THE THINGS (WGAW #1667021)
Jean-Marie MazaleyratPenpusher
When the objects, acting in concert worldwide, start refusing to help with bad actions for no apparent reason, it becomes the hell on earth for bad people but not yet heaven for the others. Will we be able to understand what things want to teach us: a lesson in humanity?
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Hi dpg,
I agree about the plot conspiracy: I just said that the conspiracy is against people; as it is for example in Mars Attacks, Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow.
But not about the unity of action and the principal character: There are several heroes and no unity of action in most of disaster movies.
In some of these, the heroes do not even meet each others throughout the whole movie! (Mars Attacks…).
In the easiest cases, the main hero is the one who triggers the final victory (Independence Day); in some others, there are two or more main heroes (The Tower Inferno)…
I have several main heroes who don’t meet each others throughout the whole movie*. This is why I don’t know how this damned logline can be summed up in one sentence!
*Auctually, some of them get organized via networks to make good decisions and lead this sudden change.
I’m still working…
All the best.
And BTW:
I posited “plot as a conspiracy against the protagonist” as a general dramatic principle. I was repeating a statement I read in a book. I think it’s a very useful notion. Your plot IS a conspiracy against your characters even if don’t you conceive of it that way. You are deliberately designing a plot to force your characters to change, act better, do things the way you think they should be done.
If that’s not a conspiracy, I know not the meaning of the term.
fwiw
Whatever. But there needs to be a unity of action, that is, a principal character around whom to frame your narrative. Who’s the lucky guy (or gal)?
Hi dpg,
Nice to read you !
The plot is not exactly a conspiracy against villains and criminals: It’s a conspiracy against our ugly defects (Postman of the Year is not really a criminal. He’s just arrogant and he is likely unconscious of being). Of course, the consequences are larger for real villains.
The latter are the sliest ones and the first to understand what is happening, as they are aware of being bad; so they try to use cunning by making commit their evil deeds by naive people… it seems to work for a while; … but it ended up falling back on them (even in the literal sense sometimes!)…
There is a conspiracy attempt of wicked people against this new order in the story. But to organize, they need resources … willing to work. … what a rage!
But this is only one part of the story. Not bad people must also understand what happens to them and make their self examination: learning to understand when their actions become harmful, to solve their own contradictions, to respect the environment, nature, other people… lose some confidence and gain some humility…
This means a hard work for everybody.
And then there are also crazy people; those who are unable to stop their delusions. The things also have funny ways of making them innocuous.
Jean-Marie
I don’t have handle on the story based on the information you’ve provided. However, if one considers that one definition of the the plot is a conspiracy against the protagonist, then it follows that the plot in your premise is a conspiracy against villains and criminals.
So one possibility is establish your protagonist as a criminal who suddenly finds himself in a world that refuses to co-operate, refuses to enable or facilitate his criminal behavior. And, of course, there could be a supporting cast of other criminal and immoral characters.
Hello Friends,
You?re right again danielarmour.
I don?t know how to tell what is needed with about thirty words.
Here are the data:
– About the genre: action, comedy, parody of disaster movies, moral tale.
– About the protagonists: collective as usual in disaster movies.
The true hero is the Human being, epitomized through several characters with their own goals, their own weaknesses, some being the others antagonists…
… faced worldwide and simultaneously to an inexplicable phenomenon: objects decide not to function each time we try to use them for bad reasons or actions:
– guns don?t fire
– mailboxes don?t accept any mail from the arrogant Postman of the Year
– bikes? wheels of doped runners don?t want to turn
– microphones and loudspeakers of lying politicians keep mute
-…
The hell on earth for bad people! … But also a great panic worldwide and not yet heaven for the others. Because not bad? doesn?t mean good?, and this makes Heaven needed to be earned.
Which indicates the heroes’ arcs: Not bad? people will have to become better, some of the bad ones will be able to become good and the others will fall crawling into their hell.
The inciting incident: the objects suddenly refuse to be part of bad actions worlwide.
The Protagonists: the whole humanity, via the trials and tribulations of several people of any kind,
The antagonists: the things that decided to cure men of their ugly defects,
The goal: adapt to a new set of rules,
The flaw: their ugly defects and their disability to see and correct them,
The stake: Hell or Heaven on earth,
Maybe the loglines of “Mars Attacks” or other disaster movies would be of great help, but I found none for now.
I’m still working on it.
It’s certainly shorter but it’s still pretty vague. There needs to be a main character there, an inciting incident and a concrete goal to achieve or action to prevent.
Hi Andrewclau,
Hi danielarmour,
You’re right!
And it is also too long.
Is this better please?
“After the objects start refusing to be part of bad actions all over the World, It?s a long journey for people to make it a heaven”
Hi Jean-Marie. I think the first problem with this logline is that it’s too vague. While you can’t give away every detail, it doesn’t say much other than something is happening. Also, in that regard, it doesn’t even commit to a catalyst for the event. The second problem with this logline is that it doesn’t have a particular character to follow. It needs one person that this story is about and how it relates to them. An even better idea would be to have a sense of irony to that character being placed in the story; like he or she is a push over that has to lead people.
HI Jean-Marie, I don’t understand your logline entirely but from what I can see, it comes across as an event, not a story. What are these “objects?” I think you need to work back into the logline who the protagonist of your story is and what his/her main objective is. What’s at stake? Does this protagonist have a flaw? The last sentence in your logline “Will we be able to understand what things want to teach us: a lesson in humanity” is theme driven and should not be included in loglines.
Hello Friends,
Glad to be back.
This refers to my precedent post on June 6