Prompts:
- A developed beat sheet from the Week 6 Plotting exercise.
- A brief reflection on developing the beat sheet that draws on at least two of the scholarly readings from the first six weeks of the studio.
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MYTH
IMPORTANT WORLD NOTES:
- On Earth, people are born with unique superpowers called Vos. These abilities draw existence from the absence of a host person’s name and grants the power to channel specific animal-based features.
There are a total of 4 Vos classes:
1. Swimmers – (People that can morph into a swimming animal).
2. Flyers – (People that can morph into a flying animal).
3. Runners (People that can morph into a land animal).
4. Mixers (People that can morph into animals that can fit 2 or more of the other classes)
Swimmers, Flyers, and Runners are each assigned different roles in society – (depending on which class they’re closest too, Mixers are assigned to their same roles). These roles dictate dress code, living area, and other basic life rules.
- Legend has it that during the 18th year of a person’s life, a name may offer itself for the taking. If a person accepts the name, they will permanently lose the ability to manifest their Vos. No one knows how names appear or where they will come from.
- Over the last few centuries, society has learned to rely greatly on Vos wielding. The most basic of utilities and professions require a Vos wielder to labour them. Hence why, people see the surrendering of one’s Vos as suicide. It would cause you to lose all status and would prevent you from landing a proper job or joining in on regular societal activities. Effectively, a named man is no longer worth anything and therefore pretty much none have had a name in recent history.
- The story takes place in a reclusive kingdom built on a grand mountain range. Throughout the kingdoms existence, mysterious letters signed by names have been sent to people. Apparently they hail from an underground society that offers answers to important questions. The letters are of a magical kind and are not delivered through regular means. In addition to this, they are only visible to the one person meant to read it.
The king has ordered all those who receive the letter to Ignore it and to never speak of the content. He claims it is a ploy orchestrated by the devil.
MYTH BEAT SHEET:
Opening Image: The protagonist, a flyer, is seen demonstrating his owl based abilities. He flaps his wings flying to the peak of the mountain. He is seen leaving a letter besides the King’s enormous Castle.
Theme Stated: “What is my purpose?”
Set-Up:
- Giving him night vision and silent wings, the protagonist’s Vos abilities have landed him the humble job of a night-time postman. A postman’s job is a simple one. Depending on the Vos class of a person, he must deliver one of 3 different types of letters. There is no further personalisation.
- 2 months into his 18th year, the protagonist questions why anyone would surrender their Vos for a measly name. Even still, he is quite intrigued by the legend of names offering themselves and wants to see what his potential name could be.
- The king and his royal guard are introduced as they spectate the Vos championships (Global sport event held in the protagonists area).
- The protagonist is very close with a fellow 17 year old boy. The friend has a strong opinion that regards names as blasphemous. He, loyal to the king, believes them to be whispers sent by the devil.
Catalyst: When delivering his usual post mail, the protagonist comes across an odd post card that isn’t addressed to a class. He opens it and reads it. The letter notes that all his questions will be answered by seeking a secret revolutionary figure named ‘Man-In-The-Mountain’. This person leads a silent movement that is encouraging people to remove themselves from regular society and select names for themselves.
Debate: Torn between the fear of losing himself and the curiosity of names, he must decide if he will journey to meet Man-In-The-Mountain. He must also account for the King’s command to ignore such letters.
Break Into Two: Tracking into the deep forests, the protagonist decides to journey toward Man-In-The-Mountain and his revolutionary movement.
B Story: Along the way, the protagonist randomly stumbles into others who seek the underground society. They too had received a letter promising answers. Surprisingly the protagonist’s close friend is among them. This collection of inquisitive souls seem to all struggle with defining who they are.
Fun and Games: In the forest, the group of seekers find clues that lead them closer to their goal. They share why they decided to take the risk and why they have questions for the secret society. Finally, after a long hunt, it seems as though the protagonist and his friends find Man-In-The-Mountain’s revolutionary quarters.
Midpoint: A named man called GUARD tells the group of friends to undergo a few more challenges before having the honour of meeting Man-In-The-Mountain and are all separated. Protagonist is assigned to a named man called ‘Mith’. Mith tells the protagonist that having a name will open his eyes. Everything he thinks he knows is wrong. The King has been using everyone to achieve his own ambition.
Bad Guys Close In: When the friends conjoin once more, it is revealed that GUARD and the assigned masters were working together to find any who would rebel against the king. Saying that they intended to come back with the head of the lead rebel, the protagonist and his friend lie about why they embarked on this quest. GUARD and the prince jail everyone present except for them two. Throught this, Mith is nowhere to be seen.
All Is Lost: The protagonist’s friend snitches on him and gets GUARD to also jail him.
Dark Night Of The Soul: He reflects and realizes the true cost of remaining unnamed and the potential for liberation through embracing identity. He directs his anger at the King, his betrayals, and the way society currently functions.
Break Into Three: The protagonist uses his owl abilities to free himself.
Finale: The protagonist skirmishes with his friend and manages to escape with a few others. He heads back into the forest to try and find Mith and Man-In-The-Mountain. Mith (M.I.T.H) reveals that he is Man-In-The-Mountain and was the spirit of the protagonist’s name all along. the others also figure out that the assigned ‘people’ had been names. The protagonist accepts his name and loses his Vos abilities. Upon doing so, he learns, contrary to the Kings claims, names can come at all ages, they just need their counterparts to expect them. More importantly, a name connects the named to an instinctual grand mission (rather than being a slave to someone else’s) and grants the host the ability to command a secondary spiritual body.
Final Image: The story ends with protagonist leaving a letter at the castle signed with: “I am Man-In-The-Mountain. I was named to wage war against you, ‘King’, who sits oppressively atop a mountain made of sleeping ‘I’s”.
REFLECTION:
This beat sheet, and subsequently the world and wider story, gave me the opportunity to review and implement many of the different screen writing tools I’ve recently come across.
Most notably, I found Blake Snyder’s 15 beat story format to be an invaluable asset. Each of his prescribed beats served as a guidepost that helped me properly structure the protagonist’s journey. Admittedly, the B-story, better known as the relationship line, made for the most difficult writing. It ‘carries the theme of the movie‘ and acts as a subtle undertone that helps smooth the ‘A-story act break‘ (Snyder 2005, pp:79). I personally wanted to go against this and bring the story’s theme to centre stage. I questioned whether flipping the A and B story would make for a good narrative decision. After sometime, I decided to stick with writing the story in Snyder’s conventional structure. His beats not only facilitated the development of the plot but also evolved the thematic depth of my story. It allowed for a more nuanced exploration of identity and challenging societal norms. Perhaps I can play around with incorporating significant changes after receiving some general feedback.
Thematically, my story highlights the very real existence of societal constraints. Drawing from individual experiences and the written works of renowned philosophers like Carl Jung, I aimed to explore how society often confines individuals to singular attributes. This phenomena inhibits personal growth and stifles the innate need for evolution and conflict. The truth is, we need to find who we are by facing the exact struggles we most want to ignore. Metaphorically represented by seeking and acquiring a name, the protagonist’s journey leads him to understand that true fulfilment comes from confronting daunting questions and embracing uncomfortable truths or changes.
When reading through my beat sheet, it becomes glaringly obvious that the protagonist’s journey takes quite a bit of inspiration from Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey’ mythology (see Figure 1). For example, the opening image establishes the protagonist’s ordinary world, receiving the mysterious postcard sets him on the path of adventure, and his decision to journey towards Man-In-The-Mountain marks the break into the special world. However, I chose to slightly deviate from the framework when writing the B Story and Bad Guys Close In stages. In these stages, the protagonist faces the hurdle of being betrayed and imprisoned by former allies instead of focusing on the external adversaries – being the King. By subverting the traditional hero tropes and introducing complex interpersonal dynamics, I hoped to beautifully parallel the narrative’s theme of rebelling against societal conditioning in real time. Just as Hambly writes in her works, the Hero’s Journey subconsciously uses Anglo-Western storytelling and has thus confined the screenwriting practise (Hambly 2021). While still rooted in Campbell’s archetype, my revisions add a new level of complexity and realism.
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References
Snyder, B. 2005, ‘Save the Cat! : The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need‘, Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City. ProQuest Ebook Central, Web. Accessed 18 April 2024.
Hambly, G. 2021, ‘The not so universal hero’s journey‘, Journal of Screenwriting, Intellect Discover, Web. Accessed 19 April 2024.