Shootout Workout

For this project, I had to write a script using 3 things: a prop, a line of dialogue, and a genre. Respectively, those were a broken lightbulb, "One of these days, it's all going to make sense," and Romantic Comedy. Enjoy!

INT. JARED’S HOUSE

JARED

is watching TV on the couch. He laughs at whatever is on.

A single light bulb illuminates the room from above.

TV

Bazinga!

JARED

Hahahahaha! This show is just... it's just terrible.

A pop is heard.

Pan: Up to light bulb

The light bulb has burned out.

Jared sighs and picks himself up off of the couch.

He's a big guy, not overweight, but not really thin. He could be more attractive if he tried a little harder, but he doesn't care enough to.

He begins to walk over to a cabinet. He opens it.

POV: Jared looks into the cabinet, grabs a light bulb box.

Back to normal view, the lightbulb box is empty. Jared sighs again.

CUT TO:

INT. WALMART

Jared is in the light bulb aisle looking for a new bulb.

He is frustrated.

KAREN walks down the aisle. She is a cute woman, about the same age as Jared. She bumps him.

KAREN

Ooh, excuse me!

JARED

You're good.

Silence. They both stand looking at the various selections of light bulbs.

It's awkward.

Jared

Kinda wish they'd make it a little clearer.

KAREN

Huh?

JARED

Uh, which light bulb is which.

KAREN

Oh, haha.

JARED

There's just so many different choices.

KAREN

Yeah, there certainly are.

It seems as though she is putting him down, but he gives it one last shot.

JARED

I just wish that they wouldn't-

KAREN

(Smiling)

-Keep us in the dark about which is which?

She giggles. Jared is speechless.

JARED

(Struggling)

I don't, I don't usually just do this, but, would you maybe wanna grab coffee sometime?

KAREN

Would I like to get coffee with a random guy I just met in the light bulb aisle at Walmart?

JARED

Uh...

KAREN

I'll tell you what. What's your name?

JARED

Jared.

KAREN

I'll tell you what, Jared. I don't usually say yes to random guys who ask me to get coffee, but I think that you're kinda cute and I liked that pun, so... why not?

She hands him a card with her number on it.

JARED

Wow, really?

KAREN

Sure. Now I'm gonna grab this 60 watt bulb and get outta here. But... hopefully I'll see you soon!

She grabs a bulb box and begins walking away. Jared stares at the number that she gave him. He suddenly realizes...

JARED

Wait! What's your name?

KAREN

(smiling)

Karen. See ya, Jared.

JARED

Uh... Bye Karen! I'll call you!

He stands for a moment, thinking.

JARED

Did that really just happen?

CUT TO:

MONTAGE – JARED AND KAREN’S RELATIONSHIP

A) Jared and Karen getting coffee. They clearly hit it off.

B) Jared and Karen on a first official date. They go to a restaurant. We see them laughing and having a great time. Jared gives Karen a kiss at the end of the night.

C) Jared and Karen spending time together at a baseball game, sharing a hot dog. A fly ball is almost caught by Jared but it hits him in the head, knocking him out.

D) Jared and Karen at the zoo. They take turns impersonating the animals, and an elephant wraps its trunk around Jared. Karen is in stitches.

E) Jared and Karen eating dinner in a nice restaurant. Jared still looks all in, but Karen appears to be a little bit bored.

F) Karen eating breakfast in Jared's kitchen. Jared walks into the room wearing only his underpants. Karen chuckles but appears annoyed.

G) Jared and Karen in the park. Jared is extremely happy and looks great, but Karen is completely annoyed.

H) Jared and Karen fighting. They are both yelling at each other. Karen seems more mad, and Jared seems more sad that this is happening.

I) Karen leaving. She has a suitcase and a few boxes and she says a tearful goodbye to Jared before walking out the door. He looks crushed.

END OF MONTAGE.

Cut to:

INT. JARED'S HOUSE

Jared sadly walks into the room. He is heartbroken. He plops onto the couch.

From above, a pop is heard.

Jared looks up slowly. The camera follows his gaze.

The light bulb has burned out.

Jared takes a deep breath and sighs.

JARED

One of these days, it's all going to make sense.

Classic Ending?

            This is an alternate ending to the classic Disney Pixar film, Toy Story. In the movie, towards the end, Buzz Lightyear realizes that he is a toy when he sees a commercial for himself. He then tests out whether or not this is true by jumping from the stairs balcony and falling, breaking off his arm. My changes would come into effect right here, when he jumps from the balcony. Instead of falling to the floor, Buzz discovers that he is actually flying! It’s a miracle! He really is a space ranger. With this newfound knowledge, he flies back into Sid’s room to save Woody. Woody is completely shocked and in disbelief. In fact, he doesn’t believe Buzz. Just then, Sid comes into the room and sees the two. Woody instinctively drops back into ragdoll position, but Buzz does not. Instead, he turns and looks up at Sid. Sid is shocked and starts to shout as Buzz raises his arm and aims his laser. Just as he’s about to fire it, he is knocked to the floor by Woody, who looks at him and shakes his head. Buzz nods in agreement, all the while Sid is freaking out. Buzz flies up slowly floats towards him. Sid starts to back up and turns to run away, but he runs into his door and gets knocked out, falling to the floor. Woody now believes Buzz, and tells him that it’s time to go home. Buzz smiles and grabs Woody, and they fly out the window and back into Andy’s room. They tell all the rest of the toys what has happened and all is forgiven. When Andy gets back, the toys reveal to him that they are in fact, alive. Andy is thrilled, but he has to keep it a secret. All of the toys and Andy live happily ever after, while Sid is sent to a mental institution. It’s a little bit darker than the real ending, and it isn’t nearly as good, but it’s my idea of an alternate ending.

Section 4 Openings Essay

            For the final section, things were done a little bit differently. For the first openings, I had to play a demo of a video game while listening to an album on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums. I then had to watch a 60-minute video of Walter Murch talking about sound design. For the second openings, as per usual, I watched three TED Talks. It seems to me that the overall theme of this section is creativity, and being creative. To begin, the Walter Murch video featured him talking about different movie scenes and how the sound works in them, and how he had to be creative when designing the sound. The album that I chose to listen to was #1 on the list, which is coincidentally my favorite Beatles album, (if not my favorite album of all) Sgt. Peppers’ Lonely Hearts Club Band. That album is the most creative of the Beatles’ albums, I think. It’s the greatest leap they took; it’s something entirely unique. It really is a great album, and I was thrilled to get to listen to it as homework. The game that I had to play, Machinarium, was based on creative thinking. As a robot, you had to find random objects in the stage to get to the next one and combine them in a creative fashion. The TED Talks that I watched were “Your Brain on Improv,” by Charles Limb, “How to Engineer a Viral Video,” by Adam Sadowsky, and “Your Brain on Video Games,” by Daphne Bavelier. The first one was clearly about creativity, as improvisation is one of the most unique forms of creativity. The second one talked all about a Rube Goldberg machine, which could be called creative thinking in physical form. The final video featured a woman talking about how video games strengthen our brains by forcing us to think of creative solutions. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the openings in the final section, and I enjoyed the overall theme of them.

That's Not What I Heard!

This was a group project completed with Colin Trubee, Hales Fogno, Mitchell Matacia, and David Funk.

Section 3 Openings Essay

            For this section, I had to watch a long documentary about storytelling and a TED Talk about comics and how they can be used to tell stories. Storytelling is an obvious theme in this section, but more so the idea of stories being able to be told in many different ways. The documentary showed the beginning of written stories all the way through many eras into the modern day, with movies. The TED Talk, by Scott McCloud, showed his ideas on how comics have changed form over the years, and how he thinks that digital comics should be. These two are tied together in that they both question how the digital age will change things. I also watched three TED Talks. The first one, which was my favorite of the 5 things I watched, was Julian Friedmann’s “The Mysteries of Storytelling.” This one was extremely interesting, as he went into all of the reasons that we tell stories. I was excited to hear him talking about George Orwell’s “Why I Write,” as I wrote a paper in 12^th grade all about that and how almost all writers write for the same four reasons. “The Poetics of Fiction” was a little bit less interesting, but still very cool. This one featured Elif Shafak talking about storytelling, and how different stereotype characters have appeared over the years. She shared stories about her family that were all interesting. Finally, I watched “The Shared Wonder of Film.” In this talk, Beeban Kidron talked about film as an educational form of art. This one was also extremely interesting. She spoke about how the program she works for shows classic and incredible films to young children in Great Britain. Not only does showing these films help to teach these children about how things are around the world, and what certain things mean, but they also help them to gain an appreciation for good film. All of these pieces of media helped me to see different ideas of storytelling.

Shoot Out!

This was my team's video for this year's 48 Hour Shootout. We were an Honorable Mention.

I Feel a Song Coming On

This isn't a project for Media 1020. It's a video I made with some friends at the end of last summer that I wanted to include in my application. I co-wrote and co-directed it, and arranged the music. I also edited the whole thing.

Your Hamartia is Showing

            It’s the simple story of boy meets girl in high school. Dave’s an average guy who is too shy or uninterested to talk to girls. After an interesting homecoming dance, he has met a girl, Rachel, who he thinks he likes. After dating for a few months, they realize they’re just friends. They continue their friendship until that summer, when Dave realizes he’s in love with her. She just started dating another guy. After a few months of that, she breaks up with him, and Dave confesses his true feelings. She tells him that she likes him as a friend.

            The hamartia of Dave is his liking of Rachel at the wrong time. For the first half of the film, when the two of them begin to date upon meeting, it should feel very fake. The audience should want to tell the characters that they’ve leaped into things much too quickly, and that their relationship needs a strong friendship at the base. This could be paralleled by a close friend to Dave, who is in a successful relationship, as he and his girlfriend were close friends before they began dating. Had he and Rachel taken the time to truly get to know each other before starting to date, none of the mess that makes up the film would unfold.

            The peripetieia of the film is when Dave finds himself head over heels for Rachel. They’ve just spent a few months growing in friendship and coming up with inside jokes. One morning Dave wakes up and realizes what’s happened. He’s obviously too late, as Rachel’s reciprocated feelings for him have come and gone. The audience should be sympathizing with Dave here, as the more time we’ve seen them together, the more they’ve liked Rachel as well. It’s a reversal because prior to it, Rachel liked Dave and now he likes her.

            The anagorisis of the film occurs when Dave finally confesses him feelings to Rachel. They return to the same place where they initially met and subsequently started dating. They go as friends to hang out. Dave awkwardly brings up the idea of who he likes, because he knows that she suspects it. When she turns him down, the audience should be slightly crushed, but hopeful that things will work out and that the two will get together. They do not, however. The scene is the climax of the film and it ties to the inciting incident by taking place where they met.