Edgar the Murse! and a brief discussion of Save the Cat

You know the app "Angry Birds" correct? Yes, it's that silly little game with the round birds. Apps have come into their own as a technology in our modern world. Today I had an epiphany for very morbid, yet hilariously fun app! It's called, "Edgar Murse!" In this app you play as a murse (male nurse) named Edgar. You work in a hospital and you have to administer shots, medicine, food, and relocate patients. Slowly you work your way up the ladder to doctor and then heart surgeon!

Place tourniquet here!

Prime skin.

Insert needle here!

Be sure to click (a) when the needle is full!

Oops! You have drained the patient of their blood! The patient has died. YOU'VE BEEN FIRED. wop wop wooop.

lol Look at how fun that would be! I would totally buy that app! Would you?

Have you heard of the concept of Save the Cat? Save the Cat is a screenwriting technique. It is an idea put into words in this particular form by Blake Snyder. This is his book, Save the Cat. http://www.amazon.com/Save-Last-Book-Screenwriting-Youll/dp/1932907009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312074083&sr=1-1

Anyways, it comes down to this single idea. There must be a motivation or reason to root for the hero. This comes in an action that the hero does. The fact that it is a visible action, on screen, is key. The hero must do something like saving a cat. The action need not physically be saving a cat, however the action must betray an underlying care for others or create a sense of pity for the character. Characters that have dimension to them and that engage the audience are ones that stick with you and that create good stories. Save the cat is effective at producing characters like this. Watch for this in all the movies you watch. I guarantee that you WILL be astounded at how frequently it occurs and how effective it is. My friend Josiah also recently introduced me to the technique of Kill the Dog. This technique is used to establish villains as opposed to heroes. An action must be performed by the villain that makes us hate him and root for the hero. In a way, you could replace Save the Cat with Kill the Dog. Even if we don't root for the hero to begin with, if we see how evil the villain is, we will naturally root for the hero. A lot of interesting psychology going on here...

Those are just a couple of my thoughts. I always have cool thoughts throughout the day and think, "That's perfect for my blog!" Then I sit down to type and my mind just empties. This is what I happen to catch before it goes down the drain. Hope you enjoyed it!

God Bless,

Stanley

P.S. On the way home from school I saw a Samuel L. Jackson clone driving an SUV!