Something on Computers

Recently I was browsing the web and found these good wikipedia articles.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography
• List of computability and complexity topics
• List of important publications in theoretical computer science
• Unsolved problems in computer science
• Category:Computational problems
• List of complexity classes
• Structural complexity theory
• Descriptive complexity theory
• Quantum complexity theory
• Context of computational complexity
• Parameterized Complexity
• Game complexity
• Proof complexity

Scriptwriting formula

Have you ever checked out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scriptwriting ?
Checkout the section on the "theories on writing a screenplay". I liked Syd Field's Paradigm.
Here is a copy/paste of the same:

Syd Field's Paradigm
Screenwriting guru Syd Field wrote the seminal book
Screenplay, and posited a new theory, which he called the Paradigm. Field
noticed that in a 120-page screenplay, Act Two was notoriously boring, and was
also twice the length of Acts One and Three. He also noticed that an important
dramatic event usually occurred at the middle of the picture, which implied to
him that the middle act was actually two acts in one. So the Three Act Structure
is notated 1, 2a, 2b, 3, resulting in Aristotle's Three Acts divided into four
pieces.

Field also introduced the idea of Plot Points into screenwriting
theory. Plot Points are important structural functions that happen in
approximately the same place in most successful movies, like the verses and
choruses in a popular song. In subsequent books, Field has added to his original
list, and students of his like Viki King and Linda Seger have added to the list
of Plot Points. Here is a current list of the major Plot Points that are
congruent with Field's Paradigm:

Opening Image: The first image in the
screenplay should summarize the entire film, especially its tone. Often, writers
go back and redo this as the last thing before submitting the script.

Inciting Incident: Also called the catalyst, this is the point in the
story when the Protagonist encounters the problem that will change their life.
This is when the detective is assigned the case, where Boy meets Girl, and where
the Comic Hero gets fired from his cushy job, forcing him into comic
circumstances.

Plot Point 1: The last scene in Act One, Turning Point
One is a surprising development that radically changes the Protagonist's life,
and forces him to confront the Opponent. In Star Wars, this is when Luke's
family is killed by the Empire. He has no home to go back to, so he joins the
Rebels in opposing Darth Vader.

Pinch 1: A reminder scene at about 3/8
the way through the script (halfway through Act 2a) that brings up the central
conflict of the drama, reminding us of the overall conflict. For example, in
Star Wars, Pinch 1 is the Stormtroopers attacking the Millennium Falcon in Mos
Eisley, reminding us the Empire is after the stolen plans to the Death Star
R2-D2 is carrying and Luke and Ben Kenobi are trying to get to the Rebel
Alliance (the main conflict).

Midpoint: An important scene in the middle
of the script, often a reversal of fortune or revelation that changes the
direction of the story. Field suggests that driving the story towards the
Midpoint keeps the second act from sagging.

Pinch 2: Another reminder
scene about 5/8 through the script (halfway through Act 2b) that is somehow
linked to Pinch 1 in reminding the audience about the central conflict. In Star
Wars, Pinch 2 is the Stormtroopers attacking them as they rescue the Princess in
the Death Star. Both scenes remind us of the Empire's opposition, and using the
Stormtrooper attack motif unifies both Pinches.

Plot Point 2: A dramatic
reversal that ends Act 2 and begins Act 3, which is about confrontation and
resolution. Sometimes Turning Point Two is the moment when the Hero has had
enough and is finally going to face the Opponent. Sometimes, like in Toy Story,
it's the low-point for the Hero, and he must bounce back to overcome the odds in
Act 3.

Showdown: About midway through Act 3, the Protagonist will
confront the Main Problem of the story and either overcome it, or come to a
tragic end.

Resolution: The issues of the story are resolved.

Tag: An epilogue, tying up the loose ends of the story, giving the
audience closure. This is also known as denouement. In general, films in recent
decades have had longer denouements than films made in the 1970s or earlier.

The Real Deal

As I think more and more about creating a realistic character for a screen play, I am more and more drawn to shape the character based on learning from great authors (thanks Dad for suggesting this).
As you might know thoughts lead to actions; repeated actions lead to habits; such habits form one's character; and character leads to destiny. So to change your destiny change your thoughts.
Use the same formula to shape or transform a character.

Gates Notes

Did you know that Bill Gates has shared all the things that he is recently learning? Check out gatesnotes.com

My simple formula for a movie

I have beenthinking lately for a formula for a movie and cameup with the following:

• Introduce the characters (+s and -s of lead characters)
• Do something interesting and grab teh attention of the audience
• Put the hero in the middle of a problem
• Let the hero find a solution and fail
• Throw in a twist that completely resets all expectations
• New bigger problem and increased stakes
• Hero finds a solution and fails at it again
• Let the hero confront his inner fears and find a solution that is successful

Well, what do you think?

தமிழில் எழுதலாம் வாங்க

தமிழில் எழுத Google Transliteration Tool உபயோகப் படுத்துங்கள்.
தமிழில் எதை பற்றி எழுத என்று யோசிக்கிறீங்களா? இந்த இணைய தளத்தைப்பாருங்கள் (தமிழ்க்கல்வி); இது நல்ல முயற்சி.

மேலும் சொல்வனம், விக்கிபீடியா, காலச்சுவடு போன்ற இணைய தளங்களைப்பாருங்கள். இன்னும் கொஞ்சம் தமிழ் magazines இந்த இணையத்தளத்தில் உள்ளன.

நீங்களும் எழுதுங்கள். தமிழில்.

How to make a scene dramatic? How to build the plot?

I liked my earlier post - or rather the one it points to... David Mamet's email. I liked it so much that I pulled it out and changed it a bit so that I can internalize it better; again the material is not mine - thanks David. Here it goes:
Screen-writing is not communicating information — though, at times, it might seem so. The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. No one would. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned to watch drama.
Then the question is: what is drama? Drama is the quest of the hero to overcome those things which prevent him from achieving a specific, acute goal.
We, the writers, must ask ourselves of every scene these three questions to make it dramatic:

1. Who wants what?
2. What happens if she won’t get it?
3. Why now?

These questions are the ultimate tests, apply them, and their answer will tell you if the scene is dramatic or not.
If the scene is not dramatically written, it will not be dramatically acted. There is no magic fairy dust which will make a boring, useless, redundant, or merely informative scene after it leaves your typewriter into a dramatic, intriguing, watchable one. You the writers, are in charge of making sure every scene is dramatic. If the scene bores you when you read it, rest assured it will bore the actors, and will, then, bore the audience.
Every scene must be dramatic. That means: the main character must have a simple, straightforward, pressing need which impels him or her to show up in the scene. This need is why they show up in that scene. It is what the scene is about. Their attempt to get this need met will lead, at the end of the scene,to failure - this is how each scene ends. This failure will then, of necessity, propel us into the next scene. All these attempts, taken together, will, over the course of the episode, constitute the plot.
Thus each and every scene should both advance the plot, and be dramatic.
The job of the dramatist is to make the audience wonder what happens next. Not to explain to them what just happened, or to suggest to them what happens next.
Don't write like this example (which is informational and suggestive): “But, Jim, if we don’t assassinate the prime minister in the next scene, all Europe will be engulfed in flame”.
Figure out how to write scenes such that the audience will be interested in watching what happens next.
How does one strike the balance between withholding and vouchsafing information? That is the essential task of the dramatist. and the ability to do that is what separates you from the lesser species. Figure it out.

Here are the danger signals you should avoid:

• Look at your log lines. Any log line reading “Bob and sue discuss…” is not describing a dramatic scene.
• Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene is a crock of shit.
• Any time any character is saying to another “As you know”, that is, telling another character what you, the writer, need the audience to know, the scene is a crock of shit.

Do not write a crock of shit. Instead write a ripping three, four, seven minute scene which moves the story along.

• Remember you are writing for a visual medium. Don't make it sounds like radio (Radio has no visual dimension). The camera can do the explaining for you; let it.
• If you pretend the characters can't speak, and write a silent movie, you will be writing great drama.
• If you deprive yourself of the crutch of narration, exposition, indeed, of speech. you will be forged to work in a new medium - telling the story in pictures (also known as screen-writing).

This is a new skill. no one does it naturally. You can train yourselves to do it, but you need to start.
So start every time with this inviolable rule: every scene must be dramatic.