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Subtext Mastery Lesson 4 Assignments
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15 Replies
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What I learned from this lesson is how Situational Subtext, if executed properly can be used to create scenes that crackle with anticipation and tension.
Subtext Situation: Misinterpretation
Surface: King Paladin, Flicker’s father, misinterprets his son’s sense of adventure as rebellion and defiance.
Beneath the Surface: By seeking out little adventures, Flicker can be himself and is able to find temporary solace from his father’s disapproval.
Subtext Situation: Superior Position/Unaware
Surface: A young Chinese girl named Susie befriends Flicker, who is lost in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Flicker believes that Susie really is his new-found friend and that she truly intends to help him get back home
Beneath the Surface: By now the audience knows that Susie is not who she appears to be, but rather is Flint, Firebrand’s evil, shape-shifting assistant. Flicker doesn’t know that Susie is really Flint in disguise and that she is hell-bent on destroying him.
Subtext Situation: Misinterpretation
Surface: Early on in his adventure in Chinatown, Flicker encounters a dog who asks Flicker if he needs anything. Flicker says yes, believing the dog can help him find his way home.
Beneath the Surface: The dog is a drug pusher who misinterprets Flicker’s “yes” as wanting drugs. In contrast, Flicker misinterprets the dog’s question of “what do you need” as a helping hand.
Subtext Situation: Deception/Unaware
Surface: Firebrand sees Flint as a loyal and humble assistant. Flicker believes Flint will help him on his quest for the amulet and to seek out the Mystic of the Barbegazi Mountains. They are both unaware of Flint’s true nature.
Beneath the Surface: Flint’s only desire is to ultimately rule Summerfjord Kingdom. He sees the only way to his goal is to deceive and eventually destroy anyone who stands in his way.
Subtext Situation: Can’t say/Misinterpretation
Surface: Pumice misinterprets Flicker’s hesitation to seek out his Uncle Firebrand for help as childish fear of change and the unknown.
Beneath the Surface: Flicker is embarrassed to admit to his friends that his father, the King, has expressly forbidden him from visiting Firebrand. He’s afraid of any harsh punishment that might await him if he disobeys his father.
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Sandra’s Situation Subtext
What I learned doing this assignment is how to incorporate situational subtext to make scenes more interesting, engaging, and memorable.
1. Opening Scene.
Surface: Professor Clark in the research lab putting something in a test tube and then puts vial in a desk drawer. Orders flowers.
Deeper Meaning: Professor Clark placed arsenic in a test tube so a mouse will be poisoned by the lab assistant.
Subtext: Sabotage, Deception, Superior Position.
2. Lucy alone at home in the bathroom.
Surface: Lucy getting ready to give her dissertation defense. Finds flowers in the living room.
Deeper Meaning: Lucy is allergic to the flowers. Her research has been sabotaged.
Subtext: Lucy is unaware how the flowers got in her living room and who sent them. Superior Position – audience knows Professor Clark ordered the flowers and who placed them in Lucy’s house.
3. Lucy meeting her husband for lunch.
Surface: Through the restaurant window Lucy thinks she sees her husband with another woman, feels betrayed and takes off.
Deeper Meaning: Lucy has been neglecting her husband by spending more time at the lab then at home.
Subtext: Misinterpretation.
4. Lucy returns to the lab.
Surface: Lucy finds her research assistant unconscious.
Deeper Meaning: Was this an attempted suicide or attempted murder?
Subtext: Lab assistant can’t say what happened.
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Sylvia Krawczyk’s Lesson 4 Applying Situation Subtext
What I learned doing this assignment is…I like the definitions and different subtexts listed. It makes me want to brainstorm other ideas to add to each scene in the short.
Write out the Situation Subtext of a scene.
What is the surface and the deeper meaning of the situation?
The surface is there is a kidnapping and the disappearance of a child.
The deeper meaning is the person taking the child is the child’s aunt that is jealous of her own sister. She takes the child to raise her as her own.
OPENING SCENE:
EXT. ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER – GERMANY
A dazzling well preserved walled medieval city with cobblestone streets, timber houses and Renaissance and Gothic architectural buildings. Bright floral colors of spring. Bright sun. Active people and small quaint businesses. A typical Germanic modern day touristic city with traffic- reducing measures. Small alley ways give way to pedestrians and outside cafes.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Once upon a time, about six yearsago, there was a child.
A girl, Elsie (4), short blonde hair, blue eyes, laughs as she skips out of a small toy store with a huge brown teddy bear with a huge pink bow around its neck.
A woman, JUDITH (mid-30s), long brunette hair with brown eyes and a CROOKED NOSE stands at a corner around the shop. She sees the girl, grabs her, picks her up and races off.
The teddy bear rolls on the cobble stones as a woman, the child’s MOMMY (mid-30s), blonde hair and blue eyes races outside the shop.
MOMMY
Elsie!
NARRATOR (V.O.)
And, then, there wasn’t…
EXT. THE HEAVENS – SPRING – PRESENT DAY
FULL MOON in the blue sky filled with white puffs of cotton.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
…or, was there?
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What I learned doing this assignment is that a scene can be supercharged by layering in subtext! If there is an active subtext life, exposition isn’t dry and boring. It isn’t left as exposition at all, but can become a part of the audience’s emotional journey through the story. Every single scene in a screenplay should be either a buildup to an emotional payoff or a payoff using subtext.
Screenplay is Parish Road. The Scene: Lisa tries to inspire Anne to carry on with their quest to escape.
Surface – both women are tired and scared. Anne wants to retreat to the church and hunker down, Lisa wants to press on and find a way out of the haunted town.
Beneath the surface – Anne wants to lead Lisa back to the church in order to sacrifice her in an attempt to free her and her husband. What Lisa takes as fear and despair is really frustration at Lisa not listening to reason and falling into their trap. Also, Anne is moved by Lisa not giving up on her and it will make what she later has to do all that much harder.
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Subtext Situation: Chloë is grounded by her mother and is told she can’t go to the football game.
Surface: She slams her chair under the table and marches up the staircase to her bedroom. The slam of the bedroom door is heard from the kitchen.
Beneath Surface: As Kasey goes up the stairs, from the second floor landing she notices Chloë outside talking to two guys who were working on her mother’s car earlier. By the time, Kasey gets up to the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor where the bedrooms are, she is startled to see Chloë in her room, at her desk, writing something down in her notebook.
What Kasey and the family doesn’t know, is that Chloë has been climbing up and down the big oak tree that she and the father planted when she was only a few months old. It happens to be right outside her bedroom window.
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Applying Situation Subtext Lesson 4 Assignment
Dave’s Crime Thriller “Nightfall” 5/3/21
What I learned doing this assignment is… I’ll get back to you.
Early in the script, KEVIN CONLIN – small time hood – talks his girlfriend/accomplice SHERRY JONES into robbing a fashionable boutique. The action begins as she enters the shop while Kevin’s dialog (O.S.) promises her “It’ll be easy.” Of course, things go wrong.
In another scene, Sherry is unhappy with small payoff for their latest job, and she threatens to call one of her clients from her days as a high-priced hooker, saying she’s “coming out of retirement.” A few scenes later when the scale of their robberies has escalated, Kevin brandishes a revolver saying “It’s coming out of retirement.” And will lead them into deeper trouble.
I could go on. But I have a question for the forum. I’ve never mentioned a character’s race in a description. I’ve always seen Kevin as a white guy but can readily envision Sherry as black. Would it qualify as subtext if I describe her that way? Many of the listings I read in InkTip and other services ask for scripts written for specific ethnicities. Should I arbitrarily define a character’s race for the sake of attracting more readers?
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Can’t Say/Superior Position/Deception:
Walter’s journey to the South undercover as a white man, these entire scenes are examples of Can’t Say and Deception. He’s having conversations with people under the guise as a white man and can’t say that he’s actually black. The audience is in Superior Position on this so any interaction between Walter and another white person, even a black person, takes on a wealth of subtext. Walter Can’t Say the wrong thing since he’ll be found out as actually black and be killed.
Misinterpretation: Walter misinterprets Carl Van Vechten’s actions towards his future wife Gladys. He thinks Carl is making moves on Gladys but Carl is gay and it takes Walter a bit to figure this out. It’s debatable whether the audience would know Carl is gay but the performance might reveal this and some would discover it at or near the same time as Walter.
Sabotage: A scene between Walter and The Governor of Arkansas while undercover. The Governor determines that Walter, undercover as a white man, is actually black due to a crucial mistake Walter makes by going into a “Negro” bathroom (as he likely has for the entirety of his life while not undercover). The Governor sends his goons after Walter therefore disrupting his spycraft and running him out of town by the skin of his teeth. Again, the audience knows what Walter doesn’t at a crucial moment that the Governor’s got him in his sights. This ratchets up the tension of the scene for the audience who experiences this in superior position.
Unaware: can also be similar to deception. In my example with the Governor of Arkansas, he is unaware that he’s actually talking to a Black Man and likely would have never been aware if Walter hadn’t made a mistake and revealed his situation.
What I learned doing this exercise is that there are multiple interplays of these six techniques that can be used to create interesting narrative opportunities that will engage an audiience and compel them to keep watching.
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Harry’s Lesson 4 Work
What I learned doing this assignment is: That my scenes require more of this… it is going to be fun to rewrite this script – even if it’s going to be a total re-write and lots of work!
Promotion at work:
Unaware, sabotage. The boss is eulogising about the selection of a new partner. Jon assumes it will be him as does everyone else. A female colleague is jealous and tells Klaudia that it is just nepotism. However it is Klaudia who is promoted. The subtext is that she doesn’t feel worthy even though her hard work has earned it, and he feels let down and not ‘good enough’ once more. This puts a strain on their relationship. The colleague secretly wants an affair with Klaudia and is trying to undermine their relationship .
After the accident:
Misinterpretation, deception. Jon is confident they can find a way out. Klaudia demands to know exactly how they will achieve this and what his training calls for in this situation. He has to admit that he has very little training. The subtext is that he is ‘flying by the seat of his pants’ to impress and loosen her up. Now he has to really work to both save them and to show that he has future plans to solve her base issues.
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Lesson 4 Situational Subtext – Sorry in hospital last two weeks and poor internet here.
Misinterpretation –
Subtext situation – At the wedding Linda is introduced to Big Al, whom Eric seems to be talking with all noc long.
Surface – Linda comes up to her new husband and is introduced to Big Al as Eric’s godfather. Being religious, she believes godfather is the typical family relationship. She comes over and jokes and says things that offend this strict Italian. Eric grabs her arm and pulls her away.
Beneath the surface- She doesn’t realize that Big Al is the real Godfather of the Philly Mob. Eric tells her that if she says the wrong thing she will be punished.
Superior Position
Surface – Donny calls the attorney we think to talk about his father
Deeper meaning – Donny having been beaten by father wanted revenge and was going to tell the attorney the truth, but chickens out.
Deception
Surface – the Andersons go to hire Salador and see pictures of Italy and the islands on the wall and he says he enjoys going there frequently.
Deeper meaning – Salador’s a mob attorney and goes there to meet with Big Al and the family. If only the Andersons had known from the start.
Sabotage
Surface – At court, there is enough disputed evidence to set Linda free but Andrea has taken Eric’s money and promise of a lucrative job with the DA to force Linda into a plea deal by telling her that she will help her appeal later and that things will be easier once she is in prison.
Deeper meaning – Her boss is a mobster lawyer and she started out straight with Linda’s family but has succumbed to the lure of the money that Eric flashes before her and agrees to get her doped up and force her into the plea deal.
Unaware:
Surface – Linda is religious and idealistic and doesn’t realize that Eric’s charm when they are dating is all for show.
Deeper meaning – He is an abusive personality and is whooing her so she will be a host for his heir. Then he can deal with her.
Can’t Say
Surface – After leaving prison Linda feels at loss but then Eric threatens the family again and she decides to cash in on the favor that the Columbia girl offered. She picks up the phone as says “I’m ready”
Deeper meaning – The Columbia girl will get the Cartel she works with to kill Eric. But it’s left unsaid and hanging at the end.
What I learned from doing this assignment is that it is easy to put subtext into a scene if one wants.
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SITUATION SUBTEXT: Army Private, Faron, attempts another one-night-stand pick-up, this time while on base restriction for a violation
SURFACE: He’s trying to impress with his new stature as a rising Country Music Star. She’s playing coy, wise beyond her years, to his act.
BENEATH THE SURFACE: She’ a “risk” to him and his usual love-them-and-leave-them approach. He hints at his suicidal tendencies, which preclude a future commitment.
Misinterpretation: She takes control, he believes, due to her wisdom, and agrees to move slower. Some of her suggestion is practical, as she’s underage.
Superior Position: We know that Faron is the Star. We also know about his psychiatric problems.
Deception: Faron doesn’t directly tell her who he is, initially, but it backfires when she pretends, early on, not to know it’s him.
Unaware: Hilda doesn’t know about his suicidal behaviors. Faron (and also Audience) doesn’t know that she is the Colonel’s daughter.
Can’t say: Hilda won’t reveal her age or her relationship to the Colonel, as she doesn’t want to sabotage the date.
EXT. ARMY BASE – POOL PATIO – DAY
FARON
Ever meet a Country Music Star?
HILDA
(in slight German accent,
plays along)
Why, somebody coming for a show?
FARON
I have it on good authority they’ll
dazzle you like no other.
HILDA
You their spokesperson?
FARON
Could say.
HILDA
So, they send passive out first,
then come on with the flash?
FARON
Not usually thought of as passive.
HILDA
You, or the Star?
FARON
Might have to do some calf-roping
to reel you in, I see.
HILDA
Sing that aggressive too?
FARON
If you want the rocket ride of your
life.
HILDA
That’s your offer?
FARON
Long-term’s not my strength.
HILDA
Maybe a bike ride around the
compound first. Better way to
achieve endurance.
FARON
More risk than I’m used to. But,
just don’t tell the Colonel. I’m
supposed to be on restriction until
the show.
HILDA
No way he hears it from me.
What I learned: This is a much better scene after the re-write, which now reveals more of the over-all subtext of character and story. Also, the scene is more entertaining, now that she participates more in the give-and-take of the moment, as opposed to Faron’s usual take charge command of most scenes.
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I learned that I actually had more subtext than I thought and it occurs ironically enough, at my plot points. I learned how to better identify what subtext is and that it isn’t quite as difficult as I thought and as well, I need more of it in the story.
Misinterpretation
• Subtext Situation: At the plaza where the first body is found, Lisa overhears Detective Guy talk about the death of a black trucker
• Surface: Detective Guy shows no interest in the death of the trucker/blows it off
• Beneath Surface: His behavior masks his real interest. He saw a similarity on the victim as he did on photos on a cold case(bro)Superior Position
• Subtext Situation: Lisa is at the funeral of her ex
• Surface: Detective Guy talks to Lisa about staying away and letting the cops handle it
• Beneath Surface: What he says lets her know he knows her secret. She wonders if the secret is safe.What he doesn’t realize is the secret he has, isn’t the secret she is trying to keep
Deception
• Subtext Situation: The ladies lunch (bonding)
• Surface: The ladies all share their background; how they got into trucking; men
• Beneath Surface: Their conversation deceives the reader and each other; nobody is telling the whole truth; they all know
more than what they say; they are trying to each get info on the other because they think the other Is guiltySabotage
• Subtext Situation: Lisa comes to Guy’s office to go to dinner; after reluctant acceptance
• Surface: They both want to try to get info from each other; she overhears him talking to Paul about destroying her career
• Beneath Surface: Guy believes that Paul is unethical and is pretending to be in sync about Lisa to really catch and destroy himUnaware
• Subtext Situation: Lisa is in Jail supposedly because Guy believes she is guilty
• Surface: Guy is holding her and trying to force her to talk (confess)
• Beneath Surface: Guy is keeping Lisa safe because he thinks her life is in danger by Paul and he wants to snuff out Paul as the
killer (he has announced to the public that Lisa is the killer and they have caught her – she and Guy r unaware)Can’t Say
• Subtext Situation: Lisa has gone to the cab of one of her friends
• Surface: Lisa is shooting the breeze (can’t say that she is fishing for info) with the person and during the conversation
realizes she is w/the killer
• Beneath Surface: The killer realizes begins saying things and asking questions that confirms Lisa realizes she is the killer AND
that the killer is not who she thought she was (initially can’t say that she realizes more about the killer, until a
struggle ensues-
Hi. It sounds like you’ve got a handle on your drama. I especially like the part about the conflicting secrets. Good job. Dave.
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Scene: Surface: Maya rides a dirt bike through school.
Subtext Situation: She wants to run down a bully.
Beneath the Surface:
Deeper Meaning: How will her life change if she succeeds?
Deeper Meaning: Is she crazy or is the dragon real?
Situations: Maya is sabotaging a student. She’s unaware why she’s having visions.
Scene: Surface: Maya rides a limo to a dance/fighting class
Subtext Situation: A dragon appears in a foggy tunnel.
Deeper Meaning: The limo driver recognizes the dragon, but makes Maya think it isn’t there.
Deeper Meaning: Maya is worried that she’s hallucinating.
Situations: The limo driver deceives Maya which puts him in a superior position. It’s not his place to tell her about
her father, so he can’t say.
Scene: Surface: Maya has to leave her home with her grandmother.
Subtext Situation: Maya doesn’t know why she’s in danger.
Deeper Meaning: Maya’s danger has to do with her dad.
Deeper Meaning: Who is her father?
Situations: Grandma deceives Maya. This makes Maya unaware. -
Lesson 4: Assignment – Applying Situation Subtext
What I learned doing this assignment is by using one of more of the subtext situations that are available you can make the story much more engaging for the audience and more enjoyable for the writer too.
1. Pick some scenes that could use situational subtext.
• C. Deception, Yoshi has a plan to deceive Major Inomata and his officers to allow them to rejoin the regiment.
2. Brainstorm the following for each scene:• Subtext Situation: Yoshi has a plan to deceive Major Inomata and his officers to allow them to rejoin the regiment after they ran away from the hopeless battle at Sane Township.
• Surface: Yoshi, Hasu and Takeshi make their way to Ramree Town and attempt to rejoin the main regiment after they deserted during the hopeless battle at Sane Township.
• Beneath Surface: Yoshi, Hasu and Takeshi encountered the remnants of several dead Japanese soldiers who were attacked by both the Allied forces and bloodthirsty crocodiles. Yoshi plans to use his gambling skills to deceive the officers and sell them a story of why they left the battle at Sane Township.
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This reply was modified 5 months ago by David Wetzel.
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This reply was modified 5 months ago by
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Wow! I really had no idea I was including some of the subtext situations in my scenes, but I can really deliver deeper meaning and emotions by including more situations to each scene. It would give the viewer more emotional connections. Some character situations don’t need to be presented right away, maybe through a previous or later scene can the audience connect with the emotions at hand and understand the character’s response.
I can tweak some of my scenes to increase the emotional connections. I’m glad each subtext situation is listed and named to help consider each for each scene. Yeah!
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