Class 3 - Notes

Discussed summaries of Chapter two and reviewed information.

Read some of 1 paragraph stories out loud; discussed meaning behind some stories and suggested directions. Learned how to use FreeMind - free mindmapping software. Created a mind map of 1 paragraph story- see below. (click to see larger)


Talked about Inter-textual references in films such as the King Kong reference of the giant gate in Jurassic Park. References in films are usually made explicitly clear. List references that you use in your stories for ideas.

Also listed opposites in Jurassic park for an example. And discussed how to make a time line of your film with events in a linear sequence.

Pan's Labyrinth: (in class exercise)

Intertextual references - alice in wonderland, spainish civil war

Inspirational - fairytales, nightmares, religion, greek mythology, childhood to adulthood journey

Homework:
Read chapter 3 and post summary to blog.

Puddle- 1 paragraph story

Kesa is looking into a puddle and feels a force pull her into it. She wakes up in a new world inside the puddle. It is all wet and white, trees looking like blanched vegetables litter the landscape. She wants to go home initially and searches for a way out but cannot find one. She sees her world from below her feet in a foggy haze but cannot reach it. She then decides to wander in her newly discovered world and finds some sickly looking plants that appear to be brown and slimy and dying. As she is distracted by studying the sickly plant, she is swallowed by a giant carnivorous plant. Its skin is transparent and she watches in horror as the juice start to rise around her to digest her. She beats against the plant to try to tear her way out by tires herself and gives in to her fate. Just as she is weakest and about to faint a giant blue moth swoops out of the sky using is mouth pincers to tear away at the plant and break her free. It carries her to safety in the foggy sky. Near death she is roused by eating some fruit that the moth brings to her. While flying through the air the wind and fog talked to Kesa and she discovers she can comprehends their languages. The moth carries her further up into the sky and she sees the source of the corruption of the land, a brown slime inhabits the center of the land. She and the moth fly down to investigate and cleanse the land of the corruption. She calls on the wind and water to aid her in her quest and they agree to be at her aid to rid the land of the slime. She fights a slime monster using the elements to help in her battle and cleanses the land. The moth agrees to fly her back into her own world but she regrets leaving her new friend and new powers over the elements. But she realizes she must return to her own lands. She agrees to return to aid if any more pollution should threaten the puddle world again.

Class 2 - Notes

Three Act Structure of a Screenplay:

Act I- First quarter of a movie
Inciting Incident
Plot point one

Act II- Next two quarters of a movie
Midpoint
Plot point two

Act III- Last quarter of a movie
Climax

"Plot Point"-often called a reversal, is an event that thrusts the plot in a new direction, leading into a new act of the screenplay.

Monomyth or the Hero's Journey:

The story of a hero's journey from their homeland of safety to face their life's challenge far away, and how they become the ultimate hero. See the steps of this structure in this chart.

"monomyth"- as used within the field of comparative mythology refers to a basic pattern supposedly found in many narratives from around the world.

Story Structure:
1. Compelling Action
2. Memorable Characters
3. Interactive Location


Elements in a story:

Opposite characters - ex: Mulder & Scully

HOMEWORK:
Read-

Wikipedia entry on Scriptwriting

Useful Wiki entry on 3 Act Structure in stories

Chapter one of class book: pgs 11-51 and summarize chapter on blog.
Also post the one paragraph story on the blog. Have at least one character and one setting and make use of three act structure and also monomyth.
(will be used for later projects)

Why I want to be a storyteller...

Because I want to create a world that fascinates and invites people into it. A world that engages readers in my stories so that they become a part of their history as the stories that inspired me are part of mine. Also I want to tell stories because I want to illustrate my own children's books and be able to compel the reader with images alone and not rely on text.

First Class

Started IDST145 today at city college of San Francisco. We are blogging every week about our class homework assignments.

We looked at Frame Forge 3D demos and also ToonBoom Storyboard Pro demos and observed the capabilities of both programs. Looked at Adobe Flash CS3 and re-familiarized with aspects of the timeline and drawing in flash. Also did an exercise in free-writing and brainstorming, wrote non stop for 5 minutes to produce some text for ideas. The took idea examples and created mindmaps. (example below) We also saw an example of how to pitch a storyboard with onsite sound effects by another student, Aidan Casserly.  Also found out about a mind map option called FreeMind.

Notes:

Text- script + shotlist

Diagrams- overhead schematics

Images- drawings, photos, GCI

Homework:

Get book - From Word to Image and read pages 1-9 and write a summary on blog.

Why you want to be a storyteller? 

4 min presentation