logline: After following a street magician, the broke journalist gets haunted by a small group of wizards for discovering it wasn’t just a sleight of hand.
(the question is) how do I make him (just a journalist) fight real wizards
can i make his camera *magical after a “spell gone wrong”, for him to find out later?
*something to do with the shutter speed & FPS
…could be getting exposed to his camera’s flash programs the people in frame to______________??
DSLR settings tweaked to change its effect, on the people it’s flash falls on 😀
Also I want the camera to break, in the second half of act II, the way it’s supposed to in most “Out Of The Bottle” genre (like in Aladdin or The Nutty Professor)
“After following a street magician, the broke journalist gets haunted by a small group of wizards for discovering it wasn?t just a sleight of hand.”
This logline puts the inciting incident last. A problem I see is with the antagonists. Why do these wizards care? What do they gain by haunting him? If they have a problem with a someone learning about magic, why not kill or kidnap him? Doesn’t haunting just clear any doubt from his mind of what he saw? Basically, what is the motivation of the antagonists?
The bigger problem, though, is that the protagonist himself displays no motivation, pursues no goal of his own. As a result of discovering that magic is real, what does he do?
In response to your question “how do I make him (just a journalist) fight real wizards?” My answer is: Why does he need to fight them in the first place?
“can i make his camera *magical after a ?spell gone wrong?, for him to find out later?” It’s your story, you can do what you want. I would recommend something like that if you want this character to battle experienced wizards.
I hope this helps.
After discovering a street magician is a real wizard an unemployed journalist must defend himself against a group of wizards willing to kill to keep that secret.
I like Craig?s answer. I don?t think need to worry about the how in a logline, just the what.
Which in this case he discovers wizards are real, they earn money as magicians. I think there is a real fun concept here as magicians never reveal their secrets and this is their biggest one.
While defending himself is a goal, or more specifically, to survive, it still puts him in the position of being reactive. In order to defend himself, he first has to be attacked. Which I think is fine for an initial goal, but how does that change into a goal which makes him-the protagonist- the one who is proactive? The one who drives the plot.
Look at ?Logan?, the film which Hugh Jackman says will be be his last turn as Wolverine. Without spoiling the film, Logan?s goal is to deliver the girl to a place, while also defending her. By giving him a destination the film gives him an active goal to pursue, even as he fights off the antagonists.
Since Star Wars is once again dominating the box office, I think this video essay?which, at one part, talks about the differences between how active and passive protagonists affect a story, is particularly relevant. While I don?t necessarily agree with some of the points as they are applied to the film, I do think the points he makes are correct regardless, especially applied to some other films.
My point is that for this logline, the goal which makes your character a proactive protagonist is more important than an initial goal that is a reaction to the antagonist and inciting incident.
Here?s an example using elements from your logline:?After a magic trick turns his camera into a magical weapon, an ambitious journalist investigates a group of street magicians who are actual wizards for his next story. (28)
I changed the goal to him investigating, because not only does it tie in to his journalism career, but it also gives him an active goal. He chooses to actively investigate, to which the wizards must react. Since you seem to be going in the direction of the wizards trying to kill the protagonist, I ask why? Why exactly do they want to keep their magic a secret?
Something I do is to make a separate logline from the point of view of the antagonist. If you were to do that, then what is their motivation?
I hope this helps.
thanks Knightrider for the punchline “magicians never reveal their secrets and this is their biggest one. It truly defogs the premise for me!
thanks CraigDGriffiths for putting what I had in mind into the best possible logline!
finally, thanks to Dkpough1 for making me aware of the missing goal!
for your kind efforts for the awesome link!! (Jin v/s Ray)
the plot could be..
AFTER his camera is turned into a magical weapon,
Intrigued he decides to follow the street magician responsible for this anomaly,
only to confirm his doubts
And now he must face a small group of wizards who are too keen to reveal their biggest secret!!
but I am still hung up on him being the active protagonist by giving him a choice and letting him DECIDE how himself to reveal their secret or else______________(don’t know the “stakes” and “debate section” yet)
all of you got into my head (from such great distances) and unraveled a mess of plot
awesome 🙂