Raquel Solomon
Forum Replies Created
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Raquel’s Begin Act 2:
Raquel’s High-Speed Writing Rules:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
Still finishing Act 1- will begin Act 2 later today…
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Raquel’s Finished Act 1
Raquel’s High-Speed Writing Rules:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
I plan to have this up in 4 days, let’s see if I make it!
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Raquel’s Next Act 1 Scenes:
Raquel’s High-Speed Writing Rules:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
I learned that I am able to speed write and giving up contemplation is freeing.
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Raquel’s Act 1 First Draft Part 1
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned is that it is possible to speed-write and not get hung up on perfection.
It is hard to stick to the original outline when other ideas come through but I will add these at a later draft.
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Raquel’s High-Speed Writing Rules:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
<font face=”inherit”>What I learned is it will be ideal to give in to </font>speed<font face=”inherit”> rather than perfection when doing a screenplay. I did the first 3 pages very fast. </font>Having studied history and written many papers I have a tendency to be too wordy in my screenplays which I will limit.
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Raquel’s First Scene:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
I learned from doing this assignment that keeping the first draft in line with the outline makes is a much easier task and gaps in the progression of the story can be filled in as they come to mind.
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Raquel’s Fascinating Scene Outlines:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is I have many scenes to develop and need to do this assignment a bit at a time rather than be overwhelmed!
I will add more scenes and repost this assignment
Act 1
Miri before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
SCENE 1. INT. WARSAW MUSIC CLUB-NIGHT
Beginning: Miri and her band perform. Miri is sure of herself and in command
Middle: ( SURPRISE) Two anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
Ending: (CHARACTER CHANGES RADICALLY)
Miri drops her music on the floor.
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
SCENE 2: INT. WARSAW CLUB- MOMENTS LATER
Beginning: (MISLEAD/REVEAL) The MC urges the band to continue to perform<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Middle: (UNCERTAINTY) Miri regains her composure.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Band plays.
Ending: (SURPRISE) Show ends- calmness restored.
SCENE 3.
Exterior:Warsaw STREETS- LATER
Beginning; ANDRE and Miri walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Middle: Miri opens her apartment door.
They kiss.
(MISINTERPRETATION) Andre proposes. He can “protect” her as he is Christian.
ENDING: (INTERNAL DILEMNA) Miri declines marriage.
Miri is only focused on musical career.
Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1:
Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
To subvert the children’s degradation and provide them with normalcy.
Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude.
ACT 2:
Miri is teaching a song to the class of children
She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint:
Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
Miri will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Miri becomes his mistress. She will use this position and performing outside the ghetto to join the resistance and smuggle guns,
ACT 3: Intrigue: Secret Identity:
Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Turning point 3: Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Intrigue: Scheme:
Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Avi is killed aiding this escape.
Intrigue: Covert Agenda:
Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
ACT 4: Climax: Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He aims his weapon to shoot her.
Climax: Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
Intrigue: Conspiracy:
She has escaped ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She fights with Polish Partisans.
Resolution: Intrigue: Mystery:
The war is over. Miri hears a rumor that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Scene Requirements:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that is helpful to map out all of the senes of every act with the important dramatic info only through scene arc, essence, conflict, subtext and hope/fear. Action and dialogue can be added later.
I will add many scenes to this screenplay. I know the events that will happen but have to still write them.
Following Hal’s advice and putting this assignment up and will complete later.
Act 1
INT. WARSAW MUSIC CLUB-NIGHT
Scene Arc: Start: MIRI and her band are on stage and perform.
Essence: Miri is enjoying her musical success. Her band is popular and the audience is full.
Conflict: Two anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
Subtext: anti-semitism is spreading, there is fear of attack from Germany
Hope/Fear audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door. Will Poland be able to withstand Nazi attack.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
Miri’s cool attitude has come undone. She gulps liquor. She drops music on the floor.
Scene Arc Ends: The concert ends.
EXT. WARSAW STREETS- NIGHT
Scene arc begins: ANDRE has joined Miri. He carries her violin for her.
They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Essence: Andre speaks about the incident.
Conflict: Miri is silent.
Subtext: Miri wants life to go on as it is- without threats from Nazis.
Hope/fear: Will all stay well for Miri?
Scene arc end: For now the night’s peace returns.
EXT. MIRI’S APT-MOMENTS LATER
Scene arc begins: Miri opens her apartment door.
Essence: Andre and Miri kiss.
Conflict: Andre proposes. Miri declines marriage.
Subtext: Miri wants continued musical success.
Scene arc ends: Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Hope/Fear Andre is concerned. Miri suppresses her fears.
Turning Point 1: Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
INT. WARSAW GHETTO DINING ROOM-DAY
Scene arc begins: Miri sits at a table with many others each being doled out soup.
Essence: ANGIE, another musician recognizes Miri and calls to her.
Conflict: the conflict for all in this scene is with starvation.
Subtext: Miri and Angie bond.
HOPE/FEAR Musicians will work with kids and have some normalcy.
Scene arc ends: Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
ACT 2:
INT. GHETTO MUSIC ROOM-DAY
Scene arc begins: Miri teaches a song to the class of children
Essence : She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretends that his father is still alive.
Conflict: Miri has avoided teaching Jacob as he reminds her of her younger brother who had died.
Subtext: She can’t help her sympathy growing for Jacob.
Scene arc ends: Miri helps Jacob play her violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint:
INT. MUSIC PRACTICE ROOM-DAY
Scene arc begins: Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Essence: Miri struggles to practice classical piece.
Conflict: She gave up classical to pursue blues/jazz.
Subtext: She stops practicing a starts a blues riff.
Hope/fear Miri wants to be accepted to ghetto orchestra for access to food to bring to her music students.
Scene arc ends. Miri’s smile returns as she plays a jazz tune she use to perform.
INT. MUSI PRACTICE ROOM-MOMENTS LATER.
.Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
Miri will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
ACT 3:
Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Turning point 3: Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Avi is killed aiding this escape.
Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
ACT 4: Climax: Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He aims his weapon to shoot her.
Climax: Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
She escapes the ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She fights with Polish Partisans until the war ends.
Resolution:
Miri hears a rumor that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Intriguing Moments:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is to provide more moments of intrigue to add depth and interest for the audience.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Act 1
Miri before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
Warsaw Music club:
Miri and her band perform.
She is commanding and rising in her profession.
two anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Intrigue:
Conspiracy: anti-semitism is spreading
Mystery: what will happen with dangerous Hitler’s Germany- will they attack their neighbors?
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
The concert ends.
Andre joins Miri.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
They kiss.
Intrigue:
Cover- up: Andre proposes. He can “protect” her as he is Christian.
Miri declines marriage.
Mystery: Is Miri facing the danger ahead?
Miri is only focused on musical career.
Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Intrigue -Covert Agenda:
To subvert the children’s degradation and provide them with normalcy.
Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 2: Miri is teaching a song to the class of children
She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Intrigue: Secret:
Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
Intrigue Scheme:
Miri will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Intrigue: Covert agenda: Miri becomes his mistress. She will use this position and performing outside the ghetto to join the resistance and smuggle guns,
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 3: Intrigue: Secret Identity:
Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Turning point 3: Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Intrigue: Scheme:
Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Avi is killed aiding this escape.
Intrigue: Covert Agenda:
Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 4: Climax: Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He aims his weapon to shoot her.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Climax: Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
Intrigue: Conspiracy:
She has escaped ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She fights with Polish Partisans.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Resolution: Intrigue: Mystery:
he war is over. Miri hears a rumor that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Hi- Did not know how to delete previous entry so re-posting.
Raquel’s Emotional Moments:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is to intensify emotional moments and show these through situations rather than have the characters express their feelings. Show, not tell.
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
Warsaw Music club:
Miri plays violin to a young crowd. She is backed up by piano, drums.
Miri begins to introduce the other band members to the audience.
EXCITEMENT: She is commanding and rising in her profession.
Inciting incident: 2 anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
The back door opens with a bang and 2 twenty-something men grab a patron up from his table and start to beat him
DISTRESS: Miri ends her introductions and drops music she is holding onto the floor.
(from commanding to losing her composure at the incident.)
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
Miri picks up sheet music in one hand a drink in the other- takes a gulp.
She picks up her violin, starts to play, loses her place stops abruptly.
The concert ends.
Andre joins Miri.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
They kiss.
Andre proposes. He can “protect” her as he is Christian.
WOUNDS: Miri declines marriage.
Miri is only focused on musical career.
Deeper level: Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J. -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
DISTRESS:
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death.
BONDING:
She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Miri sits at a communal table. She is served soup. Angie, seated on the other side calls her name. She recognizes Miri from performances.
Angie tells Miri that she is a pianist.
They walk together from the soup kitchen and pass hurriedly by a group of Nazi soldiers.
DISTRESS:
One aims a rifle at their backs and shoots.
He shot a tin can. The soldiers all laugh.
COURAGE: To help kids, face loss of younger brother
Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude, the head of the music programs.
Miri leads the kids in singing a popular children’s song.
HIDDEN WEAKNESS: After class ends Angie is very warm to the kids- hugs them. Miri is standoffish. (loss of brother)
ACT 2 :P.J. Miri is teaching a song to the class of children
Angie is at the piano.
The class ends and the children are escorted out by Claude.
WOUNDS:
One boy (Jacob) remains behind and asks Miri for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him now. Miri refuses him.
Deeper Level: Miri confides in Angie: Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died.
She avoids emotional/love relationships especially with a boy her brother’s age when he dies.
She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
BONDING:
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
BONDING:
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
EMOTIONAL DILEMNA/DISTRESS:
He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
SACRIFICE:
Miri becomes his mistress.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
The children are given bread at the end of a music class. Jacob walks home with the bread under his coat but it sticks out at the top..
He passes a 20 yr old man (Avi) who grabs him by the shoulder and spins him around.
Avi tells Jacob he sees his “hidden bread.”
Jacob pleads for him not to take it away.
BONDING:
Avi buttons Jacob’s coat over the bread so it is not seen.
Jacob walks away.
ACT 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning point 3: A.J. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
SACRIFICE:
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Avi is killed aiding this escape.
DISTRESS:
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
His superior officer tells Heinrich his father, a WWI hero would be proud of his service to the Nazi cause.
Heinrich knows better. His father was friends with Jews. He downs a bottle of whiskey and is drunk.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
ACT 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He aims his weapon.
COURAGE:
Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone.
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
COURAGE:
She has escaped ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She fights with Polish Partisans.
WOUNDS: She is healed to say goodbye.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Emotional Moments:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is to intensify emotional moments and show these through situations rather than have the characters express their feelings. Show, not tell.
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
<font face=”inherit”>Warsaw </font>Music<font face=”inherit”> club:</font>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Miri plays violin to a young crowd. She is backed up by piano, drums.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Miri begins to introduce the other band members to the audience.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>EXCITEMENT: She is commanding and rising in her profession.
Inciting incident: 2 anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The back door opens with a bang and 2 twenty-something men grab a patron up from his table and start to beat him
DISTRESS: Miri ends her introductions and drops music she is holding onto the floor.
(from commanding to losing her composure at the incident.)
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
Miri picks up sheet music in one hand a drink in the other- takes a gulp.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>She picks up her violin, starts to play, loses her place stops abruptly.
The concert ends.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Andre joins Miri.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
They kiss.
Andre proposes. He can “protect” her as he is Christian.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>WOUNDS: Miri declines marriage.
Miri is only focused on musical career.
Deeper Layer Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J. -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
DISTRESS:
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>BONDING:
She befriends other musicians for support to survive.<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Miri sits at a communal table. She is served soup. Angie, seated on the other side calls her name. She recognizes Miri from performances.
Angie tells Miri that she is a pianist.
They walk together from the soup kitchen and pass hurriedly by a group of Nazi soldiers.
DISTRESS:
One aims a rifle at their backs and shoots.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>He shot a tin can. The soldiers all laugh.
COURAGE: To help kids, face loss of younger brother
Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude, the head of the music programs.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Miri leads the kids in singing a popular children’s song.
HIDDEN WEAKNESS: After class ends Angie is very warm to the kids- hugs them. Miri is standoffish. (loss of brother)
ACT 2 :P.J. Miri is teaching a song to the class of children
Angie is at the piano.
The class ends and the children are escorted out by Claude.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>WOUNDS:
One boy (Jacob) remains behind and asks Miri for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him now. Miri refuses him.
Deeper Level: Miri confides in Angie: Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died.
She avoids emotional/love relationships especially with a boy her brother’s age when he dies.
She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
BONDING:
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
BONDING:
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
EMOTIONAL DILEMNA/DISTRESS:
He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
SACRIFICE:
Miri becomes his mistress.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
The children are given bread at the end of a music class. Jacob walks home with the bread under his coat but it sticks out at the top..
He passes a 20 yr old man (Avi) who grabs him by the shoulder and spins him around.
Avi tells Jacob he sees his “hidden bread.”
Jacob pleads for him not to take it away.
BONDING:
Avi buttons Jacob’s coat over the bread so it is not seen.
Jacob walks away.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>ACT 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning point 3: A.J. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
SACRIFICE:
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Avi is killed aiding this escape.
DISTRESS:
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
His superior officer tells Heinrich his father, a WWI hero would be proud of his service to the Nazi cause.
Heinrich knows better. His father was friends with Jews. He downs a bottle of whiskey and is drunk.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
ACT 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He aims his weapon.
COURAGE:
Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone.
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
COURAGE:
She has escaped ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She fights with Polish Partisans.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Reveals:
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the use of set-ups and reveals adds more tension and surprise moments to create a well-developed screenplay with excitement.
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
New Specific Beats:
Int. Nightclub-Warsaw
Miri plays violin to a young crowd. She is backed up by piano, drums.
<font face=”inherit”>At </font>the<font face=”inherit”> end of a tune-</font>
Miri begins to introduce the other band members to the audience. She is commanding in her profession.
Inciting incident: A.J. -2 anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
SET-UP:
The back door opens with a bang and 2 twenty-something men grab a patron up from his table and start to beat him<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>REVEAL:
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Miri ends her introductions and drops music she is holding onto the floor.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>(from commanding to losing her composure at the incident.)
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
Miri picks up sheet music in one hand a drink in the other- takes a gulp.
SET-UP:
Miri introduces the next song.
REVEAL:
She picks up her violin, starts to play, loses her place stops abruptly.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>The concert ends.
Miri and the others pack instruments.
Andre joins Miri.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
SET-UP:
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>They kiss.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Andre proposes. He can “protect” her as he is Christian.
REVEAL:
Miri is Jewish. She declines marriage.
Deeper Layer Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death. She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Miri sits at a communal table. She is served soup. Angie, seated on the other side calls her name. She recognizes Miri from performances.
Angie tells Miri that she is a pianist.
They walk together from the soup kitchen and pass hurriedly by a group of Nazi soldiers.
SET-UP:
One aims a rifle at their backs and shoots.
REVEAL:
He shot a tin can. The soldiers all laugh.
Miri makes a plan with Angie to join her to teach music to class of kids.
Next day:
Miri and Angie enter a room with a piano and chairs.
Angie sits at piano- plays Yiddish song.
Miri takes her violin from its case and joins in.
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude, the head of the music programs.
They gather around the two women.
Next day:
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Angie sits at the piano and plays.
Miri leads the kids in singing a popular children’s song.
After class ends Angie is very warm to the kids- hugs them. Miri is standoffish.
Act 2: P.J. Miri is teaching a song to the class of children.
Angie is at the piano.
The class ends and the children are escorted out by Claude.
SET-UP:
One boy (Jacob) remains behind and asks Miri for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him now. Miri refuses him.
REVEAL:
Deeper Level: Miri confides in Angie: Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died.
She avoids emotional/love relationships especially with a boy her brother’s age when he dies.
SET-UP:
She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
REVEAL:
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.
SET-UP:
He forces a kiss which she rebuffs.
REVEAL:
He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Miri becomes his mistress.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
SET-UP:
The children are given bread at the end of a music class. Jacob walks home with the bread under his coat but it sticks out at the top..
He passes a 20 yr old man (Avi) who grabs him by the shoulder and spins him around.
Avi tells Jacob he sees his “hidden bread.”
Jacob pleads for him not to take it away.
REVEAL:
Avi buttons Jacob’s coat over the bread so it is not seen.
Jacob walks away.
Act 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
I will add. more set-ups and reveals when I develop this part.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning pt. 3: A.J. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
SET-UP:
His superior officer tells Heinrich his father, a WWI hero would be proud of his service to the Nazi cause.
REVEAL:
Heinrich knows better. His father was friends with Jews. HE downs a bottle of whiskey and is drunk.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
Act 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He lifts his weapon.
Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone.
SET-UP:
Miri runs away. She is being chased. Shots fired.
REVEAL:
She has escaped ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution. She is with Polish partisans.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Character Action Tracks. I will add more to this assignment later.
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is what makes the screenplay well-written is to show characters through action rather than explanation as in dialogue. This sets apart the visual action world of screenplays from fiction such as novels.
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
New Specific Beats:
Int. Nightclub-Warsaw
Miri plays violin to a mostly young crowd that sit at small tables. She is backed up by piano, drums and guitar.
The crowd is lively and drinking. Some get up to dance.
Miri begins to introduce the other band members to the audience. She is commanding in her profession.
Inciting incident: A.J. -2 anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
The back door opens with a bang and 2 twenty-something men grab a patron up from his table and start to beat him calling him a dirty Jew.
Miri ends her introductions and drops music she is holding onto the floor.
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
They help the Jewish man back to his table.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
Miri picks up her drink from a small table and takes a sip.
She introduces the next song.
The band plays.
The crowd is subdued.
The concert ends.
Miri and the others pack instruments to go home.
Miri’s boyfriend Andre joins and takes her violin to hold for her.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
Andre wants to come inside.
Miri is too tired.
They kiss at the door.
Andre who is Christian wants to marry Miri to protect her. He proposes.
She declines.
Deeper Layer Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Turns downs marriage proposal later that evening. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death. She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Miri sits at a communal table. She is served soup. Angie, seated on the other side calls her name. She recognizes Miri from performances.
Angie tells Miri that she is a pianist. She is looking for a piano and has heard there is one in the ghetto at a building where there will be music classes for children.
They walk together from the soup kitchen and pass hurriedly by a group of Nazi soldiers.
As they continue to walk one raises a rifle at their backs as if to shoot them. He lowers it and the soldiers all have a good laugh.
Angie takes Miri to the music school and tells her they can both teach the kids there.
Miri agrees to bring her violin to the class too.
Next day:
Miri and Angie enter a room with a piano and chairs.
Angie sits at piano- plays Yiddish song.
Miri takes her violin from its case and joins in.
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude.
They gather around the two women.
<b style=”font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit;”>Claude tells the children to all take their seats.
He tells them that Angie and Miri will give them music classes.
They will sing songs they know and new ones too.
Angie sits at the piano and plays.
Miri leads the kids in singing a popular children’s song.
After class ends Angie is very warm to the kids- hugs them. Miri is standoffish.
Act 2: P.J. Miri is teaching a song to the class of children.
Angie is at the piano.
The class ends and the children are escorted out by Claude.
One boy (Jacob) remains behind and asks Miri for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him. Miri refuses him at first. She tells him she is too busy but maybe later. She learns from Claude that Jacob is pretending that his father is still alive.
The next class she has Jacob remain after and helps him play the violin.
Deeper Level: Years before Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died. She avoids emotional/love relationships.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bring to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers. He forces a kiss which she rebuffs. He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
Act 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning pt. 3: A.J. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
Act 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He lifts his weapon.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
Act 4: Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone and she shakes and cries.
P.J. Miri is helped to escape the ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s New Outline Beats – I am behind in my assignments so I will push on and add more to this later on…
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is although I already know the basic plot points of my screenplay there is a lot to fill in the whole story.
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
New Specific Beats:
Int. Nightclub-Warsaw
Miri is playing violin to a mostly young crowd that sit at small tables. She is backed up by piano, drums and guitar.
The crowd is lively and drinking. Some get up to dance.
Inciting incident: A.J. -2 anti-semitic thugs attack a patron at music club.
The back door opens with a bang and 2 twenty-something men grab a patron up from his table and start to beat him calling him a dirty Jew.
Miri and the band stop playing.
Audience members grab the 2 men and throw them out the back and lock the door.
They help the man back to his table.
The MC urges the band to continue to perform.
The crowd is subdued.
The concert ends.
Miri and the others pack instruments to go home.
Miri’s boyfriend Andre takes her violin to hold for her.
Exterior: They walk quiet streets to her apartment.
Andre speaks about the incident. Miri is silent.
Miri opens her apartment door.
Andre wants to come inside.
Miri is too tired.
They kiss at the door.
Andre who is Christian wants to marry Miri to protect her.
She declines.
Deeper Layer Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Turns downs marriage proposal later that evening. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death. She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Miri sits at a communal table. She is served soup. Angie, seated on the other side calls her name. She recognizes Miri from performances.
Angie tells Miri that she is a pianist. She is looking for a piano and has heard there is one in the ghetto at a building where there will be music classes for children.
They walk together from the soup kitchen and pass hurriedly by a group of Nazi soldiers.
As they continue to walk one raises a rifle at their backs as if to shoot them. He lowers it and the soldiers all have a good laugh.
Angie takes Miri to the music school and tells her they can both teach the kids there.
Next day:
They enter a room with a piano and chairs.
Angie sits at piano- plays classical music
Fifteen kids enter the room with Claude.
Some gather around the piano. Others take seats.
Angie stops playing so Claude can speak.
Claude tells the children to all take their seats.
He tells them that Angie and Miri will give them music classes.
They sing songs they know and new ones too.
Angie sits at the piano and plays.
Miri leads the kids in singing a popular children’s song.
After Angie is very warm to the kids- hugs them. Miri is standoffish.
Act 2: P.J. Miri is teaching a song to the class of children.
Angie is at the piano.
One boy (Jacob) asks for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him. Miri refuses until she learns that he is pretending that his father is still alive.
Deeper Level: Years before Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died. She avoids emotional/love relationships.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bering to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.He forces a kiss which she rebuffs. He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
Act 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning pt. 3: A.J. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
Act 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He lifts his weapon.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
Act 4: Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone and she shakes and cries.
P.J. Miri is helped to escape the ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Beat Sheet-Draft 1
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the first act has ant-semitism as the antagonist when 2 young men enter Miri’s music club to beat up a Jewish patron. She does not encounter the main antagonist of the screenplay- Officer Heinrich until Act 2. He is the antagonist until Act 4.
Genre: Action/Drama
Act 1
P.J. Miri right before the war is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
Inciting incident: A.J. -2 anti-semitic thugs attack patron at music club.
Deeper Layer Miri tries to maintain life as usual. Turns downs marriage proposal later that evening. Determined to live her free life.
Turning Point 1: P.J -Miri is now confined in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri faces her own death. She befriends other musicians for support to survive.
Act 2: P.J. Miri is teaching singing to classes of children. One boy (Jacob) asks for violin lessons as he already knows how to play from his father who is too busy to teach him. Miri refuses until she learns that he is pretending that his father is still alive.
Deeper Level: Years before Miri delayed going home to play at a gig when her younger brother was ill. To her shock when she returned home he had died. She avoids emotional/love relationships.
Turning point 2: Midpoint: P.J. Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra.
Deeper level: Miri’s main purpose to play in orchestra is for the greater access to food which she will bering to her young music students.
A.J. Officer Heinrich hears Miri practice and starts a conversation about the great German composers.He forces a kiss which she rebuffs. He is aware of her now close relationship with Jacob. She will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka.
Deeper level: He considers himself a cultured member of the Aryan race who has the right to control a Jewish prisoner.
Act 3: P.J – Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” at a Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to sneak over to the Aryan side – pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance members in order to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Deeper Level: Miri now uses her music skills to aid and save others while she puts her own life in jeopardy having changed from the time music was a selfish pursuit.
Turning pt. 3: A.J>. Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi).
Deeper Level: He is enraged that Miri would dare not be under his thumb.
P.J.: Miri is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Deeper Level: Miri is devastated that Avi died protecting Jacob. She stays alive to continue to smuggle weapons for the cause.
Act 4: Climax: A.J. Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He lifts his weapon.
Deeper level: He drinks to numb himself against the killing he is part of.
Act 4: Climax: P.J. Miri raises a gun and kills Heinrich.
Deeper Level: It is the first time she has killed anyone and she shakes and cries.
P.J. Miri is helped to escape the ghetto so she will not be killed in retribution.
Resolution: The war is over. P.J. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. He is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Deeper Layer
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the deeper layers will haveto be subtle in my screenplay. We know who the characters are but the way they interact (especially Miri, the protagonist) has to do with who they were before the war.
Surface layer- Act 1
Miri is a rising blues violinist. She cherishes her freedom. She has casual affairs with men. Her music career is above family and friends.
Deeper Layer. She had postponed going home when her younger brother was ill to play a gig and when she arrived home she was shocked to learn that he had died.
Major Reveal: She does not want to teach Jacob the violin. She is avoiding closeness with a young boy. His father had previously taught him. When she realizes that he is pretending that his father is still alive (he is too busy to teach him now) she relents and gives him lessons.
Influences Surface Story: She agrees to be Heinrich’s mistress to save Jacob.
She falls in love with Avi, a prisoner from a religious background.
Miri becomes a weapons smuggler- outside the jewish ghetto she passes for Christian with her blonde hair and blue eyes. She is always on the verge of her identity being found out.
Changes Reality: She is able to kill Heinrich. Then she must escape the ghetto. She is outside with the Polish Partisans when the ghetto is destroyed and therefor survives the war. She finds Jacob and has to say goodbye.
Miri- Protagonist
Beginning: It is right before Germany invades Poland. Miri is playing blues violin with her band in Warsaw clubs. A young man takes her home for a date and asks her to be more serious. She laughs this off.
Inciting Incident: During a gig, 2 Jew-haters barge into the club and start to beat up a young man they believe is Jewish. The other patrons stop them and throw them out.
Turning point 1: Miri is forced to live in the Jewish section of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Act 2: Miri is teaching music to classes of children. One boy (Jacob) asks for violin lessons as he already knows how to play some. She finally agrees.
Turning point 2:Midpoint: Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra. Officer Heinrich hears her and starts a conversation all about the great german composers.He forces a kiss which she rebuffs. He tells her she will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka. Miri starts to play at a Nazi Officers club outside the ghetto.
Act 3: Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” to sneak over to the Aryan side of the ghetto to pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Turning pt. 3: Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi). She is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Act 4: Climax Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He is enraged and lifts his weapon. She shoots him first.
Resolution: The war is over. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. he is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
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Raquel’s Character Structure
Raquel’s Character Profiles, Part 2
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that character structure needs separate acts and turning points to increase the tension in the story resulting in the final climax and resolution. My current assignment will probably have changes over time.
Outline-Miri- Protagonist
Beginning: It is right before Germany invades Poland. Miri is playing blues violin with her band in Warsaw clubs. A young man takes her home for a date and asks her to be more serious. She laughs this off.
Inciting Incident: During a gig, 2 Jew-haters barge into the club and start to beat up a young man they believe is Jewish. The other patrons stop them and throw them out.
Turning point 1: Miri is forced to live in the Jewish section of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Act 2: Miri is teaching music to classes of children. One boy (Jacob) asks for violin lessons as he already knows how to play some. She finally agrees.
Turning point 2:Midpoint: Miri practices classical music to tryout for the ghetto orchestra. Officer Heinrich hears her and starts a conversation all about the great german composers.He forces a kiss which she rebuffs. He tells her she will be his mistress or he will send Jacob to Treblinka. Miri starts to play at a Nazi Officers club outside the ghetto.
Act 3: Miri uses her time at her “rehearsals” to sneak over to the Aryan side of the ghetto to pass as a non-Jew and meet with resistance to smuggle weapons into the ghetto.
Turning pt. 3: Heinrich becomes suspicious of her absences and also hears she has a Jewish lover (Avi). She is worried for Jacob and helps hide him to escape from the ghetto. Her lover is killed aiding this escape.
Act 4: Climax Drunk Heinrich catches Miri with a potato sack filled with weapons. He is enraged and lifts his weapon. She shoots him first.
Resolution: The war is over. Miri hears that Jacob is alive. She searches for him and finds him at a Jewish orphanage. They are reunited but she has to say goodbye. he is being sent to relatives in Palestine.
Outline Heinrich- Antagonist
Beginning Heinrich grows up without his father a hero of World War I- killed in action.
Inciting Incident: Heinrich promoted into the S.S. He wants to emulate his father.
Turning Point 1. He is given a leadership position in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Act 2: He orders Jews in the ghetto at various work functions. He encourages violence. He witnesses Miri teaching children and sees her with Jacob.
Turning Point 2: He hears Miri playing classical. He talks to her at great length of wonderful German composers Bach and Wagner. He blackmails Miri into being his mistress with Jacob’s life.
Act 3: Heinrich grows suspicious of Miri’s disappearances from the Officer’s club.
Turning point 3: He catches Miri with weapons.
Act 4: Climax He is killed by Miri.
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Hi
I did not register for this class!
raquel solomon
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Raquel’s Character Profiles, Part 2
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that character subtext, intrigue, flaw, values, internal dilemna add more layers and depth to the actor attractors, and assignment 6’s traits, want/need, wound etc to create characters fully dimensional that grab the audiences interest and desire to see their journey unfold.
A. High Concept: A young Jewish violinist in the Warsaw Ghetto entertains Nazi Officers outside the ghetto in order to become a smuggler of food and weapons.
B. The character’s journey- before the war, self-centered musician, has brief affairs with men, no attachments with music career above family/friends in the ghetto uses music to help others and ultimately cares deeply, falls in love, uses music as a way to aid in the uprising.
C. The Actor Attractors for Miri:
PROTAGONIST : Miri Fried from MUSICIAN to EDUCATOR to SMUGGLER to FIGHTER
1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
Miri goes through a broad range of challenges and changes to her place in the world. Before the war she is a free-spirited and self-centered blues violinist without time for family and serious relationships. In the Warsaw Ghetto she is tasked with teaching music to children. Although kind to them she at first keeps her distance. She allows a young student, Jacob into her heart which changes everything. She joins the ghetto orchestra as a way of obtaining extra food to bring to her children. She agrees to become a nazi officer’s mistress to save Jacob from deportation to a death camp. She puts the safety of others as her main task in life. She has her first real love relationship with Avi. She grows to become a smuggler and a fighter.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
She is young and extremely talented. She overcomes her fears in order to help others. even though she is blackmailed into being a Nazi’s mistress she still falls in love for the first time. She uses her music, playing outside the ghetto for nazi officers as a way to become a smuggler of guns. She learns to shoot a gun and becomes a fighter.
3. What are the most interesting actions the lead could take in the script?
As stated in Q. 2 she falls in love, she saves a young boy, she jeopardizes her life as a smuggler and has to become a killer.
4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?
The role of Miri has to go through many emotions. Fear and sorrow in seeing people killed. Engaging with children and getting close to them. Having to become an enemy’s mistress but still able to fall in love. Overcoming fear and choosing to join in the fight in the Warsaw Ghetto. Willing to die and willing to kill.
5. What could be this character’s emotional range? Sorrowful, fearful, hateful, falling in love, overcoming fear, becoming a warier.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
Being strong for her young music students while fearing for their safety and not wanting to frighten them. Being flirtatious with the nazi officers in their club where she is a performer while gathering up and hiding weapons. Acting the role of a mistress, sharing wine and talk but doing everything to ultimately undermine him.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships the character can have?
Her first real love with an innocent man from a religious background a bit younger than her. Her love that develops for a young boy that she will do everything to save. Her friendships with fellow women smugglers and partisan soldiers. Her relationship with the Nazi officer she must have sex with.
8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?
She is unique as a talented violinist from the first scene. Her self-centered independence must change in the ghetto and her attachments are above everything else as her music once was.
9. What could make this character special and unique?
She is a talented musician. She puts others safety above her own. She is willing to die to fight the nazis. She is a fictional character based on the many heroic young women who did smuggle and become fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Assignment 6:
Protagonist: Miri
Age Range: early 20’s
Description: talented violinist blond hair/blue eyes, thin
Main Characteristics:
talented and loves playing music
arc of self-involved to caring deeply for others
arc before war of affairs but not getting too attached to falling deeply in love
develops fighting skills attains bravery
Motivation:
Want/Need
Want: to smuggle weapons and aid the uprising
Need: to love Avi and save Jacob
Likability- We meet Miri right before the war. She is talented and fun-loving.
Relatability- Finding herself in a world of brutality she becomes very caring to others, especially the children she is tasked with teaching music to.
Empathy- She falls in romantic love for the first time in the ghetto and we know this relationship will likely be doomed.
Lesson 7:
Character Subtext: hiding something-
Miri has to hide that she is Jewish when she is in the Aryan quarter of the ghetto to smuggle. She has to physically hide weapons. She has to hide her disdain for the Nazi officers she plays violin for. She has to hide her fears for the children she teaches music to in the early days of the ghetto. She has to hide that she is in love with Avi from Heinrich.
8. Character Intrigue:
Miri has to be deceptive often as all stated in the above subtext paragraph.
9. Flaw:
Miri is under great pressure to maintain her secrets. Her flaw is that she believes she can protect Jacob (8 year old violin student) and have her love affair with Avi unnoticed. She is found out by Heinrich.
10. Values: integrity/duty – She wants to help and ultimately be a member of the rebellion.
11 Internal Dilemna: Love vs Duty She is in love but needs to keep smuggling.
Lead Character: Avi- Miri’s lover
What would cause an actor to want this role?
Avi, 19 years old falls in love for the first time with Miri. He has a romantic role and also is well-versed in the mystical aspects of the Jewish religion which he imparts to Miri.
What makes avi one of the most interesting is before he was sent to the ghetto he led a very sheltered life in the Hasidic world. He knows very little about secular life but ironically as a prisoner in the ghetto this world opens up to him.
The most interesting actions are as a romantic young man in love, as a helper to the uprising and ultimately giving up his life to help Jacob escape the ghetto.
I could introduce this role as the romantic lead in the story and whose life comes to a heroic end.
Avi’s emotional range is one of fear, loss, falling in love with exuberance, bravely fighting, giving up his life for a young boy.
His subtext is seeing the world through a mystical point of view and continuing his faith in God.
The most interesting relationships are with Jacob the young boy he protects and Miri who he falls in love with.
His unique voice is with religious sayings and beliefs and his wanting knowledge about the secular world.
He is special for sacrificing himself for Jacob. He is unique with a mystical point of view.
Lesson 6: Avi
Age Range late teens/early twenties
Description tall/thin wears glasses/ changes from hasidic appearance to short hair/no beard
Core Traits
loves music- sings hasidic melodies
is immersed in Jewish/Kabbalistic philosophy
is caring and able to fall in love
believes in justice taking over evil
Motivation: Want/Need
Wants to help the uprising and maintain his religious beliefs
Need: Falls in love with Miri
Wound: His whole “world” and “people” (hasidic community is destroyed)
Likeability: kind, thoughtful, encouraging
Relatability: is willing to fight evil
Empathy: in love
Lesson 7:
7. Character Subtext:
hiding something:
Avi is communicating with his now dead spiritual leader (rabbi) who is encouraging him (in film in his mind -hallucination) or is it?
8. Intrigue:
Avi also is aiding in smuggling and aiding Jacob’s escape
9. Flaw:
Avi cannot give up Miri even when believes this may harm Jacob
10. Values:
Avi maintains his belief in a just God.
11. Internal Dilemna
Love vs Duty Avi’s love for Miri vs. protect Jacob
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Raquel’s Character Profiles, Part 1
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is the more developed the character is with conflicts between needs and wants, the more compelling and elevating to the screenplay.
Protagonist: Miri
Age Range: early 20’s
Description: talented violinist blond hair/blue eyes, thin
Main Characteristics:
talented and loves playing music
arc of self-involved to caring deeply for others
arc before war of affairs but not getting too attached to falling deeply in love
develops fighting skills attains bravery
Motivation:
Want/Need
Want: to smuggle weapons and aid the uprising
Need: to love Avi and save Jacob
Likability- We meet Miri right before the war. She is talented and fun-loving.
Relatability- Finding herself in a world of brutality she becomes very caring to others, especially the children she is tasked with teaching music to.
Empathy- She falls in romantic love for the first time in the ghetto and we know this relationship will likely be doomed.
Antagonist: Heinrich (Nazi Officer)
Age Range: late thirties
Description: tall/muscular/light brown hair/always has a gun in his belt
Characteristics:
deems himself an intellectual music lover
follows orders seemingly without remorse except for abuse of alcohol
sees himself as part of a superior race
dominates Miri but develops feelings for her
Motivation Want/Need
Want: to be a successful commander/enforcer
Need: to allow his humanity to surface
Wound: Loss of his heroic father in WWI when he was a child.
Likability/Relatability/Empathy: not meant for this character
Triangle: Avi
Age Range late teens/early twenties
Description tall/thin wears glasses/ changes from hasidic appearance to short hair/no beard
Core Traits
loves music- sings hasidic melodies
is immersed in Jewish/Kabbalistic philosophy
is caring and able to fall in love
believes in justice taking over evil
Motivation: Want/Need
Wants to help the uprising and maintain his religious beliefs
Need: Falls in love with Miri
Wound: His whole “world” and “people” (hasidic community is destroyed)
Likeability: kind, thoughtful, encouraging
Relatability: is willing to fight evil
Empathy: in love
i
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Raquel Solomon’s Likability/Relatability/Empathy
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is the importance of having these to keep the audience invested in your characters and story.
Protagonist: Miri
Likability- We meet Miri right before the war. She is talented and fun-loving.
Relatability- Finding herself in a world of brutality she becomes very caring to others, especially the children she is tasked with teaching music too.
Empathy- She falls in romantic love for the first time in the ghetto and we know this relationship will likely be doomed.
Antagonist: Heinrich
I could possibly show him saving someone from death but not sure if this will really work or make a difference. Perhaps his alcoholism shows that his humanity remains within him but he is violating it.
I might show a Nazi soldier helping someone survive. This sometimes did happen in real life but this will not work for Heinrich’s character and this story.
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Raquel Solomon’s Character Intrigue
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is main characters in a screenplay should have mult-layers to them to make them more realistic and this can help add to surprising plot points.
Character Name: Miri:
Role: Protagonist
Unspoken Wound: Before the war, knowing her younger brother was ill, she delayed going home in order to play a gig. When she returned home she was shocked to learn that he had died.
Deception: uses her role as violinist to have access to Nazi officers club outside the ghetto to become a smuggler of food and later weapons.
Miri’s unspoken wound shows up in her motivation to do everything in order to save Jacob, a young boy in the ghetto she has allowed herself to become close to. She becomes the mistress to Heinrich in order to save Jacob. Later when she is suspected by Heinrich of smuggling she helps hatch a plan to help Jacob escape.
Miri’s deception is to act grateful for her job playing violin for Nazis Officers as she has access to food and better conditions. She becomes flirty and friendly to them to gain their trust so she can have access to club when they are not there in order to practice. She can then sneak away to smuggle.
Character Name: Heinrich
Role: Antagonist
Hidden Agenda: Will send young Jacob to Treblinka if Miri does not agree to be his mistress.
Secret: Alcoholic in order to cope with inflicting death.
Heinrich’s hidden agenda shows up when after Miri’s many refusals to him he threatens her that he will send Jacob to die if she does not comply with his wishes.
His alcohol use is seen at various times but when he catches Miri smuggling guns he is drunk which enables her to get the upper hand and kill him.
Character Name: Avi
Role: Miri’s boyfriend
Unspoken Wound: His religious world is destroyed and he must adjust to ghetto life.
Secret identity: He changes his appearance to look secular to have more of a chance to survive but has not given up his faith and maintains belief in a just god.
Avi’s wound shows up in his conversations with Miri which have a lot of mysticism and Kabbala references.
His secret identity is a strong believer in a just afterlife and therefore he will sacrifice his life to help Jacob escape by being a decoy to Nazi soldiers. When Jacob is being lifted and hidden in a supply truck Avi disturbs the soldiers nearby. They shoot him and Jacob’s truck leaves the ghetto.
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Raquel Solomon’s Subtext Characters
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is subtext makes a character more believable, more compelling, and multi-dimensional rather than a flat less interesting character.
Film- The Art Dealer
Character Name: Esther
Subtext Identity: while politely investigating she breaks into apartments, forges signatures, and is relentless in gaining a confession of a collaborator from her own family.
Subtext Trait: Cunning, Skillful, Insistent, Forgery, break-ins.
Subtext Logline: Esther, the granddaughter of an Art Collector murdered by nazis will find out where his looted art is and who collaborated in the stealing of this work.
Possible areas of subtext: thorough investigation of family papers and photos, able to solve the puzzle.
Screenplay-Blue Eyes:
Character: Miri
Act I: Subtext Identity: Stand-offish with children she teaches but really cares and worries about them.
Wound: her younger brother died before the war when she was away at a music gig.
Act II: Subtext Identity- while playing music for nazi officers, being flirtatious with them, secretly smuggling weapons and plotting their death.
Act III: Frequent meetings with Polish resistance outside the ghetto- passes for non-Jew – keeps her identity hidden. Goes into a church to pray when she is followed by suspicious collaborators.
Act IV: When caught with weapons hidden in a potato sack by the Nazi Officer she is the mistress of she is frightened, crying – quickly pulls out a gun hidden in her clothing and kills him.
Subtext trait: resourceful, talented, caring, brave, can hide her identity outside the ghetto.
Logline: A young musician uses her skills to smuggle weapons for the uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Subtext traits- even though forced to be a mistress she is capable of falling in love. Talented violinist plays at Nazi club-pretends to enjoy this while plotting to kill.
Character: Avi
Subtext Identity: from Hasidic community sheltered from secular world, able to quickly adjust to his situation. Speaks re: Jewish philosophy and mysticism often but secretly helps Miri in the resistance. Falls in love with Miri- sacrifices himself to save boy.
Subtext traits: soft-spoken but learns to shoot guns. Able to learn about the world and grow- willing to sacrifice himself to save another.
Subtext Identity-
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Raquel Solomon’s Actor Attractors for Blue Eyes (I changed my Title)
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the best written lead characters should show a range of emotions, growth in how they handle their situation, unique skills or personality traits that make them stand out from the other characters.
PROTAGONIST : Miri Fried from MUSICIAN to EDUCATOR to SMUGGLER to FIGHTER
1. What about this role would cause an actor to want to be known for it?
Miri goes through a broad range of challenges and changes to her place in the world. Before the war she is a free-spirited and self-centered blues violinist without time for family and serious relationships. In the Warsaw Ghetto she is tasked with teaching music to children. Although kind to them she at first keeps her distance. She allows a young student, Jacob into her heart which changes everything. She joins the ghetto orchestra as a way of obtaining extra food to bring to her children. She agrees to become a nazi officer’s mistress to save Jacob from deportation to a death camp. She puts the safety of others as her main task in life. She has her first real love relationship with Avi. She grows to become a smuggler and a fighter.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting characters in your story?
She is young and extremely talented. She overcomes her fears in order to help others. even though she is blackmailed into being a Nazi’s mistress she still falls in love for the first time. She uses her music, playing outside the ghetto for nazi officers as a way to become a smuggler of guns. She learns to shoot a gun and becomes a fighter.
3. What are the most interesting actions the lead could take in the script?
As stated in Q. 2 she falls in love, she saves a young boy, she jeopardizes her life as a smuggler and has to become a killer.
4. How can you introduce this role in a way that could sell it to an actor?
The role of Miri has to go through many emotions. Fear and sorrow in seeing people killed. Engaging with children and getting close to them. Having to become an enemy’s mistress but still able to fall in love. Overcoming fear and choosing to join in the fight in the Warsaw Ghetto. Willing to die and willing to kill.
5. What could be this character’s emotional range? Sorrowful, fearful, hateful, falling in love, overcoming fear, becoming a warier.
6. What subtext can the actor play?
Being strong for her young music students while fearing for their safety and not wanting to frighten them. Bing flirtatious with the nazi officers in their club where she is a performer while gathering up and hiding weapons. Acting the role of a mistress, sharing wine and talk but doing everything to ultimately undermine him.
7. What’s the most interesting relationships the character can have?
Her first real love with an innocent man from a religious background a bit younger than her. Her love that develops for a young boy that she will do everything to save. Her friendships with fellow women smugglers and partisan soldiers. Her relationship with the Nazi officer she must have sex with.
8. How will this character’s unique voice be presented?
She is unique as a talented violinist from the first scene. Her self-centered independence must change in the ghetto and her attachments are above everything else as her music once was.
9. What could make this character special and unique?
She is a talented musician. She puts others safety above her own. She is willing to die to fight the nazis. She is a fictional character based on the many heroic young women who did smuggle and become fighters in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Lead Character: Avi- Miri’s lover
What would cause an actor to want this role?
Avi, 19 years old falls in love for the first time with Miri. He has a romantic role and also is well-versed in the mystical aspects of the Jewish religion which he imparts to Miri.
What makes avi one of the most interesting is before he was sent to the ghetto he led a very sheltered life in the Hasidic world. He knows very little about secular life but ironically as a prisoner in the ghetto this world opens up to him.
The most interesting actions are as a romantic young man in love, as a helper to the uprising and ultimately giving up his life to help Jacob escape the ghetto.
I could introduce this role as the romantic lead in the story and whose life comes to a heroic end.
Avi’s emotional range is one of fear, loss, falling in love with exuberance, bravely fighting, giving up his life for a young boy.
His subtext is seeing the world through a mystical point of view and continuing his faith in God.
The most interesting relationships are with Jacob the young boy he protects and Miri who he falls in love with.
His unique voice is with religious sayings and beliefs and his wanting knowledge about the secular world.
He is special for sacrificing himself for Jacob. He is unique with a mystical point of view.
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Raquel Solomon’s Actor Attractors for Uprising
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that the best written lead characters should show a broad range of emotion, even better when some are through subtext. I also learned to pay more attention to these varied character traits and analyze them in the film, Uprising that I viewed for this assignment.
Movie Title: Uprising
Lead Character Mordechai Anilowitz played by Hank Azaria
1. Why would an actor want to be know for this role?
Mordecai Anilowitz was the leader of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against the Nazis. He is a truly heroic figure in Jewish history. He was a complex person, physically tough and believing it was better to die with honor than succumb without a fight to the Nazi killing machine. He also helped to set up educational programs for the children in the ghetto before the uprising. Not only a leader and a fighter, he was a philosopher whose belief system included it was necessary to remain a moral person in an immoral world. He also was a young man with a girlfriend.
2. What makes this character one of the most interesting in the movie?
What makes Mordecai most interesting is his philosophical nature along with his fearless fighting skills. After escaping the ghetto, he returned to help his people. He was extremely resourceful. Whenever a plan of resistance failed, he was able to change gears and make a new plan. He was not afraid to die and fought valiantly and led others to do so. He strove to save as many jewish people as he could.
3. What are his most interesting actions?
His most interesting actions include confronting the Jewish administrative leader, head of the Jewish Council formed by the Nazis to administer the ghetto. He asks him to help fund the uprising. He is refused as the head of the council believes more Jews will be saved by appeasing the Nazis. Mordecai sees through this idea and forms his military organization anyway convincing many others to join. He never shows fear to his comrades. The only person he lets in to see his doubts is his girlfriend. On a mission outside the ghetto he is captured by a Polish soldier aiding theNazis. He is beaten but manages with his physical strength at the point of being shot to grab the gun away and shoot his enemy.
4. How is this character introduces that could sell it to an actor?
Mordecai is introduced at the opening scene of the film. His action begins with him passionately conducting to a classical music recording. He is then interrupted with orders to obey by a Jewish policeman working for the Jewish council. He refuses and flips the policeman to the ground holding his confiscated baton at his neck. The policeman leaves. At the beginning scene of the film we witness Mordecai’s passion for life and desire to fight against the Nazis.
5. What is the character’s emotional range?
His emotional range includes being a tough leader. He is charismatic with leadership abilities able to get others to join the cause. A heroic fighter able to kill many of his enemies. A believer in being a moral person. Willing to die with honor. He is also tender and caring to his younger sister and the other children. He is romantic with his girlfriend.
6. What subtext can the character play?
He can show revulsion at having to kill as he has been forced into this role. He can show fear and self-doubt underneath his tough leadership. He can show sorrow at the loss of his family and fear for his younger sister whom he is trying to protect. He can show exhaustion at having to keep up his leadership role and witnessing to the death of many of his comrades as well as the victims in the ghetto.
7. What is the most interesting relationship this character has?
The most interesting relationship is with Adam Czerniakow, the administrative leader of the ghetto. Mordecai works relentlessly at setting up a meeting with him. He is turned down but insists and gets the meeting. The 2 men vary in how they perceive what is the best way to save Jewish lives. Czerniakow refuses to give Mordecai financial aid for weapons. Even when the first Jews are sent to Treblinka, Czerniakow hold on to the belief that more Jews will be saved by not antagonizing the Nazis. Mordecai as to work without his help to forma fighting organization.
8. How is this character’s unique voice presented?
His philosophy- being moral in an immoral world, his love of music, his ability to lead, his ability to sway others to the fight, his romantic nature with his girlfriend, his caring to his sister.
9. What makes this character special and unique?
He returns to the ghetto after escaping to help others. He is a leader who commands the uprising. He is physically strong and persuasive. He is philosophic. He fights until the end and is grateful he lived to see the Jews develop a fighting force and hold back the Nazis for a month against the final liquidation of the ghetto. He is a Jewish as well as a Polish hero recognized by both with honors.
10. Fill in a scene that shows the character fulfilling much of the Actor Attractor model.
The scene in which he is outside the ghetto and has paid a guide to help him escape through snow covered land to reach the Polish resistance in order to ask them to help supply the ghetto with weapons. He is double-crossed and captured by a Polish soldier aiding the Nazis. During his beating he manages to outwit the soldier grab his gun and kill him before he is killed and return to the ghetto. This scene shows his physical strength, his heroic nature and his loyalty to the Jewish people with his return to the ghetto. Also even with this mission failing he strives on.
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Raquel Solomon’s Genre Conventions
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that I must bring out the protagonist’s internal journey and changes within the horrific world she finds herself in. Though in this story external events are intense, I must show that Miri, the protagonist’s internal journey has changed her from selfish to selfless, fearful to heroic, and she has chosen this path.
Title: Death Fugue
Concept: A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto prisoner uses her violin skills to access guns and food for the uprising.
(my additions to bring out the drama genre are in parenthesis)
Genre: Drama
Act 1
Opening: Miri plays American blues with her band in a club in Warsaw to a mostly young exuberant audience.
Inciting Incident: Neo Nazis storm the club, beat up a Jewish audience member before they are thrown out.
(Her friend Caterina walks home with her after the concert and laments about the growing threat of ant-semitism. Miri is in denial and wants to discuss how great she played that night.)
(Miri has casual feelings toward a young man she is sleeping with. She turns down his marriage proposal.)
Turning Point: The Nazis have invaded Poland and Miri is taken to live in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Act 2
New Plan
Miri teaches singing to children in the ghetto. (She at first is emotionally distant from the children and more business like in her approach to them, avoiding closeness.)
(Jacob, a ten year old boy whose father taught him violin attempts to have Miri give him violin lessons. She puts him off for a while. She learns from another musician teaching the children that his father has already perished. She finally relents and teaches him. She allows herself to become close to him when she realizes that he is pretending that his father is still alive. She also begins a romantic relationship with a fellow prisoner who protected Jacob in the ghetto and who meets her through Jacob.)
Plan in Action:
(Miri attempts to join the ghetto orchestra because she learns that she will then have access to extra food which she will bring to her music children. Her first audition fails as she had left classical music behind to pursue blues. She practices classical music for her next audition and is overheard by a Nazi officer who takes an interest in her.)
Midpoint turning point:
Miri is blackmailed into being the Nazi officer’s mistress with a death threat against Jacob if she does not comply.
Act 3
Rethink Everything:
(As a result of being the Nazi officer’s mistress,) Miri is now entertaining Nazi officers at their club outside the ghetto. Her music has opened further opportunity to fight back. A connection meets her outside the club when she is supposed to be alone practicing. She begins to smuggle in weapons.
New Plan:
Miri continues to use her freedom to gain access outside the ghetto to smuggle guns for the resistance.
Turning pt: Huge failure/major shift
Miri is in love for the first time with fellow prisoner Avi.
Avi is killed helping to smuggle Jacob outside the ghetto.
Act 4
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:
Miri is caught with weapons by the Nazi Officer.
She kills him and escapes to join the resistance outside the ghetto to continue to fight the Nazis.
Resolution: The war has ended and Miri searches for Jacob. She finds him in an orphanage. (She has to say goodbye when relatives of his are found.)
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Raquel Solomon’s 4 Act Transformational Structure
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film companies know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that to create and escalate the dramatic intensity of a screenplay the protagonist must go through a lot of trials to lead to the “new ways” while gradually abandoning the “old ways” to grow and change. With each turn the protagonist faces more extreme obstacles that will ultimately bring out the new strength of the character in the heroic journey.
Concept:
A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto prisoner uses her violin skills to access guns and food for the uprising.
Main Conflict
Trying to survive in the world of genocide of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Old Ways
excuses anti-semitism before the war
puts musical career above all else (family, friends and relationships)
When in the ghetto -humiliation, weakness, fear, not being able to fight back
New Ways
uses music to initially help others (teaching children)
ultimately as a means to join in the resistance and smuggle guns food
Falls in love for the first time with fellow prisoner
puts other lives ahead of her own
attains strength and bravery
Act 1
Opening: Miri plays American blues with her band in a club in Warsaw to a mostly young exuberant audience.
Inciting Incident: Neo Nazis storm the club, beat up a Jewish audience member before they are thrown out.
Turning Point: The Nazis have invaded Poland and Miri is taken to live in the Jewish quarter of the Warsaw Ghetto.
Act 2
New Plan
Miri teaches music to children in the ghetto. She becomes close and caring to young violin student, Jacob.
Plan in Action:
Miri joins the ghetto orchestra where she has access to extra food which she brings to her
music students.
Midpoint turning point:
Miri is blackmailed into being a Nazi officer’s lover with a death threat against Jacob if she does not comply.
Act 3
Rethink Everything:
Miri is now entertaining Nazi officers at their club outside the ghetto. Her music has opened further opportunity to fight back.
New Plan:
Miri uses her freedom to access outside the ghetto to smuggle guns for the resistance.
Turning pt: Huge failure/major shift
Miri is in love for the first time with fellow prisoner Avi.
Avi is killed helping to smuggle Jacob outside the ghetto.
Act 4
Climax/Ultimate expression of the conflict:
Miri is caught with weapons by Nazi Officer “lover.”
She kills him and escapes and joins the resistance outside the ghetto to continue to fight the Nazis.
Resolution: The end of the war. Miri has survived and searches for Jacob. She finds him in a Jewish orphanage.
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Raquel Solomon’s Subtext Plot
I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is without subtext we are left with a flat story with flat characters. Both the characters and story are without nuance or surprise. Without subtext we do not see growth and change in the personalities of our protagonist and other characters.
Concept: A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto violinist forced to perform outside the ghetto for Nazi officers will use this for an opportunity to join the resistance and smuggle guns and food for the uprising.
Subtext Plot:
Scheme and Investigation
Miri, imprisoned in the Warsaw Ghetto is beholden to Officer Heinrich. As his prisoner Heinrich has control over her life. Her scheme is to use her access outside the ghetto as a performing musician for Nazi Officers at their club to join the resistance. She will smuggle food and weapons into the ghetto without Officer Heinrich and others finding out. These actions become more important to her than saving her life.
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I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
I learned from this assignment to create a protagonist with complex personality traits and show action that brings out these traits in order to witness the growth of the protagonist through the arcs of the screenplay.
Character Arc:
Arc Beginning: Music more important than family and friends, superficial frivolous relationships with men.
Arc Ending: Uses music to first help, ultimately save others, relationships are most important of all.
Transformational Journey:
Internal Journey: self-centered musician to victim to heroic selfless fighter
Eternal Journey: freedom loving musician to humiliated Nazi prisoner to heroic fighter.
Old Ways:
self-centered
superficial
music above relationships
does not stand up against anti-semitism
New Ways:
uses music to save others
has first real love relationship
heroic fighter against Nazis
caring full person
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Raquel Solomon’s Intentional Lead Characters
My Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is to make sure that every main character serves to enhance and carry forward the concept of the screenplay.
Title: Death Fugue
Concept: A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto violinist forced to perform outside the ghetto for Nazi officers will use this for an opportunity to join the resistance and smuggle guns and food for the uprising.
Character: Miri
Logline: A young humiliated Jewish violinist will turn the tables on her captors and use her music as a means to join the resistance.
Unique: Talented up and coming blues violinist before the war.
Character: Nazi Officer Wilhelm
Logline: Nazi Officer blackmails Miri into being his sexual partner and forces her to give concerts to Nazi officers.
Unique: Loves to yield his power over Jewish prisoners and Nazi soldiers as well.
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I also had difficulty getting to the right location to post
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Raquel Solomon’s Title, Concept and Character Structure
Vision: I want to go deeper into my writing to create screenplays where characters of depth are placed in compelling journeys with a fresh voice that Hollywood producers as well as independent film cos. know they must make!
What I learned from doing this assignment is that determining the character structure is another tool to help in structuring the screenplay and placing characters in scenes that express conflict and change/growth for the protagonist.
Title: Death Fugue
Concept: A young Jewish Warsaw Ghetto violinist forced to give concerts to Nazi officers outside the ghetto becomes a smuggler of guns and food for the uprising.
Character Structure: Protagonist vs Antagonist
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Hi- I seem to have stopped getting assignments emailed to me.
last assignment was the titles
thanks for any info
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1. Name -Raquel Solomon
2. How many scripts written?-2 shorts 1 full length another full length about a third written
3. What you hope to get out of the class – increase the tension and dramatic turns
4. something unique, special, strange or unusual about you- I spent 6 weeks in severe critical condition- had a blood clot in my heart a week after valve replacement- went blind- rushed to emergency surgery was told I was not likely to survive- I have very little memory of the 6 weeks- but remember all of my hallucinations-
I made a full recovery and regained my eyesight.
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Raquel Solomon
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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