Christopher Phillips Phillips
Forum Replies Created
-
I think everyone hit the mark on the comments. With Green Book, both characters initially set out that they have the same goals. One the musician that needs a driver, the other a driver seeking a job. But the musician lays out a set of expectations that the driver doesn’t want to meet (butler work). At the end of the scene, they both seem to come to an understanding: the driver says the musician needs a tough driver for protection, the musician respects that the driver has personal limits.
In the Remember the Titans scene, it’s similar in the sense that everyone there wants to win games and eventually a championship, but they appear to have different ways of doing it: the previous coaches waiting their turn, the top football players that want to call the shots. In this case, the coach lays out his expectations and it’s either follow those his rules or leave. The players eventually decide to follow the rules, because they ultimately know they share the same goals and don’t have a choice if they want to play.
-
Doc Holiday has tuberculosis. What’s interesting here is that Ringo outright asks Doc if he’s retired like Wyatt Earp. Doc says he’s still in his “prime,” even though he looks ill, essentially saying he’s ready for whatever Doc Holiday has to bring to a gun fight.
Doc challenges Ringo with a quick slip of the tongue in Latin, but Ringo responds in Latin as well. What we have is a standoff. Both parties are stilled gunmen, smart, and the ultimate story will be a battle of wits as well as gunpower.
-
What’s great about this scene is that it’s almost that they are actually talking to each other and not just one person talking to the radio host and other inadvertently listening while driving. We get to see one person talking and the other reacting to the conversation directly – this is better than seeing the reaction much later in the story.
Other ways that I’ve seen this done is with two people that should be together having parallel conversations with friends in different locations.
-
What I learned is that characters will fight until the bitter end to avoid change, even when faced with ultimatums of loss and abandonment and not achieving their goals. Usually, in total loss, they finally accept change and then must find a way to do so. The confrontation and the fight against change is what’s interesting about character growth.
-
Character wounds run rather deeply and the characters are usually unware of their wounds. Yes, characters have flaws, or least well written ones, but characters are usually aware of their more superficial flaws like always being late to appointments or no sense of fashion style.
The wound usually runs so deeply that the character knows that there is an issue, that they aren’t getting what they really want in life, but they can’t figure out what’s holding them back. They can’t complete their goals and change as a person until they overcome their wounds.
In the case of Will, he pretends to be happy being a Southie. So much so that he holds being poor and loyalty to his friends as a badge of honor, when it’s really limiting him in his ability to grow as a person.
Skylar is very non-judgmental. That is good for Will, but he’s avoiding any uncomfortable questions. When she asks him to leave his home turf and make it out to California, Will has to confront his very identity and break out of his comfort zone, which is also admitting that the Southie badge that he wears has been fake his whole life.
-
The Lost scenes are great examples of dealing with exposition while building intrigue around a character. In the first video, we have a man that appears to be near dying from wounds, but uses his last possible breaths to give a warning about Kate being dangerous. The next scene we have Kate playing a drinking game around confessions – we want to know if Kate will share the truth about her background. The next scene is a reveal – we see her blowing up a house with her drunk stepfather inside.
What we have are three scenes that build character through revealing their nature – survivor, dangerous.
-
Looking purely at the scene, a golfer is out at night taking swings, all veering off the intended mark. In the dark a stranger appears – someone that seems to know exactly what the golfer needs, even if the golfer doesn’t know it himself. It’s almost as if his subconscious made the stranger appear. The golfer is even caught off guard when the stranger tells him that he’s lost his swing, obviously something that has been on his mind by the reaction.
The golfer initially says that he doesn’t need any help because he has no plans to play anytime soon – even offers the stranger food in the house. The stranger initially appears to take up the offer but instead decides to hang around and offer the golfer more insights into his problem and also to pitch him an offer he can’t refuse – to caddie for him for only $5. The golfer waves off the initial offer, because he doesn’t need a caddie. However, his swing actually starts to connect even with the simple bit of advice the caddie has to offer. The caddie is not interested in real money, makes no promises, but his life insights are too good to pass up for now.
-
In the terminator scene, they have to abandon the car. To a certain extent, they are letting go the last of Sarah’s old world, her life as a waitress and the naivete of what’s to come.
Sarah and Reese huddle in a tunnel and Sarah asks Reese’s first name – she now sees him as a real person and not just a crazy nut case.
In this scene, they both reveal a bit about themselves – Sarah feels the pressure of her collapsing world, but also the pressure of being a legend when she doesn’t believe in herself – yet, she has a natural take command instinct when she realizes that Reese is shot and applies a bandage to his arm without even thinking about it. She’s a survivor, runs best on instinct when it comes to helping others, even when her own life is a mess.
For Reese, we learn that he’s in love with Sarah – looks her straight in the eyes like he’s been staring at her forever, longing to meet the great Sarah Connor – he even volunteered to go to the past to meet her. In a way, Sarah is already a hero to him and he’ll do anything to protect her.
What I learned about this scene is how we can reveal character through stories. But also, how the other characters in the scene react to those stories – supporting the story or denying the story. And we can also take that scene and use it to paint a broader picture of where we’ve been (abandoning the car, gunshot wound) and potentially the troubles ahead (surviving a coming war and the subsequent dark times ahead).
-
In the Harvard bar scene, we learn a bit about Will and his friend. One, Chuckie and his buddies stick out to the grad school community, no matter how much they try to blend. Two, Will is not only smart, but can battle toe to toe with a grad student at a deeper level than just text book, yet Will is stepping in to not only intellectually defend Chuckie, but also willing to do it physically if necessary – blue-collar friends thick and thin. What we also learn is that Skylar doesn’t out-right reject Chuckie, even thought it’s obvious he’s handing the two ladies a pretty thin story, which gives us the hint that she doesn’t mind mixing it up with the blue-collar kids.
-
Hi everyone,
1. Christopher T. Phillips
2. How many scripts you’ve written? Several features and shorts.
3. What you hope to get out of the class? Increase character depth.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? Private pilot
-
1. Christopher T. Phillips
2. “I agree to the terms of this release form.”
3. Please leave the entire text below to confirm what you agree to.
GROUP RELEASE FORM
As a member of this group, I agree to the following:
1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.
2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.
I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.
3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.
4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.
5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.
6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.