Critique of Thing I Hate

Earlier this week, my class and I were tasked by our tutor to do a critique of a thing we hate. Not dislike, hate. After some memory-searching, I have decided upon...

Saban's Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel was the last of Power Rangers seasons produced by Saban Brands before the rights for Power Rangers were bought out by Hasbro and the company's dissolution. Preceding this season was Power Rangers Ninja Steel, which was slightly better, but not by much, but still tolerable. I watched through the entirety of Ninja Steel and enjoyed it for the most part. It even had a good ending with the Red Ranger finally finding his father and Boom the team's mechanic and mentor-figure, Mick Kanic, becoming a Ranger. Super Ninja Steel was essentially unneeded after that.

I only watched Super Ninja Steel until the third episode and then picked it back up at the penultimate episodes to find out what happened. There were many things about Super Ninja Steel in a creative standpoint: characters, story, and writing.

Characters:

The characters in Super Ninja Steel were very few good characters outside the Power Ranger members. Victor and Monty are a comedy relief consisting of the jock Victor Vincent and the nerd Monty.

Victor aims to achieve his 50th trophy in whatever with the help of Monty. They are largely useless in Ninja Steel and the times they are useful to the plot and the Power Rangers are purely out of dumb luck. In the first episode of the season, they dropped out of school to run a business selling monster repellent... which is just canned farts, inspired by their escape from a space ship in the last season. I will elaborate upon comedy later, but in the meantime I will discuss another character; Mick.

Mick Kanic is an alien that acts as the Power Rangers' mentor. I like him as a character a lot, as his actor, Kelson Henderson, has many recurring roles in Power Rangers, from Boom from Power Rangers SPD to Cruise from Power Rangers Beast Morphers, you can literally never hate his characters... for the most part. As an alien, he can shapeshift into different objects: a broom, scrap metal, an alien, and a pumpkin. That's it. The only part that I don't like is that he has two shapeshifts a season and that's it. He has this awesome power and doesn't use it very often to define his character.

As for the Rangers, their personalities are very similar, all being very nice people with different interests. They are extremely similar to Rangers of previous seasons under Saban Brands' productions. Because of their similarities in personalities, I have dubbed this "COokie-cutter Personality" because they essentially have the same one. Aside from the addition of getting another member in the Sixth Ranger, they do not develop much as characters and are the same people they were at the beginning. In previous seasons under Disney, the Rangers go through hardship and have distinct personalities and are not always nice, but gain kindness and understanding through the course of the series.

Story

The story picks up after the last season where the second-in-command of the main villain becomes the main antagonist after his death. She resumes his goal of collecting the Ninja Nexus Prism to rule the universe, despite being basically the executive of a gladiator-style game show. Back on Earth, the Red Power Ranger was finally reunited with his father, who he searched for in the previous season and is currently living with him and his long-lost brother. The Red Ranger searching for his father was an important driving force for the team's reason to defeat the villains and now they just have to fight for the sake of fighting. Just like other previous seasons; the Power Rangers have a reason to fight the villains other than protecting their town, such as trying to prove themselves to their friends or the villains have something that belongs to the Rangers.

All that motivation is just gone and there aren't any stakes.

Writing

Going back to Vincent and Monty, they are the butt of every joke, as that is the role of a comedy relief duo. Their antics can be considered childish, even for a kids show. As mentioned before, they escaped the villain's space ship in the previous season with farts and used this tactic to market canned farts in the first episode of Super Ninja Steel. Fart jokes. That is all.

Sledge

I did not mention this before, but the thing that I hated most about Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel was that they killed off arguably the best-written villain by Saban Brands; Sledge. He was introduced in Power Rangers Dino Charge and was an original character made by Saban Brands for Power Rangers independent from its Japanese source material. At the end of Power Rangers Super Dino Charge he and his crew were sucked into a black hole and presumed dead, until in the first episode of Super Ninja Steel where they exited through the black hole into the Ninja Steel universe. I was so excited to see him back and wanted more of him in the series. I thought there would be two opposing forces the Rangers had to face, but it was just their previous villain's second-in-command and Sledge was missing the entire time until the Christmas episode.

There, he salvaged the remains of the previous villain's ship and used it as the location of a talk show for his girlfriend, who also was an enemy of the Dino Charge Rangers. He was killed by a bomb planted by the Dino Charge Blue Ranger, just like that; no big fight, no nothing. He was the best villain they had and they just threw him away in an inconsequential Christmas special, never to be seen again. I loved him in Dino Charge and Super Dino Charge for his uniqueness. Just when I thought Super Ninja Steel couldn't get any worse, he was just killed off like that.

He was promoted in the trailer and acted like some big bad, but he was just missing for most of the series before dying. The next time I was this angry, Scrozzle, another Power Rangers-exclusive character also not shown in the Japanese material, who died in a similar fashion, but actually perished in a Megazord fight.

Conclusion

Overall, I don't like Saban Brands' Power Rangers shows and I'm glad Hasbro took over. They are currently airing Power Rangers Beast Morphers and It brings me back to the Power Rangers shows before Disney's takeover of Saban Enterprises. It still reeks of Saban Brands writing, but there are several improvements, like Steel; the Beast Morphers Silver Ranger. Hopefully future seasons will let us forget the horrible Saban Brands writing and bring back the good writing found in Disney's Power Rangers.

References:
- https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Power_Rangers_Super_Ninja_Steel
- https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/power-rangers/272353/victor-and-monty-are-the-best-part-of-ninja-steel
- https://www.listal.com/viewimage/19035377
- https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/powerrangers/images/3/36/Ninnin_45.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160116232035
- https://powerrangers.fandom.com/wiki/Sledge_(Dino_Charge)

Script Progress

I have recently finished the first draft of my script and have presented it to my tutor to suggest improvements. He informed me that scripts are supposed to tell a story without excessive visual detail as that is up to the reader. He advised on shortening descriptions of scenes and events to let the reader imagine how they would look like, along with the descriptions of characters. Instead of listing every single piece of furniture in a room, I just call it by name such as "Penthouse Living Room", and just give general descriptions of actions instead of specific shots. Previously, my tutor also advised to remove parentheses containing emoticons displayed on the main three robot characters.

I was told to remove them once again after being told the main purpose and outline of a script. As I wrote my script I found that I had trouble thinking of emoticons for the appropriate scenes and I agreed to remove them.

He also taught me several other bits such as appropriately labelling a scene instead of stating its lighting, changing several "Shots" to "Scenes", and refer to an unseen character to their actual name because there is no mystery in an actual script. Another major change was an introduction to the fictional world that I had envisioned as slow-motion motion sequences. Previously, the sequences were scenes between narration, which looked cluttered.

Above is the first version of the aforementioned section, with scene headings and dialogue sandwiched between each other. He showed me an example of a montage in a script where the scenes are listed out in bullet points. He advised that I researched more on montages in scripts with voice-overs. I did just that, but there are many opposing methods: the one I previously done before and one as shown to me by my tutor. I settled on the suggested method with an added narration line as demonstrated by a Reddit post I randomly found.

Above is the outcome of the alteration, with the scenes listed and the entire narration below that. I was, unfortunately, unable to locate the Reddit post at this time, but I will try to continue improving my script as much as I can before the term ends.

P.S.
I have located the Reddit post and the example given was identical to my initial method. Sorry.
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Screenwriting/comments/6s12gy/voice_over_during_montage/

Critical Evaluation

I was told to do this critical evaluation on my blog by my tutor. This is my current evaluation according to the questions presented by out handout book:

Planning Stage:

• What were your initial ideas for creating a website? style / name / template
• My initial ideas was a minimalist design evoking simple paper with a typewriter font such as Courier New, as this blog is also using. I called it [REDACTED] Studio after a type of document information technique used by several organisations and governments to remove top secret information, also used in fictional contexts such as the SCP Foundation; a website with horror stories in the form of secret documents.
• Do you have a tagline on your website?
• No.

Research:

• Which designers / artists (relevant to your continuation route) websites did you look for inspiration?
• Regrettably, I did not look for an artist for inspiration. I had a design idea before my class was told to research and I stuck to it.
• How many pages did you want to make on your website and why? Did that change as progressed onto the research / designing stage?
• I initially wanted three pages: Home, Portfolio, and Contact. My home page would have been merged with the function of an "About" page, but my tutor advised me against it and convinced me to keep the two separate. MY home page now consists of buttons to the three other pages and a statement of the site's purpose.

Content:

• What is the purpose of your website?
• My website exists to document my scripts.
• Who are your potential website users?
• Other aspiring scriptwriters and possibly, future employers.
• Why do you think it is important to have a digital portfolio website?
• Having a portfolio website means everyone can see all your work in one place.

Design:

• Which design elements / tools did you use? (e.g.: infographics, fixed header, static background image, navigation menu design, text boxes, image galleries, social media feed) and why?
• As my overall design is minimalistic, there wasn't much design elements other than text boxes used for basic text and titles for the pages. I did have a button linking directly to this blog under Contacts alongside a contact box. In the Portfolio page I used a Flip Book for my drafts. I currently have the first draft there as first official content.
• Which template did you use in Wix and why?
• I used the Copywriter C.V. template to start with, as it already has a paper-like design with paper clips in the background.
• How many pages does your website have and why?
• Sticking with the suggested minimum, I have four pages: Home, Portfolio, About, and Contact. I didn't have any other ideas for additional pages so I just have these.

Navigation

• Does your website have working social media icon links?
• Just a Blogger button in contacts.
• Are your pages connected / interlinked?
• Yes, I used the standard navigation bar and a button next to it for my website's logo because I couldn't change the one already on the template.
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Yes.
• Does the "Contact" page / email link work?
• I am using my school email under emails and my Digital Arts email for contacts, but it is not working currently, possibly because of its pre-publishing status or I didn't do it right, which I thought I did.

Below is a Critical Evaluation form I filled detailing an evaluation of a fellow classmate's blog and website, Evan, or The Film Virtuoso.

Google Drive Link:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QfeWPWQgRITaHCBmRtN2zXp6Bqz_YaEo/view?usp=sharing

Yumpu Test

I was instructed by my tutor to use oonline software suggested for written works called Yumpu.

It allows me to put PDFs in a book-like flipbook. As a test, I downloaded my current progress on my script and uploaded it on Yumpu. I logged in with my Google account I use for Digital Arts. After which I was greeted to this screen:

I uploaded my script to the top and filled in some information at the bottom, but it was accidentally uploaded somehow after testing the availability settings when it led me to a subscription plan page. Believing it wasn't saved I repeated the process, only to learn that I published it twice. I deleted the latest publication and opened the earlier one.

This is the editing screen with a completed flipbook preview. I looked at the preview and it was a decent flipbook, perfect for the format I am working with. Below is a larger image of a flipbook:

I will most likely put my finished PDF in Yumpu, as long as my free plan covers it. I enjoyed looking at my script like this.

References:
- Yumpu.com

Script Research

I have started on writing my Major Project script while also researching on how to write scripts.

Pictured above is the cover of a book I borrowed from my university library. I have not read too much into this yet because I prefer to look to examples of existing scripts. Just as instructed by my tutor, I found some scripts that have genre relations to my own ideas; a draft for the Power Rangers movie from 2017 and an unproduced script of a Power Rangers movie by N. Ling. I'm not sure of the latter's official status, but I did look at it for formatting guides.

I mainly learned the basic formatting from testing them from a dropdown menu in Celtx. I understood most of it, but I have yet to determine the functions of "Shot" and "Text" in relation to "Action", which they share similar formats. I learned how to express emotions for each character by using parenthesis by analysing these scripts. Parentheses are often used to indicate emotion or a minor action by the character. I also took mental notes on the general format when my class and I looked briefly at out tutor's script for a short film.

My tutor also helped with giving tips on the formatting, such as the usage of parentheses and the naming of minor characters for context reasons. Early on in the script there were voice-overs for two unseen news reporters. I initially named them "Female Voice" and "Male Voice", respectively. To add context, I renamed them "Female News Reporter V.O." and "Male News Reporter V.O.", "V.O." standing for "Voice Over" to indicate they do not have physical appearances. I carried this on for the narrator, even though it is redundant as narration are almost always voice-overs.

I later consulted my tutor on the unique usage of emoticons in my script that I want to use for three robot characters whose unique "gimmick" is that they display emoticons correlating to their emotion. We were both conflicted as my tutor suggested to remove the emoticons altogether while I tried to fit them into the script somehow. I suggested they could be used for cues for the voice actors. I learned beforehand that voice actors watch a scene where they have to add their voice. For animation it can either be a completed scene or a storyboard being shown to them, and in live-action series such as Power Rangers, footage of their characters are shown.

At the moment the emoticons are in parentheses beneath the characters' names alongside their emotions. This may change in the future but I will try to leave them there. My tutor also advised I add a brief description of characters when they are introduced, as did the Power Rangers script that I reviewed. The other script by N. Ling did not have such as it has a debatable status as official material and professionalism. As a little joke, for the robot characters' ages next to their names I aged them in seconds as they were activated for the first time in their introduction scene.

I aim to write at least 22 pages, each page counting for one minute according to my tutor.

References:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/407467.Writing_TV_Scripts
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byrce9WlDzqddUNJMDNSY3AzY00/view
https://www.simplyscripts.com/scripts/PowerRangers.pdf

My Website

For the past two weeks I have been creating a website for my work with Wix along with the rest of my Media class. We all chose a template to work from and I chose one that is already suited for a writer's curriculum vitae.

Above is the template I chose for my website. I drastically changed certain parts to fit my objective.

I deleted information regarding resumes, other personal experiences, and , regrettably, the contact form under the "Contact" page while leaving the home and "Contact" pages and replaced them with an empty "Gallery" page which I later renamed "Portfolio" after remembering I'm not doing any visual projects. I then changed parts of the design, such as changing the font to Courier New, the same font used on this blog to emulate the classic typewriter typeface, and adding black highlights to the headings to represent redaction in confidential files. I also changed the background from grid paper to lines to represent lined paper. I also went through the trouble to sample the colour of the Blogger logo to determine its colour code for a link button to this very blog under "Contact".

My class and I looked at several websites as examples for how to design one and write an "About" page. Many of them were simple in design, being black text over a white background, and the odd photo of the person in question. I added simple information about myself and my motivations to come to the U.K. and study in Media. I have recently learned how to add a gallery with pictures and/or PDFs, the latter being useful for my Major Project in script writing.

The images presented are for test purposes and most likely will not be in the final version. I then re-added a contact form as per my tutor's instructions. I also removed the empty social media buttons, leaving the Blogger icon.

I later experimented under the "Portfolio" by adding a Flip Book for documents. It was easy, but the only obstacles I found were a limited amount of booklets I can create and an ad at the end of the document.

I will continue development and update after (or during) next class, or when I have time between other homework.

Major Project Planning Cont.

I continued to gather research on my inspirations for my Major Project. I have added the inspirations of several more equipment for the main characters.

I will soon do research on how to make a script and add it to my Milanote. After getting advice from my tutor, I rearranged my Milanote to be less of a mess by arranging it horizontally.

After that I added the writers and directors that inspire my thought process. I have a balance between writers from Power Rangers  (American productions) and Toei Company (Japanese productions).

I then remembered an example of a script draft for the 2017 Power Rangers movie written by Max Landis. I found it on comicbook.com and reviewed it to see how a script was structured.

The script can be found here on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byrce9WlDzqddUNJMDNSY3AzY00/view

I will soon start on writing my script on Celtx, as suggested by my tutor. I will update this blog on my process.