Kathryn Ward
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Claudine Chalet Assignments 1 and 2
Basic Instinct, Stacking Suspense
The main thing that I learned is “Sex Sells.”
It’s a suspenseful thriller and all that, but the main thing that everybody talks about for this film is that scene where she crosses/uncrosses her legs.
For most people, this seems to be much more important than the thriller component of the film.
However I like the film noir aspects.
I also like the idea of having the detective character involved with a suspect–not a new idea but I like it anyway.
Putting the sleuth in danger adds to the thrill.
Silence of the Lambs, Stacking Suspense
I learned that having a disadvantaged protagonist increases the suspense.
From the first scene we know Clarice is isolated but ambitious to the point of exhaustion.
From her accent we soon learn she’s southern and we may suspect (correctly) from a poor and rural background—as Lecter puts it, “poor white trash.”
In the second scene we learn she’s almost the only female in a man’s world, and that she’s smaller and therefore, weaker and less powerful than the men.
As a woman, she’s not taken seriously by most of the men (such as Chilton) she encounters. The only two men in the film who come close to treating her well are Barney the intern at the asylum and, ironically, Lecter himself.
She’s not even well treated by her mentor, Crawford, who uses her as bait to draw out Lecter, lies to her, and embarrasses her for her gender in front of the men at the autopsy.
Worse, Crawford inadvertently and ignorantly puts her in danger and almost gets her killed, for when she encounters Buffalo Bill, she’s utterly out of her league.
But nevertheless she prevails.
Conversely, having the initial antagonist, Lecter, be a brilliant psychiatrist, also adds to the suspense because he can so easily outwit his opponents.
As he does in the end, for he, too, prevails.
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Claudine Chalet’s World and Characters!
What I learned doing this assignment is: how to better understand my characters and their world.
1. Remind us of your CONCEPT and the Big M.I.S. of your story.
Concept: When police officer Frank O’Malley is murdered and his department claims he was a crooked cop who got what was coming to him, it’s up to his 23-year-old Goth-girl sister to find his killers and clear his name. (This is an adaptation of an Amazon ebook Nasty Disposition published under the pen name Tamworth Grice.)
Big Mystery: Who killed Frank O’Malley, and why? <div>
Big Intrigue: Sammy Kimura and his Yakuza operation, Frank’s greedy ex-wife, the possibility that Frank was a crooked cop
Big Suspense: Someone wants Carmen O’Malley, Frank’s sister, to stop nosing around, and eventually sends thugs to beat her rape her and leave her for dead.
2. Tell us the Intriguing World you have selected for this story.
A small oceanside town in southern California not far from Los Angeles, where crime runs rampant due, in part, to a corrupt police force.
3. With your top 2 or 3 characters, tell us the role they play and then answer these three questions:
Protagonist and amateur sleuth character: Goth girl Carmen O’Malley
A. What is the mystery of this character? </div>How will a 23 year who’s returned to town after several years absence, do what the police can’t or won’t do and find her brother’s killer?
B. What is the suspense of this character?
Is she going to be another victim of the killer, or will she just give up?
C. What is the intrigue of this character?
Carmen seems to move easily through multiple worlds, with the ability to relate to everyone from Buddhist monks to organized crime leaders.
Protagonist’s Side Kick Crime blogger Bobby DellaChiesa
A. What is the mystery of this character?
He’s geeky yet useful and effective.
B. What is the suspense of this character?
Will he be able to uncover the information Carmen needs to bring her brother’s killer to justice?
C. What is the intrigue of this character?
He tries to be cool but he’s nevertheless a geek who lives in his grandmother’s basement.
Red Herring: Yakuza crime boss Sammy Kimura
A. What is the mystery of this character?
Was he behind Frank’s murder?
B. What is the suspense of this character?
Why is he being so nice to Carmen? Is it a ruse to deflect her attention from him. Was he behind the thugs who beat, raped, and nearly killed her?
C. What is the intrigue of this character?
He’s the ruthless leader of a major organized crime organization, yet he’s polite, sophisticated, handsome, and kind.
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Hi everyone.
I’m delighted to meet you all.
I’ve written about 20 scripts, and I’ve published numerous works of fiction and nonfiction online under my pen name Tamworth Grice.
In this class I’ll be adapting my novel, Nasty Disposition, as a screenplay. (I actually did an adaptation as a film script and as a TV series pilot years ago, but it was lost in a computer crash, and I can’t find the back up. So I’m starting from scratch, which might be a good thing! 😃)
Thanks for reading this! I look forward to the class!
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Claudine Chalet’s Big M.I.S.
What I learned doing this assignment is how to break down aspects of my thriller plot, which is an adaptation of my novel, Nasty Disposition, published on Amazon and other digital platforms under the pen name Tamworth Grice.
Nasty Disposition Logline:
A twenty-something former juvenile delinquent Goth girl must solve the murder and save the reputation of her murdered cop brother, labeled a corrupt police officer who got what was coming to him.
1. What are the conventions of your story?
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
Goth-girl Carmen O’Malley is unruly, a liar, and a former juvenile delinquent. She never met a law she didn’t want to break, and her brother is a cop. But when he’s murdered and the police claim he was crooked, she resolves to clear his name—even though it means defying the Yakuza, a dangerous Japanese crime organization, and confronting her own painful past.
Dangerous Villain:
The unknown murderer, plus a series of shady characters from Carmen’s past, including the leader of the local Yakuza crime organization, who may be the killer.
High Stakes:
To save her brother’s reputation, Carmen must defy the Yakuza, a dangerous Japanese crime organization, and other shady characters, and confront her own painful past.
Life and Death Situations:
Carmen is beaten, raped, and left for dead as a result of her investigation into her brother’s murder.
This Story Is Thrilling Because:
Carmen repeatedly takes risks, confronts shady characters, trusts the wrong people, and is nearly killed as a result.
2. Tell us the Big M.I.S. of your story?
Big Mystery: Who killed Carmen’s brother, why, and was he really a dirty cop who got what was coming to him?
Big Intrigue: The killer goes to great lengths to outwit and intimidate Carmen as she investigates her brother’s murder, even hiring someone to kill her. Will she become discouraged and give up? Or perhaps worse, will she hand things over to the corrupt police, as she’s being pressured to do?
Big Suspense: A naive twenty-something, Carmen repeatedly trusts shady characters and is eventually beaten, raped, and left for dead as a result of her investigations. Will she prevail and solve the murder, clearing her brother’s name?
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MISERY Thriller Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is: how to analyze a great thriller film based on the conventions of the genre.
Conventions of this story:
Unwitting but Resourceful Hero:
Novelist Paul Sheldon at first mistakes his kidnapper for a rescuer but, when he learns her true nature, devises one futile plan after another to escape.
Dangerous Villain:
Psychopathic serial killer Annie Wilkes, Paul’s “number-one fan,” demands that he continue writing novels featuring her favorite romance heroine. As a nurse she has access to drugs and injections to keep him passive. She also has guns.
High Stakes:
The reclusive Annie finds Paul after a single-car accident on a deserted winter road. She takes him home and keeps him prisoner, threatening and torturing him in a room in her remote farmhouse. No one knows where he is, and he’s eventually assumed dead.
Life and Death Situations:
Annie is prone to irrational anger and has killed multiple times; she may murder Paul. Paul is kept passive with drugs, is crippled by Annie, and is repeatedly foiled in his efforts to escape. Annie murders the only person who’s searching for Paul.
This Movie Is Thrilling Because:
Paul is assumed dead, and no one knows where he is. He’s held captive by Annie Wilkes, a psychopathic serial killer and fan who claims to be in love with him. Paul repeatedly plots to outwit Annie and escape, but each effort goes awry.
Big Mystery:
How to escape from Annie Wilkes before she kills him?
Big Intrigue:
Psychopathic serial killer Annie Wilkes holds her idol, romance writer Paul Sheldon, hostage, forcing him to write a new romance novel.
Big Suspense:
Paul seems powerless against Annie. Every plan to thwart her goes wrong. Will he finally outwit her and escape? Or will the only person searching for him find and rescue him?
Anything else you’d like to say about what made this movie a great thriller:
The concept, the script, the characters, the acting, the directing, the soundtrack, etc.
“A perfect, perfect thing.” 🤣
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Kathryn Romanov Ward (enrolled as Claudine Chalet) I agree to the terms of this 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.
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I did this one, too!