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Post Your Lesson 9 Assignment here
Post Your Lesson 9 Assignment here
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6 Replies
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Margaret’s Favorite Twists
What I learned doing this assignment: New ways of thinking about what constitutes a twist.
My five favorite twists:
1. Danger == Safety: When we think Marcus is dead, he stirs from the stone pile.
2. Deceived== Surprising Truth: Coroticus agrees to free the Christians, but in reality, sends them to be sold as slaves.
3. Attacked==Protected: A woman takes down an experienced soldier who is mocking another woman with his sword by simply kicking him in the balls.
4. It Just Got Better==It Just Got worse: Just when Marcus defeats the Picts, his own Roman unit comes after him.
5. Plan Fails==Plan Succeeds: The group thinks their plan has failed until they successfully go down a cliff face.
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What I learned doing this assignment is…. That I never knew anything about “twists” in action films. I chose 6 twists from the beginning of my story. I like this class more with each assignment.
Unexpected Support — The small town supports Cop/Hero after his one twin daughter is killed by an unknown male.
New Threat — Female villain (ex-wife) sends a drug dealer to small town to kill cop hero (ex-husband).
Attacked — Drug dealer ambushes cop hero. Several innocent people die.
Protected — Cop hero kills drug dealer with his sniper rifle skill.
Identity Exposed — Dealer tells cop before he dies that his ex-wife sent him.
It Just Got Worse — Cop always knew that his ex-wife would come back to either hurt him or take back their twin daughters. One daughter is dead.
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Danger ========================= Safety
After being chased, he finds refuge in a hidden spot.
New Threat ====================== Unexpected Support
Is about to be tortured by a sicko with a long arsenal of torture devices. His girlfriend and gang come to the rescue.
Plan Fails ========================Plan Succeeds
Escape plan fails and they fall in enemy hands because it was a trap all along. Friend dies.
Identity or Plan Exposed ============ Identity Hidden
Sen finds out who Jun is and why he wants to steal from him.
Deceived ====================== Surprising Truth
Jun’s friend set him up to get caught. There was no money to help sister.
Unexpected Weapon ============= Surprising Response
Left with only sticks from his Eskrima class. They become damaged but he is able to use to obtain a gun, but he doesn’t know how to shoot.
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Brian I have learned to create a twist in any situation and add it to my scenes.
Deceived==Sonny finds out that his wife deceived him by telling him by mistake that Jennifer wasn’t his daughter at her funeral.
Surprising Truth==Paul shows up to Jennifer funeral all smiles and says if he couldn’t be in her life then she had to be taken out.
Betrayal==Sonny feels betrayed by his wife Sharon and destroys the house.
Surprising Alliance==Sonny finds himself alone and his back against the wall then finds out he made a friend who has gang alliances.
Attacked== Protected: While Sonny is fighting for his life numerous men and he feels his death is coming to an end. His new friend Hulk comes to his rescue with his gang members to add Sonny in the street fight.
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I learned that I can go back and make every scene more exciting by adding a twist.
Lesson #9
Safety >>>> Danger
Reina is seconds from grabbing a taxi to head home, she’s attacked from behind
Poor >>>> Gets Worse
A huge storm leaves Reina/Isa home without power, and then they find out their parents were killed in an accident allegedly due to the weather
Safety >>>> Danger
Reina drives her bicycle along quaint roads in the countryside and is chased by a motorbike, and almost run off the road
Danger >>>> Unexpected Resources
Reina flees for her life, almost run off the road, when Luc appears to protect her from the danger
Identity Hidden >>>> Identity exposed
Reina’s sister is actually an assassin and so is the rest of her family
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<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Madeleine’s Favorite Twists!
What I learned doing this assignment is it’s easier to incorporate setups and twists in the outline than in the script.
Five Favorite Setups/Twists:
1. Identity Exposed: FBI Agent’s identity is exposed when she stops a purse snatcher in St. Peter’s Square. Later, the victim of the purse snatching recognizes the FBI Agent’s son among fellow hostages and knows his mother is out and about trying to help them.
2. Danger: While in the confessional, the FBI Agent hears a disturbance outside among the penitents. She peeks out the door, sees soldiers rounding up fellow penitents, and realizes something is horribly wrong. Later, she and the priest escape the confessional without being taken prisoner.
3. New Resources: As the FBI Agent and the Priest exit the confessional, the priest dispatches a mercenary laying and wait and picks up his gun. Later, the priest will use this gun to shoot the drone out of the air.
4. Unexpected Support: The Vatican Priest hearing confessions turns out to be a former Army Ranger with experience in Afghanistan. A good ally to have.
5. New Threat: When the Priest and FBI Agent are caught on the mercenaries’ drone camera, two mercenaries are sent to capture them.
6. It Just Got Worse. The mercenaries, armed with an old photo of the billionaire’s daughter provided by the press, examine the hostages to find the right woman. Instead, they find the FBI Agent posing as the daughter.
Structure/Plot/Outline
Opening:
Rome skyline >
Peter’s Square >
Likeability: Hero is walking with son toward St. Peter’s Basilica. She’s on the phone with her husband, telling him she and their son will stop in the Basilica before coming home. He’s getting dinner ready. They’re kissy face on the phone.
Likeability: Hero walks with her son toward St. Peter’s Basilica when one of a team of pickpockets snatches a woman’s purse. Hero pursues the culprit, takes him down, pins him, and takes possession of the stolen purse. The Vatican police arrive. Identifying herself as an FBI legal attaché at the U. S. Embassy IDENTITY EXPOSED, she gives the culprit into their custody.
Likeability: She returns the purse to the victim ( who now knows she is an FBI Agent with considerable skills) and receives her heartfelt gratitude. The crowd around her cheers.
This victim, a tourist also headed for St. Peter’s Basilica, features later during the siege.
Likeability: Hero’s son is embarrassed by the whole affair. He’s a teenager with a bit of a rebellious streak. She rings her son’s neck with her arm and gives him a kiss on the cheek. They walk on toward St. Peter’s Basilica.
Inciting Incident:
V1: Mercenaries, dressed like Swiss Guards, enter the Basilica through an underground tunnel and secret door. One by one they take out the real Swiss Guards and then close down the Basilica. They shed their Swiss Guard uniforms and now look like combat soldiers.
M1: FBI AGENT, sitting in the confessional, about to confess her sins, hears a disturbance outside among the penitents. She peeks out the door and sees DANGER. Something is terribly wrong.
V2: Armed soldiers herd the penitents, including her son, into a controllable location. There, the soldiers confiscate everyone’s cameras and mobile phones.
Question: Who are these soldiers? What do they want? Is my son in danger?
M2: Likeability: She tells the priest about the armed men. He verifies they shouldn’t be there. It’s not time for the Basilica to close for the night. She tells the priest to shut off the confessional lights. He does.
V3: Lead mercenary accompanies a couple of his soldiers to the exhibit of the Sacred Chalice on loan from Valencia Cathedral. He gets them started on the extraction.
M3: Using her mobile phone, the FBI Agent contacts the U. S. Embassy, where she is a legal attaché, advises them the Basilica has been taken over by armed men, and requests they notify the Italian Police and Vatican City of the situation.
First Turning Point at end of Act 1 and First Action:
M4: As the FBI Agent and the Priest exit the confessional, a mercenary appears from behind a pillar and confronts the priest. With lightning speed the priest dispatches the mercenary and NEW RESOURCES picks up his gun.
The FBI Agent comes up beside him. As she goes through the mercenary’s backpack, she asks him, “Who are you? He tells her he was an Army Ranger in Afghanistan before he became a Priest. Nice. SURPRISING SUPPORT. She introduces herself as a FBI legal attaché at the U. S. Embassy. They distribute the contents of the pack between them.
V4: NEW THREAT: The Priest and FBI Agent are caught on the mercenaries’ drone camera. The mercenary leader sends two soldiers to round them up.
Italian Police & Swiss Guard plan an offensive.
M5: Moral Dilemma. Kill or not kill. The FBI Agent takes out the two mercenaries, one at a time. NEW RESOURCES: The Priest collects their weapons and backpacks. Now, both the Priest and the FBI Agent are armed. These goings on are caught on camera by the drone.
V5: PLAN FAILS: Surprised at this unexpected development, the mercenary leader calls a meeting of the remaining soldiers. DECISION: Kill the now armed woman with the drone.
V6: The lead mercenary calls back the drone and adds a weapon to it.
The Priest shares with the FBI Agent that he defied his father, who wanted him to go into the family business, to become a priest. His father disowned him. He tells her why he became a Priest???? So he could avoid confrontations like this.
Mid-Point: The Priest and the FBI Agent discover three mercenaries working to free the Sacred Chalice, on loan from the Valencia Cathedral. This is not just a hostage situation. It’s also a heist. The journey is the same, but the meaning has changed.
M6: The FBI Agent, who worked jewelry theft cases before coming to Rome, conveys this new knowledge to the U. S. Embassy, who conveys it to the Italian Police and Vatican City. They also convey it to the FBI, looking for a similar modus operandi.
Question: Who is behind the heist?
M7: Priest tells FBI Agent the chalice will disappear at 7:00 p.m. She looks at her watch. It’s 6:30 p.m.
V7: The lead mercenary negotiates with the Italian Police, who show up at the Basilica. The lead mercenary demands safe passage out of Italy in exchange for the Basilica and the hostages. This is a smoke screen to give them time to extricate the Sacred Chalice.
V8: The mercenaries push back a second group of Italian Police attempt to access the Basilica through the same secret tunnel through which the mercenaries made entrance.
V9: The armed drone searches for the FBI Agent and the Priest.
The press starts reporting on the hostage situation. This feed is available to both the mercenaries and the FBI Agent.
Second Turning Point at end of Act 2:
Justification: Just as the FBI Agent and the Priest realize they’re on their own fighting the bad guys, ATTACKED: the weaponized drone finds the Priest and the FBI Agent and fires on them. Caught by surprise, they’re sitting ducks. The FBI Agent is hit in the left shoulder.
M7: The priest shoots down the drone.
V10: The mercenaries working on the Sacred Chalice exhibit finally free it. The lead mercenary comes running. Just as he arrives on the scene, the chalice descends down a deep shaft into a cement vault. A bullet proof metal cover closes over the shaft. The villain did not have this in his playbook. It’s a setback for the villain. PLAN SUCCEEDS FOR HERO’S MISSION.
NEW PLAN: But then they find out from the outside media that one of the hostages is the daughter of a San Francisco billionaire. New game plan. All they have to do is find out which of their hostages is the billionaire’s daughter.
V11: The mercenaries, armed with an old photo of the billionaire’s daughter provided by the press, examine the hostages to find the right woman. IT JUST GOT WORSE FOR THE HOSTAGES.
M8: The Priest identifies the billionaire’s daughter first because he knows who she is. She’s a regular at the Basilica.
Based on information from the priest and conveyed by the FBI Agent to the Italian Police over her cell phone, the Italian Police will enter the Basilica by another, little-used tunnel.
M9: The FBI Agent substitutes herself for the Billionaire’s daughter. The priest spirits the real billionaire’s daughter toward the hidden tunnel through which the Italian Police plan to enter.
Crisis: The FBI Agent’s son calls out, “Mom” when he sees his mother among the hostages. IDENTITY EXPOSED.
V12: The lead mercenary seizes him and holds him hostage. He forces the kid up the stairs to the cupola ahead of him. The FBI Agent gives chase.
Climax: The Italian Police invade the Basilica. Led by the Priest, they quickly take out the remaining mercenaries. Only the leader is left. They head up the stairs after him.
V13: At the top of the cupola, the mercenary leader pulls out his gun to shoot the FBI Agent, but his gun jams.
M10: The FBI agent rushes toward him. They struggle. She frees her son from the mercenary’s grip.
The Italian Police arrive. They shoot him. The force of the attack throws him over the balcony.
Resolution: FBI Agent is reunited with her son and husband. The Priest is reunited with his father, who no longer cares about his calling.
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