Floenz Blog

From our deconstruction of hundreds of Hollywood blockbusters….

The Hero’s Journey is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the Hollywood movies we have deconstructed are based on this template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters.

The Hero’s Journey:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Interpreted metaphorically, laterally and symbolically, allows an infinite number of varied stories to be created.

and more…

Sample Movie Deconstructed: Constant Gardener (2005)

[complex structure: lots of repetitions of Hero's Journey elements and many antagonists to deal with].

FADE IN: the antagonism: Tessa and Arnold are murdered.

Meeting the Shape Shifter: Sandy.

Herald (Shape Shifter) brings Call to Adventure to the Hero: Sandy tells Justin Tessa and Arnold are dead.

Flashback: Polarization of Hero and Romantic Challenge: Tessa heckling Justin.

Resisting the First Threshold: Justin hesitant to go into Tessa’s apartment.

First Threshold: Justin and Tessa in bed.

Inner Cave: Justin identifies Tessa’s body.

Physical Separation: Tessa asks to be taken to Africa.

The Creatures of the World of the Transformation: Africa and the performance.

Magical Gift: Tessa gets the baby present.

Meeting the Supernatural Aid / Mentor: Arnold.

Mentor leads deeper into the Journey: Arnold leads Tessa and gives the sick lady some medicine. Aids referenced.

Mentor guides: Arnold fusses over Tessa.

Trial 1: Tessa gets the email message; Justin tests her about Nairobi Hotel.

Meeting the Antagonist: Bernard Pellegrin, Dr Joshua Ngaba and Kenneth Curtis et al at the party.

Warnings: Justin wants Tessa to stay at home, at least until the bay is born.

Trial 2: Tessa argues with Dr Joshua Ngaba et al.

Warnings: Sandy tells Justin to control Tessa.

Shape Shifter attempts to conquer Hero’s Romantic Challenge: Sandy hits on Tessa.

Trial 3: Arnold tells Tess that the Africans are only given medicines if they agree to be guinea pigs.

Establishing the Journey to the Sword: Tessa loses the baby; asks Sandy if he will push the information she and Arnold will retrieve.

Foreshadow of ACT III: Justin and Tessa see Lorbeer.

Pulled Back: Justin has to think of Tess first; they go back to England.

Reminder of the Inner Challenge: Tessa erupts over the pesticide; Arnold tells Justin he has to trust Tessa.

Inner Challenge: Justin checking up on Tessa (who’s she conversing with on the video link).

Romantic Challenge: Justin wants Tessa and Arnold to stop whatever they’re doing.

Shape Shifter in league with the Antagonist: Sandy talking to Kenny over the phone.

Seizing the Sword: Tessa gets the letter off Sandy.

Rebirth through Death: Tessa murdered at Loki; the police and news reports.

Reward: Justin finds Sandy’s letter to Tessa.

Resistance to Losing the Old Self: Justin doesn’t allow them to pour concrete; nothing can grow in concrete.

Pulled toward the Apotheosis: the child leaves a card at Tessa’s grave.

Atonement with the Father; conquering the Romantic Challenge: Ghita tells Justin that Arnold was gay.

Resistance to the Apotheosis: no records in the hospital.

Apotheosis: Justin discovers that the Africans are being used as guinea pigs.

Refusal of the Return: Justin refuses to not get involved now;; knows Sandy is lying; asks Ghita what is going on.

Developing the Antagonist: we meet Kenny Curtiss playing golf.

Hero’s character change: Justin confronts Kenny.

Magic Flight: Justin forced home.

Obstacle to the Rescue: Justin’s passport taken away.

Threshold Guardian: the doorman at the club.

Rescue from Without: we meet Bernard Pellegrin in London; Justin realises there is another letter; meeting Tess’ cousin, breaking into her files; memories.

Crossing the Return Threshold: Justin travels to Germany to meet Birgit; he has to finish what she started; “welcome to my World;” Justin in changed clothing. Conquering his Inner Challenge: admitting that he lost his faith in her.

Shape Shifter turns: Sandy against Justin now that he has escaped with a false passport.

Pushed towards the Final Conflict: Meeting with Birgit; she tells him to go back to Africa.

Foreshadow of the Freedom to Live: Sandy goes over how the Dr was tortured; Allies challenge overcome: Ghita stands up to Sandy.

Travelling to the Final Conflict: beginning in Kenya.

Master of Two Worlds: Confronting the Shape Shifter (Sandy); Shape Shifter reveals himself.

Confronting the Antagonist 1: Kenny:’s bankrupt. Foreshadow of the Freedom to Live: Kenny shows Justin Tessa’s grave. Foreshadow of the downfall of antagonist 3: Kenny wants Pellegrin’s head.

Confronting Antagonist 2: confronting Donahue. Warnings about the Final Confrontation: Donahue tells Justin how the Dr was crucified.

Danger travelling to the Place of the Final Confrontation: Justin goes to see Lorbeer.

Time Pressure: the hunters arrive.

Inner Challenge overcome: “but this is one we can save…”

Freedom to Live: Justin allows himself to be butchered.

Learn more…

The Complete 188 stage Hero’s Journey and other story structure templates can be found at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

**********************************

You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. His specialities include Knowledge Management and Creativity and Innovation Management. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached at http://www.clickok.co.uk/

A lot of gamblers will certainly have encountered the caption “offshore sports betting” by now, though some aren’t completely confident of what that actually means. An overseas betting website in essence performs extraneous to the control of a particular land or it can also mean an internet sports betting website which bases their main servers inside the borders of a state in which machine-accessible gaming isn’t currently vetoed. Concisely therefore, it can be delineated as a gambling internet site active outside of the supervison of the state of the consumer. Machine-accessible sports wagering webpages are currently modulated by three administrations. They are OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The OSGA is a self controlling watch-dog bureau that monitors the offshore betting industry, they endeavor to also offer sports gaming afficionados the means to pick out reliable web based organizations to play betting games with. It attempts to support consumer’s rights, and in addition they do not demand any annual expenses.

The OSGA are a professional not to mention nonpartisan third party organization that asserts neutral information, founded around customer feedback, unbiased investigation, telephone conversations, prompts and in addition supplies inside gossip.

The Interactive Gaming Council is a non-profit-making organisation. The council has been established to provide an arena for involved participants to talk over points furthermore to further communal interests in the multinational web-based gaming business, to ensure conscientious and also reliable trade guidelines and forms which enhance client confidence in world wide web based gambling merchandise and services, also to work as the trade’s global strategy defender and in addition the Interactive Gaming Council provides a data hub.

The Interactive Gaming Council has built up a distinction for trustworthiness, integrity also solidity on account of its uncompromising industry ethics, and also its allure for honest commercial enterprises. The Interactive Gaming Council regularizes offshore sports gaming by utilizing a particular ten-point general policy manual and also charges sports betting business enterprises fees to display the council’s logo. Unfulfilled customers may, should they need to, mention any of their challenges to the IGC.

The FTGA has been set up in an effort to set a standard which will raise the actions of web based sports gaming websites. The council think that through associating with credible companies, they can found a federation of the most ethical and professional overseas betting operations world-wide.

To summarize, there are agencies which inspect the behavior practised by networked sports betting and which should assist to allay most of the insecurities experienced by gambling devotees. Live betting internet sites are actually harmless, beacuse private details aren’t submitted also the compensation and the odds are as a rule usually as equal and reasonable as a normal Vegas-type sports bet. These internet sites diminish the travel outlay, but still preserve of a casino, however today you are in a position to game at your leisure.

sport betting online

Pimsleur German II & III Complete Courses by Dr. Paul Pimsleur is sure enough great reading, however today’s busy life styles often make finding time difficult to achieve. Extended journey times to work and day-to-day activities might eat up large amounts of your day everyday. Your favourite pursuits take a back seat to making a living, dealing with kids, or household chores. It’s simple to simply utilize the hours you spend doing chores to get up to date on those books you don’t have time to read. Thanks to technology, it’s simple to enjoy Body To Die For by Kate White for sale from Download Audio Book Online, or audiobooks brought to life by Clayborne Carson without ever turning a single page.

Nowadays multi-tasking has become a must. Audiobooks such as Pimsleur Angle – English for Haitian Speakers I Complete Course by Dr. Paul Pimsleur available from Download Audio Book Online make better use of of the dead hours everyday, whether it is waiting time at the dental surgery or buying groceries. Audio books are obtainable to download as mp3 files for example Dave Gorman Genius by Dave Gorman, so if you’ve got an iPod or other mp3 player and take the time to hear the current best seller, like audible books by Joanna Bourke without hauling cumbersome books with you. The advantages of audible books include the ability to rent or purchase many titles and listen to them at your own pace. Need to study German? Why not check out audio-books? Perhaps innovative sales techniques matter to you, or you can enjoy studying current thoughts about religious belief or modern spirituality.

Audio-books are available in a multitude of titles and writing styles. Whether you’re a film devotee, crazy about science fiction and fantasy or if your interested in health and fitness, many can be downloaded right away. Many options are available; it’s easy to subscribe to a program and hire titles or instead make a purchase. Reading will invariably have its place, nevertheless audio books offer a handy alternative. Numerous stories, such as audio titles performed by James Bradley, are even better when narrated by the writer or a celebrated actor. Reading a book isn’t the same experience as savoring an audio title narrated by Blair Singer, with refinements established during a rendidtion. Your reading experience will be increased by listening to an audio book such as Shoot The Moon by Billie Letts and often will mean a great deal more to you than the words on a page. The next time in future when you are thinking of purchasing a book you might not find time to read, be sure to remember audio books as a better option.

Nowadays, as various organisations and CEOs are looking towards internet video sites as a tremendous place to post content to grab the interest of their viewers, it’s fundamental to understand the basic principles of using online video marketing channels.

Here are a couple useful things you should be acquainted with before you start to publish promotional videos on online video websites. Enhance your businesses online Return of Investment with professional video production offered by Vidify.

Constantly attempt to use professional videos that give useful material to your potential consumers – Many business people wrongly assume you can basically place any type of advertisement on a video site, but nothing could be further from reality. All videos should provide some value added info to the target market, or start topic of debate.

Do some kind of market research on the video sites prior to you adding your first video – it is a great idea to assign some considerable amount of time putting your market’s essential keywords into Yahoo, in order to realise what competitor videos are currently on the World Wide Web. Next make a note of the profile names of the most important organisations in your area. Maybe somewhere down the line you can become involved in a joint venture or even have some sort of collaboration with these users.

Take into account that every video website has a society built into it – Therefore you should value the other members and it’s suggested that you distribute positive annotations to your rivals’ videos. First & foremost you need to be a member of the society, supplying feedback, ideas etc. And only then must you judge yourself as being a video marketer and begin to broadcast your very own 1 & merchandise.

Commit yourself to developing numerous professional videos – You should have a clear strategy for making & distributing several professional videos. Otherwise, your video profile page on the video channels will give the sense of being blank if it only has one video to see. Hence, make time setting up the construction of a number of short format promotional videos, rather than only one considerably long video.

Online video marketing is one of the most effective & quickest ways of advertising your firm at this point in time.

It is easy to forget about medical insurance policies when planning a college career. More Often Than Not, health insurance is not generally a priority in a student’s mind. Let’s face it, in your 20’s you will generally believe that you are immortal and you will not become sick.

Unfortunately, this is rarely accurate regardless of how healthy a person might seem. A medical insurance plan isn’t simply for those with a stack of money, it is an absolute necessity.

For students lucky enough to be included in a parent’s policy, in general most of them will extend to a college student until they are 23. For the individual who does not currently have cover on a family plan, an important part in planning for going to college has to be getting an appropriate health insurance policy. So what should you look out for in medical insurance for college students? Deductibles: A deductible is an annual sum you have to pay prior to any medical benefits starting, in the same vein as an auto insurance policy. For instance, if your deductible is five hundred dollars, you will have to pay that sum before receiving benefits from the plan.

What is a co-pay? Once you have paid the deductible, usually for each visit to the physician, medicinal drug, or procedure you will need to pay a pre-determined part of the cost. This is called co-pay. Precisely what will your insurance cover? Many insurance policies do include Health Maintenance Organization or Partnership for Prescription Assistance. This may mean particular physicians might not be included in your approved health professionals and may not be included by the medical insurance policy. A extensive list of participating health providers should be provided with virtually all insurance plans, so be sure you take this into consideration when you choose a plan.

What exactly does the term catastrophic coverage mean? Limits are frequent in student medical insurance plans especially as far as catastrophic illness, the extent of coverage provided in virtually all student medical insurance policies is by and large less than any regular plan.

And what about the limitations? Budget student health coverage policies may include various limits. Study your policy to check what may or may not be covered.

Keep any health insurance documentation in your wallet no matter where you travel. It is not only not possible to anticipate accidents or illness, they’re also liable to hit when least convenient. Ensure you’re acquainted with your insurance policy even if you are covered by your parent’s insurance policy.

Lately I’ve been noticing an odd trend amongst the freelance writers who contact us every week: rudeness.

First there was the writer who accepted a job found on our boards and forwarded the completed assignment to the employer with the words, “Project attached. Email me payment immediately.” No please, no thank you – in fact, no niceties at all.

Needless to say, the employer wasn’t impressed (I know because he forwarded the email to me, asking if all of our members were quite so blunt.) He told us that although the writing was of an acceptable standard, and was delivered on time, he wouldn’t be using that person again. His reason? He didn’t like her manners, simple as that.

Then there was the freelancer who provided us the wrong paypal address for her payment. We paid her, not realizing the address was wrong, and it wasn’t until a few days later, when she emailed us again, that we realized what had happened. No problem: We cancelled the first payment and immediately reissued it to the correct address, along with an email explaining what had happened.

In response, we received a tirade of abuse from the freelancer in question, who had received the paypal cancellation notification, and not bothered to read our explanatory email before she decided to get nasty and assume we hadn’t paid her. This piece of vitriol was almost instantly followed by a second missive saying “oops, I’ve just realized that you did pay me after all.”

While we were glad that she’d realized her mistake, we were rather less pleased to notice that she made no apology for her first, highly abusive email. Needless to say, this isn’t someone we’ll be recommending to any other employers in a hurry.

Then there was the person who sent an aggressive email in response to our automatic notification of a new project – a notification which, I hasten to add, she’d signed up to receive. “This is the second email I’ve received from you today!” she said, “For god’s sake, stop emailing me!”

Now, I dare say that all of these freelancers are superb, highly talented writers. Unfortunately, though, I won’t be recommending them to anyone, and if their behavior towards us is typical of their behavior towards other employers, I doubt anyone else will either.

The fact is that freelance writing is a business, and it’s not just your writing you’re selling: it’s yourself. No matter how great a writer you are, if you’re rude to employers, or difficult to work with, you’ll find it very difficult to make a living from it. Above anything else, employers want writers they can work with. Professionals, who won’t react to a misunderstanding by lashing out in anger, who won’t just demand payment without at least checking that the work is satisfactory, who know how to say “please” and “thank you”, and when not to fire off an email that would be better left until the cold light of day.

As the actress Lillian Gish once said, “You can get through life with bad manners, but it’s easier with good manners.” It applies to freelance writing, just as much as to life itself. And if you don’t believe me, try cursing out the next editor who accepts your work, and see how far you get!

Amber McNaught is a freelance writer and editor and the owner of http://www.WritingWorld.org, an online agency for freelance writers, editors and proofreaders.

Amber is also a director of Hot Igloo Productions Ltd, offering press release writing and distribution, as well as website design.

You have purchased the latest bridal magazines from your local grocery store and there are pages and pages of photos of beautiful wedding gowns, rings and articles on weddings. Some give you a brief idea of what you need to do to plan your wedding, but you’re still not sure how to begin the process.

The key is to start organizing and planning earlier than later.

You first need to create a system to keep all the details in one place. You may choose to use a binder with a tab for each category you will be using. Examples of categories are: Bakery, Ceremony, Catering, Florist, Music, Reception, Photography, Transportation. An accordion file is another choice, using the same category tabs. You will be able to see each category at a glance.

Whichever system you choose, use it to keep track of all receipts, pictures, brochures, business cards etc. that is related to each category.

Once you have your system in place, you can then do some research. There are many wedding planning books out in the market, even online websites (like this one). Visit your local bookstore or library to pick up a book to help your with the entire planning process.

Find a “wedding timetable” layout. This timetable will include a list of to-do’s for the entire months/year before the big day. Some of the first things on this timeline may be: Consulting with fiancé and parents to decide budget and financial support. Another may be deciding the number of guests to invite to your big day (always dependant on budget $$ available), deciding what type of wedding – formal or informal or even interviewing wedding coordinators. This timetable is a basic guideline. You can recreate on your computer to fit your wedding and time line.

Once you have an idea of all the details involved in planning a wedding and all the dedicated time you will have to spend, you can start recruiting help from family and friends. Delegate tasks to help you check off all the to-do’s on your list and by the time you know it, it’s wedding day.

Maggie Puertas is founder and owner of Wedding Dreamz. Offering full service wedding coordination & consulting services for brides in Northern California, SF Bay Area. We dedicate ourselves to providing a personal touch combined with detailed organization and individual attention to plan, design and coordination to fit your personalities, style, vision & budget.
Visit us today at http://www.weddingdreamz.net and request your complimentary consultation.

For: Cell Phones, N-Gage, Nintendo DS, PDA/Wireless, Game Boy Advance, MP3 Players, PSP, iPod, and any other portable mobile device. If your relationship with your mobile device–be it cell phone, GBA, iPod, PSP or PDA–verges on “love affair” (or exceeds it, for that matter), you might want to check out www.mytego.com.

This new interactive shopping site from Winnipeg-based myTego Inc. is all about “stylized mobility.” The service allows you to create and order a fully customized detailing kit for your chosen electronic buddy. These “skins on demand,” so to speak, include a wide variety of stock art, colour swatches and imagery, all mix-match-able through a clever, intuitive, online interface, and may also include pictures, portraits and self-created designs uploaded through your browser from your hard drive.

When you’re done, ‘Tego technology then churns out one-off decals made from durable, quality vinyl backed with a pressure sensitive adhesive, precision cut to fit each device and mailed to you–though it’s up to the end-user to actually put it on, some manual dexterity required.

Ever seen a bus covered entirely by one big advertisement? Same sort of thing. Only smaller, obviously.

The custom skins are said to last is 6 to 9 months before they start to wear, at which point they can be peeled off and replaced easily enough.

Prices range from $10 – $28 US or $12 – $34 Canadian per device, depending both on complexity (as befitting the sprawling keyboard on a Blackberry, for example) and on how many separate faces you want to cover (the bi-folding nature of the Nintendo DS means up to for 4 separate pieces; an iPod, just 2, max).

With ready-to-print templates fitting some 482 devices (all popular) and their individual nooks & crannies, buttons & display screen(s), the order through delivery process usually takes about 10 days. If myTego doesn’t have a template for your device, simply enter the make and model and they’ll make a one for you, within 7 (additional) days.

There is news that O2 and Vodafone are about to sign a deal for sharing their networks to achieve better coverage and lower costs. This move by two of the major mobile service providers in the UK is likely to prove beneficial for the mobile broadband customers staying in areas with poor coverage.

The deal would be useful for both the operators as sharing network infrastructure would help them extend their reach beyond their present coverage. The two companies have several areas where their presence is quite weak and the partner could help in filling these gaps. This could mean a seamless rural coverage for 3G users of both the providers.

A partnership on identical lines already exists between 3 UK and T-Mobile, with Orange the third potential partner, as it would not like to remain standalone while all of its competitors reap the benefits of a shared network. This would create two major network clusters in the UK with considerable power over the market dynamics and tightening the competition between the best broadband providers. Therefore, the agreement would need the seal of approval from the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission.

The deal will be of interest to the government too, as reduced competition in the mobile market will mean that the government will not be able to earn as much revenue from spectrum allocations, as it usually does.

The two companies are keeping the discussions in tight wraps, but it is believed that there is every likelihood of the deal going through.

Adult affiliate and internet site translations services: Riv cash provides you the best White Label websites for adult webcam business. Rivcash is a important society that proposes a comprehensive range of integrated creative functions enabling us to handle every project from short to last deliverance.Rivcash has specialist expertness in internet site design, form, management, on-line marketing and digital download services. In seeking a clear understanding of each clients necessities, all our divisions compound to provide high standards of flair, skill, reliableness and expertise coupled with a capability to manage and meet realistic budgets and deadlines.The last good service that i utilized for my internet sites is translationsxxx. Adult content translations are a specialisation of Ability Top Translations, the best completely Internet-based net of interpreters, providing high quality end products at low-cost costs.if you’re searching for an Adult content translations service which can match your each demand for Adult text transformation, Adult site translation, and Adult software localization, then you’ve get to the right place. Our team of maternal language translators and consultants in all destination languages are professionally qualified in the several Hot sectors, and understand the vocabulary and terms used in Sexual content making many years of experience translating for the pornography industry.With a continually development network of translators, our Adult content translations service currently represents over 150 independent interpreters all over the world, and a team of over 20 localization and globalisation experts in the Adult sector. We can translate all kinds of Sexual directed material!