George Polti’s 36 Dramatic Situations (Unfinished)
I have been struggling with this Homework task for a while now. In the task description, I was asked to only use films or books, so I am going to bend the rules a little bit, and include other forms of story (TV shows and Video Games)
Supplication
Deliverance
Vengeance of a crime
Vengeance taken kindred upon kindred
Pursuit
Disaster – Hitchhiker’s guide to the Galaxy (Book)
Falling prey to cruelty or misfortune
Revolt – A Clockwork Orange (Book & Film)
Daring enterprise
Abduction – Taken (Film)
Enigma
Obtaining – Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Film)
Enmity of kinsmen – The Simpsons (TV Series)
Rivalry of kinsmen – Pokemon Red and Blue (Video Game)
Murderous adultery – The Shawshank Redemption (Book & Film)
Madness – Madagascar (Film)
Fatal imprudence
Involuntary crimes of love
Slaying of a kinsmen unrecognised
Self-sacrifice for an ideal – I am Legend (Book & Film)
Self-sacrifice for kindred – Inside Out (Film)
All sacrificed for a passion
Necessity of sacrificing loved ones
Rivalry of superior and inferior – The Karate Kid (Film)
Adultery – Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (Graphic novel & Film)
Crimes of love – Game of Thrones (?) (Book series and TV Series)
Discovery of the dishonour of a loved one
Obstacles of love – Shrek (Film)
An enemy loved – Beauty and the Beast (Film)
Ambition
Conflict with a god – Binding of Isaac (Biblical Story)
Mistaken jealousy
Erroneous judgement
Remorse – Toy Story 2 (Film)
Recovery of a lost one
Loss of loved ones – Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)
Dialogue for Animation Performance
Writing Tasks
Ben and Jenny (Pairs)
We were given some basic outlines to a scene, we were given 2 characters (Ben and Jenny) a setting (The train station) and some simple story elements (Ben is waiting at the train station, bag and ticket in hand when Jenny enters trying to convince him not to go.) In pairs, we were asked to write the first 12 lines of dialogue in order to entice the audience, whilst also trying to display some of their character and relationship.
The scenario me and my partner came up with went as follows:
Ben is sitting in an empty train station waiting room.
Heavy rain is blowing onto the windows, distant train whistles can be heard, as well as the quite, electrical buzzes of the lights are the only sounds heard throughout the room.
Jenny bursts into the waiting room, breathing heavily and soaking wet from the rain.
The sound of water dripping onto the hard tile floor can now be heard.
The two make eye contact for a brief moment before Ben breaks away, looking down at his train ticket held between his knees.
Jenny crosses the room, her footsteps echoing around the room.
She sits down next to Ben, looking at her feet they both sit in silence for a couple of seconds.
In attempt to break the awkward silence, Jenny decides to speak up, with two words.
“I’m sorry…“
Ben, whilst still looking downwards turns his head towards Jenny, without making eye contact. He pauses for an uncomfortable amount of time, before giving his response.
He responds rather bluntly after letting out a loud sigh.
“I understand“
Another silence fills the room.
While Jenny is still much quicker to reply than Ben was, she also paused for a moment before speaking, choosing her words very carefully.
“I didn’t mean to explode like I did last night, I have been under a lot of stress lately..“
Ben doesn’t respond.
Jenny continues to explain herself.
“I’m so, so sorry about the things I said, it’s just that damned letter. My head has been in shambles.“
Ben gives another blunt response.
“I know. I understand.“
Once again, the room falls silent.
Jenny starts looking around the room aimlessly, fidgeting slightly as she does so, before looking back to her feet.
Ben can hear Jenny begin to cry softly, and is unsure what to do.
Despite sitting in this empty room for the last 30 minutes, he checks the waiting room to make sure there is no one around before putting his arm around Jenny’s shoulders. A hollow gesture at best. Ben was never good at being the consoling type.
Monologue (Individual)
After the writing task in pairs, we were given a similar witting task to complete individually. This time we had to write a monologue for a character who was talking about someone they missed and admired. The goal with this exercise was to interest the audience in both characters, whilst still being able to give information about the characters without getting too heavy on exposition. Here is what I wrote:
“It’s been a while… A long while in fact… But I’m not quite sure how long exactly. I may sound cheesy, or soppy by saying this, but… I miss him. I really do. But it’s not just the fact I am never going to see him again, I am going to miss all the little things just as much. The messages on my phone that I would wake up to in the early hours of the morning, telling me about how work was going. He would always hide in the toilets so that he could use his phone during work hours just to talk to me, most of the time I wouldn’t even be awake to respond, but it never stopped him. I miss the way he would always come to meet me at the train station when I came down to visit. The very first time I came down to see him, he told me he had to work late, so he wouldn’t be able to pick me up, so I would have to make my way to his house alone, only to surprise me at the train station with a bar of my favourite chocolate. I’m even going to miss the way that he would brush my hair over my ear, he would tell me it was so he could see my face. I’m going to miss it all, everything, and I know that I will never be able to have that again…“
Don Hertzfeldt (Unfinished)
Billy’s Balloon (1998)
Don Hertzfeldt is an independent film maker, and is the creator of several animated films, of which we watched Billy’s Balloon, which served as his 4th and final student film.
The short begins with Billy, a young child sitting around enjoying himself with his rattle and balloon. Before too long, his balloon hits him on the head. The balloon continues to abuse Billy for the rest of the short in increasingly dark and humorous ways. We then find out that the same thing is happening to all of the other children.
Despite the simple style of animation, it is still an exceptional piece of animation.
Animation or something 