W.F.T.M. Post 7

Listen Listen Listen. Our parents always tell us we'd better listen to them when they're talking and our teachers in school would give us bad grades if we failed to pay attention in class. But what is so important that we would get chastised for failure to listen. Why not place this blame on the speaker for not dictating in an engaging manor. All the grownup bashing aside, listening can be a powerful tool. It takes practice and a well exercised brain to pick up on the root of what people are actually saying. Take for instance when a person says, "I look so fat in this dress". Depending on the situation, tone, and many other factors of communication, this person could actually mean that they do in fact look fat, or on a more involved level they could mean that they want you, the listener to disagree with them and give them a compliment. Even one step further they could be saying, "Pay attention to me". Listening is an underestimated part of conversation that can be much more important than even speaking itself. *The more you know*

W.F.T.M. Post 6

Talk talk talk talk talk. Talking is a major part of everyday life so it only makes sense that dialog would play a big role in modern storytelling. I myself do not yet trust my recording skills or my writing skills so I have yet to attempt to tackle the beast that is dialog. I feel more confident now that I have some guides to help me stay away from poor dialog.

W.F.T.M. Post 5

To build a story one must start with a message. It's interesting how I'd never thought about that before. In retrospect I can see that most of my stories message is ,"Laugh". What I find so intriguing about this is that even if a storyteller or film maker is unaware of this story building structure, they tend to follow it. First you start with your message then you build the universe, next you create your characters, then your conflict and on and on. It seems that these steps of story building are derived from the common practice of professional story tellers.

Frank Work

Here is some recent work on my senior thesis 'Frank' I feel like I have a solid story now that is realistic and exciting. Stay tuned.


A possible Title Card


Frank Turnaround.

W.F.T.M. Post 4

It seemed that the last class was focused on coming up with a good paring blank VS blank to establish a conflict. Within each paring, Boy vs Girl, parent vs child, there seems to be a preset conflict that a story teller could draw from and expect that a majority of the audience would be able to connect. Allow me to again apply these ideas to my own story. Franks conflict seems to be more internal but I feel that I can pit him against everyone in his town. He's a sad lonely man who has no friends or social skills. So to Frank, his enemy is confronting other people, even if those people's friendship is what he desires most. So maybe Franks greatest enemy is his self. 'Frank' is a story of Man vs Self as he try's to overcome his personal fears in order to achieve happiness. That seems to be a common thread in a lot of current stories.

Changes a comin!

Big news everyone. My Frank story as it existed is now kaput. I'm still doing a film about Frank drawing friends to life but this one is a little more manigable and is structured much more clearly. I'll throw down the new idea as soon as I get it nailed down myself. Peace...

Writing For The Media Post 3

Today was a very informational class in which I learned some kickass ways to develop characters. A character goes way deeper than merely their outward appearance. A character is instead defined as what is revealed when the character is placed under pressure. We also applied the Abraham Maslow Hierarchy to the character development process to test out situations in which a character is under pressure. Basically everything boils down to one of two choices. In the worst of times does a character selflessly give and sacrifice or does it take in order to preserve itself.
After learning about these tools I again want to put my thesis under the microscope. Frank has a fear of being alone forever, this is his inner turmoil, his motivation. Acting against his nature to be lazy Frank invests his time into making these companions so that he won't have to face his fear of solitude. Frank has not achieved enlightnement as far as the Maslow Hierarchy is concerned. I would place him in the middle. He has his existence and security taken care of but what Frank now seeks is love or acceptance by at least one person. So my story is about Frank in pursuit of friendship, but does my story follow the 3 act structure? A few posts down is my animatic as it stands right now. I really want to get this story solid before I start production. Let me know what you think.

Writing For the Media Post 2

So last class we talked about story recipes and it made me wonder, where does my senior thesis story fit in? In order for this to make sense to you the reader, here is a little synopsis. The story is about a lonely, middle aged, average man waking up and trudging through his morning. He's a Google employee so his office is about 3 steps away from his bed. He checks his mail and finds a package which contains a pen. He uses this pen to draw himself a companion and they skip merrily down the street until the newly found friend gets caught in a puddle of water and melts away. Defeated, Frank somberly walks back up to his room where he adds his newest failed writing utensil to a pile of pens at the foot of his bed.
Right away it is obvious to see that this is a Romance story with the ever present Success/Failure ingredient as well. Given the short form of the story, there does not seem to be any other ingredients present.

WFTM 1

Today I learned about how everything is a story, that all stories have a message and that those messages are asking me to change. Again I found myself falling victim to this vicious cycle of advertising, the only difference is that this time I was a little more aware that it was happening. I was sitting at my desk in studio looking over the various pictures on my wall and the items laying about. One thing that caught my eye was the designer toy that I brought to decorate my new home away from home. Instantly the toy spoke very loudly to me saying, "I need to go visit my friend Patrick at Poptopia in west port and further support his new business venture." Me being the consumer whore that I am, I went and I bought. Not only am I addicted to collecting these little toys but on another, deeper level I feel that my purchases directly support Patrick's business. Boy is he lucky he has me on his side.

Also today I was talking to my girlfriend and found that I could often catch myself saying things to make her happy or make her laugh. I then proceeded to think that if I just flat out told her my intentions, I would probably not receive the response that I wanted. This story conversation thing is going to be an interesting subject and I cannot wait to find out more.

Frank Animatic First Pass

It's been a while but here is what I came up with this summer. There is still lots to be done and in no way do I consider this to be my final animatic so any feedback would be super helpful.

Frank Animatic First Pass from Evan Tedlock on Vimeo.