The End Is Upon Us…

In the not too distant future...

With only a few days left in the semester, I thought this would be a good time to look back and reflect. I’ll go with bad first. Honestly, I haven’t really learned much about feral cats or how to properly handle the problem. Lakeland is just as doomed as ever, but I do not feel guilty. Hell, the cats are not my fault. However, this is a problem I will continue to face in the future so some form of activism is needed. Perhaps another day…another week…another semester. More likely another lifetime. I’m that lazy. I did learn about monthly neuter clinics held in my hometown by the Lanier Animal Partnership and Support (L.A.P.S.) so I’m glad to see that something is being done, but the majority of the animals brought in are simply pets. Someone needs to be responsible for rounding up as many stray cats as possible and bringing them to this clinic.  I won’t be the one to point the finger. I wouldn’t dare  impose such a burden on anyone.  Lakeland is screwed and will surely be one of the first towns to feel the wrath of the  Nine-Life Apocalypse.

Now, on with the positive shall we?

I definitely feel that my writing has become much more versatile.  Each assignment had its own unique requirements and forces me to approach each task in a different way. The PSAs called for persuasion. The documentary treatment called for a well-structured breakdown. The program critique demanded objective analysis. Finally, the script needed to be built piece by piece which tons of creativity (or lack thereof) thrown in along the way. I just finished my complete rough draft of the script last night. The entire story is down on paper. Phew! What a relief. Now comes the stage I fear the most…proofreading and revising.  My friends who have been with me to the very end…I thank you. However, I might not make it. This is a grueling task. If I do survive, I hope to see you guys on the other side.

Signing off.  May God have mercy on your souls…the cats most certainly won’t.

Journey into Darkness or the biggest excuse ever not to get anything done…

Last weekend I decided to head back home to Lakeland, Georgia. I had not visited my family all summer and thought they might like to see me. Also, I thought I would finally have the chance to lay the groundwork for my documentary on the local feral cat problem. I hoped I would be able to at least cover three scenes from the film during my visit home: ubiquitous footage of the feral cat population, an interview with my mother about her admiration for the stray cats in our neighborhood, and an interview with a founding member of Lanier Animal Partnership and Support (L.A.P.S.). However, things went wrong…terribly wrong. I arrived home Thursday night when it was much too late to record anything or conduct an interview. Besides, I had prior engagements for the night (i.e. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere) in the nearby city of Valdosta. I stayed the night with my father and planned to embark back home to Lakeland the following morning. However, my father got off work early and caught me on my way out the door. He is also a die-hard Harry Potter fan and suggested that I go see the matinee show with him.  During this viewing of the film, I could hear it storming violently outside. I knew my twenty-five mile adventure to Lakeland would not be an easy one. I bid my father farewell and headed down the lonesome road. The storm made the journey difficult, but my biggest concern was knowing that it would nearly impossible to film wild cats in such weather conditions. I accepted my loss and decided I could follow through with the interview with my mother. However, my plans backfired again. My mother was nowhere to be found and she wasn’t answering her cell phone. Suddenly, my friend John called and invited me over to his house. My car struggled down his dirt road but I eventually made it. THEN IT HAPPENED. God unleashed his wrath upon my little hometown with a series of vicious thunderstorms. Two days and several inches of rain later…I was still at John’s house and no closer to making any progress on my documentary. I had spent the last two days stuck in John’s house watching several of his spaghetti westerns before moving on to zombie flicks. As I sat there watching Night of the Living Dead and Zombieland, I could not help but think about the hundreds of feral cats in the darkest corners of Lakeland…hiding from the rain…knowing it was only a matter of time before the storm passed and the town was theirs once again…

Be on the lookout survivors for future updates. Perhaps my next trip into the heart of the invasion will be more successful…

Another Look at Sunny…

For my next It’s Always Sunny review, I decide to take a look at the structure of one of my favorite episodes from season 4, The Gang Solves the Gas Crisis. The episode opens with Mac, Charlie, and Dennis trying to figure out a way to exploit the high gas prices at the pumps. Mac, who is the self-proclaimed “brains” of the group, comes up with the idea to buy large amounts of gasoline and then sell it later when the gases prices rise  even further. The gang believes this will be a huge slap in the face to oil tycoons. Here, the writers truly capitalize on what makes so many Sunny episodes great. They take a prominent social issue that everyone can relate to and then twist the topic through the ignorant perspectives of the show’s main characters. It is immediately obvious that the gang’s plan will fall through, but the plot device sets the stage for some hilarious interactions. The guys visit a bank in order to obtain a loan so that they can buy $300,000 worth of gas. When the female worker refuses their offer, the gang gets into argument about who should seduce her in the back of the bank. Everything in this particular scene clicks: from the Dennis’ awkward body language that he mistakes for sexual prowess to the cheesy hand-drawn graph of escalating oil prices (accompanied by a couple hand-drawn busty women). Later the gang is scorned by the gas station attendant for pumping gas into several trash cans. This forces them to fill up their car then drive back to Paddy’s Pub where they can siphon the gas into the trash bins. Obviously, this ruins their get-rich-quick scheme because they are burning gas driving back and forth to the bar. Finally, the gang resorts to attempting to sell the gas door-to-door (which once again ends with disastrous results). This episode shows how carefully selecting a strong main plot point allows for the writers to branch off and create a variety funny scenes that stem from one conflict. The sub-plot is simply icing on the cake. Frank is outraged when he finds out that Bruce (Dee and Dennis’ biological father) is donating their supposed-inheritance to a Muslim community center. Frank and Dee set off to frame Bruce as a terrorist and have him arrested. However, they end up harassing the wrong person and make the innocent man’s life a living hell. Both plots eventually weave together and create one of the wildest and most hilarious endings in the show’s history. Each member of the gang helps move the plot forward and pours on their dose of comedy throughout the episode.  When the gang is hitting on all cylinders, there isn’t a funnier show on television.

The Beginning of the End…

Mac tries to win back the Tranny

This semester everyone in the class was required to turn in a program critique of their selected show. I decided to analyze Sunny’s premiere episode from the past season: Mac Fights Gay Marriage. This particular episode provided a lackluster start to the season and hinted that,  perhaps,  Sunny was finally running out of steam. The beginning of the end…

As evidenced by the episode’s title, Mac finds himself on the conservative side of the gay marriage argument after learning his ex-lover, who happens to be a post-operation transvestite, has married another man. Sunny has always found success in exposing comical twists on social issues. Usually the gang’s self-interests provide a unique perspective on the issue before inevitably ripping it apart. However, this episode’s premise lacks the complexity of past episodes and comes off as being a cheap excuse for the writers to recycle the transvestite character that lacks any depth or comic relief. At best, Mac’s jealous quest to break apart the “Tranny’s” marriage could serve as a sub-plot in a typical Sunny episode.

This episode’s sub-plots prove to be just as stale. Mac’s rant against marriage makes Dennis realize that he longs for companionship. This results in Dennis setting up a date with his fondly remembered high school sweetheart, Maureen Ponderosa. Then comes the avalanche of clichés. The girl ends up being nothing like he remembered, just as the gang warned him. She has a discolored “dead” tooth. There is a variety of dumb bad-breath jokes.  Even worse, she wears a gratuitous amount of sweatshirts covered with cats. This particular stereotype may have been worthy of a few laughs years ago but has since been cast into the realm of sit-com hell from severe overuse.

Frank and Charlie are usually able to salvage even the most lackluster episodes, but unfortunately they are not left much room to work their magic here. The two companions decide to marry each other in order to receive medical benefits after hurting their backs. Once again, this scenario has been used by other shows in the past, and most of the time it just does not work (i.e. Chuck and Larry). Throughout the episode, you are left wondering where the tried-and-true interactions between the gang members have disappeared. Dennis kicks Mac out of the apartment after marrying Maureen. Mac and Dennis are meant to be partners in crime and a one-two punch of comedy.  Separating the characters throughout the episode shows the audience that these characters cannot work effectively on their own. The writers are basically sending their troops into battle unarmed. Dee being the subject of the gang’s jokes has always worked; however, she is largely neglected in this particular episode. Her only appearances have her nervously gagging whenever she is around Bill Ponderosa, whom she had a crush on in high school. This is poor writing and ineffective character implementation. To top it all off, the episode ends without any kind of resolution. Mac asks Dee if he can live with her. You do not find out if Frank and Charlie decide to follow through with their marriage. Dennis realizes he has made a mistake marrying Maureen.

Although the premiere actually ties in with the following episode, the writers leave the audience with nothing that demands they even come back for the answers.  The poor scenario choice causes a number of problems across the board. As a result, the writers disconnect the characters that work so well together, poorly construct jokes, and disrupt the usual pace and flow of the program. As of late, the forecast for this show is definitely not always sunny.

Next Stop Philly

...or eat human flesh?

Nothing is safe from the feral cat takeover…not even television. Our final project in the class is to incorporate our transmedia topic into a half-hour sit-com episode. I’m bringing in the Nine-Life Apocalypse to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia so the gang better get ready! To help with the writing process, I will be using this blog as an outlet to review and analyze various episodes from the show. I’ll aim more for the extremes when selecting episodes. Understanding the structure of my  favorites will provide a beacon of light when I become lost during my own writing process. Similarly, dissecting some of the show’s worst episodes will raise caution flags and help me identify exactly what I need to avoid.  At the moment I only have a basic concept for the episode I am writing. By using this blog, I can partially document the evolution of my script. Here’s my starting point:

Title: Charlie Initiates the Apocalypse

Paddy’s Pub has not received any customers for weeks. As a result, the bar is going out of business. Frank refuses to bail the gang out this time. The gang also learns they are going to lose the building unless they cough over $50,000. Charlie storms in the bar cheering about how he has won on a scratch-off lottery ticket. He informs the gang that he has won $100,000. The gang cheers because they realize they can now save the bar and stay in business. However, Charlie has already spent all the money buying back the rights to kitten mittens from the lawyer. Charlie reveals that he has been breeding stray cats throughout the city, assuming the people of Philadelphia would adopt them, thus creating a large demand for kitten mittens. The rest of the gang realizes that Charlie’s army of cats hanging around the bar must be the reason they have had no customers. The gang must figure out how to not only save their city from the feral cat invasion, but more importantly, Paddy’s Pub from foreclosure.

Thoughts? I’ll report back when I reach the next safehouse.

Documenting the Invasion…

The next assignment in the class was to write up a documentary treatment describing how we would go about documenting our transmedia topic in a film. While feral cat outbreaks are a widespread problem, I thought it would be more personal and more effective if I covered the problem from a local perspective…specifically, my hometown. Fear the Feral: Story of a Small Town Outbreak examines the effects of feral cats of the of the course of a summer in the rural town of Lakeland, Georgia. During my three months back home, I plan to observe feral cat populations throughout the city (with a large focus on my neighborhood), conduct several interviews with both informed individuals and average citizens, and begin forming a better understanding of the role of feral cats in my local society. I want to present myself as an objective journalist simply trying to reach the bottom of the issue. Learning key facts along the way will help establish a peer relationship with the viewers. Hopefully, I will also expose misconceptions that have been spread about the proper treatment of feral cat populations while also revealing newer, more effective methods.

I truly believe my documentary offers something unique with my stylistic approach on the subject matter. Fear the Feral is divided into sections that resemble book chapters. Each chapter presents a title card with the chapter title. Each title followed by a brief five to ten second comic-book style animation. These animations recreate common scenarios seen throughout various zombie flicks but with cats in place of zombies. The earliest portions of the film focus on my initial observations of the local feral cat occupation. I ride around town searching for feral cat communities. This footage can be accompanied by stereotypical horror film music to  create an eerie atmosphere. I also provide my own commentary while observing these animals in their habitat. As the film progresses, interviews begin to play a larger role as I seek out more information. I use voice-over narration in these later sections to express my emotional revelations and provide key statistical facts that I learn along the way. The film eventually takes on a casual documentary tone as it slowly ditches the dark humor. Likewise, the animation sequence lessen their intensity as I become more informed on the true nature of feral cats. This evolution reflects the personal growth I plan to experience throughout film production.

Fear the Feral’s style caters to young adult audiences, but the film’s message is capable of appealing to a wide variety of users. Best of all, the production of this documentary is completely plausible. Perhaps in the future I can get around to making this idea a reality.

What do you guys think? Catch you on the flip-side. Stay safe…and keep away from dark alleyways…

Warning the Public of the CATastrophe…

Our first assignment for the class was to prepare a public service campaign for our transmedia topic. This project consisted of three main portions: a cover letter proposing the PSA campaign to the head of a non-profit organization, three radio scripts, and a single television spot. I decided to prepare my cover letter for the Humane Society of the United States of America. This organization is the largest animal rights/protection group in the world; therefore, they have several resources and connections that can further benefit my cause. What exactly is my cause? Simply to control the outbreak of feral cats throughout our nation. It is estimated that over fifty-million stray or feral cats inhabit the United States today. There are becoming more prominent in everyday American life. My PSA campaign’s number one is not to inform, but to warn viewers and get them to open their eyes. Then, those interested can be directed to further information on how to help effectively combat the issue. The title of my campaign is the Nine-Life Apocalypse. I basically compare feral cat outbreaks to zombie invasions and hope to intrigue younger demographics to the cause in the process.

My first 30-second radio spot presents a testimonial by a terrified man. He describes how his neighborhood was overrun after a local outbreak and how he fears that he is the only person left. It is not until the end that the audience realizes that he is referring to feral cats instead of zombies. The ten second radio spot serves as mostly a teaser for my campaign. Here’s how it plays:

1. SOUND FX: HEART BEATING LOUDLY

2.SOUND FX: SEVERAL CATS MEOW AND HISS

3. SOUND FX: WOMAN SCREAMS IN TERROR

4. VOICE OVER: Feral Cats…they already have nine lives, but they’re out to ruin yours. Visit W-W-W-DOT-HUMANE-SOCIETY-DOT-O-R-G to find out how you can help control the outbreak.

…So yeah, I think you get the point. The last radio spot presents an alternative perspective on the issue. I ditch the zombie theme and instead use something that can appeal to all Americans. In this spot, cats continue to interrupt Martin Luther King Jr. during his “I have a dream” speech. The message here is that feral cats are already disrupting daily American life and that we shouldn’t let them ruin our defining moments as well. Finally,  my 30-second TV spot recreates a scene that you would see in your average zombie film. A group of survivors scramble through abandoned streets and alleyways as they are being chased. At the end of the spot the viewers hear cats meowing and flesh ripping before a title pops up showing how they can find more information on feral cats. I believe this particular strategy for my campaign would be effective because of its originality and divergence from the typically boring PSAs that the public is fed.

Gotta go, guys. The meows around me are growing louder. I suspect an ambush…

Dawn of the Apocalypse

The apocalypse is quickly approaching, and in such troubling times, I’ve been granted a mission. That mission is to inform the world of this impending doom in at least eight blog entries or else suffer the ultimate consequence…a 15% deduction from my overall grade in this class. TELE 3110 is a writing class aimed at preparing its students for various facets in the field of digital media. Each student was asked to select a current issue in society and then display how this particular topic can be employed through transmedia. The transmedia assignments include a public service campaign, the blog which you are currently reading, a documentary treatment, a program critique, and finally a half-hour situational comedy script using a show that is still running on television. I immediately recognized that I needed an off-the-wall topic to hold my interest throughout the semester. Suddenly, the memory of my first trip back home from college popped into my head. The sun had already descended beyond the horizon by the time I reached Lakeland, Georgia on that fateful night. Something was different. It was too quiet, even for a small conservative town with a population around nine-thousand at that time of night. I could not help but notice an abnormal amount of cats darting out in front of my car as I entered my neighborhood. Finally, the horrors came full circle when I saw my house. Several cats populated the yard. I saw a few of them hurry into the garage which was no adorned with a homemade cat-door. As I parked my car and exited, a black cat jumped on to the hood. This particular feline has grown in infamy and is now simply referred to as Tom Brady. I grabbed my things and rushed into the house where my mother seemed oblivious to the problem. Ladies and gentlemen, that is why I have chosen feral cats as my transmedia topic. Over the course of the semester, I hope to gain a clearer understanding of the issue while simultaneously using feral cats for comedic effect.

Band together survivors. We are humanity’s last stand…

What we are dealing with...