Class Cancelled...Again

So here's the deal. This sets us back. Again. Now, since the University deems conditions unsafe enough to cancel classes this afternoon, I can't in good faith require you to drop off your journals and copies of my essay at my office. So we'll do that on Monday. Damn.

What we would've done in class is this:

Performed dialogues.
Watched different scenes from Bullitt, the classic Steve McQueen detective film.
Written scene cards based on the clips to record how Frank Bullitt is portrayed.
Written scene cards for real scenes from our memories about our person.
Tried to arrange them to create a possible portrait.

I want you to start thinking about your portrait in terms of scenes. What scenes can you create from your memory about your person to create a full and interesting portrait? You have to start thinking like a screenwriter except for a few differences. First, you have much less time and space to create your portrait, so you have no room for unnecessary details. Your portrait is a short film, at best. But, you don't have the limits that a screenwriter has. Where the screenwriter only can write playable action (what can be shown externally on the screen), you can include your own reflections, opinions, biases, internal debates, psychoanalyses, authorial voice...

But, for now, I want you to start thinking about choosing scenes and episodes to include in your portrait. I also want you to think about how and why you would choose one episode over another. Just as choosing a good subject for the portrait is incredibly important, so is choosing good scenes/episodes to create the structure of the portrait.

So you're going to create scene cards. Of course, first you're going to have choose what scenes you're going to use.

To make your scene cards you first need cards. Index cards work fine, or you can rip a piece of paper into quarters. Whichever. Each card needs to look like this before you start:

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Setting:

Action:

Characterization:

Specific Incidents/Recurring Activities:

Significance:

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I'm going to fill out a scene card for my essay right here as an example.

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Setting: Tram, charcoal chicken store, dorm
Action: We go purchase a charcoal chicken, return and eat it.
Characterization: Australian, male, student... (is that it? jeez)
Incidents/activities: paying for both, woodchipping of fries, restraint in not eating fries on ride home, not talking
Significance: Relentlessness? Compulsive? Single-minded? Insists on paying = control?
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This is, as I'm sure you know, the opening scene of my portrait. Now, I didn't do scene cards before writing it, which seems obvious now because the scene looks pretty weak. I mean, where is the characterization? In this opening episode Jarrod consists of a name, a mouth, and a hand. I couldn't get this image out of my head where I started to write, so I just started with it. As it is right now, I don't think the scene is working too well, as we'll discuss later. But I think I can get use what I see as the significance to connect this scene with other ones to create Jarrod as the relentless, compulsive guy I knew. It can still fit in somewhere. So I won't throw it away just yet.

But do you get the point of this? I want you to consider your portrait in scenes and plan out what each one would include. Just jot down enough so that YOU know what's happening in each scene. Most of the work in this exercise is going to be internal. Now you may have trouble identifying significance or recurring activities when you start out, and that's fine. Those are things you will probably have an easier time determining once you've got a half-dozen scene cards started.

Once I wrote the french fry scene I had no idea how it fit, but this is a rough draft, so I left it in. Now I can see how it'll work with some re-writing. I'm trying to sort out the pieces after I've written them. You guys are going to try to sort the pieces before you write them. That sounds easier in some ways, doesn't it? A stitch in time and all that jazz.

So, finally, here's the assignment:

Write at least 6 scene cards, based on your real-life experiences with the person. The more the better, obviously. Start looking for patterns in significance, in recurring activities, in possible narrative arcs, etc. You're making the bones of your portrait. Soon you'll assemble them into a skeleton. Then flesh it out.

Bring your 6+ scene cards to class on Monday.
Bring your notebook.
Bring your copy of my draft.
Guess the football score if you desire. Try to upset the champ so far: me.