Subtext & Choice

Decision #1
Set Up:
The situation is that Morty first hears about Natalie's frustration with Bobby in his car, and how she wishes he "would die".

Objective:
Morty wants nothing more than to do anything to make Natalie happy.

Options:
Morty can both take what Natalie is saying with a grain of salt and ignore it, or he could take matters into his own hands and go after Bobby.

Decision:
He makes the choice to go ahead a kill Bobby.

Motivation:
His growing obsession with Natalie.

Result:
This is the beginning of the end for Morty and the battle he will have between fantasy and reality.

Decision # 2

Set Up:
The situation is that Morty is not sure if he should talk to Natalie specifically about what he wants to do to Bobby.

Objective: Morty wants to do whatever possible to make Natalie happy, but feels that maybe by not telling her, or even speaking to her at all, the murder will be a lot more discrete.

Options:
He can both go to Natalie and tell her what his plans are, or go ahead with his plans and surprise her in the end with this "gift" to end her troubles.

Decision:
He decides not to tell Natalie about his plans.

Motivation:
He makes this choice because he wants to surprise Natalie, and also because he doesn't want to do anything to harm her reputation.

Result:
Morty begins to have a psychological battle between what he believes his relationship is with Natalie. This is when he begins to convince himself that Natalie's subtle movements around him in school are definite signals of approval on her part.

Decision #3

Set Up:
The situation is that Morty finally ends up killing Bobby.

Objective:
Morty wants to fulfill Natalie's "wish" by killing off her boyfriend, as he believes she wanted him to do.

Options:
The choices he has is to keep this to himself, or finally reveal it to Natalie.

Decision:
He goes to Natalie and tells her what he did anticipating her gratitude.

Motivation:
He believes that this is what Natalie really wanted all along.

Result:
Natalie breaks down from the news, Morty realizes that all the "signs" from Natalie of approval were all is his head, and Natalie has him put away.

Bobby

So I am running into a lot of problems when it comes to figuring out the character of Natalie's boyfriend. I know I do have him as the ideal jock, but he also has a soft spot for Natalie. By doing this, I want him to have a close background with his mother. I want something to have happened to her that would make him respect women so much. I think I want it to be the difficulty of maybe his mother's and father's marriage. I don't want his relationship to be tainted with his father, but I want his father to not be a great husband. In other words Bobby will recognize that his father is an amazing Dad, just a shitty husband that broke his mother's heart by leaving her for someone younger. When this happens, he is about 11 years old; young enough that it will really hurt, but old enough that he understands. He gets really close to his mother and this point, and decides that he will never be like his dad in that aspect, and will give the respect women need. At about 14 years old, he meet Natalie, and falls head over heels in love. They do have their quarrels, but all Bobby wants to do is love Natalie. The only issue they really have, is that Natalie is EXTREMELY high maintenance, and LOVES to fight and cause drama for attention. What leads up to her stating that she want him dead to Morty, is when they get into one of their fights about Bobby being 20 min. late from picking her up from cheerleading practice. Fed up with the screaming, he speeds off and leaves her at school where she would need to find another ride. Morty, then leaving his Chess Meeting, and Natalie knowing how much Morty likes her, ask him is he can take her home. He agrees, and this is where we lead to the conversation that leads to Bobby inevitable demise. Wow, ok, so there is his background!

Dialog Assignment.....

Morty sits alone is his room thinking about all the events that had just happened between him and Natalie.
"I need to ask you a question", says Natalie.
"What is it that you want?"
"I really would like you to kill my boyfriend."
VO by Morty, "I couldn't understand what she was telling me; why did she want me of all people to do this for her?"
"I don't understand."
"My boyfriend has been driving me crazy, and I just think it would be so much easier if he would just go away!"
VO by Morty, "I would do anything for you! I thought."
"I think that could be arranged", he said.
Morty sat there and looked Natalie in the eye as if to show her his determination on doing this for her.
Natalie say this intensity and looked quickly away.
"Okay, well I guess it is time for my cheerleading practice, see you later, ummmmm, Michael?"
"It's Morty."
"Right, that's what I thought."
"Alright I'll tell you when there is progress."
"What?"
"Nothing, I'll just talk to you later."
Natalie looks at him in an uneasy way, but doesn't take him seriously, and walks away.
As Natalie walks away, Morty stares at her the whole way with a menacing look of obsession. He knows this is his goal; the only way to win his loves heart. He will have to kill Bobby.

....

So I have decided to make Morty not attempt to kill Natalie's boyfriend until the very end where he succeeds. I thought that having him try and try again and again with fail, would put it back into the comedic way in which it started which is not what I am looking for anymore. I want to focus on his characteristics, and why he is so crazy. I want to show how obsession takes him over and make him so disconnected from reality. I want the audience to really get the sense that everything he is picturing in his head is truly happening until the very end. Every time Natalie passes by, there will be a VO on what he exactly think it means when she glances his way, or brushes his shoulder, I want it to drive him absolutely insane. I want the audience to see how he plans the murder, how he follows her boyfriend everywhere he can for the 2 weeks of planning. I do not have a name for the boyfriend yet, but since he is going to be a Jock, I was thinking something like Bobby. I do not want his character to be kind of on the tough side when it comes to appearance, but be an all around nice guy in school.

EXCITED!!

So I am really excited to go forward with my new idea for my script about Morty just basically being a lunatic. By doing the script this way, it will be a lot more original in the sense that it won't be another "Teeny Bopper" movie, and will have some edge. I do want Morty to indefinitely kill off Natalie's boyfriend, and for her to freak out when this happens. I am also thinking that since he has always had it in his mind that she "wanted him to do all of this", when she send him to jail, I want him to say to himself how this is also part of the plan. How he needed to go to jail so that the crime would be solved, but that "she would be back". You then see him in his jail cell, with her picture, (that he stole from locker) repeating over and over, she will be back. By leaving it this way it almost would leave the audience feeling very uneasy and not sure what would happen to this lost soul.
I also the script to have internal dialog that will narrative all of the acts Morty will commit. It will describe all of the interactions between him and Natalie,and all of the "signs" she gives him to get him to kill her boyfriend. Once he does kill him, I want there to be flashbacks of all these interactions between Natalie and Morty to show what they did in fact mean, and how crazy he really is. I want it to have a sort of "Donnie Darko" type of feel to it, at least the character that will play Morty.

My pitches....

So I have been trying to do the 3-minute pitches and it has been a lot harder than I thought. Being able to fill in enough description without going over the minutes in a bit of a challenge, but it is going good. I also have found out how I want the attempts of killings to go along in the movie. I do not want Morty to be by himself in this task. I want him to have an alliance of nerds to help him, but will not know all the details of what is going on. They will think that they are helping Morty, hurt or humiliate Natalie's boyfriend, not kill him. They will help him find out his schedule, what he is allergic to, what his fears are, etc. Then Morty will use this to his advantage when plotting his revenge. By having this change of events, we will see how Morty will starts beginning to take the image of Natalie. He will be using people that he feels will look up to him in order to do his dirty deeds as Natalie is doig to him. With this we will begin to see the rise and fall of both characters as their betrayal come back to haunt them as Natalie's boyfriend starts to catch wind of what is happening. He know that Natalie is behind it, but as Morty gets closer and closer to him and is usually around, Natalie's boyfriend grows fond of the nerd and wants Morty's help to take out Natalie.

More on my script...

I believe writing a comedy was much harder than I expected it to be. As much as I envision these characters and the ways in which I would like to portray their personalities, it is hard to get them all to come together. I know how I want Morty and Natalie to meet. I see how the situation with Natalie and her head coach is going to happen, and how her boyfriend is going to react, but nothing after that. But I guess that is a beginning. When it comes to Natalie, and her head coach. I want it to be over the top and silly. I want them to be on a trip somewhere for a competition and end up getting belligerently drunk with each other because of then getting drunk. Her head coach will not be the best looking person in the world, would preferably look like the coach from Clueless, but will look like a hot male in Natalie's eyes. You will get a POV shot from Natalie of her coach blurred into a celebrity such a Brad Pitt, and she has her relations with her. While this is happening, you will see her boyfriend outside of their window with a bouquet of flowers and a balloon saying "Maybe Next Time". He will leave heart broken and that is where I am stuck. I hopefully will have more to say tomorrow....

More on my script....

I have been thinking much more about my script, and I have decided on some of the ways in which Natalie is going to approach Morty with her decision to kill her boyfriend. Natalie is also on the swim team, she does notice that Morty is always sitting all the way in the back of the bleachers looking over her at all of her meets. The day after she find out that her boyfriend is threatening to blackmail her, she decides to use her, in a swimsuit after her meet, to her advantage to confront Morty. We see in a POV of Morty, Natalie coming straight towards him after she is done with her laps. She has just released her hair from her cap, towel almost unraveling at her hips, and her hair flowing across her face (all done in slow motion). Then we see Morty's face and his whole body tighten as he looks around wondering who it is that she is looking at, thinking it could never be him. As she finally reaches him, she gives him a kiss on the cheek and whispers to him, "Meet me behind the gym in about 20 minutes", and walks away. Morty's cheeks turn red as he cleans his glasses out of disbelief. He is left without breath, and confused as ever. He sits there for about 10 minutes, and he sees her walk away and turn back and smile. With this we get a VO of Morty stating how he cannot believe what had just happened, how he can't believe she actually spoke to him, and was convinced it had to be about Geometry homework, or something of that matter. He also states how he will never wash the right side of his cheek ever again because of her soft kiss.
By this short part of the script, we can see the confidence Natalie has, and the power she has over Morty. With a few words, and the appeal of her beauty, he is left spellbounded at untimately at her beckon call.

Deciding on my film...

So after doing our pitches yesterday, I have decided to go forward and the my script about the geeky boy, convinced by head cheerleader to kill her boyfriend. I really want to make their characters sort of a quirky spin off to film noir. I want to keep it modern day, but give it the voice over techniques coming from the voice of the main character Morty, and give Natalie the femme fatal look. I still haven't really established the way in which I would want Natalie's boyfriend to look like as of right now, because I'm still working on the two main characters. When thinking of who I would cast for the role of Morty, I was thinking about actors such as Colin Hanks, Topher Grace, Lucas Grabeel, Mitchel Musso, Steven Christopher Parker, or Michael Cera. For the role of Natalie, I would cast someone such as Kirby Bliss Blanton, Selena Gomez, Ashley Tisdale, Sophia Bush, Erika Christensen, or Leighton Meester. I want Natalie to be very sexy, but yet harmless looking in the film. When it comes to her boyfriend though, I think I want him to be an ideal jock, but also with a soft side, not scary looking per say. Someone like Channing Tatum.... but that's all I can think of at the moment. I definitely will have to get deeper into his character and characteristics before trying to think of someone to cast his part. But other than that, that is as far as I have gotten to far with my movie... still brainstorming!!

Blog Assignment : The Prestige...

I really did enjoy reading the script for The Prestige. When it comes to referring to it in relation to story in general, I see a lot of comparisons. The relationship with the two main characters, Angier and Borden, in my opinion, are the basis of the thought process. There are always two sides of a story, and many things left out, and brought back in the end. When writing a story it is all about the thought process. So you have two magicians that have all the tools to making their shows "the best" but they never really reach the ultimate Prestige. In order for you to really have a great script/story, you need to have it all come together. Someone can be obsessed with an idea, but if they so not realize where that idea can ultimately go, then it was useless from the beginning. This story teaches us how you really never know what is going to come out of anything unless you really think it through, and see all the outcomes. They repeat a lot throughout the script that Borden didn't have the "showmanship" that Angier ultimately had, but in the end, it was Algier that was defeated and did awful things to try to get to the point that Borden was. This relationship is the same in writing; someone can add a lot of special effects and fluff to a story, but without a core, it ultimately unravels and becomes "the one in the box, the one who disappears".

Ideas for my third pitch...

The main character I would like for my third pitch would go by the name of Veronica. Veronica is 18 years old and a freshman in college. While being in high school, she was top of her class, Prom Queen, and dating one of the most popular guys in school, Dale. She also received a free ride to the University of Alabama for cheerleading. Although this was her dream college, that meant that she would have to move from her hometown of Baton Rouge, LA and leave her high school sweetheart behind as well. They decided a long distance relationship wouldn't be a problem, and she went of the Alabama. The first four months for her in college were amazing. She had gotten A's in all her classes, and Dale visited her as much as he could, but there was something eating her up inside that she couldn't control. Since Veronica was little, her mother was obsessed with her being the "ideal weight". She put Veronica in beauty pageants since she was about 4 and also modeling. By doing this to her at such a young age, Veronica was raised thinking that her weight and looks defined the person she would become. All her life, she secretly was obsessed with this, and even became anorexic for sometime, although no one noticed. By keeping her grades up, and being involved in school, she used this as a tool to distract not only everyone, but her own mind. Although this had been working for quite some time, by the time college hit, and she was ultimately by herself, without her comfort zone back home, her walls finally crashed all around her. She became once again obsessed with her weight and became bulimic. Although she was in the best shape of her life, it wasn't good enough. She became so obsessed that even when Dale came, and saw how sick she had become and tried to get her help, she screamed in a fit of rage and made him leave. After about 2 months of this, he finally couldn't take it, and left her. The rest of the story would be about her journey of trying to begin again on her own two feet, and find the person she truly is. She finally finds that life being rail thin is not the life for her, and begins to see the beauty of everything around her rather than what her mother expects and magazines force girls to believe.

Other Characters for Another Pitch......

I have been thinking about other characters for my pitches and really became extremely interested on my character for the pitch about the alcoholic. My character's name is Brandon. He is 25 and recently graduated from college. As comes with most college life, he became somewhat of a "party guy" and learn very well how to handle his alcohol. As time progressed, he changed from being the guy everyone loved to hang out with at parties, to the belligerent drunk puking in the backyard. His friends had always taunted him about his drinking habits, and the stupid things he did the night before, but never really realized how much of a problem this was becoming for him. Brandon would spend hours out of his day curled up in his room crying because he felt that no one understood. He tried to be sober many times, and it seems like no luck. His friends never believed him when he tried to become sober, and would just taunt him and tell him he would be "wasted with them by the end of the week". This story will tell the tale of how hard it is to overcome something such as alcoholism, especially when you have no one to turn to, and no one to back you up. As much as everyone thinks Brandon will not succeed, you see him go through all of these stages of recovery; not only physically but mentally.

An Idea for my Characters...

It has been a while since I have posted anything... but I did have a couple of ideas for some characters I wanted to use in one of my movies. The movie in which there is the nerdy kid in high school with his femme fatal, I was thinking on calling his Morty. Morty is in his Sophomore year in high school. He is about 5"7 and weighs 145 soaking wet. He is on the honor society, deans list, chess club, and a major Star Trekkie. His femme fatal is named Natalie. Natalie is in her Junior year of high school. She is 5"4, about 110 pounds and very athletic. She is head Cheerleader, Class President, Homecoming Princess three years in a row, and dating the captain of the wrestling team. This story will the show the relationship between the two of them, and how one's admiration will become an obsession. The ways in which one's own demons can take over someone's mind in order to achieve what they really think is "important" in life. In Morty's case, to win his dream girl.

Something to make someone smile...

My mom and dad usually send me a bunch of chain letters that i never even get around to reading, but for some reason this one caught my eye and I thought it would be nice enough to share with the class. It is about the natural high's in life. These are the moments when someone in genuinely happy for the little things that happen in their everyday lives... enjoy....

Natural Highs
Think about them one at a time before going on to the next one. It Does Make You Feel Good, especially the thought at the end of #44.
1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket.
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail.
7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.
8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio..
9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
11. Milkshake (any flavor).
12. A bubble bath.
13. Giggling.
15. The beach.
16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
17. Laughing at yourself.
18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they Love you
19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
20. Running through sprinklers.
21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS
24. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
25. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
26. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
27. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.
28. Playing with a new puppy.
29. Having someone play with your hair.
30. Sweet dreams.
31. Hot chocolate.
32. Road trips with friends.
33. Swinging on swings.
34. Making eye contact with a cute stranger..
35. Making chocolate chip cookies.
36. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.
37. Holding hands with someone you care about.
38. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
39. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
40. Watching the sunrise.
41. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.
42. Knowing that somebody misses you.
43. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
44. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.



Hope this made everyone smile, as it made me :)

My approaches to pitches....

I have been thinking a lot about what types of themes I wanted to use for my pitches. Although I do want to take into account the essay I wrote about what I believe in, I don't believe I want to use it as a main subject, but more as a muse. I want my protagonists to go though the journeys of finding themselves, and loving themselves, but in very different ways. I was thinking that my first pitch would be the journey of an alcoholic. I want to take this person out of the everyday stereotype of being either a "dead beat" or the butt of everyone's jokes. I want to show the trials they go through internally that many don't see, and that's why don't understand. Another pitch I was thinking about would be one in which the nerd in the school gets lured by the "femme fatal" popular to kill her boyfriend for her. I want the audience to see how much peer pressure and someone's low self-esteem can sometimes get them in the biggest trouble of their lives. How they try to do anything in their power to get someone to "love" them, without even thinking that maybe loving themselves in the most important thing they can do. The third pitch I was thinking about was that of the restless prom queen. A story about a girl that had everything in the world; a long time boyfriend, Prom Queen, great friends, and the attention of anyone she desired, but none of this meant a thing to her. The depression this girl had been one that could never be solved by fake smiles and fairytales, nothing was ever good enough. She comes to a point in her life that she can't take it anymore and is about to crack; her boyfriend moved on, high school is over, and she is all alone, and needs to find it within herself to move on from the lies and find the truth within herself. I hope someone can give me some suggestions. I mean these are just ideas that just came to me as I started writing, so please don't judge too critically... :)

About my belief....

I have been thinking a lot about my belief that I had posted yesterday, and how hard it really is to follow it. There have been many trials and tribulations in my life that would definitely go against the belief that there is a brighter side at the end of the tunnel. When listening to Prof. Gay today in class, he said how sometimes we use declarations, like our beliefs, as something that we force ourselves to believe in because of the fact that it is in fact the complete opposite of what we have experienced in our lives. This statement hit me to the core. It is easy to say that you can completely love yourself for who you are, but then there is that moment of vulnerability in which someone says one thing to challenge your existence that makes you feel just as empty as when you started. That one thing about your personality that you tried so hard to surpass and move on from, and drags it right back into existence without hesitation. As I said before, isn't so much easier to say the negative before looking at the positive in a person? When will they realize we are all here for the same reasons, to survive in this cutthroat world and have someone there to keep our head up, not help it fall....

Loving yourself is half the battle.....

There are many things in life that are hard to explain; a lot of the times in which we feel we have hit a dead end, with no other way in sight. As much as we all feel that there is no way out, no "light at the end of the tunnel" I believe that this is mainly because we don't believe in ourselves to succumb these obstacles.

Relationships have always been one of the most complicated things surrounding my life. In my family’s culture, monogamy is not always an option. It seems that many people feel that regardless of what happens, you should always stand by the person you married, and never question what the other is doing. I, on the other hand, believe the total opposite. I believe that a marriage between two people should be only between those two people. That although there is temptation in the world, there is also the strength inside to turn the other way. The only way that I feel this strength can be successful is if you do in fact love yourself. If you can look yourself in the mirror and know that you are worth more than anything is the world, then the world will take notice and, for the most part, give you what you deserve.

Financial burdens are also a huge issue in my life. How many jobs can one person have until they are finally happy? This is a question I ask myself everyday, but at the same time I feel that until you do hit that point in your life, you should still look and never stop. Happiness is one of the most fundamentals things a person needs in life. To strive to get that job you've always wanted, or that apartment you couldn't afford until now comes from within when you finally realize that you really are worth better. Someone that walks into a building with their head held up high, usually receives a lot more glances than the person that looks down as if to become invisible to the world because they are not comfortable in their own skin.

Although all this is very easy to jot down in a blog, it is still something I too deal with everyday. It is easy to say you are genuinely happy with yourself until that one day when you look in the mirror and see you've gained a few pounds, or the person you liked for so long has found someone new, but I believe there are no dead ends in these stories, just u-turn's that lead to another journey. As much as it is easier to look down upon yourself, is how much we need to fight to look in the opposite direction. There are many problems in this world that we deal with on a day-to-day basis, but I believe that most of them can be resolved, or at least helped with a little self-encouragement within ourselves. The strength to know that we are stronger than we think, and we do in fact love ourselves with every flaw, and every issue. As they say “You cannot love someone else, until you love yourself.”

This I Believe "I Always Have A Choice"

I picked this essay simply because of how much it touched me. To know that there was someone out there that was suffering from such an awful disease such as ALS, and still finding ways to manage and enjoy life was amazing. We all complain of all the minor problems we have in our lives, and how awful our lives are because we can't afford the dress we want for New Year's, or because we can't go on the cruise for Spring Break, but no one ever takes the time to take a deep breath and appreciate the air around them. Her ways in finding "choices" that work with her complications instead of giving up are ones that I wish I could find in me to do as well.

This I Believe "Creating Our Own Happiness"

The reason in which I picked this essay is because I believe that it describes my personality perfectly in the aspect that I always try to find the best out of every situation. Money, power, and materials are very nice accessories to life, but they are not necessities. They might make our lives easier, but they do not really make us happy. Happiness can be found anywhere you go. In my opinion all bad things in life just make you stronger to keep going, and appreciate all that is around you that might not be amazing, but good enough to keep a smile on your face.

This I Believe "A Marriage That's Good Enough"

The reason in which I picked this article is because I believe that she has the right idea on how we look at life. People are so obsessed with the fantasy of being "perfect", that they do not realize how perfect and beautiful they are in their own way. There is no outline that shows people how they should live out their lives; there is no real wrong and right. There are only people trying to live out their lives as best as they can, and if we see the beauty and accomplishments we all achieve, instead of what we failed in, the world would be a better place.