Ryan... Grace....

Frodo in Solitude

My first writing assignment in my Lord of the Rings class was to take a scene in the Fellowship of the Ring and analyze it. The original assignment was to write a 1775 word essay (he estimated it to be 3 to 5 pages,). I wrote it Friday & Saturday and turned it in Saturday night. The next day he e-mailed us saying that the original assignment was incorrect and that the REAL word count is 1061 words. I still turned it in regardless.

Frodo in Solitude?

Scene Analysis Assignment

Ryan Grace

9/15/12

Topics in Cinema: Narrative Structure

The Lord of the Rings

Synopsis: Frodo Baggins (Elijah Wood) visits the Elves and Lady Galadriel (Cate Blanchett) after they lose their elderly wizard traveling companion in the depths of Moria. As the rest of his company sleeps, Frodo goes and sees Lady Galadriel and offers her the ring. She at first does want it but the declines, passing the test. After this test she leaves him, punctuating her victory by saying she will leave with the other Elves to the West and across the Sea.

 

            Is Frodo alone in his quest after all? Is the adventure of the Ring destined to be a road traveled alone? In the aforementioned scene it does seem to be that way. When Lady Galadriel finds him by the mirror she allows him to see into the future, or rather one possible future that has a chance of becoming reality. After seeing his Shire burning with his friends and fellow hobbits in chains Frodo offers the one true ring of Power, forged in the fire of Mt. Doom and made for the soul purpose of binding mortals to its’ will by it’s master Sauron. Lady Galadriel seizes this moment to daydream. She foresees herself ruling in Sauron’s place, with all of Middle Earth worshipping her. “In place you a dark lord you will have a queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the dawn, treacherous as the sea!  Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!”

            This is one of the first scenes in which Frodo starts to doubt his allies. In the Council of Elrond Boromir shows signs of wanting to use the Ring to defend his home country of Gondor. As the film progresses he starts to openly lust for the Ring from picking it up when Frodo falls in the snow to ultimately trying to force it off of his neck after the Fellowship leaves the Elven Forest. Because of these examples, and others, Frodo begins to doubt the companionship of his company and isn’t able to trust those that are loyal to the quest. As a deal breaker Frodo offers the Ring to Aragorn in the forest as the Uruk-hai enclose on their position. In a stunning turn around Aragorn rejects the evil Ring, closes Frodo’s hand and lets him go off on his own (along with the resilient Mr. Samwise Gamgee). The scene with Lady Galadriel, however, predicts the failing of the Fellowship because of the power and lust of the Ring. We also see the toll the Ring has on the Free people. After Lady Galadriel overcomes the power of the Ring she appears openly drained and exhausted, as if fighting the influence of the Ring took all of the stability she could muster. We now realize that Frodo’s own resilience has to be ten fold of what hers was and he is a mortal hobbit compared to an immortal she-Elf!

            Lady Galadriel openly lets Frodo view into the future, showing him the outcome of his homeland should he fail and submit to the Enemy. By doing this she is silently telling him that he cannot fail, for if he does fall before his final goal is met then more lives than he realizes will be ruined. Both his friends and people whom he has not met may perish based on the success or failure of his and his companion’s quest to unmake the One Ring. For Frodo he is telling Lady Galadriel that he doesn’t believe in himself or his allies., that he doesn’t think that he has the fortitude to fulfill his mission of destroying the Ring of Power. Lady Galadriel senses this and when he offers the Ring she proves that anyone can defeat the dark influence of the Ring and it’s evil purpose, even the smallest and most unassuming of creatures. Frodo wants the responsibility to be passed on from him to another because he doesn’t believe he has the will to finish the job of throwing the Ring into the Crack of Doom, so he tries to pawn off the Ring on Lady Galadriel. Lady Galadriel wants to be put to the test and overcome something that has such immense power and hold on Middle Earth to prove that she is her own power and can hold her own on it, even if she does wish to be more than what she is currently. However, she does not actually WANT to hold and take the Ring, at least ultimately she does not. She might at the start of the scene but finally decides against it. Frodo, as stated previously, wants to pass off the responsibility to someone other than himself. Thinking that a High Elf has a higher tolerance to evil doings he offers the ring to her, hoping that she will have more of a success than he ever could. He knows, just as Lady Galadriel states with her telepathy, that the seven companions that surround and protect him can only resist temptation for so long before the Ring starts to corrupt them all as it has started with Boromir. For Frodo to willingly give the Ring away to someone he knows is (supposedly) more pure than himself, and for Lady Galadriel to reject the offer is telling for both sides of the scene in that Frodo isn’t too sure of his journey and Lady Galadriel wants to conquer and overcome the most sinister enemy any race in Middle Earth is a great testament to both their characters.

            Peter Jackson took some liberties with this scene (and indeed the entire film trilogy) starting first when he decided to exclude Sam’s portion of the Mirror viewing. Not only does he decide to omit this part from the book but he also changes Frodo’s view into the Mirror, inserting instead a loose interpretation of the Scouring of the Shire as a tip of the hat to the last chapter of The Lord of the Rings in lieu of a vision of a black ship sailing on the Sea and a white fortress with seven towers as it is in the book. (364, Tolkien) It seems that Peter Jackson decided to exclude the part with Sam’s viewing of the Mirror in order to reinforce the point that at the end of the day Frodo is alone, that he cannot count on anyone save himself to go on with this journey. If Sam had done the vision as well it would have lessened the impact of Lady Galadriel’s resistance of the Ring. Also, Peter Jackson most likely decided to remove the black sailed ship and the fortress and replace these images with one of despair and hopelessness in order to cement the idea that Frodo is most likely on an adventure that will kill him in the end, when all is said and done. The style of the scene reinforces that attitude of sadness. The scene takes place at night and, clearly, the lighting helps that out; everything is dark and foreboding save Lady Galadriel herself. In comparison to everything in the scene she is a bright, white light. This was most likely done in order to help play her off as the last true hope for Frodo to give up the Ring of Power. When Lady Galadriel changes into her “Gollum” form her colours almost change and go the opposite direction; she is now a dark shade of green – borderline black, in fact – and her angelic hue all but fades as she entertains the idea of ruling over all of Middle Earth. Then the transformation reverses and she returns to her cherub-like state, complete with the otherworldly glow coming from behind her. Inside the Mirror, it echoes this sense of loss, as all of the images in the future are never fully lit up except for the last image of Sauron’s eye and even that is darker than it should be, for he is the pure embodiment of evil in this story. Frodo even looks more harried and frayed while he is in the scene, perhaps from resignation that he cannot fulfill his destiny or maybe because of the fact that the most powerful being in Middle Earth perished merely a day ago. Regardless of the reason, however, Frodo looks as if he has aged years since setting out from Riivendell. Certainly this was Peter Jackson’s approach to show what effect the Ring is having on Frodo’s psyche – for he cannot help but feel protective of the Ring and he now sees treachery in all of his friends and companions and being mistrustful of those you used to trust implicitly can be very damaging on one’s mind. All these stylistic choices further laid down the foundation for the scene’s mood which was dark and brooding from the get go and did not let up until the very last second. Peter Jackson developed and shot the scene very well to deliver the sense of loss and mistrust that Frodo is now beginning to feel from this point on.

            The scene of the Mirror of Lady Galadriel is perhaps the most revealing scene in which the young hobbit starts to doubt his world and whether or not his allies will help see him through the dangers lining up in front of them. From Boromir wanting to use Sauron’s Ring of Power to save his fledging Gondor to Lady Galadriel wanting to rule as a queen over the populous of Middle Earth and culminating in Aragorn’s close shave with taking the one Ring that everyone wants, Frodo’s resolve in his friends, whether consciously or not, is shaken to the core and is the defining moment in which he decides to venture off by himself and finish the task set before him by the Council of Elrond. But perhaps all is not lost for him after all. For Lady Galadriel did not take the offered Ring when Frodo help his outstretched hand to her. Nor did Boromir forcibly take the one thing that could have saved his father’s domain. Aragorn did not snatch up the Ring when Frodo held it out to test him, instead closing his fingers over the precious item. And finally, when Samwise dove after him in the river saying he is not alone in this. All of his companions went through the test of the Ring and all of them defeated their inner most demons and rejected this insidious gift. Frodo ends the Fellowship of the Ring believing that it is for the best but it is not broken. It is merely splintered and will come for Frodo when he needs them most, when his final hour starts to dawn.

Bibliography:

Menard, Pierre. “Page 356 – “‘Tell Us Now the Full Tale!’ Said Celeborn.”.” Rev. of The             Lord of the Rings. Web log post. I Am Pierre Menard. Wordpress.com, 23 June             2012. Web. 15 Sept. 2012.             <http://iampierremenard.wordpress.com/2012/06/23/page-356-tell-us-now-the-            full-tale-said-celeborn/>.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. Great Britain: HarperCollins, 2004. Print.

(Project Development, Preproduction & Preparation)

Course: Project Development, PreProduction, and Preparation(aka DIP)

Description: We were assigned to make a short, silent film (to be shot on an old Bolex camera) that was enforcing one of several themes. The theme I chose was ‘No one is a loser with friends.”

Background: I interpreted the theme literally, having the main character Shawn being robbed & his friend Trevor helping to get it back. It’s nothing special, I am not really attached to this piece at all.


Watch Perp

EXT. CHICAGO STREET – EVENING

SHAWN walks down the street with his hands in his pockets, protecting them from the cold. Shawn is a average male, late twenties, with black hair and brown eyes. He wears long jeans and an enormous winter jacket.

As he walks past some stores, TREVOR comes out of a doorway. Shawn gives him a nod and a smile and Trevor merely looks, giving him the “What’s up?” nod at him while he lights a cigarette.

Shawn continues on away from Trevor. Trevor watches him go out of the corner of his eye. When Shawn turns the corner, Trevor leans on the wall and looks up into the sky, blowing out a puft of smoke.

EXT. CHICAGO ALLEYWAY – EVENING

Shawn walks through an alleyway, muttering about home. HOODED MAN walks toward Shawn coming from the opposite direction. Shawn sees him and gives him a wide berth. He also looks at the man shiftily and quickens his pace.

The man walks past Shawn without incident. Shawn breaths a sigh of relief and resumes his regular pace. The hooded man, however, turns around and starts walking behind him.

Shawn walks past an opening in the alleyway and sees the hooded man’s shadow behind him. Shawn’s eye’s widen in fear and he starts to run. Before he gets far, the hooded man catches up to him and grabs his wrist. He takes off Shawn’s watch, trips Shawn and runs off.

Shawn falls on the ground but rebounds back up and gives chase to the man.

EXT. CHICAGO STREET – EVENING

The hooded man speeds past Trevor, who is still leaning on the wall. Trevor looks after him with a raised eyebrow. Then Shawn rounds the corner. Trevor looks back at Shawn and then at the man running away. Trevor throws down his cigarette and takes off after the man.

EXT. CHICAGO ALLEY WAY – EVENING

The man looks behind him after going into another alley. He sees Trevor pounding after him and Shawn in his wake. The man tries to lose them both by speeding down branches in the alleys. This fails as a ploy as Trevor gains ground on him.

The man comes to a dead end and he slows to a stop. The man looks down to the ground uttering a soft curse. Trevor then tackles the man to the ground. Trevor decks the hooded man in the face, puts his foot on the man’s one hand to pin him down and extracts the watch from the man’s other hand.

As Trevor stands back up, Shawn comes up panting. Trevor gives him the watch back to Shawn with a smile. Shawn nods to him in thanks. They exit the alleyway.

Trevor pats Shawn on the back as Shawn shows him the other side of the watch, which reads:

“To my Beloved Shawn.”

What’s Star Wars? (Time as a Narrative Construct)

My junior year at Columbia I took a high philosophy class called “Time as Narrative Construct.” It was a really philosophical class bordering on existentialism. Not sure if I understood everything that was said in the class… But in order to pass the class we had to write a 15-20 page essay on an idea involving time. I decided to do time in a long form narrative (i.e. trilogies. Star Wars, The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, etc.) & how the audience can decipher what’s has happened in the past installments. In order to complete this I included the terms “Incluing” & “information dump” which I reference & explain in the whole of the paper. All in all I am really proud of this. I read the original Star Wars script & used that as a reference in the final product & got an A on it. It was 16 pages long in its final form but the rough draft was 19 pages. 

What’s Star Wars?

An Examination of Traditional Expository

Forms in a Cultural Phenomenon

            In 1977 George Lucas released in theatres what would prove to be one of the most enduring space operas in history. It’s impact is felt now in current time with the Clone Wars on Cartoon Network as well as the first rerelease of the saga in 3D in theatres. It is Star Wars. But why has the worldwide public been so smitten with this space opera? How does a galaxy-wide story touch the hearts of each individual, from the elderly to the young? The answer is in the story. Luke is the classic teenager who wants more in his life – he wants to live. Throughout the original trilogy, Luke learns about life and grows up. By the end of the trilogy, Luke has grown up and become a man; but how do we find out about his past? The saga of Star Wars is a well-known example of what to do and what not to do in exposition by its contrasting use of incluing and information dumping, in and out of the dialogue, to clue in the viewer on back story elements. There is a distinct difference between the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy. In the original trilogy, incluing is used in effect while in the prequel trilogy information dumps are used everywhere.

            One way to effectively communicate information in a film or other narrative form is a storytelling device that has been affectionately named incluing. Incluing is a technique of gradual submersion of the reader into the world of a film, book, or other such media. It’s use is preferred over information dumps simply because incluing is a more subtle way of giving the story worth. Author Jo Walton describes incluing as “the process of scattering information seamlessly through the text, as opposed to stopping the story to impart the information.” A form of incluing without any dialogue is often an opening scene of a film where we see the main characters daily life and how they respond to the needs of the morning. An example of incluing through actions is in the film Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006). In the movie, the main character, Zia, is shown tidying up his room for a full minute, if not more, painstakingly making sure that everything is in its place and isn’t on the floor or in out of order. After he has done his work in the bedroom he enters the bathroom where he proceeds to slash his wrists, fill up the sink with his blood, and end his life. This shows us that Zia is clean to a fault (he can’t leave this world without making sure it’s clean for who follows) and most likely has obsessive-compulsive disorder. After his dark suicide in the bathroom, he goes to an afterlife limbo where his obsessive-compulsive disorder clashes with this new world’s dirty uncleanliness. As a counterpoint to the action-oriented incluing, an example of incluing in dialogue is found in the film Stargate from 1994. In the film, the character of Jack O’Niell loses his son when the son plays with his gun and it goes off, accidentally killing himself. When Jack gets recruited to the Stargate project, the two officers who reinstated him speak to one another as they leave the house, offering an insight for the viewer to Jack’s depressive mentality.

 

Officer 1

                                    Guy’s a mess. How’d he get like

                                    that?

Officer 2

                                    His kid died. Accidentally shot

                                    himself. 

Officer 1

                                    Jesus…

Instead of seeing the kid die by gunshot and taking away a minute or so of the story, we hear about it from two nonessential characters. Nor is this done in a way to disconnect the audience from the story. It’s done point-blank so the audience can’t get it wrong or get the wrong ideas, very cut and dry. In books, incluing can be done in narrative descriptions. An example of this is in the book Live & Let Die by the British author Ian Fleming. This is the second book written about the character James Bond and for readers new to the series, Fleming makes it easy for them to jump right in as well as giving fans of the series new information without it being too redundants. “There are moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent. There are assignments on which he is required to act the part of a very rich man; occasions when he takes refuge in good living to efface the memory of danger and the shadow of death; and times when, as was now the case, he is a guest in the territory of an allied Secret Service. From the moment the BOAC Stratocruiser taxied up to the International Air Terminal at Idlewild, James Bond was treated like royalty” (Fleming, 1). Here it is not directly stated what country Bond is from, where his allegiance lies, nor what kind of assignment he is on. All that is said is that he is not in his home territory and he is treated like a king in a friendly country, which it is ascertained wants the same thing as he does. Many authors dislike using long narrative or dialogue forms and instead they use a device of subtlety that gets the point across without losing the attention of the reader – a device that is called incluing.

            After the incluing information, describing an information dump seems prudent. An information dump (often shortened & otherwise known as an “info dump”) is a large, ungainly amount of knowledge or background information put into a story in one spot, usually near the beginning of a narrative or included in the prologue. They are similar to the author’s footnotes because they suddenly stop the story and give other crucial information that the author feels the reader needs to understand in order to continue the story. It has a major flaw, however, as it usually does not fit seamlessly into the story. It doesn’t sound like the character saying it in the dialogue, or it feels like information jammed into somewhere it doesn’t belong.  An example of this is in the film Scooby Doo (2002). Mystery Inc. works together to thwart their old partner & friend Scrappy-Doo who has turned to evil.

Velma

                                    Scrappy-Doo… 

Scrappy-Doo

                                    Correction! The new improved Scrappy!

                                    Because I, Scrappy-Dappy-Doo, have

                                    absorbed enough energy to rule the

                                    world with my all powerful army! And

                                    I’ve brought you here, puny pathetic

                                    Mystery Inc. to witness my moment of                                                                                             triumph. Who I need to complete my                                                                                     transformation is… Scooby-Doo!

Here all his plans are laid out, they are told up front what the stakes are and that the only way to stop Scrappy-Doo is to keep Scooby-Doo away and safe from him. However jarring this is in terms of narrative, Scooby-Doo is notorious for doing this. Whenever villains are unmasked in an episode of Scooby-Doo, Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo usually begin an information dump, which culminates with the villain uttering the famous phrase,  “and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids and you’re dumb dog!” or some variation or spin of it. An example of an information dump in a book is the published science fiction book The Lost World reluctantly authored by Michael Crichton. In the first book – Jurassic Park (1990) – the main character of Ian Malcolm perished, having been killed by the recreated dinosaurs & leaving little to no real room for a sequel. When the film Jurassic Park was made, Steven Spielberg issued that Crichton make a second book so another film could be made to play up the dinosaur theme and make some serious money. Instead of having the book revolve around Dr. Alan Grant, another main character from the book as well as the film, Crichton brought back the Chaos Theory professor Ian Malcolm to be his main character. His sudden reappearance is explained in the prologue of the second book. “Malcolm was forty years old, and a familiar figure at the Institute. He had been one of the early pioneers in chaos theory, but his promising career had been disrupted by a severe injury during a trip to Costa Rica; Malcolm had, in fact, been reported dead in several newscasts. ‘I was sorry you cut short the celebrations in mathematics departments around the country,’ he later said, ‘but it turns out I was only slightly dead. The surgeons have done wonders, as they will be the first to tell you. So now I am back – in my next iteration, you might say’” (Crichton, 1). Here it takes away so much from the actual book, yet is so crucial to the plot of the story (Malcolm is the main character, it would be difficult to execute the book without him), that it is included in the prologue to explain away his recovery from his “death” in the first novel rather than somewhere inside the meat & guts of the book. However necessary this is for the background of a plot, information dumping is a tedious evil & several writers and filmmakers have opted for a more elusive approach to storytelling.

            In Star Wars: A New Hope Lucas begins his series with an unprecedented idea. It is now one of the defining moments in cinematic history. It is the opening crawl, sometimes called the roll-up, which is at the beginning of the film in the stead of opening credits. Ever since being made for the first of the films, the opening crawl has been featured in all of the Star Wars films as well as the cartoon series spin-off of Star Wars called The Clone Wars and also in video games set in the Star Wars universe. But which narrative device does it fall under? Is it a tedious information dump or is it a more gripping inclue? In order to obtain an answer one needs to read the original crawl that started it all.

                                                Star Wars

                                    It is a period of civil war.

                                    Rebel spaceships, striking           

                                    from a hidden base, have won

                                    their first victory against

                                    the evil Galactic Empire.

 

                                    During the battle, Rebel

                                    spies managed to steal secret

                                    plans to the Empire’s

                                    ultimate weapon, the DEATH

                                    STAR, an armored space

                                    station with enough power

                                    to destroy an entire planet.

 

                                    Pursued by the Empire’s

                                    sinister agents, Princess

                                    Leia races home aboard her

                                    starship, custodian of the

                                    stolen plans that can save her

                                    people and restore

                                    freedom to the galaxy….

This is a great deal of information floating over the black of space for a series just starting to get its feet off the ground. But since it’s before the film even really starts it’s not really part of the film. Yes, it’s essentially a prologue but it offers background information in a large lump sum to the audience. It engages audiences and keeps them in the loop of the story instead of boring them with ineffective dialogue that goes over their heads or in one ear and out another. In an interview in 2005, Lucas describes the crawl. “The crawl is such a hard thing because you have to be careful that you’re not using too many words that people don’t understand. It’s like a poem. I showed the very first crawl to a bunch of friends of mine in the 1970s. It went on for six paragraphs with four sentences each. Brian De Palma was there, and he threw his hands up in the air and said, ‘George, you’re out of your mind! Let me sit down and write this for you.’ He helped me chop it down into the form that exists today” (Pearlman). Here it is seen that Lucas didn’t want the crawl/roll-up to be a clutter of techno-speak that people would get bored of. Taking into consideration that the audience wouldn’t appreciate a large essay to read to understand the world they were about to be immersed in goes in great strides away from being an information dump, but since it’s a large chunk of information that is used to inform the audience of the background of the story it falls under the classification of an information dump, as do the other crawls in the other 5 films that he has made to date.

            Besides the opening crawl of the Star Wars films, the dialogue is another way of exposing exposition in the story. But is the dialogue just a dump for information or a more ingenious incluing technique? In the Star Wars script written by Lucas, he puts in a great deal of dialogue referencing the previous plot points of the story that people didn’t see yet, or haven’t seen yet, depending on when you were born. Right off the bat, Lucas begins with a bang. He introduces us to the crawl. As already stated, this is a form of an information dump, albeit a considerate dump. As the screenplay continues, the two droids that the series revolves around – C-3PO & R2-D2 – provide the first real bit of background information.

                                                            C-3PO

                                    No more adventures. I’m not going that way.

 (Lucas, 15). When C-3PO says this it is assumed that these droids have been on a space-faring journey before. And indeed they have as seen with the prequel installations (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, & Revenge of the Sith). For people who haven’t seen the prequel Star Wars the audience is almost immediately given a sense of what the two droids have been through. For those audience members who have already seen the prequel trilogy seeing these lines does not detract from the overall sweep of the film and isn’t sensed as an awkward line. The counterpoint to this dialogue can be seen in Revenge of the Sith. When the Chancellor is captured by the Separatist movement and Obi-Wan and Anakin have to save him and fight Count Dooku, Anakin gets a moment of information dumping.

                                                            Anakin

                                    My powers have doubled since the last

                                    time we met, Count.

(Lucas, 14) With Anakin blatantly coming out and calling Count Dooku on his powers the audience is let on that the two have met before. However, the way in which he says this words is not the most subtle way of doing it and is not complimentary to the flow of the film as a whole. Therefore, while not as bulky as a standard information dump this bit of dialogue does fall under the sway of an information dump. But the information presentation isn’t always an information dump as the exposition in the original saga continues when Uncle Owen buys the two droids and Luke is fixing up R2 in A New Hope.

                         Luke

                                    Have you been in many battles?

C-3PO

                                    Several, I think. Actually,

                                    there’s not much to tell. I’m

                                    not much more than an interpreter,

                                    & not very good at telling stories.

                                    Well, not at making them interesting                                                                                     anyways.

(Lucas, 28). During this exchange we learn that C-3PO and R2-D2 have been around blasters and been in battle before. This excerpt is an example of an inclue because the dialogue that C-3PO uses aren’t in a different voice and doesn’t take away from the flow of the scene involving the information. There is also a hint of foreshadowing with C-3PO being a storytelling, but this isn’t about that. An information dump in the prequel trilogy comes from the scene where Qui-Gon Jin is explaining the Force to young Anakin Skywalker.

                                                            Qui-Gon Jin

                                    Midichlorians are microscopic life forms

                                    that reside in all living things.

(Lucas, 87). Here the concept of midichlorians is introduced to the audience. Since these bacteria (or other such microscopic beings) have not been introduced in the saga before (or even mentioned at all in the following five films) it requires some heavy explaining -

                                                            Qui-Gon Jin

                                    Without the midichlorians, life could not

                                    exist, and we would know no knowledge

                                    of the Force. They continually speak to us.

                                    telling us the will of the Force. When you

                                    learn to quiet your mind, you’ll hear them

                                    speaking to you.

(Lucas, 87). I qualify this as more of an information dump because not only is it a load of information that takes viewers away from the storyline, but it is said in a voice that isn’t Qui-Gon’s speech. When the audience first hears about these midichlorians they are confused about what they are, seeing as Qui-Gon never really explained how they got into ones body or why they aren’t in everyone’s blood like they are in Anakin’s. In the original trilogy Lucas had a basic blueprint of the events he wanted to have happen in the prequel trilogy. This included the galaxy-spanning Clones Wars and what role Luke’s father would be in it.

                                Luke

                                     You fought in the Clone Wars?

                                                            Ben

                                    Yes I was once a Jedi Knight,

                                    the same as your father.

                                                            Luke

                                    I wish I’d known him.

                                                            Ben

                                    He was the best star-pilot in

                                    the galaxy and a cunning warrior.

(Lucas, 43). Through the dialogue we are given a sense of the Skywalker heritage. Because Ben Kenobi was a friend of Anakin he has authority to speak on the subject of Luke’s father, giving him insight both to Luke and to the audience who might not know who this person was that Luke calls his father. The ones who haven’t seen the series before are able to discern that Luke’s father was one of the best pilot’s in the known galaxy and still be able to remain immersed in the story. Also, because the lines aren’t paragraphs long and aren’t filled with information that is too much to handle, this bit of dialogue falls under the category of an inclue.  Going back and forth between the two trilogies, it seems that the information dumping is used more heavily in the prequel trilogy while in the original trilogy incluing is more of an effective storytelling device. This can be attributed to the fact that George Lucas had other writers write the screenplay’s for in the original as well has have other directs come in to direct the films while in the prequel trilogy its all him from the writing to the directing.

            How long are the films apart? What happens in-between chapters in the series? Are these questions ever addressed in the films? Perhaps the biggest reference that is ever seen in Star Wars is Leia’s message on R2 in the second act of the film that started it all. In it we find out that Obi-Wan was working for her father but is that all we find out?

                                                            Leia

                                    General Kenobi, years ago you

                                    served my father in the Clone

                                    Wars.

 (Lucas, 46). In this inclue, Leia tells both Luke and the viewer that Kenobi was a general in the Clone Wars and served under Bail Organa – Leia’s father. The Clone Wars was a pretext of the events to follow in A New Hope. However, the amount of time is never addressed in the films, leaving one to wonder how long the transitions between installments are. Perhaps the closet reference we get is when Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader talk about Obi-Wan on the Death Star. 

                         Tarkin

                                    The Jedi are extinct, their fire

                                    has gone out of the universe. You,

                                    my friend, are all that’s left of

                                    their religion.

 (Lucas, 99). Here, Tarkin alludes to the fact that Darth Vader is the last of the Jedi Order and the rest of the Jedi were eliminated. In the Expanded Universe we find out that the Emperor and Darth Vader led a Jedi Purge to rid the galaxy of them. The purge happens in the years between the events in Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. But what else happens? Are there any other clues in the films as to what happens in the small time from film to film? For example, officially the events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi are a year apart. This span of time is never addressed in either the dialogue or the actions in the films. Because Leia, Luke, & Lando go and rescue Han together in a grand plan it seems that the event in Return of the Jedi happen perhaps a month in the wake of The Empire Strikes Back. Today any viewer can look up the time between films on the Internet but the audience in the theatre has no idea how long it’s been. In real life, all of the films were released in three-year intervals (save for a sixteen year span between Return of the Jedi and A Phantom Menace) but this real life time doesn’t reflect the series time as the start of A Phantom Menace to the end of Return of the Jedi lasts thirty seven years. To make the films it took twenty eight years of releasing (and if we subtract the sixteen years that Lucas was bidding his time for technology we come out with twelve years of production and releases) which isn’t the real time in the Star Wars universe. Within the films, there is no real indicator of the span of time covered in the installations and if we look to real life time passage we come up with a different number than the real number of years it covers, according to the creator, George Lucas.

                        In finale, the Star Wars films are an excellent example of incluing and how to keep an audience entertained throughout a long form narrative. Taking a look at other examples of what to do and what not to do has been able to help achieve an understanding of incluing & information dumps as well as to find out how to combat boring and less than enthusiastic dialogue with more intriguing spurts of information. Lucas accomplishes being able to combine lengthy and important information while at the same time keeping the audience entertained.

Dream Biography (Writing & Rhetoric I)

Drumline Speech (Marching Knights)

This is from my senior year of high school after we played our last performance as a drumline. I decided to do something special & give a speech to everyone in the drumline, from pit to batterie. It was well received & there WAS a video of it on youtube but i cannot find it anymore.

Speech 

This has been a wondrous year for all of us. What a great show to end a career upon. The music speaks for itself and us. This drumline emulates the music like no other. But I haven’t written this speech to admire the music, I wrote it for you. 
The drumline has become a family this year unlike any other year that I’ve been here. This is the first year that we’ve operated together. Though, like any other family we’ve had our share of fights, we’ve come together at the end to win awards. But the awards mean nothing. We already knew we were the best drumline. In our hearts we knew that we bested everyone else in four states. 
All of you I will miss, you can be sure of that. From Frank helping with the pit loading, to Josh and Kelly bickering like they are married; from Kyle’s British accent to Doll’s dark pessimism; from Blankenberger’s reaction to the first impression to Sam’s unending drama; from Blake’s triple tenor singing voice to Amanda’s fear of me. You have all chipped at who I am and left your own marks upon my soul. It is truly a regret of mine that I have to leave such a great organization. 
For the Westers that are here, you know a little of the feeling we seniors have. But regardless, you’re devotion has been a great addition to the force of the drumline and they are losing exceptional talent once you leave. But always remember you’re roots here, it will serve you well in the new school. 
Saturday it hit me that I was in such a great group. Thank you all for understanding & I’m sorry for making pretty much half of you cry. I have a quote to say to you all and I hope that it affects you like it has me. “Catch the Keys” from Nick waters. I hope it was hard hitting for you. 
For the seniors, what a great career we’ve made. We came in with winning the drumline award in Illinois to winning it in Minnesota. We’ve come full circle. Sorry, I thought I needed to say it. You are my family and have inspired me to strive for the extra mile and beyond. I shall miss all of you without reservation. This is it for the 7 of us. Dan, Nikki, Steve, Emma, Bailey, and Deanne it has been wonderful serving with you for the past 4 years. We’ve laid down our legacy, now it’s time to see how the rest of the drumline continues it. 
Farewell to all of you and I hope that you follow your dreams, hopes, and aspirations in the future. And don’t forget to thank Keith, Scott and the many techs who have helped us for sacrificing their time and patience for us. 

Spur of the moment inspiration

Tonight I watched Lars & the Real Girl & i was spurred to write a song. Before I watched the movie I had rummaged through my old guitar class stuff from 3-4 years ago & found a song that I had meant to show my last band, Sit There & Take It. I re-worked the lyrics & updated them, the chords I changed a bit as well, but the best part of it was the intro/verse part. I demo’d it & sent it to Zach who enjoyed it & now I think we (as in One Year Reign) might expand on it, finish it, record it, play it live, & eventually release it.

The title is tentativly Why oh Pretty You. 

A Good Man (Moving Image Production II)

Description: We were given a treatment that a classmate wrote & we had to make it our own and then shoot on a bolex camera. 

Background: I just changed minuet details. Like character names and such. The rest is Andrew’s work.

When we shot this it turned out horrible. The cage (where we had to transfer our film into digital work we could edit on our computers) lost a whole roll of my 100 meter film. So, my end result did not look like this. At all.


A Good Man

1 INT. EVIDENCE ROOM - DAT

ROGER PICKELS, a man in his late twenties, opens his evidence room. Inside are boxes piled on top of each other with their labels mix-matched and facing the door where Roger stands.

Roger enters the room and shuffles to the back-most boxes. He searches for a box and stops at a box entitled “Alan Wilmet.” He takes it and places it in the center of the room. Roger opens it and withdraws a Ziploc bag from it. He stuffs the bag inside in coat pocket, kicks the box to the side and leaves the room.

2 EXT. CHICAGO STREET – DAY

JEFF TIDYWINKS, an eighteen year-old male with short hair, walks down a Chicagoan street. He has a charismatic air around him and he smiles at the people passing him. He rounds the corner of the street and pulls back his sleeve to reveal his watch. He glances at it and gasps. He searches around him for a shortcut.

In front of Jeff, Roger walks the street. His arms are stuffed in his trench coat; he wears a brown fedora pulled close to his eyes. He stops in front of an entrance to an alleyway and looks round. When no one is looking in his direction, he heads down the alley.

Jeff notices Roger go down the alley and follows him. He jogs down it. Ahead of him, Roger walks at a brisk pace. Intrigued, Jeff shadows him at a distance. Roger drops a manila envelope without breaking his stride. He walks a few more paces and picks up a different envelope then continues walking. Curious, Jeff goes to the envelope. However, ALAN- twenties with dirty clothing and an unkempt beard- is sitting right in front of the envelope. As he reaches toward it, Jeff picks it up instead. Alan quickly withdraws his hand and glares menacingly at Jeff. Jeff notices Alan, but hurries off after Roger. Alan gets up and stalks Jeff.

Roger walks across the street. Jeff tries to follow him but is stopped by a “No crossing” signal. The envelope rests in his hand. Alan comes up behind him and forms a fist. As he raises the fist, Jeff crosses the street. Alan nonchalantly follows him.

3 INT. CHICAGO BUILDING - DAY

Roger has entered a building by now. He enters a staircase and begins to ascend it. Behind him, Jeff enters and sees the end tail of Roger’s coat go up the staircase. He follows him up as Alan enters behind Jeff. 

Roger opens a door to the next floor when he suddenly stops. He takes out the new envelope and opens it, revealing a bundle of cash within it. He turns around and sees Jeff walking up behind him, panting. Jeff hands him the envelope with a trembling hand. Roger’s eyes widen in horror and he dashes back down the stairs.

Alan waits in a shadowed area of the staircase as Roger runs past. Jeff comes down as well, but more slowly. When he passes Alan, Alan pounces on him and strangles him with a shoelace. Jeff’s body struggles and then stops.

4 EXT. CHICAGO STREET

Roger runs back to where he previously dropped the envelope but does not see Alan. He opens the manila envelope and sees a bloodied knife within it with the label “Fingerprints” on it. Roger puts it back inside the envelope and sets the envelope down. He walks away.

P.S. The picture has nothing to do with the story. Just a side note that I know is right.