The Middle

Just like writing the body of an essay before you write the intro and conclusion....

Start with the second act before you flesh out the beginning and end.

Meaning just start writing until you figure out a sense of what's going on.  then add to the front and back.

5 questions for any creation

1) What's the emotional tool?
2) what's the thematic character?  What's the goal?
3) thesis 1?
4) thesis 2?
5) how is the emotional tool used in relation to each thesis?  What is the final relationship with the thematic character?

3 Dimensional Character and 4

1) physical - body type
2) intellectual - hard skills, reason
3) emotion - soft skills, irrational

a 4 dimensional character splits the physical into rational and irrational.

working and dancing
gravity and wind

KNOW THY SELF

In other terms...Know thy thesis.

How to write.

Three ways.

Outline.
Script format.
Mixed format.

Outline example:
-Tom enters's office building.  Drops briefcase.  Man helps but pushes into stairs.
-Tom climbs stairs.  Frank rushes by and won't answer Tom directly.
-Tom enters office and employees are in groups whispering

Script format - See Final Draft

 Mixed format example:

-TOM(65) walks into the lobby.  He drops his briefcase and the paper spills everywhere.  MAN(43) walks up and helps him gather.  Tom-"Thanks."  Man shoves the papers into Tom's briefcase.  Man-"Garten's coming down in a minute."  Tom looks at him.  Tom- "Who?"  His papers shoved into his briefcase.  Man-"Use the stairs."  Tom looks confused.  The man pushes him toward the stairs.

-In the stairs, Tom climbs.  FRANK rushes down them.  "Frank."  Frank ignores him.  Tom- "What the hell's going on?"  Frank rushes past, faintly "you don't wanna know."

-Tom's office floor.  EMPLOYEES are gathered in groups.  Whispering....

Why are endings so tough?

To the conscious mind of the writer an ending has to be big and complex.

To the audience mind, they expect the ending to be big and complex.

True.  An ending can feel big emotionally.  And feel complex emotionally.

But to the story mind, the unconscious mind, endings are small and simple.

Dramatica - why it doesn't work.

1) Dramatica mismatches and splits their archetypes.  At first glance they seem to make sense but look at it this way.

Protagonist - Antagonist(dark mentor)

Guardian(Mentor) - Contagonist(Trickster)

Reason(attractor) - Emotion(attractor)

Sidekick - Skeptic(dark Attractor)

Here's the right way.

Protagonist - Contagonist(trickster)

Guardian(mentor) - Antagonist(dark mentor)

Reason(attractor) - Skeptic(dark attractor)

Sidekick - Emotion(dark sidekick)

2) The mind deconstructs stories the opposite way it constructs a story.

To construct a story you start with a character.  To deconstruct you start with a story.  You can't take the pieces you pull from one unique story and put them back together to make a new story.

Yes archetypes are general pieces not unique-specific pieces.  True.  And that is why when you put general pieces back in order with new character names you get a straight forward general story that fails.

Theme, thesis, tools, and archetypes in reference to The Great Gatsby

Story type - "Thesis Understanding"

Theme - How to achieve your dreams?
Thesis 1 - studying and working
Thesis 2 - Stealing and Pretending

Tools -
thesis 1: books and work experience and whatever you can afford
thesis 2: bonds and fancy material things

Nick represents thesis 1.  He travels east to study and become a bond salesman. He learns how to become one both literally and figuratively.  Literally by studying.  Figuratively by learning about and seeing the life of Jay Gatsby.

Jay Gatsby represents thesis 2.  He sells bonds that he'll never repay and buys lots of nice things in order to achieve his dream of marrying Daisy.

Archetypes:

Protagonist - Nick Carraway
Trickster - Jay Gatsby
Mentor - Tom Buchanan
Dark Mentor - Dan Cody
Attractor - Nick's father
Dark Attractor - Daisy
Sidekick - Finn
Dark Sidekick - Jordan

Metaphors and Symbols and Allegory:
shades of light
shades of color
the interplay between west and east
gold rush
the dutch coming to the new world  (was west to them)

The point of school - in the general sense

The point of school in the general sense is to show you how to use tools, within the framework of pretend problems.

Never forget.  Your problems are yours and yours alone.  Your solutions are yours and yours alone.  The tools, we share them.

Each student brings their own problems.  Each student can share how they use their tools.  Each student finds their own solutions.

What's the greatest hook in the world?

?

Emotional hook.  Relationship hook.

A question.

What's a question mark look like?   ON ITS SIDE.
UPSIDE DOWN ¿

On the surface, it's the tools used in the story that hook the audience.  The tools are what we showcase in a movie trailer.

But underneath, it's the theme, it's that question the story sets up, that lingers in the back of your mind, that hooks you.

Triple fucking threat to conquer creation

Theme: To become a great writer?  Write a lot.

Tools:

Word processor.

Professional Screenplays.

Apply every single concept you can find towards your writing and other writers screenplays.

a)Screenplay books, blogs, classes...

Cross Reference the writing process and the "general concept" behind a concept with every similar pursuit.

a)Landscape design, book writing, play writing, menu design, food design, architecture, music design, all levels and types of construction....from a piece of paper to the human body.  How is it put together?  What is similar in the construction throughout all of these fields?

Thesis: A screenplay.  Deconstruct other writers screenplays.  Deconstruct other constructors works.  "How was this sandwich made?"  "How was this chair put together?"

Protagonist and Trickster - Mirror Archetypes

Reiterating my take that protagonist and nemesis, protagonist and antagonist are NOT mirror archetypes as MANY screenwriters have been led to believe.

The Protagonist and Trickster archetypes are mirror archetypes.

Here is an example.

Meet the protagonist.  He wants to become a firefighter.  But he also wants to makes his wife happy and she does not want him to become a firefighter.

Meet the trickster.  He wants to keep being a firefighter.

Both characters want to be a firefighter for the same reason.  Let's say it's "to be a savior."  The trickster wants the same "general" goal as the protagonist.  AND like the protagonist he's not sure how to get it.

The difference:  In most stories the trickster does not have what might be labeled as an "internal conflict" or a "personal conflict."  

Take Star Wars IV for example.

The theme is "what makes a successful person?"

Both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader want to be successful at their chosen job occupation.  Both want to be a successful Jedi.

 The Trickster already has the toys, the tools, etc. but uses them in hindrance to his goal.  Death star, light sabers, space jets.
That explains why they can get in the way of the protagonist achieving their goal.

The Trickster says they want the same thing but unconsciously they want the opposite.

Screenplays are about Tools - Sorta

The tool of a movie is the marketing poster.

It's what everyone thinks the movies about.  It's what everyone calls Theme.

It's what a company's Brand is.

It's the thing everyone wants to know how to use to solve their problem.

It's the glue that connects Theme and Thesis.

It's the ornament that connects function and form.

It's an "abstract idea" - a metaphor/symbol AND it's a tool.

Star wars - "trust", the force and light saber, space jet, death star
Shawshank redemption - Hope, hammer
pulp fiction - second chances, sword, bullet, garage and towel
big lebowski - "a dick" and information (dialectic has two)
toy story 3 - love
fisher king - forgiveness
batman begins - fear
sixth sense - the sixth sense
se7ven - the seven deadly sins
indiana jones and the last crusade - the holy grail

Note:
The tool can be expressed both literally and figuratively.  And above I'm intermixing, showing one or both.

Take Batman Begins.

The tool:
Literally - the bat suit, the bat toys, the scarecrow mask and drug
figurativelly - Fear

So ask, how is the tool used by the opposing sides in terms of reaching the goal,  answering the theme?


A tool:  For Christians- It's what the holy spirit and bible is to God and Jesus.
A tool: It's what screenwriting books and their knowledge are to Writer's and screenplays
A tool:  It's what blogs are to readers and "doing work."

Archetypes in The Shawshank Redemption in conjunction with Theme and Thesis

     "They can't ignore me forever." - Andy Dufresne

The Shawshank Redemption is the story of a hopeless character named Red who's relationship with Andy Dufresne leads him to change his mind and heart.

It is also the story of Andy Dufresne who struggles to come to terms with how the hell he ended up in prison.

The movie contains two thematic questions. For Red it is, "Is Red rehabilitated?"  And for Andy it is, "Is Andy Guilty?"  (From a writer's standpoint these thematic questions are important, while archetypes are useless.)

The main thesis characters for Red's thematic question are Brooks and Andy.
Both Brooks and Andy illustrate two ways to be set free, to be redeemed.
Red remains in the middle until he must choose a thesis at the end.

At the start of the story, Red, from an intellectual stance is rehabilitated but from an emotional stance he is not.  He is institutionalized.  He needs to be redeemed, i.e. set free.

The Webster dictionary defines redemption as To recover ownership of by paying a specified sum. Red needs to recover ownership of himself.  To Redeem means to set free.  Andy helps to redeem Red.

He must witness Andy's actions and learn what it is to Hope in order to be rehab'd emotionally.  He must witness Brooks, a character who seems like he's rehabilitated(he's a kind old man), he must witness, hear about, Brooks killing himself.  He must learn that a rehabilitated man must have hope in order to be truly rehabilitated.

Red has a problem.  He's stuck in prison and he's lost all hope.  In fact he sees hope as a dangerous thing to have.  When put in front of a parole board he "says all the right things."  He looks to others for his freedom, his salvation, he looks to others to tell him when to eat, sleep, and piss.  He's institutionalized.  He needs to be redeemed.

This is an "Observational" Story-type.  One in which the main character observes another character, argues with that character and either changes for the better or remains the same and deals with those consequences.

They're story-types that share a concept in which it is as if the main character is saying to you, the audience, "Here's a story about this guy who changed my heart and mind."

Unique to this type of story is that the protagonist and antagonist "battle" it out while the main character witnesses the events.

These story-types make writers confused in terms of who is the protagonist, who is the main character, who is the hero - but don't worry about labels.  Labels won't make you a stronger writer.  Understanding thematic questions and how they are explored will.

Other stories like this are "The Great Gatsby" and "Au Revoir Les Enfants."

Hero's Journey archetypes don't seem to flesh themselves out as clearly in this type of story.  Probably because the observational character is not actively seeking a goal.

Archetypes:

Observational Character - Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, he's Irish.  But really Red is short for REDemption.  Ask Steven King.

Protagonist - non-existent in this story.  Now if this was a story in which Andy tries to rally the prisoners to breakout and getaway - okay.
Antagonist - non-existent in this story

Shapeshifter - Warden Norton
Mentor - Red - teaches Andy how to get things.  How life in the prison works.
Attractor - Andy - teaches Red how to stand up for himself.
Sidekick - Tommy, Heywood
Trickster - Elmo Blatch
Dark Sidekicks - Three sisters, Parole board, Hadley



FUCK you.  Fuck all of you!  

www.fuckyouandthesearchengineyoucameinon.com

Archetypes in Star Wars IV in conjunction with Theme and Thesis

Theme of Star Wars: "How to be a successful person?"

Embodying theme we have the protagonist and the trickster.

Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader

Both trying to be a successful person but not sure which thesis to decide on.

Thesis one: Allow the force to work through you.

Mentor Obi wan
Attractor Leia
Sidekicks C3PO and R2D2

Thesis two: Force the force to do what you want.

Dark Mentor Emperor(nemisis, shadow)

Dark Attractor Han Solo

Dark sidekicks Storm Troopers

I'm using the word value Dark to differentiate that two sets of characters support opposing theses.  It may not help to get hung up on word values like dark, negative, bad, villain, shadow.

Theme and Thesis in reference to Batman Begins

BATMAN BEGINS lacks a clear evocation of theme and thesis.

Batman Begins tells the story of a person name Bruce Wayne who refuses to use the judicial system to stop criminals but instead learns martial arts and acquires weapons and armor to kick their asses.

Opening argument: "They’re never the same, Bruce.
Justice is about harmony... revenge
is about you making yourself feel
better." - Rachel

Ending belief: "True things. You made me see that
justice is about more than my own
pain and anger." - Bruce Wayne

Did she Bruce?  And how did you come to believe that because I don't recall a single action you took to try to prove the opposite.  Did you kill anyone and think, "Shit I don't feel better...I feel worse!"  NO.  Did you seek revenge and fail to find inner peace?  NO.

WELL here's a quagmire:  If this story is about Justice to create Harmony vs. Revenge to appease personal feelings.  Where in Bruce's story are there markers of Bruce's growth?

NEWS FLASH - There aren't any.

The main conflict rests between Bruce(batman) and Ducard(Ra's al ghul) but it's about trying to get rid of criminals vs. destroy the city and kill all the people in order to go back to primitive times.   Ducard believes the entire city is corrupt but this belief has nothing to do with Bruce's belief that revenge will appease his soul.

Wait....What's the problem?
Bruce never wanted to destroy the city.  So this conflict has nothing to do with the argument he has with Rachel throughout the movie.

There is no visual personal character change for Bruce Wayne.  He reaches his general goal of justice...of stopping criminals without emotional struggle.  There are no scenes where he "gives up", "questions what he's doing" etc.

Rachel's feelings that maybe Batman shouldn't be allowed to "work" with the cops...they never quite connect with her opening argument.

Why?  Because Batman is not acting against the justice system.  He's not killing anyone.  He's not seeking personal revenge.

WHERE ARE THE SCENES IN WHICH BATMAN SEEKS REVENGE AND REGRETS DOING SO?

Aigh aigh, captain.  They don't exist.

At least the story was entertaining.

For all you readers who want to argue that the theme of Batman Begins is Fear.

Blow it out your a- just kidding.

Sure Bruce is afraid of the bats, he's afraid of Chill who killed his parents....but then....show me scenes in which he has to overcome his fears, scenes where he says "Maybe I can't reach my goal because I'm afraid."  Scenes where he wears the batman costume but runs in fear of the criminals.

Bruce Wayne is not afraid.  Fear may be a Theme as in a MOTIF in this story but it's not the substance of Bruce Wayne's emotional journey.  He never argues that "Fear is something you should not embrace."  He simply embraces his fear, dresses up in a bat suit, and kicks ass.

How I used to use Theme and Thesis to develop a screenplay

The following information is stupid:

I don't.  Well, I don't pick a theme and start because...

Theme...the thematic question....is the goal line for the writer.  Once you find your theme.  It's time to move on to a new story.  So sure you may have a great idea of what it is halfway through writing it but forget about nailing it down.

Theme is like the anti-goal.  It's the goal line that let's you know your done but you don't want to reach it before the story is written.

So this is how I start:

I write some scenes with characters talking.  Incorporate locations and costumes and build the world.  I write till I get a personal goal line.  I write until I get a competing personal goal line.  Main character wants this but he also wants this.  Each goal line supported by another character trying to convince my character to work towards it.

Then I try to figure out what each personal goal means.  Meaning, what thesis is each goal line representing.  And I label the thesis one word.  Like Safe vs. Risk.  Hope vs. Fear.  etc.  Then I write until I get a story goal line.  And I write to see which personal goal line is leading to the reaching of the story goal line.  Then I turn the story goal line into a theme.  A question.  then i write the ending. and i'm done.

Here's an example.  Luke skywalker wants to be a successful Jedi.  So I create two Jedi's.    I have darth vader supporting the idea of using the force.  And I have Ben supporting the idea of allowing the force to use him.

So I pull back out of those thesis and find the thematic goal "I want to be a successful Jedi."
Theme:  "What makes a successful Jedi."  No.  I don't look for theme at this point.  It wouldn't help me.  Theme is the goal line for the writer.  So getting there at this point, without having written so much...you can see.

At this point I need to allow the creative force to use me.  yeah baby.

So i'm writing these scenes...and it's probably no where near the final draft version, right?  I probably have scenes with Darth and Luke in the same room.  So ideas come and go and blah blah blah.

So I name these two goals.  To use the force.  To let the force use me.  My two thesis.

So i also have scenes with ben illustrating with luke how the force can use him.

so i'm writing scenes with luke using the force and allowing the force to use him.


So I ask myself how do I illustrate in a big way which one of these thesis works better?  So luke is training with weapons, probably make a big weapon he can use.  or a big weapon he has to stop with another weapon.

Jet fighters.  Air fight.

well, if Darth vader represent using the force.  Create a big weapon he can showcase that thesis.  Death Star.  So i go back early in the story and show how the force can be used.  Death star blows up planet.  Nice illustration of the use of The Force.

Obiwan with blindfold on luke.  Nice illustration of the force using Luke.

hmmm.  Okay so I get the idea that the death star will be used again.   So Luke must choose which thesis he will become and stop the death star.

then i get the idea that he won't choose until the last possible minute.  He's working through both thesis up until the last second.

Theme: So what makes a successful jedi?




Thesis:
Writing is a tough journey because you start with nothing and build toward something.

Thesis:
Analysis is easy because you start with everything and deconstruct toward nothing.

Thesis:
It's always easier to destroy.