Ryan Buffa
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Ryan’s Horror Plot
What I learned in this lesson is that I was made to think of new ideas to fill in the plot points needed for horror storytelling.
ACT 1 — SET UP FOR HORROR
Atmosphere of Evil established: Establishing signs that children have gone missing in the area. Show the hustle the gag of teenagers came up with that is dangerous but proving to be profitable vigilantism.
Connect with the characters: Seeing the kids broken home life and celebrating their wins by getting a big meal, something they usually don’t have.
The characters are warned not to do it: Waitress at their celebration dinner tell them to be safe, another kid has gone missing.
Denial of Horror: The kids decide to pull their hustle one more time. When their hustle goes wrong and Lamia kidnaps their younger brother, they don’t believe that supernatural forces are at work.
Safety taken away: Alone in the woods with a dangerous person, it’s getting close to dark, no cell service.
Monster: The nature of the beast. Signs of snake skins and snakes, toys from missing children.
ACT 2 — THE POINT OF NO RETURN
Isolated / Trapped / Abducted
One of us killed:
Now further isolated in the dark forest. There is some further conflict between the “pedophile” and one of the teens who really doesn’t trust him. He escapes and when they split up to go after him, one of the teens meet Lamia, who seduces him and then kills him. The older brother captures the pedophile again and when the group reconvenes, they discover the killed friend and blame the pedophile for the death. One the teens fights and wrestles with him, almost to the death, when they hear the screaming again. They are forced to continue.
MIDPOINT: The monster is worse than we thought!
Full pursuit by the killer
Terrorized:
They arrive at Lamia’s lair. Along the way they find creepy signs – children’s shoes and clothes in the woods. Snake skin that is MUCH larger. However, Lamia is nowhere to be seen. They enter the lair and find the younger brother sedated but with a pulse. As they work to free him, the pedophile slips away and goes outside to take the lookout hostage. He stands in front of the house with the teen and Lamia appears, half naked woman and half snake. She slithers to the pedophile and kisses him and then takes the teen and constricts and kills him. The teens watch from inside in horror.
ACT 3 — FULL OUT HORROR
Fight to the death
Hysteria
The thrilling escape from death
Death returns to take one or more.
Resolution
They realize they are trapped inside the lair and that they all have been lured here by the pedophile to feed this supernatural being. They quickly try to make a plan for escape. They take items from the lair that could be used as weapons. They are surrounded and they have to come up with crafty ways to fight and escape with the sedated younger brother. They eventually have to leave the younger brother as bait one more time. Lamia comes back to the lair and takes her eyes out to rest. The teens sneak back in and take hostage of her eyes. This is how they can control her and eventually destroy her. They then trap the pedophile in the lair with Lamia to be her last feast. The rest of the teens flee and make it out of the woods. When they reach the road, a car stops to help them but it’s one of the pedophiles they beat up and robbed at the start of the movie.
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Ryan’s Character Breakdown:
What I learned doing this assignment is how to assign a task for each character by giving them the identities.
movie.
1. Tell us your Concept and the Group you have chosen.
CONCEPT: A gang of teenage boys used a member’s younger brother to lure pedophile into the woods, where they then beat and rob them. One day when this trick goes wrong, they are about to be forced to kill the pedophile, when a demon appears from the woods. The pedophile ends up saving the teenagers, but the demon has stolen the younger brother. The teens are then forced to band together to fight the evil and escape the woods.
GROUP: Gang of Teenage Boys
2. Tell us the Dying Pattern of this movie.
Still deciding but I think I’m going to go with option B:
The characters experience the terror and survive together, but one or two die.
3. Give us an Identity and a sentence for each character that makes up your group.
LEADER: Romeo – Older Brother; It was his idea and encouragement to offer his younger brother as bait to lure pedophiles into the woods to be robbed. He was already the leader of the group of teens, but now he is leading them on a mission to save his brother.
RESCUER: James – Romeo’s best friend; He saves Romeo from one of Lamia’s traps and is there when they arrive at her lair to save the younger brother.
INNOCENT: Racer – Younger Brother; Innocent younger brother that played along to help his older brother and was abducted by Lamia.
MORAL ONE: Tony – Friend; His protests against killing James leads to some of their demise but also the road to saving Racer.
OUT OF CONTROL / OBNOXIOUS: Max – Cousin; He is the most frightened and therefore unhinged as Lamia’s antics heightened. He runs away and leaves the group, but he meets the beautiful form of Lamia and is seduced and in her control. He tries to break the group a part.
REBEL/ RULE BREAKER: Gavin – Friend; All of the teens are technically rebels / rule breakers, but he is the most keen on it and it actually leads to unlocking clues to defeat Lamia.
COMPLAINER: Santi – Friend; Complains because he is hungry and scared, thinks they should go somewhere else for help, which is quickly shut down.
RED HERRING: Chase – The Pedophile; We first think that he is a pedophile and even suspicious that he has something to do with the disappearance and death of a few group members, but really he is under the spell of Lamia and bringing her children to feast on. It’s misleading that he is a pedophile. Lamia is the one toying with them in the woods, leading them to her lair to attack.
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Ryan’s Terrifying Monster
What I learned doing this assignment is that monsters are layered creatures.
1. Tell us what or who your monster is.
LAMIA – based on the Greek mythological child eating monster that lives in the woods. She is a shapeshifter and often appears as half woman and half snake. In my story, Lamia is living in the forest, as a witch type. She seduces men to bring her children to feast on.
2. Give us a few sentences for each of the following for your monster:
Their Terror: Feeding on the flesh of young children to satisfy her crazed grief. Often using killing techniques of snakes.
Their Mystery: How to save an abducted child from the wrath of Lamia and survive?
Their Fear Provoking Appearance: Black eyes that can be taken out and reinserted. A beautiful woman that seduces and then shape shifts into a snake, sometimes appears as half snake, half woman.
Their Rules: Insomnia but only gets rest when she takes out her eyes. Feeds on children. Seduces young men.
Their Mythology: Greek mythological monster. Lamia and Zues had a love affair. When Zues’ wife Hera discovered this, she murdered or kidnapped Lamia and Zues’ offspring. Hera cursed Lamia with insomnia so that she would never have relief from her grief. This drove Lamia insane and she began to kidnap and eat other children. Zeus gave Lamia the power of shapeshifting and the ability to take out and reinsert her eyes to help ease the pain of her curse. She is also known in some mythology to seduce young men to appease her sexual appetite and then feast on their flesh afterwards.
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GREEN ROOM (2016) Horror Conventions
What I learned doing this assignment is what exactly horror conventions entails and how to pinpoint it when I’m feeling / watching the movie.
CONCEPT: A touring punk band finds themselves in a bloody fight for survival after unwittingly playing a gig at a rural venue run by neo-Nazis.
TERRORIZE THE CHARACTERS: The characters endure physical pain fighting their way out of the green room and emotional pain of losing their friends at escape attempts and fearing for their lives.
ISOLATION: The characters are stuck for the most part in the greenroom of a rural venue in a Pacific Northwest forest. They have no cell phones and no way to call for help.
DEATH: The band is held hostage for witnessing the aftermath of a murder. The band kills a neo-Nazi guarding them in the greenroom. Mutilated arm injury by one of the main characters. Multiple deaths by vicious dogs. Multiple deaths by stabbings. Multiple deaths by shotguns. Intense fear by some of the band members at the idea of having to fight and potentially kill to save their lives.
MONSTER: Neo-Nazi leader calling the shots. Neo-Nazi gang members. The dogs.
HIGH TENSION: The band thinking the police / help are on the way and then realizing they are truly in a scary situation. Tension in the band members willing to kill to save themselves. Multiple attempts to escape the green room but trapped. Multiple attempted to escape the venue but met with death. A moment with an escaped dog and whether or not the finally dog is going to attack now that their owner is dead.
DEPARTURE FROM REALITY: Lead character having a hand practically severed off at the beginning and then still being conscious and able to fight.
MORAL STATEMENT: To summarize: “Nazi punks fuck off!!!!” – Dead Kennedys
I really like this movie because the band doesn’t want to fight and it’s going against their own moral codes, but they all do a valiant effort to try to survive and protect each other. I like when characters have to find practical tools in their environment to fight and/or kill. I also like how there were three layers in the isolation to escape, but that they also had to keep going back to the green room to start over.
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Here is the horror concept for my screenplay. I keep bouncing between two ideas but I’ll pitch this one first….
CONCEPT: A gang of teenage boys used a member’s younger brother to lure pedophile into the woods, where they then beat and rob them. One day when this trick goes wrong, they are about to be forced to kill the pedophile, when a demon appears from the woods. The pedophile ends up saving the teenagers, but the demon has stolen the younger brother. The teens are then forced to band together to fight the evil and escape the woods.
TERRORIZE THE CHARACTERS: The demon can appear as different creatures or people in the woods to lure the teenagers and eat their souls and then flesh. Also terrorized by having to work with the pedophile.
ISOLATION: Characters are stuck in the forest, potentially later a cabin and then the demon’s layer in the forest.
DEATH: Teens die by the demon by soul sucking and then flesh eating….one of the tees kills the pedophile who was helping them, causing tension in the group and later death.
MONSTER: Demon based on Lamia (child-eating monster of Greek mythology) and the pedophile
HIGH TENSION: Forced to work with a pedophile to save the younger brother from the monster…fear of the monster picking them off one by one
DEPARTURE FROM REALITY: Mythological monster
MORAL STATEMENT: Protect children or there will be consequences
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I, Ryan Buffa, 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.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.
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Hello! Pardon I’m joining delayed here, it’s been a busy week but I loved reading everyone’s answers and looking forward to the class!
1. Ryan (she/her)
2. I’ve written 3 short films
3. I hope to learn more about the horror genre and write my first feature length script
4. It’s strange and unusual for me to be joining this class because I’m a huge chicken when it comes to watching horror films. My imagination is already scary and vivd enough that I can’t expose myself to certain kinds of horror films or else I’ll never sleep or be sane. However, I worked on two zombie television shows as a producer for 9 years so I learned to appreciate elements of storytelling with horror. I hope to take this experience with me into the class