Lisa's Mastery Journal

The experience of taking an original story and adapting it into my own original piece has been a very interesting experience. I did not choose to use one of my own short stories. Instead, I chose to adapt The Gift of the Magi.

My story is about a Leprechaun who wants to get his Fairy friend the perfect gift. He finds out that he must sacrifice his all of his magic in order to do this and this choice doesn’t come easy. In the end, the Leprechaun proves his love for his friend and in return realizes that his friendship is also the most important thing to her. The two of them prove that they can be great friends despite their differences.

My story differs from the original in several ways. First, it’s a fantasy about races that don’t exist where in the original story, it’s about two humans. Second, my story is about two friends where in the original story, it’s about a husband and wife. Third, though both of my characters sacrifice big for the other, in the end, it turns out that they really didn’t sacrifice anything. In the original, the sacrifice that each character made is real and without any tricks.

This assignment helped me as a writer by showing me how to effectively adapt an original work into my own version of it. Since I want to write for television, this will be a helpful tool because I will have to use someone else's idea and create my own episodes based on those ideas and characters.

Below is a screenshot of Mick’s blog. This is one of the items from the promotional plan that could be used to market my film.

This month we’ve been asked to identify effective branding strategies. I have chosen two companies who are brand products as well as a screenwriter who has effectively branded himself.

The first person who I feel has branded himself successfully is Aaron Sorkin. 

http://aaronsorkin.com/

Aaron Sorkin is a screenwriter who is known for writing brilliant stories that deal with politics and law. There isn’t a person in the industry who doesn’t know who he is. When people think about the great Aaron Sorkin screenplays they think about the film A Few Good Men and the television series West Wing. Aaron Sorkin’s first film was first written as a stage play and when that was picked up to be made as a film he began his screenwriting career.  When you hear about an Aaron Sorkin film, you know right away what you’re going to get. You know it’s going to be a film with a premise dealing with business, politics or law. 

The second company I have chosen is Apple. 

https://www.apple.com/

First of all, Apple is unique to all other operating systems. The design is sleek and the Apple logo is recognized by everyone. Apple is a company that seeks to distinguish their products from the others; even the charging ports are completely different.  If you use an apple, you know that there is going to by a more simplified way to do everything. Apple has trademarked the “i” in front of the different products that they offer. People love the idea of using their ipad or their ipod, or iphone.  When you visit an Apple store you can expect a nice, modern, sleek look with a very practical organization of their products. Apple is also everywhere. They’ve found a way to advertise themselves in movies, television, and through several other mediums. They are consistent and you know what to expect from Apple.

The third company I have chosen as an example of effective branding is Sony.

https://www.sony.net/

Who doesn’t know about Sony?  They are known globally and They have a million wonderful and popular products.  They’ve managed to deliver great electronic products, always with their trademark, black and white, Sony logo written somewhere on the product. Sony has been around a long time and the number one thing that makes their branding effective is consistency. They’ve managed to keep, practically, the same logo since 1957. They also market that products as “the worlds best.” Which gives people the confidence to buy their products and feel safe.