Treatment

For my screenplay I want to create a whole different story, but with a character that is somewhat almost like Marcus' character.
My story will begin with a group of 4 high school girls that have graduated high school and plan a trip to rasarito, mexico to vacation before they all go off to different states for college. Cristina the protagonist, asks her parents for permissio, and her parents immediately say no. They say it's too dangerous for 4 young girls to go to mexico on their own. Cristina gets really upset and she really wants to go so she makes up a fake fieldtrip for the graduating clas and tells her parents they are going to orlando studios. Her parents believe her and give her money for her trip, and cristina ends up going to mexico with her friends. In mexico the second night they are out they get kidnapped and cristina has to deal with a loss of her friend and other abuse. In the end cristina is able to escape alone and makes it back home. Although her parents werent aware of anything that had happened in mexico , she decided to tell them because she feels guilty.

Treatment First Draft: Retrograde Amnesia

This story starts just like how many end: with happiness. But we all know happy endings are overrated, let alone really exist, so this story is one not of happiness; but rather, one of fear, confusion, and the sudden realization that what one always believes to be real, truly isn't. The storyline begins with a narration of Phil and his daily happenings. Phil is your average guy. 32 years-old, he works as a high school teacher at PS 118, is single, lives in a single apartment above a flower shop, and is liked by many. Quiet, conservative, and keeps to himself, Phil has never left the city, the city her grew up in. As this story starts with Phil's simple, but happy life, it soon changes one Wednesday morning, September 11, 2011.

Treatment First Draft: Paranoia Turned Reality

Jim is an ex-CIA agent living in San Francisco, CA, pre-September 11th, 2001. Jim has always had a psychological fear of national security and personal safety. He has a paranoia about safety, terrorism, attacks, and invasions, which is what inspired him to get involved with the CIA to begin with. Jim no longer works with the CIA because his paranoia caused him to get into constant arguments with his colleagues regarding their personal beliefs on national security.

Since leaving his job at the CIA, Jim has become increasingly paranoid about the safety of his country because he is no longer privy to information regarding their safety. Jim is undertaking the task of increasing national security by taking over-the-top measures in order to ensure the security of citizens. His connections from his career with the CIA have allowed him to get in touch with Tom, the head of the Department of Homeland Security. Tom is very against increasing security measures because nothing has happened to the nation yet, and his agents working with him from across multiple departments of the U.S. government have no reason to believe that they are in danger. Jim's battle against Tom for implementing more security measures comes to an all-time high just as the date becomes September 11th, 2001 and the Twin Towers are struck.

After this attack, Tom is forced to take measures to protect his citizens and national security, finally realizing that you can never be safe enough. Although he does not become as paranoid as Jim is about security, but he begins to realize that the world is not as safe and loyal as it once was. Working together, Jim and Tom and the rest of the DHS begin to implement an overwhelming amount of security measures, even some that could be borderline in terms of breeching personal privacy rights.

Treatment(Surveillance)

Tim woke up to the screaming of his alarm clock ringing. The clock read 4am on a Monday morning. Throwing on his suit and grabbing his briefcase Tim headed out the door and on his way to work. On his way to work he spotted an S cubed and started thinking," I wonder what kind of stuff I am going to be seeing today." He arrived in front of a tall glass building that read National Surveillance Association in glowing letters at the top of the building. This is where Tim began his long work day. As a external surveillance watcher Tim would use the S cubed to monitor the happenings that were going on in the United States. Tim began working for The NSA five years ago when they were founded to enforce laws and regulations of the United States more strictly. When a watcher sees a law or regulation being broken immediate disciplinary action takes place at the scene of the incident. Everyday at sundown Tim leaves his work and passes by the same group of people going into his very office but he never once suspected anything. That is, until he found the cameras that are mandatory in all buildings. Time becomes suspicious and decides to investigate what the cameras are really for. Who would have thought? The cameras installed in Tims house were in fact place there by the NSA in an attempt to monitor the home. This is where a line is crossed with Tim.

Treatment First Draft: Mr. and Mrs. Yallow

After Marcus returns to the City from Gitmo by the bay he starts working on Xnet to bring together people in his fight against the DHS. As the operation becomes more and more efficient, the DHS notice the interference from Xnet. They recruit a young tech savy teen named Ange to join the Xnet and figure out who's running it so they can bring him down. Ange and Marcus meet through mutual friends and fall in love. While Marcus works to bring down the DHS once and for all, Ange is working with the DHS to find whoever is running Xnet. As their relationship grows stronger they begin to notice the identities of the each other. It soon becomes a matter of time before one or both of them realize who the other is.

Treatment first draft (The Threat)

Chase is alone against an invading army. He must figure out who his an enemy is, take them out and defend his country all at the same time. He is situated in his house in the woods outside of the city of San Francisco when a nuclear attack from an outside enemy destroys almost all of the major cities in the united states. Alone he must figure out what has happened and defend himself. Being ex-CIA he is prepared for his task, but even a trained agent can't take down an entire army. He will infiltrate his way through the woods to find where leader of the outside army is comanding the invasion, and figure out how to stop it.

As he slowly starts to make his way through the country staying hidden from the enemy and searching for a way to stop the invading army he meets a variety of people that join him to help him in his cause. Chase must now deal with protecting the lives of his companions while searching for whoever is commanding the invading army. He will learn just how hard the U.S. has been hit, that what is left of the government is in shambles. He will search for what is remaining of the government and work with them to try and stop the invasion.

Treatment First Draft: One Hacker to Another

This story is about Marcus using the technology an evil corporation uses agaisnt them to put an end to their abductions, thereby saving the city of San Francisco. Marcus is a 17 year old nerd who is great with hacking into surviellence, among other technological feats. He is brilliant. He has a girlfriend who loves him more than anything, Ange. One day however, a secret force uses surviellence and hacks into Ange's home security cameras to invade her house and capture her. A few days later, Marcus recieves a note saying that Ange was tortured and killed. Many people have had this happen to them throughout SF. Marcus then uses the technology the secret force used to find Ange, to find the whereabouts of this secret force. He sneaks in and makes his way to the room where the leader is, only to find out that the leader is none other than Ange herself. She faked her death so that Marcus would never have to find out that she was the leader behind the evil secret force. Stunned, Marcus has to choose between saving his girlfriend, whom he loves for his own personal gain, or take her down for the benefit of the city.

The audience cares for Marcus because they want him to get revenge agaisnt the secret force, unknowing that Ange is the antogonist. The main interesting obstacle is the choice between taking down the secret force led by Ange, or letting her go free. What's at stake for others is their safety, yet Marcus risks living sadly or living with a girlfriend who is evil. This emotional charge is what makes Marcus complex.

Treatment first draft: The Overseer

The story begins with John Davidson, who is a surveillance officer for the DHS, at work, looking at the screens showing surveillance cameras on the streets of San Fransisco, a few miles from his office. John then sees his wife walk by, and he decides to digitally follow her . He then sees a group of men kidnapper her and drive off in a van. John reacts by assuming it is his responsibility to rescue her. John then goes to his car and follows the van with his wife inside. He had previously planted a tracking device in her phone without her knowledge and is using it to follow the van. He speeds in order to catch up to her and finally does. He follows the van carefully and watches the men force his wife to go into a house a gunpoint. After they come in , John approaches the door with his own gun and opens it, preparing for a gunfight. instead, he enters and finds only his wife. His wife explains to him that this was all a test, as she felt smothered by her husband and wanted to see how much he had been stalking her. She tell him that she will file for divorce, then asks him to leave. John, stunned, walks away from the house, dropping his phone on the ground as he walks away to end the film

Treatment First Draft - "an opportunity"

The scene takes place at a park. Marcus is sitting at a bench, ostensibly waiting for someone. He spots a woman with short hair walking at somewhat of a distance from where Marcus is sitting, we all know her as Severe Haircut Lady. The inner monologue of Marcus begins. He starts explaining the history between him and this woman. He briefly explains being picked up by the DHS as a suspected terrorist. In detail, he recounts how he was tortured. He also includes what happened to Darryl. Each one of these scenes is a flashback, where we see the torture, or interactions occur. We see Darryl being rescued. We see him now as a scared, semi-vegetable. Marcus keeps thinking about how this encounter is a one-in a lifetime opportunity. He thinks of what he could say to her. He wants her to hurt like he is hurting. She got released. She was not at all punished for the terrible acts she committed against him and the other victims. Marcus reflects on how his life has changed. He talks about being scared. He also mentions the good that has happened. His relationship with Ange. He has a better, more open relationship with his parents. he explains that yes, he is scarred. But he has also grown up. he will never be the Old Marcus again. And that is when he makes the desision. He has nothing to say to her. What could he say? He let's her walk away. Ange comes. He gets up and leaves with her.
All together this, story shows the effects of torture. It shows how Marcus is changed for life, but he took what he could from the fear and doubt and he became the best person he could be, etc.

Treatment First Draft

An Idea Worth Stealing

James was doing research in his lab when suddenly his computer crashed and a skull appeared on his screen with highlighted text that read "Thanks for the idea... " James was a computer science major who was on his final line of code for his start up company. James couldn't believe that his idea was stolen so using computer forensics he was able to trace the IP address of the person who stole his idea. It came out to be from the same building he was working in. James began conducting more and more research as to who it could have been. Only 10 people worked in his building so he knew all of the canidates. He began investigating and created a surveillance system that monitored everyones computers. Finally, he figured out who it was and it turned out to be his mentor. Dr. Seuss. James was flabbergasted. He told Seuss he was going to turn him in but Seuss raised an important point, James had illegally hacked into everyone's computer to find out the culprit... Now if James tells the truth he will go to jail and the idea will be lost forever or he will give up the idea and suffer from being unable to benefit from the idea he spent his life creating. James turns himself in and the idea is lost. Seuss is put in jail by Bames Jond and later sentenced to death.

Treatment First Draft (Rock Bottom)

Ron Glover laid on his family room couch, surrounded by empty beer cans and microwave dinner trays. Empty he thought, just like his life has been since Darryl disappeared. He sulks for weeks over his presumed to be dead son. The feeling of loss is not unfamiliar to him. During the war, he had lost many friends. He remembers the pain of losing them as well as his own son. He continues to sulk. His mental state is deteriorating and he has burst of anger where he hurts himself. This leads to a moment where he goes to the bathroom to kill himself. Ron is about to slit his wrists when he hears a knock on the door. It's Marcus and his parents along with Ron's ex-wife and Ron's parents. They say they have been calling for days. They have good news. They know where Darryl is and they are going to help get him back. Alive.

pitch

Dayrl has been locked up on DHS island for 2 months now. he has been tortured, abused, and malnourished. For his close friends Jolu and Marcus hope is beginning to fade and they may have to deal with the fact that their friend died because of their cowardly inability to act. Dayrls parents have completely given up hope and begin their new life without him. Back on DHS island Dayrl overhears a prison guard talking about how the national government is about to crack down on DHS island and that all of the prisoners will be killed in an attempt to destroy evidence. Dayrl has many flashbacks to the "good old days" with his father and mother at the parks looking out at DHS island not knowing that in a few short years he would be facing a sense of impending doom. Dayrl figured it out. He must escape.

He begins to acquire small ketchup packets. He then takes ketchup packets, puts them together into a jar and begins concentration them in the sun by adding his own source of urea , a nitrogeous base from urine, and stomach acid. he ends up making a batch so acidic that it eats through the metal bars that hold him captive. At night he makes his escape. in traditional San Francisco escape fasion he makes a boat from inflated rain coats. Word gets out that a prisoner has escaped and the alarm is sounded. Lights from the watch towers are franticly looking around the ocean. they finally fixate on Dayrl. the head DHS agent starts freaking out about what the implications if a prisoner leaked to San Francisco, their whole jig is off. She orders a sharpshooter to take him out. the sharp shooter takes aim, takes the shot and Dayrl is hit, only wounded but hit in the leg. He begins to bleed into the ocean. The salt stings his gushing wound. He begins to notice that his improvided raft is begining to fail. Slowly his raft starts to sink. Fatigued, hypovolimic, and discouraged, he slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean, his efforts to escape have failed.

Proposed Screenplay

Interesting obstacles:
Stakes for everyone:
What makes the character complex?

Jimmy is in an average sweet-toothed seven year-old in Bellevue, Washington. He has recently been getting into lots of trouble due to his eating habits in which he chooses to eat his dessert after his dinner. The antagonist in my screenplay are the parents, who have total control over what their child does. While Jimmy might not think it is fair for them to get mad at him and force him to eat dinner before dessert, he has no choice and no power to do anything about it. The primary stakes for Jimmy is his justice and freedom of choice while the main stake for the parents is that they want their child to grow up healthy, even if it means scolding Jimmy.

The thing that makes Jimmy a complex character is that he is so young yet able to recognize the unfairness that has been bestowed upon him and other kids his age. He is an elementary school kid who tries to defy his parents and seeks justice in making his own decisions. The movie is set in a normal familial household with a child, two parents, and possibly an older sibling who has more authority simply because he/she is older. The major revelation in this story is that Jimmy comes to an agreement with his family that he is allowed to eat his dessert first so long as he eats his entire dinner.

After watching Machinima episodes like Red Vs Blue a lot of things caught my eye. It seems like in order to make a successful Machinima you must first decided what type you are going to produce. For example are you going to produce several short episodes to make a mini series or one long movie? Then once that is figured out you must decide if you want it to be a parody of the show or an accurate depiction with your own personal fan fiction added on or just a visual representation of the exact story line.

Now that I think I know what it takes to make a successful Machinima, I think I know what I am looking to produce. I found Red Vs Blue hilarious and I want to make a parody of Little Brother because I feel that a parody could highlight the key themes in the book. I also like how some of the episodes have more dialogue than others. Dialogue seems to be an extremely important part of Machinima because actions are very hard to mimic in certain games so one of the few ways to capture your audiences attention is through voice overs.

After looking at numerous scripts it is clear how difficult it will be to construct a solid script. Humor is very hard to put into a script and it all depends on how the lines are read and the scenario and the response from the other actors. I still believe a parody will be a good representation of Little Brother and that watching more Machinima and reading some of the most successful scripts will benefit in creating a successful representation of Little Brother.

Script/Machinima Discussion

The three Machinama’s I ended up watching all the way through were Secret Lives, Addiction, and The Fixer. All three of these films were quite different. The Secret Lives seemed to play off of the TV show, The Secret Life of the American Teen. I didn’t enjoy it very much because the dialogue was not very well written, but it was a good example of using setting to convey ideas. Also it showed the use of school scenes, which could be helpful in our Machinimas. Addiction was a good example of overlaying voice on top of scenes in which the person isn’t actually talking. This is an interesting concept to think about using. I thought The Fixer was the most well-done film. The plot was interesting, but it seems it was borrowed from a real movie anyway. Beside that, it was interesting and the use of action was good.

I really enjoyed reading through a couple of the scripts. Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a movie I have always enjoyed in the past and so reading the script made re-realize just how brilliant it is. I also enjoyed reading the scripts for Godfather I and II. I haven’t seen the movies but I have always wanted to. In some of the other classics, such as Casablanca and Some Like It Hot, it was also interesting to be reminded that why those movies were classics was because of their brilliant scripts. The movies themselves are very simply done, but they have amazing dialogue and simplistic but intrinsic stage movement.

Reading scripts has always been enjoyable for me because I wrote a couple in high school, for one-act play festivals. I have also participated in various stage productions, so I have seen all that goes into interpreting scripts. This experience reading movie scripts combined with my previous experiences gives some idea of what kind of script would be best for this situation. For this situation where we all have little knowledge of the functions of Second Life and the programs we will be using, a script that focuses heavily on dialogue or monologue, rather than movement and camera angles is ideal.

I think this can be used to our advantage. The types of films that center on dialogue are usually character-based, rather than plot-based. This means that the script should incorporate more character development than action. It is of course necessary to also include plot and action, but for our purposed, a character-based script should be used. Some ideas I have: a couple scenes in which Marcus meets the Severe Haircut lady after she is released and they have some sort of interaction. This would show how the characters have changed once the tables have turned. Also, maybe a situation in which Marcus is grown up and one of his kids goes through a similar experience, showing that social change is slow, etc.

Machinima

I spent most of time watching Red vs. Blue for ideas about Machinima. What really struck me in the videos that they produced was the quality of humor. I often found myself actually laughing out loud while watching the videos, and thought a lot of their humor was pretty original. I also found myself getting attached to the story line of the Red vs. Blue videos, and their writing is actually very well done. I felt like i was watching a movie when viewing the episodes in order. For some of their videos they used technology that allowed the characters in the game to break their normal restricted amount of moves, and allowed the characters to do pretty much whatever the creators wanted. This made the episodes look a lot more realistic, and allowed me to see past the fact that it was just a video game. Also they used camera angles and shots that are often used in movies, and it this helped me view it as a lot more realistic than a video game. When i looked at the screenplays i noticed that i was focused on what the people were saying, and how i never seemed to notice that as much when i watch the actual movies of these screen plays. I usually focus on the scenery as well as the dialogue in movies, and with out an actual visual representation in front of me the only thing i focus on is the actual dialogue.

For my screen play i would really like to write about what could have happened after the terrorist attack on the bay bridge. I was thinking about having the attack actual be a country invading the U.S. such as Russia, or China. I would have my screen play focused on what you see and the action, and not as much on the dialogue. I although i think it would be fun to try and include a little bit of humor in the dialogue, just to see how funny i can be.

Machinima/Screenplay

After watching some machinima and reading movie scripts from the Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia, I have begun to formulate a few possible ideas for my machinima. First, I would like to talk about a few inspiring items I read and saw. In the Godfather, I found that the descriptions of characters emotions to be very helpful in visualizing the scene. In an exchange between the Don and another character asking for a favor, just reading the descriptions of what each was doing, and their emotions built a sense of suspense in me. When I write my script I want to make sure that I note the characters facial expressions and tone of voice to make sure that the actors properly convey the vision of the scene in my head to the audience.
I also was able to draw some useful ideas from the machinima that I watched. I watched a few episodes from the computer girl series that we watched in class. In those, the dialogue was more the focus than visuals. I thought that the creators did a very good job in emulating real life camera shots by switching back a forth during dialogue. Something I noticed was that some shots eliminated the constant switch back and forth between characters during dialogue by having both the characters in frame. I thought this was a good way of reducing the amount of work, while still maintaining the quality of the film. In addition to computer girl, I also watched a couple episodes from series that featured Halo as the game used to film in. A few of these episodes had some action in them, and I thought that it got a bit confusing trying to follow what was going on, because some characters looked very similar. I would remedy this by making sure that if I had a lot of motion or action going on during a scene, the characters involved would be very distinguishable.
A few ideas I have for machinima would probably be more dialogue focused than action focused. I would like to look at Darryl’s dad during the darker days when Darryl was missing. I would have sort of a monologue with the father’s character while he viewed the world with a depressed mindset. I would include a shot of him in a dark room with trash all around laying on the couch with the glow of the television set lighting his face up. He might provide his thoughts on the news and current situations, as well as perhaps a flashback to his days in the Navy. I think it could be interesting to have his father as a Vietnam veteran and perhaps have the loss of his son bring back some memories of losing a buddy during the war. I would also like to have a close up shot of his unshaven face as maybe an introduction. I would end the story with Marcus and his parents bringing Darryl’s father the news about his son, and hint and the upward shot his life takes from there.

Machinima/Screen Play Inspirations

There were multiple things that inspired me in these machinima films and screen plays. Most of the machinima films I watched had some sort of music in them, and the movies that I was able to connect with the most were the movies with music that fit the tone of the plot.When characters were angry, there was angry music playing in the background. When characters were feeling emotional, there was music that had deep emotional undertones to it. It really set the feelings of the characters and gave off vibes that allowed the audience to better connect to the characters and scenarios.

Another aspect that I admired was the short flashes of video clips/pictures in the beginning, middle, or end of a film. When there was a variety of clips quickly shown, it helped set the tone, as well as provide insight to the actions of characters. When these montages of video clips were at the beginning, they gave a good introduction to what was going to take place in the film and they set the scene up nicely. When they were in the middle of the scene, they provided a good background of what had taken place and what was going to take place. When they were at the end of the film, they really tied the whole film together and acted as a nice conclusion to the film.

The sound effects and music choices were always things that stood out. The videos that were really effective were the ones that used sound effects to highlight and emphasize certain words and/or actions. It helped focus the audience's attention to what the creator wanted you to focus on and pick up on.

The camera angles and viewpoints were also inspiring. There were numerous viewpoints that I saw, and the one that I found to be very effective when used at the appropriate times, was the viewpoint of someone above the characters and the set, looking down on what was taking place. It gives the audience an interesting perspective on the entire situation taking place at one time.

The screenplays that I read were interesting, and having never read a real screenplay, I learned that much of them is description of the scene and characters. I really enjoyed the Forrest Gump screenplay and the Field of Dreams screenplay because the descriptions of the settings were very detailed. It was cool to see how the flashbacks in Forrest Gump were written.

After watching a film where different people were betrayed, bullied, defeated, or beaten down, I had an idea for my remix of Little Brother. One idea that came to mind was to film Marcus and his crew during various interactions with the DHS, his parents, school officials, and each other. He could be shot in times of personal struggle where he was arguing and losing, being defeated, and betrayed by his friends abandoning him. These different clips could be partly narrated and then have angry, sad, or frustrating music fade in while the actions of his interaction were still being shot. Throughout the video, the scenes of struggle would gradually ease up, slowly having Marcus win and overcome his struggles. As he moves toward overcoming them, the music that accompanies the scenes would become more and more triumphant and glorious sounding.

Treatment First Draft

The beginning opens with the ambiguous end through a huge explosion. The camera focuses on the telephone in Van's hands as she drops it and runs out her front door to stop her parents but as they enter their car an explosion occurs. And then from her eye she is interrupted by Jolu and it takes them to the present day coffee shop when she is having a conversation but she is zoned out. Van asks if her and Jolu can reschedule their girls outing and Van heads home. The camera pans on different pictures of her parents and family photos throughout their house. Van sits on the couch depressed and focuses back on her eye and then zooms back out to the flashback scene before the explosion. Her parents say "we will be back, we are just going to get our passports to get ready for our departure." (*the phone rings) And her parents nonchalantly ask Van to handle it while their gone. She answers and it is a government agent of North Korea. The agent on the phone with Van says "cherish this and say farewell to your makers". And the first scene of Van running out and dropping the phone happens exactly the same. Van goes to the ground in tears and utter shock. But her parents appear from the rubble barely alive. As they are walking out of the catastrophe, her mom mouths "help, help, help" it is slightly inaudible but it focuses on Van's eye again and she blinks and it transitions back into the present day an shows her mother opening the door saying "Help" with a large bag of groceries. And Van again runs to her mother and father as it fades out.

Treatment, First Draft [Unfinished]

Escape From Treasure Island

The story is a flashback by Zeb, the mysterious escapee who told Marcus that Darryl is alive. In the aftermath of the destruction of the DHS, he writes a blog post on Xnet, chronicling his experience while he was in Treasure Island.

Before the explosion, Zeb was just like any LARP-ger. He would go online to update himself on all the Harajuku Fun Madness clues, he had already figured out all of the past puzzles and he has all the gadgets and gizmos that any successful LARPer should have. He had his wifi detector, his jailbroken cellphone and his laptop with all the hacks and codes that he would need in order to win the game. Zeb, above all other LARPers, has an upper hand. He is a college student who is majoring in Computer Engineer. A geek at heart, he decided to skip his Logical Algorithms class that fateful day in order to solve the new Harajuku Fun Madness puzzle.

Zeb drove his car all alone going to San Francisco. His team, comprised of his fellow geeky college peers, did not want to skip their classes for that "stupid game". Zeb, however, was determined to be the first one to finish the puzzle. He drives past the Bay Bridge towards the deserted store (where Marcus and friends were) when all of a sudden, the explosion occurs. He is not able to drive back to his house so, being the nerd that he is, he takes all of his gadgets and hides in the nearest alley he could find. He waits for the crowd to die down as he flips open his laptop and tries to contact the police, his family, friends and loved ones, all of which was to no avail.

After hours and hours of waiting, the DHS picks Zeb up and, just like Marcus, blindfolds him, cuffs him and throws him inside the

Machinima/Screenplay Inspiration

In going through the different machinima videos, I was able to observe what factors were and were not effective in each video. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that too many gestures, hand motions, etc. are not necessarily a good thing; it draws the audience’s attention away from the actual dialogue and focuses it on how much the avatar is moving. Another key thing I noticed was the importance of audio. In some of the videos I watched, the voices of the avatars sounded dry, boring and unexpressive. It is essential that the person recording each voice exaggerates the amount of animation and expression in his or her voice to make the video look more real.

In the screenplays, I noticed that every little detail in the movie is stated in the screenplay. Through my observations, it seems as though the primary objective of the screenplay is to give its reader a clear mental idea of what the movie is going to look like once it is produced. Each action, person and location is always explicitly stated and described.

One idea I have for my Little Brother-inspired machinima is to focus in on Marcus’s Xnet. In the machinima videos on YouTube, I noticed that the number of locations varied from only one to about fifty. For my video, I plan on having only one or two locations and the video will be centered around the dialogue rather than the actions (kind of like the Halo machinima video we watched in class).

Maaaacccchhhhinimaaaa

I had never really been exposed to machinima, so when reading the screenplays as well as watching the videos, I was both shocked and impressed. I was shocked because it never occurred to me how intricate machinima can be – let alone that it existed. I was impressed because it was clear some individual had not only the creativity to make something such as this to be enjoyed for others to watch and read, but that the idea, the inception to realize what they themselves visualize. I grew up watching my brother play many of the games shown, such as Grand Theft Auto and The Sims, so watching it portrayed in a different light for me something that was a lot more deeper, a lot more significant than crashing cars and virtual families. What really took me aback was the eye of the director that made me, the audience, feel engaged. I think they effectively did this through the various angles, wide screen to zoomed shots, sound effects, as well as the vivid images and voice overs. I enjoyed all the machinima as they ultimately showed the range in which machinima can be used and utilized to convey a message – be it comedic, dramatic, mysterious, thrilling, or even one of just pure emotion such as that of the Sims.

The screenplays in reading were all intense. They were not only detailed, but I felt as though they gave me a play by play – a road map that I as the reader could navigate through without the author having to stand over my shoulder explaining what he/she meant by this or that. I feel as though writing a screenplay takes a lot more work as it is in essence, the foundations of what the realization of your visualization will be. I also feel the more detailed the piece, the better it will come out to be. I feel as though once you are able to read a screenplay, and be able to transport your reader to that exact time, place, and event – you have successfully created a screenplay that will not only challenge the audience to watch, but to be engaged.

I honestly don’t really know what my machinima would center around – I do know however, that I would want it to circle around Marcus and/or his friends just because I believe it would be a lot more interesting to start from there and take it to a different level. Hmm…

Machinima and Screenplay Response

The screenplays definitely helped to provide a different aspect on the movie world. Reading the screenplay along side a scene gives a film so much more justice and expression behind what the director and writers attempted to portray. For example, I looked up one of my favorite movies on a screenplay website provided. In the movie Se7en there was a scene that highlighted a crime scene that involved a decayed body surrounded by air fresheners to preserve the smell. The screenplay depicted the scene so vividly that I believe reading it was much stronger compared to watching the scene itself.

“The blond cop enters, gun trained, looks around in confusion.

The room's tables, chairs and floor are covered with hundreds of colorful, plastic air fresheners.

INT. SLUM APARTMENT, MAIN ROOM -- MORNING Mills and Somerset enter.

Somerset looks at the cops around the bed, then looks at a nearby wall. His mouth drops in horror. On the wall, written in excrement: SLOTH.

SOMERSET Jesus... California kicks the bed, enraged.

CALIFORNIA I said get up, Sleepyhead!

He pulls the sheets off the bed and reveals the shriveled, sore-covered form of a man who is blindfolded and tied to the bed with a thin wire which has been wrapped time and time again around the mattress and bed frame. Tubes runs out from a stained loincloth around the man's waist and snake under the bed”

Clearly, it is very important to have a powerful screenplay that can stand alone without having to show a scene. With a powerful screenplay, you really can find yourself engulfed in a scene. The scripts that were shown all do great jobs of highlighting everything within a scene whether it is large or subtle.

I also was able to look up a lot more about Machinima. Machinima personally has fascinated me since I was younger. There was a television show called Cinematech on G4TV that used Machinima to create amazing explosive montages on TV. One of the links that I ended up getting caught in was Red vs Blue. A lot of my friends followed the episodes and have their merchandise but I was never able to follow. I was an occasional Halo player when I was younger and that entire game has been an interesting video game world. I watched a few more of the Machinima that involved Second Life and there were many great portrayals such as “Architecture in Second Life” and a parody of “The Office”. I also saw many of the recreated music videos using Machinima which in some cases were executed perfectly. The overall idea of remixing will be something fun to dabble with and hopefully I can be as creative with these tools. I think my early love for Machinima will bring back memories and help me out in this project. I really do look forward to working with the Machinima and essentially creating a new world with new people. Hopefully it can involve what is not possible in reality.

Machinima

What struck me the most while watching the various machinima videos and reading the different screenplays was how intricate and well thought out all of them were. I've played The Sims 3 and Grand Theft Auto and I never thought that these games could be utilized in order to portray a deep, emotional story while following the same intricacies (such as camera angles, zooming, sound effects, voice acting) that a normal real live movie would. Machinima, using the mechanics of the game involved, could be used to portray different kinds of movie genre such as comedy, drama, mystery and thriller. I particularly enjoyed watching the "Secret Lives" machinima because I never really thought that a game as silly as The Sims could be used to create a movie that projects a heavy sense of emotion. The screenplay of the Machinima is similar to an actual movie and once again, I never thought that such angles or such level of intricacy could be attributed to the camera angles of The Sims 3.

The screenplays in general were all incredibly detailed. Each scene is vividly written. I like how the mood in every scene is described and that the mannerisms of the characters are also sometimes written down. I enjoyed reading the script of "Jerry Maguire" because as I was reading the screenplay, I could imagine the scene in my mind and the level of detail put in the script elevated the depiction of the scene to an emotional depiction of the scene.

For my Machinima, I am interested in exploring the mysterious character Zeb. I want to write about his life, how he ended up in Treasure Island, what his experiences were while he was in prison, how he escaped and his life after the DHS' surveillance was shut down.

Machinima/Screenplay Inspiration & LB Machinima Idea

After watching a few machinima and reading a few screenplays, on games and movies that I liked/knew well, I realized I had a lot of fun doing so. I'll start with the screenplays since I don't have a whole lot to say about them. The interesting thing about the screenplays was that the script was quite bare bones, yet at the same time, very descriptive. The scenes and backgrounds were portrayed well, yet of course, everything that happens in the movie can't be described in just words. The saying "A picture is worth a million words" comes to mind here. Though the screenplays were descriptive and had almost all the lines the actors said word for word, there was something missing. The actors give the words life, something you can't see in a script. Also, the music in a movie, which is obviously not in the screenplay, has such a huge effect in the experience. However, the screenplay by itself was still very interesting. It inspires me to be able to create something of that level. A whole movie experience (with the exception of missing sound) perfectly packed into a tightly written script. It was amazing to me the amount of detail written in such short paragraphs. I could clearly grasp the scene and feeling that was trying to be conveyed. I wish I could create a screenplay so clear and well-written. I'm inspired now to actually write a script for a movie that has great dialogue and also great and concise descriptions of scenes.

Now onto the machinima. I really, really enjoyed watching these short films. I watched machinima on video games that I love and have played countless times, which is probably the reason why I enjoyed them this much. All the machinima I watched were comedic however. I've never really seen a machinima that was made for drama, or seriousness. So my point of view is just on funny short animations. The one thing that I loved the most were the scripts and the voice actors who did the lines. After watching the films, I'm inspired to create something that's just as funny. The machinima also had good variety of movements and camera angles which helped, but the voice acting and script was what really made it enjoyable. I want to create a piece of work that has that amount of variety and effort. Which means that I'll have to start thinking about ways to create a funny script with funny voice actors who can deliver the lines well. Definitely, the voice actors played a huge part...it kind of inspires me and I wonder if I could ever deliver lines that funnily.

For my Little Brother machinima, I definitely want to try create something comedic. I was thinking maybe using the paranoid and invasion of privacy aspects to create a funny, over-exaggerated situation. Maybe where the main characters are constantly being watched even while they're in the bathroom or doing very private things such as sex, as examples. And when they find out they're being watched, they are shocked/surprised and become overly paranoid but also angry, which ensues some funny dialogue provided by excellent voice actors. Or at least something along those lines. That's my idea for my Little Brother machinima.

Machinima Response

Some of the Machinima using second life I actually enjoyed watching and others I really did not. What was a major decider for me what whether or not the mouth to sound synced up or not. In the case of using second life this does not happen typically. I found it extremely distracting to watch a short film where the mouth was completely different from the voice or sound, it really takes away from the dialogue. Example of second life machinima that did not have this problem were “Addiction” by Meowan Studios, “My Second Life”, and “The Fixer: Fat Men Run”. These films all used a sort of reflecting on the past and retelling a story kind of dialogue. This eliminates the problem with the mouth syncing. When I looked at the screenplays I found that there was an incredible amount of detail in them; they every little detail that the viewed was supposed to see was not there on accident. When you are reading it, due to the detail, you are actually able to clearly picture what is happening. When reading I noticed that the angle of the screen shots changed constantly, always giving a different perspective. I think that aspect will be hard to emulate. For my little brother inspired machinima I would like to try and do something on Daryl. He is kind of a character I would have liked to hear more about, more about his time while the DHS had him. I would like for it to be him telling the story much like “Addiction” or “The Fixer” and reflecting on his time on the island with the DHS. I think that I would be doable.

Is it Too Soon?

By creating a parallel situation to 9/11 does Docktrow dig himself into a hole with American readers by fictionizing 9/11? Privacy is regarded as one of the most fundemental rights in the United States. After the terrorist attacks on the twin towers 9/11, the Patriot Act was passed to increase nation security and the safetly of individuals. Survalence increased substantially in both airports and skyscrappers in an attempt to provide more security. Americans generally do not support the expansion of governemntal powers, especially the reduction of personal protections and civil liberites. However, in times of war, civil liberties should be disregarded. Docktrow's book Little Brother poses a dufferent response, one that implies that not ever should civil liberties be disregarded. This contradicts much of the literature regarding civil liberties and tragedies. Is it too soon to write a book about 9/11? I believe that not only is it too soon to fictionalizing and citicize Americas recent response to a major tragedy but hating on the heightened security measures that are designed to protect us is simply unnecessary. Had there been no response in heightened security the same angry citizens would be just as mad.

Splash Page Draft

Safety Inspections or Illusory Protection?

Cory Doctorow's Little Brother highlights a reality for the reader just as it does for Marcus: terror's effects on security. In Doctorow's novel the response to terror is heightened security in the name of safety. In 2011, ten years later post attack on the Twin Towers, the response is the same. In the midst of a terror-stricken nation, hyper-security has become an illusory protection utilized by the state to shape citizens' feelings and thoughts on terror. Attempting to convince citizens protection is provided by the state with the best intentions in mind, hyper-security in actuality does not facilitate more safety, rather, it provides citizens with an increasing fear of potential spontaneous terror, as well as a placebo effect of eternal refuge - leading to the question: have we safety inspections or illusory protection?

Headlines/Links:

1. Hyper-Security

2. Illusory Protection

3. Increasing Fear

4. Placebo Effect

Influencing Contributions to Society

Influencing Contributions to Society

In Corey Doctorow’s novel teachers play a major role in enhancing or destroying a student’s ability to learn and make unique contributions to society. It is clear that Marcus feels very strongly about seeing an authoritarian teaching approaching in schools. He feels so negatively about this because teachers who should be promoting education are now the reason for, a lack of creative drive and the inability of students to make additions to the public.

Is there a True Link Between Youth and the Potential for Transformative Action?

We may all have dealt with unreasonable expectations to be somehow outstanding. Our parents applaud us for athletic achievements, scientific awards, and participation in a wide range of axtracurricular activites. But do you think the parents of the students of the Free Speech Movement expressed pride in the children's accomplishments? Probably not. Even though the students' actions were later seen as monumentally revolutionary, I am sure their parents expressed deep concern for the childrens' safety and academic standing. These concerns are completely valid. The students put a lot at risk, sometimes endangering their own and others' well-being for a cause they truely believed in. I am equally sure their parents hoped someone else would do the dirty work. This begs the question, if not young, semi-educated adults, who else? This is then to remind us of who were the formative minds of past revolutions: Betty Freidan, Martin Luther King Jr, etc. These people created truely outstanding ideas that could have changed the world for the better, but the group who actually set fire to the revolution were the young people. They, in essence, set the stage for future generations.