Character Concept Summary

#16: Relatable characters give a story to audience
Empathy/Sympathy
Common traits with the audience between characters

#17: Relatable characters come from everywhere
Use people you have met
Not imaginary, characters from experience
Combine personalities/aspects together

#35: When Losing Isn't An Option
Villains start with advantage
Heroes have more to lose than villains
Villains usually lose due to their greediness
Characters MUST achieve their goal, consequences of losing it are too high
Heroes engage in high risks in order to win
Villains only have to maintain their internal status quo
Heroes are not usually aggressors or have the power base to launch an offensive.

#38: Characters Enhance Conflict
Conflict fueled by traits
Foil characters, ones who make conflict

#39
Characters change minds/decisions
Characters change because of conflict

#40
Way a character surpasses a challenge is more interesting than the challenge itself (HERO'S JOURNEY)

Concept 68 Brainstormer

#1:
1. I dont' have the money. - A man is being extorted to pay for protection.
2. This is bad. - There is water seeping into the hull of the ship and the men down there notice it.
3. We have to do something. - Someone got shot, and bystanders are watching the action unfold.
4. It can't be true. - A woman is discovering that she is pregnant.
5. That train has left the station. - A tourist just missed his station and is now stuck in the middle of a foreign country.
6. What can I do for you? - A barkeeper is wiping down his counter in his empty bar while a person walks in.
7. I don't want this. - A mafia stand-off and one of the gangs throws down a briefcase, the rival refuses.
8. Is this what I think it is? - Two guys are looking into the back of the trunk, and one of them has just escaped from prison.
9. Do you mind? - In the movie theater there is a loud couple and someone in the front turns around and asks them politely to be quiet.
10. Can I trust you? - An agent is giving an important package to a "random" person.

African-American Representation

African-Americans represented in movies and television today fill more and more roles of being successful businessmen or leading figures in law enforcement.  They also are put into more educated roles, such as doctors in House M.D.  African-Americans are still discriminated against to refer back to the roots of their culture and how it affects the people around them.  The representation of African-Americans has improved over time as the genres began to change themselves.  The movies and shows I have seen depicted most African-Americans as being dumb, meat-headed or living in the ghettos and being gangsters.

Suspense Techniques

Dialogue Means Nothing:
Use facial expressions, have on character not listening to another, dialogue can be a lie.

Keep the Story Simple:
Linear and streamlined, repeated plots in dialogue, single or few settings, story simple - character complex

Characters Must Break Cliché:
Unpredictable characters, realistic characters, ironies in characteristics

Use Humor to Add Tension:
Characters in ironic situations, dialogue that serves two purposes

Two Things Happening at Once:
Distract audience, fit more into screen-time,

Suspense is Information:
Constant reminder of danger, music, focus on antagonist's actions,

Surprise and Twist:
Expected outcome surprises  audience with twist,

Warning May Cause MacGuffin:
Something that is unknown but wanted by many of the characters, drives the story, may be something little or mind-blowing,

Part II: Confrontation Scene in Rear Window
Characters Must Break Cliché: Thorwald is crazed and mad but was previously seen as level-headed and cool under pressure.

Use Humor to Add Tension: Stella speaks in her last line a double-standard and realizes what she says after the fact.  Detectives suggest taking a boat down the river and touring it for the body parts.

Two Things Happening at Once: The battle between Jeff and Thorwald while in the background Lisa, Stella, Coyne, and detectives search Thorwald's apartment.  Jeff is pushed out onto the ledge and the fight between them still happens as his rescuers attempt to stop Thorwald and save Jeff from falling.

Surprise and Twist:  Thorwald attempts to throw Jeff out the window.  The head was in the flower bed all along until Thorwald murdered the dog and dug it out of the ground.

Hitchcock's Techniques for Suspense

Technique #1:
Dialogue Means Nothing - This means that the dialogue scenes are not plainly just talking, the characters are interacting with each other or are distracted by something else.  This is evident in the various scenes where the main character is using the camera while talking to his associates.

Technique #2:
Characters Must Break Cliché - Stereotypical characters are given new characteristics and break the cliché that they are usually accompanied with.  This happens when Lisa becomes more and more involved in the crime and brings in information that helps solving the case.

Technique #3:
Surprise And Twist - Keep the audience thinking one way, then pull the rug from underneath them.  This technique is shown more towards the middle and the characters are beginning to question if it was really a murder or the sickly wife is just on a vacation.

Concept 67 Brainstormer

#1:

Sitcoms perpetuate stereotypes more than T.V. dramas.

1. Freaks and Geeks
2. The Office
3. Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide

Concept 66 Brainstormer

#2:

X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Shooter

The main characters lived in the forest, away from civilization and urban growth.

Concept 63 and 64 Brainstormers

63)
1.
Suburban community.  I would use easy listening to convey the feeling of easy life and a quiet neighborhood, nothing too loud.  The scenes would consist of overhead shots of the neighborhood to show the size of the community itself and what kind of population inhabits it.

64)
3.
Having a Big Speech would depend on who the person was and the setting the story takes place in.  If it was in some kind of prison breakout scene or a battlefield scene it would be appropriate, but really small places with barely anyone to listen to the speech would feel drawn out and unnecessary.

Twilight Zone Reflection

The writers created suspense by having the main character's face never being shown.  The lighting also plays a huge part in the suspense because we never see anyone else's faces.  The characters also talk about her predicament and how sad a case it is, and how the patient is so distressed over her dilemma.

Concept 62 Brainstormer

#2:

I have dreams where it seems like it's a normal day and actually go to sleep in the dream.  I then wake up and see the date is the exact same but then the day plays out exactly like it did in my dream.  My script would have multiple scenarios of these days.

Concept 61 Brainstormer

#1:
3 Voice over movies:
1. Memento
2. Bladerunner (The Original)
3. A Christmas Story