matthewhawkeldridge-blog

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Good stuff.

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I finally graduated with my MFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University— as VALEDICTORIAN, and earning four other awards, including the prestigious, ADVANCED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD. It’s the school I’ve wanted to attend since I was a teen. I am humbled and blessed. Ready to start a new chapter in life. #fullsailuniversity #mfacreativewriting #creativewriting #justwrite #screenwriter #author #novelist #valedictorian #mastersdegree

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My final video for my MFA in CREATIVE WRITING from FULL SAIL UNIVERSITY... My thoughts on the program.

#Full Sail University #Creative Writing #mfa creative writing

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I am a writer!!! Novelist, Screenwriter, Songwriter!

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Good stuff. Same thing I learned in school but paid lots of money to learn 🤓😜

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My thoughts on my final cut video for AVS 680, Advanced Visual Storytelling. Full Sail University. MFA Creative Writing.

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The Lesson is a small scene taken from the story, Little Violinist, by Matthew Hawk Eldridge. This film was shot on an iPhone 6s and edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. This project was written and directed by Matthew Hawk Eldridge, Copyright 2018. Joshua is played by Parker Brennan. Arthur the teacher is played by Matthew Hawk Eldridge.  Full Sail University, MFA in Creative Writing. Advanced Visual Storytelling CWM 680 

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb1bFZexerc)

#Full Sail University #screenwriting #storytelling #mfacreativewriting #creativewriting #world war two #historical fiction #historical musical

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Reflection video of my work in week 3, Advanced Visual Storytelling at Full Sail University. MFA Creative Writing.

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqSJoDbD1rM)

This is a rough cut of a small scene called, The Lesson, from my historical musical screenplay, Little Violinist. The scene was shot with an iPhone 6 and edited in Adobe Premiere. The Lesson is the small story between a prodigy violinist, Joshua, and his drunk music teacher, Arthur, who pushes the boy to be his very best, even at the point of abuse. 

This rough cut scene is for the Advanced Visual Storytelling class at Full Sail University, MFA in Creative Writing. 

#FullSailUniversity MFACreativeWriting Little Violinist Screenplay

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We did a Director’s Treatment for Advanced Visual Storytelling— week 2. I had a blast!!! These are my thoughts.

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PART 2... This is my Director Treatment Plan for Advanced Visual Storytelling class, CWM680, week 2.  PART 2. This is for the small scene, The Lesson, taken from the full feature screenplay, Little Violinist. This is only part 2 of the Director’s Treatment Plan, since Tumblr only allows 10 photos at most. 

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This is my Director Treatment Plan for Advanced Visual Storytelling class, CWM680, week 2. This is for the small scene, The Lesson, taken from the full feature screenplay, Little Violinist. This is only part 1 of the Director’s Treatment Plan, since Tumblr only allows 10 photos at most. 

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This is my small, one scene, screenplay short for Advanced Storytelling class, CWM680.  

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The Gift of the Thundertails. An Adapted Story for Class

For the past four weeks, I have had the privilege of writing a modern-day screenplay adapted from the short story, The Gift of the Magi, by O Henry, originally written in 1906. While I have always loved the original story, the storyline is completely outdated, along with the dialogue and the actual gifts. Using the foundational structure and theme, I created a modern version called A Gift for the Thundertails, based on an impoverished, Native American couple living in Navajo Nation—one of the poorest communities in the United States. I chose this setting because most of America can afford some kind of gift and has access to credit cards, etc. However, the deplorable living conditions in Navajo Nation provide the true desperate backdrop for such a heart-warming story, where the average annual income is three thousand a year and the average home is a dilapidated trailer without heat, running water, or air conditioning.

The loving newlyweds struggle for work and dodge their grumpy, old landlord. Focusing on sentimentality, I made their gifts meaningful with ties to the family line. Atsa has a prized guitar—a 1930’s Gibson inherited from his grandfather. Haseya has a precious turquoise stone her mother willed her when she passed away. While Atsa’s trying to get day labor, Haseya secretly takes guitar lessons with his guitar to sing him a song on Christmas. She spots the custom, leather guitar strap, beaded with turquoise and feathers with a Thunderbird design embroidered on it. She wants it for her husband to use on his special guitar, so she pawns the turquoise stone to get it. However, unlike the original, my version has the landlord as the antagonist, always wanting his money. He sees her in the guitar store and buys the strap so she can’t. She chases him down and gives him all the money she received from the stone for the strap and the three months of rent overdue. While she’s buying it from the landlord, Atsa sneaks home, grabs his guitar, and pawns it to purchase a custom bracelet to fit Haseya’s turquoise stone.

I feel that adapting stories comes pretty natural to me. I enjoy having a base story to create ideas from. It’s like having an outline and then using creativity to fill in the blanks. I am obsessed with history, so writing historical fiction is my favorite. And most historical stories come with historical characters that were present at the time. One thing I really found interesting was the amount of freedom I had to create from the original. Before my Multimedia Adaptation class, I thought writers had to stay pretty close to the original. However, I have learned through the course material that I have complete freedom, for the most part. I found that liberating. I am already working on several other adaptations, mainly musical biopics.

I have attached a mock-up, rough draft ad for my short screenplay, A Gift for the Thundertails.  

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Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts, according to Wikipedia. Gamification has become so commonplace in our modern day that it’s hard to notice unless we pay close attention. I’ve selected some that stand out and are blatantly obvious.

Domino’s Pizza.As a child, we would have to call the hotline, and an actual human being would answer our call and take our order. Then, there would be a huge map on the wall, and the employee would make sure the address was within the three mile “free delivery” radius. Then, with pen and paper, he would write down the directions from the map. When he showed up at the door, we paid him cash, plus tip.

In today’s world, we log onto the Domino’s Pizza website, where we can order online. When we click the “make my pizza” link, we see a cartoon pizza and then, much like a video game, we get to add the toppings. We can also add side items. After we design our pizza online, we click order and watch as a bar appears in real time that shows us when our pizza is in the oven and how much longer until it’s ready. We put in our credit card number and pay online. Then, we see when the pizza leaves the store and that the driver is “en route.” The only human contact is when he knocks on the door. Everything else was a fun video game experience. Oh, and he used his GPS on his smart phone to get there, which is also a type of gamification.

Another form of gamification are two apps I use that work together called MapMyRunand MyFitnessPal.Both of these apps work with a smartphone, a smartwatch, or a fitbit (and all of these technology pieces are part of gamification mixed with media convergence.) MapMyRun is like a game in that it maps out your running trail, tells you your calories you’re burning, tells you how far you’ve gone, and how long it took to get there. It also connects to your music playlist and plays jams for you as you run. At the end, you can get rewards and medals for beating your old times, or for playing their monthly challenges. You can also compete with others. MyFitnessPal connects to MapMyRun. Like a game, you input your current weight, your desired weight, and how soon you want to lose the weight. You log your food daily, which is broken down into calories, sugars, proteins, fiber, etc. You can connect your work out, which offers you more food calories. You can make goals for yourself and compete in the monthly challenges. The interfaces for both apps appear as video games and are extremely interactive and rewarding.

The popular 80’s game, PacMan, became a hilarious movie icon villain in the 2015 film, Pixels, starring Adam Sandler. The film incorporated popular video games from the past with characters that came to life. This is a type of Media Convergence, along with many other great films-turned-video games or vise-versa. The Star Warsfilms became every form of media convergence, from arcade games, online games, electronic toys, and more. Media Convergence is the best way to monopolize on a story—whether it starts as a movie, video game, or some other form of media.

#WritingforGames FullSailUniversity MFACreativeWriting

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