Renee Brown’s Alien Mafia (working title….feels like its gonna change but I don’t know to what….yet. )
1. Create your Shocking Event Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Shocking Event: A planet appears between earth and mars. It is in lock step orbit with earth. B. Secret: This is one of two long lost renegade binary planets of the Longheads. This planet (retrofitted with huge boosters to make it a planet/ship, started its journey 200,000 years ago when a sun catastrophe flung twin planets out of their orbit and hurled them into space. <div>
C. Investigation: Human – NASA and laymen alike are trying to find out what the F this thing is.
Who: The newly arrived planet is inhabited by the long lost Longhead ancestors.
What: The newly arrived planet (and its twin) was retrofitted in order to escape an anticipated solar system catastrophe.
When: 200,000 years ago.
Where: Outer arm of the milky way galaxy.
Why: To save the Longhead species.
How: In anticipation of loosing their atmospheres completely, they burrowed deep into their planets and constructed vast sealed off cities, using the planet’s crust as the ‘ship’s hull.
Part Withheld: What caused the twin planets to be flung into space, where is the other planet, how did they make this planet a ship, how did this planet ship find earth, why is it here?
2. Create the Over Time Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Cover up: Three alien species currently share earth with humanity. </div><div>
B. Secret: There is a fourth, newly arrived alien.
C. Reveals:
Pilot: the Skyflier Don has been waiting patiently for the time to take over earth. The chaos caused by the planet’s arrival offers him the perfect opportunity to attempt his world wide coup.
Season end reveal: There is a fourth, newly arrived alien. Their ship was shot down by the Skyfliers in New Mexico. They are the Grays.
Series long reveals: How each species arrived on earth, how the factions formed, what agreements they made, What caused the twin planets to be flung into space, where is the other planet, how did they make the planet into a ship, how did this planet find earth, why is it here? How did the Longheads get to earth ahead of the planet ship?
· Who: Ancient Longheads
· What: outfitted the twin planets to carry them through the galaxy in search of a suitable star to begin rebuilding (terraforming their planets).
· When: They thought they were on track to escape the blast, but it blew early, before all their preparations were complete.
· Where: Outer arm of the milky way
· Why: Their sun blew
· Part Withheld: why did the twin planet explode? Who caused the malfunction?
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Lesson 8: Inviting Obsession: Mystery
John Anderson’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is…
ASSIGNMENT 1:
Watch the next episode of your Example Show and focus on the mysteries that have been created in that show. Also, notice the difference between the big picture mysteries that are a big part of the plot across the entire season versus the smaller mysteries.
Tell us about the mysteries from this show.
!5 years living in USA as spies, what was Stan Beeman doing for 3 years and how many people has he killed, “can’t be married and not have secrets” what are they all? Biggest mysteries: will Elizabeth and Phillip get together in love, will they get caught, will they return to Russia, will Beeman figure them out, will Beeman get divorced, what did Beeman do in the past, will the show go to the end of USSR and then what? How many are there?
Little mysteries: how will the family cope with divorce? Did Phillip win her back by letting her lover go?, Is Beeman a rally bad guy?, will he destroy his mole and run her out?, how’s his marriage (is the affair real or part of the job?), what’s next assignment for spies?
ASSIGNMENT 2:
Create two mysteries for your show — one that shows up strong in the Pilot and the other that is revealed over time.
A) Is this pilot defecting with a MiG 25?
B) Why did he defect and what will repercussions be?
1. Create your Shocking Event Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Shocking Event: A MiG pilot stops following orders during training.
B. Secret: He is defecting
C. Investigation: Is he alive and defecting or has he crashed?
WWWWW and How:
Who: MiG Pilot Lt. Belenko is off course
What: Is he doing: defecting
When: planned for months
Where: between Soviet Russia and free Japan
How: through planning
Why: He has turned on his country
Part Withheld:
See bold sentences above for withheld answers
2. Create the Over Time Mystery and tell us the WWWWW and H, along with the part withheld.
A. Cover up: Why did he defect and can we trust him? (Russians need these answers too – did someone help him? Did we slack off and who can we blame or deflect our capability toward?)
B. Secret: He may be a double agent (or was with CIA for years) so we need to know his past and current motives
C. Reveals: He is not a double agent and he simply grew dissatisfied with Russia/USSR
WWWWW and How:
Who: Freedom loving boy and man
What: A man wanting truth
Why: Honest Curiosity and suffering
Where: the dregs of Soviet society
When: When his wife said she was leaving
How: though a series of difficult events
Part Withheld:
What steps got him to this point and the final straw that set him free – his wife and child leaving
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Ben’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is … that mysteries invite obsession, and for a great pilot you need two mysteries: 1. A shocking event that instantly hooks the audience into the episode; and 2. An over-time mystery that creates longer-term even more intrigue.
1. Shocking Event Mystery:
A. Shocking Event: Jack’s first source/informant is abducted and disappears.
B. Secret: why was the scientist abducted and by who?
C. Investigation: where is Aida?
Who: Aida, the source is a scientist.
What was she doing? Working on special access programs funded through the defence black budgets.
When did she work there? Until she was abducted.
Where? At S4 in Area 51.
Why: Because through a series of phone taps and monitoring, Aida’s employers discovered she was about to speak to Jack.
How: driving one night, bright lights appear from the sky, Aida is abducted, leaving no evidence, and her car running for police to find.
Part Withheld: she was working on a highly classified unidentified aerial phenomena program that has been hidden from the public by an unknown organisation.
2. Create the Over Time Mystery:
A. Cover up: Aliens abducting government officials.
B. Secret: those government officials have been working on secret technology programs called special access programs run by private companies that are owned by just a few people and into which trillions of dollars have disappeared.
C. Reveals:
Who: the organisation behind these special access programs is called MJ12.
What: it was created by President Truman but since acquired even greater power than the President of the United States.
When: MJ12 was created in 1947 but by the time President Eisenhower left office, it had acquired so much power through the military industrial machine that even he was scared of them.
Where: In the United States and particularly using the CIA to maintain security on air force bases like Area 51.
Why: because of the Roswell incident in 1947.
How: by Presidential / executive order which MJ12 then used to increase its secrecy by taking these special access projects away from the Presidential purview and funnelling trillions of American tax dollars into their programs through black budgets in the defence budget.
Part Withheld: they have technology that is light years beyond what we have made on Earth.
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Lesson 8 – Assignment #1
Inviting Obsession Through Mystery: Revenge
Shocking Event: In the opening scene, Emily’s fiancé Daniel is shot and presumed dead. The shooter is not identified, but Jack Porter was dragging his body along the beach to hide it behind ground cover. The story then flashes back several months to the time Emily first came to the Hamptons.
Secret: We think Jack shot Daniel, but we don’t know for sure and definitely do not know why.
Smaller Mysteries
· The real Emily Thorne shows up and threatens to expose Amanda Clarke. Amanda gives her money to “disappear” to Paris, but Emily decides to stay in the Hamptons and pursue a relationship with Jack. Will this compromise Amanda’s plan?
· What are Tyler and Ashley up to? Tyler seems to be a con man but his full agenda is still hidden. Ashley is tiring of working for the Graysons, and despises Victoria, and Tyler seems to be having a negative influence on her. Similarly, her agenda is not fully known.
Lesson 8 – Assignment #2
Marc Armstrong’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment was that this has been the most difficult step in the process for me. The exercise did stimulate my creativity, but it did not come quickly and now I am several days behind.
Inviting Obsession Through Mystery: Catch and Release
Shocking Event Mystery
A. Shocking Event: Nikolas leaves home for 30 minutes to run an errand, but he returns home to find his parents, two brothers and sister have all been shot dead.
B. Secret: Who would commit such a senseless crime and why?
C. Investigation: With limited law enforcement available, Nikolas sets out to solve the mystery himself.
Who: Unknown until 2<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> episodes.
What: His family has all been shot and killed.
Where: His parents and sister were in the living room, one brother was in the kitchen, and the other brother was in the hallway.
When: Sometime in a 30-minute window.
Why: Unknown until season one finale.
How: Three were shot at close-range with a .45 caliber pistol, one with a 9mm pistol and the other with a shotgun. There is no sign of a break-in.
Part Withheld: We know there are four intruders, three with guns, but we never see any identities. We have no idea whether these people were known by the family or if this was random. We do not know the motivation.
Over Time Mystery
A. Cover up: Nikolas comes across as a devout Christian, popular, and morally upstanding, but he has been leading a double life.
B. Secret: Starting with his own prescription pain medication due to his sports injuries, Nik has created a local drug trafficking business.
C. Reveals: We learn over time that what appeared to be a random act of violence against his family was motivated by a supplier who wanted to punish Nik when he tried to do the right thing and get out of the distribution business.
Who: Nikolas Sutton
What: Secretly trafficking drugs.
Where: The local county.
When: Has been going on for most of the last four years since high school.
Why: Started out to earn a little extra money with leftover prescription pain meds.
How: After moving his opioids with ease, he desired to earn even more money by moving other drugs.
Part Withheld: How did he get so involved that when he tried to get out, his family was killed?
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This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by Marcus Armstrong.
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This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by
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What I learned about this assignment is that this exercise helped me add an extra layer of character relationships with this mystery, and I found myself intrigued how to reveal these mysteries.
Mysteries – Jessica Jones
A. Shocking Event: The case that Jessica Jones takes is a recreation of her own past history.
B. Secret: The man who kidnapped the client was Jessica’s ex-boyfriend.
C. Investigation: The audience has been set up to search for who Kilgrave is.
WHO: Kilgrave is an evil superpower.
HOW: Kilgrave controls the minds of anyone who crosses his path.
WHEN: Kilgrave has had this girl for one month, and Jessica finds her on the anniversary.
WHERE: Jessica finds the people connected to clients are under the control of Kilgrave and she finds Kilgrave’s hideout.
Missing before final episodes:
WHY: Kilgrave set up a shrine to Jessica, and torturing people in order to get her attention.
WHAT: The relationship and the events leading to Jessica leaving Kilgrave. Kilgrave creates a path to lead Jessica into his trap.ASSIGNMENT 2:
Donna Stockwell’s Show Mysteries
1. Shocking Event Mystery
A. Shocking Event: Jasper talks to mother asking for forgiveness as he buries a coffin.
B. Secret: His mother is in the coffin and he buries her
C. Investigation: Ben is helping to conceal this burial.
WWWWW and How:
Who- Ben calls down to Jasper to make sure that Jasper received the coffin in the vault.
What- Jasper is seemingly doing his job of a gravedigger
When- this event occured in the past
Where- cemetery
Part Withheld:
Why- Jasper is the one who killed her
How- Jasper is extra strong, and hugged his mother to death.
Ultimate Reveal: This is the instigating event that affords Ben to cover up him being a serial killer.
Ultimate Reveal 2: This is how Ben controls Jasper… both with allowing daily visits to his mother and not telling authorities what he did.2. Over Time Mystery
A. Cover up: Patrice hires daughter’s boyfriend for extra handyman jobs around the house.
B. Secret: Patrice leaves her husband to marry daughter’s boyfriend.
C. Reveals: Patrice spends much time talking to bf and getting to know him intimately.
WWWWW and How:
Who- Patrice is frustrated with husband who doesn’t help around the house, bf magically appears and amiable to be helpful. Ben is never around.
Why – Ben is not helping around the house, and Patrice is tired of things being broken.
When- daily
Where- around the house, every room and outside
Why- Ben is not helping around the house, and Patrice is tired of things being broken. Patrice looks for things for him to do.
How- bf has past helping family and friends with house projects.
Part Withheld:
Why- Patrice starts looking for things for him to do, to make excuses for him to be around.
What- Patrice needs a handyman for house projects, and gets benefits (extra praise, simple kisses turns into a romance which ensues) in addition to money
Ultimate Reveal: daughter loses boyfriend and mother
Ultimate Reveal 2: Ben loses wife and starts to go on a rampage. -
Sean’s Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment:
1. With each exercise, it is after I push through and do the assignment that I see breakthroughs. Not only breakthroughs with how I write, use what I am being told and create, but the also with my characters and stories.
2. I can see the mysteries and how I need to write them to qualify as binge worthy.
3. I can also see how important this lesson and this knowledge is – how incredible the story is ‘with’ the mysteries and how lacking and incomplete the story would have been ‘without’ the mysteries.
Assignment 1
SUPERNATURAL
The shocking event that begins episode 1, the Pilot – is the death of Mary Winchester and how she died (being held to the ceiling by a supernatural force as fire consumes her). She leaves behind her husband John and two sons Dean and Sam. Her husband becomes a hunter of things supernatural and evil and teaches his sons to be as well.
The secret – who or what killed Mary this way and why?
Investigation – audience needs to know who, what killed Mary Winchester this way and why.
So far through episode 8 there are other mysteries – where is their father, John? Why did he disappear and leave clues? Is Sam going to be persuaded to help his brother Dean look for their father beyond the weekend because he has an interview for full scholarship to Stanford Law on Monday morning.
Another shocking event! – Sam gets back in time for interview just to find his girlfriend Jess being held to the ceiling and murdered just like his mother in a ball of fire. Who or what killed his mother and now, Jess in such a supernatural and heinous way? WE HAVE TO KNOW!!
Assignment 2
Two mysteries for my show The SAT.
Shocking Event Mystery
Shocking Event: Mitchell Dawe finds and kills his parents despite them being in top FBI relocation/protection program, as well as Cian’s new girlfriend. He would have killed Cian too, but he went out for pizza.
Secret: It is not just a random interest in Mitchell Dawe, the role The Devil plays in Mitchell finding them and killing them has definite purpose, so it is personal. The Devil’s reaction to Cian not being there is genuine unbelief and nervous consideration.
Investigation: We want to find out why this is personal to The Devil and who Mitchel Dawe and Cian Shea are?
Who – the Devil knows who Mitchell Dawe and Cian Shea are, even if they don’t.
Why – He is afraid of what they represent to him, the sooner Cian is dead, the better.
Where – Here in the United States, the world; here in Cian’s world more specifically.
When – The immediate future, withing their lifetime.
(Missing) The two being withheld are the:
What – A prophecy and fulfillment of a continuing nightmare, the Devil cannot fully see or comprehend.
How and How Long – The Devil does not sleep, but he can see visions of the past like dreams and sometimes different lengths of time in the future like dreams or nightmares. He has been seeing this nightmare since shortly after the fall and never told anyone or anything.
Over Time Mystery
Cover up: The Devil is not the only one that has had this vision, though it is a nightmare to the Devil, it is an alluring dream to his enemies.
Secret: Cian Shea is the only one that sees this vision from beginning to end, the finite details and meanings.
Reveals: The Devil is reflecting on missing pieces to a dream sequence, and we already saw Cian and the angel, Caliel as the missing pieces the Devil cannot see or figure out. The secret society Caliel introduces to Cian Shea is another reveal and so is what these people already know. Much like the Devil, they only have pieces, and we begin to see Cian connecting the pieces in his mind effortlessly, as if he were simply thinking them for the very first time. Soon, everyone has their own pieces running through their minds and more and more Cian is tying all those pieces together perfectly. Seems likely Cian is the prophecies.
Who – Cian Shea appears to be the end of the Devil and evil as we know it to be.
When – In his lifetime, which will be the end of a nightmare the Devil has seen coming since the fall.
Where – Here in the United States and the entire world.
Why – The Devil and evil are out of control, gone too far.
(Missing) The two being withheld are:
What – A network of secret temples and buildings throughout the world called the Sillick.
How – Cian needs God’s blessing and approval to
use supernatural powers to take down the entire world of evil and trap the Devil,
demons, and dead evil souls in the bodies of the living evil souls after the
are imprisoned within the Sillick. -
Cooper James – Show Mysteries
What I learned by doing this assignment is mysteries should draw the audience in deeper. Mysteries will make them talk and think about your show. It will also make them go on the journey to the end to discover the answers to the mysteries. Mysteries are an added layer, kind of like the special sauce one might add to make a burger tasty.
Assignment #1
Handmaid’s Tale
A. Shocking Event: As June (Offred) tries to escape with her husband and daughter, she is captured and forced to become a handmaid.
B. Secret: What happened to Hannah, June’s daughter?
C. Investigation: The audience has been set up to find out what happened to June’s (Offred) husband and daughter and they will ever unite again.
What: June discovers everything about her new world and her role in it.
When: She meets Commander Waterford and his wife.
Where: At the training center she learns what her future will be, then she is assigned to the Waterfords.
Why: There is a shortage of women giving birth so handmaids must fill in.
Who: Fertile Women must bear children for other families.
How: Fertile women live with families and have sex with other woman’s husbands to bear them a child.
A. Cover-up: The handmaids are indoctrinated into this idea of doing God’s work according to the Bible for these wonderful, happy families. However, the handmaids are beating and abused if they resist. The husbands rape the women in front of their wives who are unable to bear children. The wives are so desperate to have a baby they turn a blind eye to rape.
B. Secret: Offred plays the part of a handmaid, but she will do anything to escape and find her daughter.
C. Reveals: Offred is smart and becomes Commander Waterford’s mistress without Mrs. Waterford’s knowledge. And Mrs. Waterford forces Offred to have sex with Nick because she thinks her husband is the problem and not her.
Who: Who are the people that are in charge of Gilead?
When: Will Offred bear a child for the Waterfords.
Why: The previous handmaid committed suicide without bearing a child.
Where: Offred lives with the Waterfords until she bears them a child.
Part Withheld:
What: What will happen to Commander Waterford when he discovers Nick is sleeping with Offred. What will happen when Mrs. Waterford do when she discovers her husband’s sex on the side with Offred. Will Nick turn in the Commander for his violations?
How: How will Offred escape to find her daughter?
Assignment #2
A. Shocking Event: Remy rescues a kid, Johnny, from Region 26.
B. Secret: Who is Johnny and why did Remy choose him to rescue?
C. Investigation: The audience has been drawn in to search for who Johnny is.
What: Simone knows that to take down Region 26 she must first take down the Senator, so she sends her son, Remy to rescue Johnny.
When: For 13 years.
Where: In Region 26, Johnny is living with his mother, the Senator’s mistress.
How: Remy must rescue someone important from Region 26 to show how powerful he is.
Part Withheld:
Who: Johnny is the Senator’s secret love child.
Why: Simone knows sending Remy to rescue Johnny would deal a major blow to the Senator and throw him off his game.
Ultimate Reveal: Simone had an affair with the Senator.
Ultimate Reveal 2: Simone was involved in the assassination of the previous Senator which brought the current Senator to power.
A. Cover-up: Simone and Remy are presented as reckless as they go against King’s wishes by rescuing someone from Region 26. Simone knows this will prevent King from immediately selling Edgemont as the Senator will come after Johnny which will lead to a battle.
B. Secret: Edgemont was built on a mountain that is a power center. This is a place that needs no outside power to defend itself. Nature protects those who try to bring harm to its inhabitants. King doesn’t believe what his father shared with him about the mountain. He only sees money as power and wants to sell against Simone’s wishes.
C. Reveals: It starts with King scheming with Roman, his grandson, to run for Senator of Region 26, but first, he must help him sell Edgemont, which Roman agrees to. King wants real power, not some mystical mountain. Roman wants power, too, and turns on his mother, Simone, to get it. He also has a relationship with his grandfather’s younger girlfriend, Mrs. Conners, who has her schemes.
What: What is the reason King suddenly wants to sell Edgemont?
When: When does King tell Simone he’s backing Roman for Senator in Region 26?
Where: Where does the power come from for Edgemont?
How: How will Simone use the kids to save Edgemont from the developers.
Part Withheld:
Why: Why did Remy risk his life to rescue Johnny from Region 26
Who: Who killed the former Senator?
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L O S T
MYSTERY ONE: THE CRASH
Shocking Event: TransAtlantic flight Oceanic 815 drops out of the sky and crashes on a remote island with many survivors relatively unharmed.
Secret: The crash might not be a random event, as certain characters show immediate positive (sometimes miraculous) benefits.
Investigation: As characters attempt to find a means of rescue or communication, they realize they are thousands of miles off course—and that they may not be alone on the island.
What: The crash split the plane in two high in the sky, the tail section missing. The survivors scramble to create shelters and strategize on rescue plans while exploring their immediate surroundings. There are hostile creatures in the islands’ interior, deterring exploration beyond the beach save for the bravest among them.
Where: According to a pilot who is killed by one of the island’s larger, unseen threats, the plane went down “at least a thousand” miles off course from Oceanic 815’s flight plan, believed to be somewhere in the South Pacific.
When: All of the characters at the onset are on the same flight n September 22, 2004.
Who: 48 people have survived the crash in the first episodes. It is doubtful other survivors are elsewhere on the island, as the tail broke off high in the air.
UNKNOWN:
Why: Why the crash occurred is a mystery.
How: How so many survived unscathed is unknown.
Ultimate Reveal: The crash is part of a larger plan revealed in the final season in which good and evil war for the continuance or destruction of the island as a portal for corporate time travel in effort to prolong the human race.
MYSTERY TWO: THE ISLAND
The island possesses mysteries that affect each character differently, personally; we’re drawn into their personal journeys as they negotiate the new territory, which draws out their hidden backstories.
Cover Up: The island seems to be like any other at the onset; we quickly learn that nothing seems to be random here, and that each character must face a reckoning that defines who they are.
Secret: The characters learn within hours they are not alone, and within days that they’re not the first to be stranded here. A radio broadcast from somewhere on the island is translated from French to have been looping for 16 years.
Reveals: There are animals that have no business being here, such as polar bears and gargantuan, tree-shaking beasts. There are also people here, one the author of the looping message who states there are “Others” who are “bad, sick people”; another, Ethan, integrates himself into the survivors from early on, kidnaps Claire, hangs Charlie and leaves him for dead and kills two others in order to secure the pregnant Claire’s imminent baby. A mysterious metal hatch is discovered by Locke and Boone, leading to something buried deep and impenetrable, out of place in the remote jungle, inscribed with a mysterious set of numbers—numbers comprising the original signal that the French woman’s research team responded to leading to their scuttling on the shoals, and which Hurley used to win the lottery but setting off a chain of freak accidents harming and sometimes killing people around him before his ill-fated flight.
What: The island presents immediate threats in the form of beasts and other people, but also cathartic properties that promote healing physically, mentally and spiritually.
When: We learn that for at least 16 years this island has been inhabited and associated with that random number set.
Where: The Frenchwoman confirms the island is in the South Pacific somewhere, as her research vessel happened upon the signal 3 days out of Tahiti but lost track of where they were in a storm before running aground.
UNKNOWN:
Who: The builders of the hatch and those responsible for the number system and transmission are unknown, as well as who the Others are. It is unknown if there are other Oceanic 815 survivors. Who the Frenchwoman is and why she deliberately remains a loner, hidden in the jungle and what she wants is a mystery.
Why: Why the signal exists, why Ethan was willing to kidnap and kill for Claire’s baby, why there are creatures on the island that are far out of their geographical biomes, and why the Hatch exists are unknown.
How: How Locke regains the use of his legs upon awakening from the crash, how Jack is led by his father into the jungle to reconcile his death, how Boone finds Shannon tied to a tree and weathers her death—only to find her alive back at camp—all of the personal reckonings confronting the passengers are supernatural at best and lethal at worst, and it is impossible to know how and why they are occurring.
Part Withheld:
The Island is transient, a machination where time travel research was performed
and executed by the scientifically Utopian research group The Dharma Initiative.Ultimate Reveal: The numbers are an equation corresponding to the exact
number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself, so the
Initiative performed research hoping to change at least one of the number in
the sequence to prolong human life. The characters on the island will travel “sideways”
in time to parallel realities and make decisions to live their new lives, or
stay and hopefully assist in the perpetuation of the human race.-
LESSON 8 – ASSIGNMENT TWO
Jason Bortz’ Show Mysteries
What I learned doing this assignment is again, while effective as a tool for dissecting existing series, it’s challenging to map this sort of thing out from Pilot to Final Episode during the conceptual and formative stages of the creative process. As there are many unknowns, using these as a ‘shaping’ tool and benchmarks are effective and good, but outlining them all in a 48 hour period when only halfway through episode two of my own series isn’t realistic—I can let go of that pressure and focus on the assignment, I’ll just have to catch up.
Dreaming Wide Awake
MYSTERY ONE: THE JOURNAL
Shocking Event: Gina’s fantastical and wondrous private life is shared on live TV and online as her journal becomes the topic of an impromptu Human Interest segment—inciting a flood of calls from people wanting to know all about her.
Secret: What is it about the journal (of which the exposed section is only a small piece of many hard drives over many years) that prompts such a catalytic reaction and addiction from people?
Investigation: When people hear the segment and read what is made available on the news website, many want more; the words contained therein awaken hopes, desires and passions they’ve not felt (or kept hidden) for years.
What: Gina’s journal provokes visceral episodes and imagery in others equally as powerful as her own upon writing them.
Where: The entries prompt dreamlike participation from listeners, from their memories to their dreams to waking reality, in many locations depending on the hearer.
When: The journal spans decades of Gina’s life since the passing of her mother as a teen, but in others’ experiences they occur at any pertinent stage of their lives.
Why: The journal is made public by a Maggie in hopes Gina will see how brilliant she is and take steps to be more than just a temp.
UNKNOWN:
Who: The author Gina is a recluse, working as a temp for a salvage company. No one knows who she is, or why she’s reclusive.
How: It’s a mystery how evocative and magically the journal effects people.
Ultimate Reveal: The journal is a conduit for Gina’s gift of exposing people to the Divine; her entries transport the listeners to unresolved chapters of their lives that need healing, saving, redeeming, reconciling…or closure, forgiveness and accountability.
MYSTERY TWO: GINA SEMPLE
Cover Up: Gina writes in her journal as a series of love letters/visions/confessions to her Creator, as she has difficulty abiding with human beings. She’s an adept and empath—quick to learn communicative skills and adapt to others’ personalities, to read people’s masked intentions, but burdened with the intensity of others’ feelings and nearly incapable of lying. A superior autobiographic memory allows her to recall in detail events of her life as though she were reliving them; unfortunately, many of these have wounded her into self-induced agoraphobia. Her mother’s death began a years-long chain of events, including institutionalization, leading to her reclusivity in the present after the passing of her father.
Investigation: As her private life is threatened, Gina’s past begins resurfacing, along with a deep, protected secret in seeming contrast to the heightened reality of her journaling.
What: Gina’s private reality awakens a renewed zeal for life in her boss, and when shared with the world has a similar effect on many others who seek her out—including the man she ran from years ago.
Where: At the onset, the community of Point North, a small coastal town in the Northwest, 50 miles from the nearest metropolis.
When: Present day, end of the first week of December.
UNKNOWN:
Who: Gina’s journal-life presents alternate realities rich with color, vividity and poetic language. In reality, she does her best to remain as anonymous and reclusive as possible. Why? As flashbacks of her past begin to surface, that same wonder and childlike perspective of reality collides with moments of harsh human behavior, escalating in intensity both in joy and sorrow.
Why: What happened to her to confine her brilliance and hide from others? Is she on the Spectrum? Why is she borderline agoraphobic when moments reveal her to be clearly brilliant, savvy and observant? What hurt her so badly that drove her away from people when we learn she was a virtuoso and graduated from one of the most prestigious Arts schools in the country?
How: How does Gina snare people’s imaginations, passions and wistfulness through her writing? How does her work instantly incite people to wake up to things they considered long dead?
Part Withheld: Gina’s hyperintelligence/awareness, compassion for people and definitive discernment of character is overwhelming for her; the insistence from people in her past that she is “retarded,” “on the Spectrum”, “special needs” and the gamut of assumptions made about her “condition” prompted her withdrawal, and losing her parents meant the only one left to trust was God Himself, particularly after unintentional but deep wounding occurred within the church. Gina uses her journal as a form of pure worship without “religiosity”: to ponder, wrestle with, celebrate, rejoice and intimately commune with her God—she is unaware of the impact of her spirit on people, and Maggie’s ‘outing’ of her journal is the push she needs to offer her gift–and permission–to the world.
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NORENE SMILEY – LESSON 8 – INVITING OBSESSION: MYSTERY
What I learned doing this assignment: Really found this exercise to he helpful with thinking through plot development. I will keep this open-ended for further development.
ASSIGNMENT 1: JESSICA JONES
BIG MYSTERIES
how did Jessica get her powers
who is Kilgrave and what power does he have over Jessica?
will Jessica be able to defeat Kilgrave?SMALLER MYSTERIES
why does Jessica feel so guilty about Luke and his wife?
how did Luke’s wife die?
what is Luke’s secret?
why does Trish obsessively train and worry about security?………………………………………
SHADOW & BONE
BIG MYSTERIES
what is the Shadow Fold?
how was it created?
can it be destroyed?SMALLER MYSTERIES
what is the power that Alina has?
will Alina be reunited with Mal?
what happened to Inej’s brother?
how does the Conductor travel through the Fold?
why does Kaz want to protect Inej?
why does Inej not want to kill?
will the Crows win over Pekka?
who is Baghra?ASSIGNMENT 2 – TROUBLE
A. SHOCKING EVENT MYSTERY:
– the attack on The Keep and Scrap being thrust into the Outside world of the Machines
B. SECRET:
– The Keep is a hidey-hole not on the rest of the world’s radar
Ruby and Bardo tasked with protecting the last remaining artifacts of the natural world
C. INVESTIGATION:
Scrap must find a way to find a way back to the Keep if it still exists
Scrap must avoid capture by the machines
Scrap must discover what Agrippa is up to
Is Agrippa as nurturing and motherly as she seemsD. WHO – Scrap, a small child on the cusp of maturing
WHAT- do Agrippa and the machines want with her
WHEN – time is of the essence before Scrap can cause any more trouble
WHERE – the Keep and the Outside world of machines
WHY – Scrap seems to be what everyone wants: Ruby and Bardo want to contain her and keep her safe, Agrippa wants to use her power
HOW – Ruby and Bardo plan to recover Scrap and get her back into hiding using their magical shape-shifting guises; Agrippa will use the relentless force of her machines and underhanded, unethical methods to capture her
PART WITHHELD –
2. OVER -TIME MYSTERY
COVERUP – Ruby and Bardo know that Scrap is not what she seems to be; they are tasked not only with preserving nature but protecting the world from Scrap
B. SECRET
– Ruby and Bardo know that Scrap and the curse she embodies is key to the survival or destruction of the natural world, including humankind
– Agrippa needs Scrap to complete total the supremacy of the machines
C. REVEALS
– things go increasingly wrong wherever Scrap goes; small catastrophes, accidents, failures
Agrippa seems to pay more attention to Scrap above other underlings
Nancy the bully is particularly jealous of her
Toodie the waif and other underlings are uncertain or afraid of her
shape-shifting creatures keep appearing to point Scrap in directions or obstruct her
humans don’t even see herD. WHO – Scrap, little darkling embodying the key to the future
WHAT – does Scrap have to do to stop the curse?
WHEN – Scrap has to defuse the curse before it matures and she needs to avoid capture by Agrippa and her minions so her power can’t be used against nature
WHERE – the Hub of Machines in The Outside City
WHY
nature is about to disappear forever, it is now or never
the heart of Scrap is the last element Agrippa needs to make the living machineHOW – the curse will bring on a reign of chaos
PART WITHHELD – the curse will bring about the end of the machines rule over the natural world, if Scrap sacrifices herself
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