"The ZOOM Bomber" – Update 1

A few weeks ago, my script writer’s group challenged me to write a script about a ZOOM meeting. At first, I didn’t see any point in that, but then I came up with an interesting concept.

My working title is "The ZOOM Bomber".

I started, then stopped, then started again. Eventually I had a first draft. I left it a couple of days and did a revision. I was worried that I may have gone too far with the violence in the story. I do have a couple of fight scenes. We'll see what people think. I've passed it to a few people for comments. Once I get some feedback, I'll do another revision.

I didn’t intend to do anything further with the script. I do plan to post a final revision on my website, but I can't see myself making the film. I don't feel up to finding someone else to make it.

However, I started to feel inspired to investigate maybe doing something more with it. At one of our script group sessions we talked about some major companies do animated storyboards to see how a movie plays.

I did something like that with "The Barrier" using Xtranormal. I don't think Nawmal would work with this story because of the fight scenes (https://www.nawmal.com/). I found a story board program on-line that I am trying out: https://wonderunit.com/storyboarder/. It doesn't animate, just creates a series of still images, but I think that might do for now. It has been a bit of a challenge to start using it. I did get the first sequence of the story done. I can move on to the rest.

I used some artificial voices to create the dialogue. They aren't licenced for commercial use, so if I want to post the result on-line, I'll need to find another way to do the dialogue. I know some actors and maybe I can get them to do it as a test. That is something I would like to try out anyway.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Interrogation Research for "The Interrogation"

Since Rapport Interviewing is a core aspect of "The Interrogation”, and I felt I didn’t know enough about it to write about it in a convincing manner, I decided I needed to do some research.

Being the lazy sort, I started by finding a few YouTube videos and popular articles on the subject. My big hope was that I would learn enough from that and wouldn't need to dig any deeper.

I felt I learned a lot from what I read and saw, but when it came time to write it up for my blog, I found myself overwhelmed by the material.

I'll need to analyze what I read a lot more before I can give a write up the justice it deserves. Instead, today I will list a few lessons I did learn.

•  People who practice this technique prefer to call it an interview. They try to create a casual friendly atmosphere. They will hold it in a hotel room with comfortable chairs rather than the stereotypical bare interrogation room.
• The two aspects of the technique are developing rapport and detecting deception. 
• Developing rapport is a matter of building trust and respect for each other. This leads to empathy and openness in communication.
• A good interviewer will act nice toward the subject of the interrogation. Interviewers cannot fake this. It must be genuine. A friendly smile can go a long way toward building trust and respect.
• Giving the subject a hot drink can put them at ease.
• Interviews start by looking for common ground. This does not need to relate to the issue of the interview. It could music they like, family relationships, food and so on. 
• The interviewer must make it clear that the subject of the interview is free to choose if they want to talk or not. People will talk more readily if they feel it is their choice than if you try to force them.
• One technique is that the interviewer will tell the subject something personal about themselves. This encourages the subject to share something personal about them selves. When I read this, I thought of the scenes between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs". In the next paragraph of the article, the referenced those scenes explicitly.
• The interviewer must remember that goal is to learn, not to punish. They must control their own emotional response.
• "Everyone has a story they want to tell. The goal for the interviewer is t0 create an atmosphere where they are willing to tell it." - Major Sherwood Moran
• A terrorist will want to tell you why they did it.
• There are several techniques for detecting deception, which I need to investigate further. However, once the interviewer has gained rapport with the subject, it is much easier for them to challenge deception.

Rapport interviewing is very much a skill and it takes time and effort to become good at it. In my life I came to realize that knowledge is not skill. People can know what to do from reading or watching someone else do something. A person can only develop a skill if they do it themselves.

There is still quite a lot I need to absorb about interrogation, but I already see opportunities to improve my story. In particular, the title “The Interrogation” is wrong.

 In the meantime, I found some more articles that I think I should read as well. I should also re-watch “The Silence of the Lambs”, or at least the scenes between Hannibal and Clarice. I will need to process what I've learned before I can embark on my next step of writing.

Some of my sources:

My Secret to Breaking Terrorists: Detecting Deception & Rapport | Lena Sisco | TEDxWilmington https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9j8iJHSCbY

The scientists persuading terrorists to spill their secrets https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/oct/13/the-scientists-persuading-terrorists-to-spill-their-secrets

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Some Thoughts about “Billy’s Big Discovery”

Some years ago, I wrote a short story called "Billy's Big Discovery".  Recently I thought about revising and expanding it into a longer story. It was clear right away that there were several problems I would need to overcome if I want to build the story into something longer.

The Story

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/billys-big-discovery/

The story is about a University professor/scientist who makes his most important discovery on his last day before he retires. This discovery causes to change his mind about a theory he has promoted for his entire career. One of his former students is working on a worldwide crisis. Billy's discovery and the change in the theory provide him with a breakthrough that will help him solve the crisis.

Story Structure

Currently the story consists of a prologue set in Billy's childhood. The rest of story happens on his last day of work as he clears out his office. In the last section, a former student comes to visit and that is when Billy makes his big discovery.

If I expand this story, I'll need to have a different structure. My approach would be to have a series of flashbacks as the various things Billy finds in his office as he packs up bring back memories. I would still end with the visit from the student. I could add a little variety by having other people stop by to say goodbye. I would still like to keep the prologue when Billy is a child rather than as a flashback.

This structure would allow me to explore Billy's character in more detail. It would also allow me to introduce other characters and develop them as well. I could use the flashbacks to create the background to the crisis, theory, and discovery.

Characters

I would like to add a flashback to introduce the student and how Billy got them become a scientist. In my original story, the student is a man, but I'm inclined to make the character a woman. I could have her taking one of his classes as an elective so, her words, she doesn’t have to be a secretary. Billy notices that the class bores her, and he talks to her about it later. He assigns her to do some work on his project. This sparks her interest and starts her on the road to her destiny.

With a longer story I would need to add more characters. This could include a wife, children, and various colleagues. Some of the colleagues would be rivals and some supporters. I think it would be poignant if Billy had a huge conflict with a colleague, and at the end he accepts that this person was right. It would be a more interesting character if he had to overcome personal animosity to accept what his rival had said all along.

Other Issues

Another issue that I implied but did not develop is how Billy has come to terms with a career that never led him to the big discovery he dreamt of making as a young child. This would form the basis for much of the conversation (or rather monologue) between Billy and his student. It would give the title of the story a double meaning.

The Discovery, the Theory, and the Crisis

The core of the story is the discovery that causes Billy to change an opinion that he has professed most of his life. At the time I wrote the story, I couldn't think of a suitable discovery. I struggles with that, but I finally decided that in a short story it really wasn't necessary to have a specific discovery. It might be a bit frustrating for some readers, but it wouldn't really mater to the point I wanted to make with the story.

However, if I develop a longer story, I will really need to have a discovery and a theory that it overturns. The discovery would need to be something that he would not have noticed before. It would be something that would be able to convince him that he was wrong. The discovery would need to something that would help his former student find a solution to a worldwide crisis.

My current feeling is that it would not be an easy to come up with a plausible combination of crisis, theory, and discovery. I don't think a current real-world crisis (climate change or pandemic) would work, because it would be difficult to come up with a believable discovery. It would be a disappointment for readers if they are hoping for a solution that would deal with the real-world issue. It would also be difficult to dream up a combination from nothing.

In any event, I haven't come up with any options worth considering. Without that, I don’t think I can move forward on a revision to the story.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog