âIn Miles, we have a kid whoâs not ready â heâs not ready for school; heâs not ready for this mission.â
Miles Morales, for fans of comic books and Spider-Man, is very well known. But for people outside of that world, heâs not very well known. With Into the Spider-Verse, weâre introducing a character who our audience already knows is going to become a new Spider-Man. But the audience loves Peter Parker, the Spider-Man theyâve got. Itâs a challenging introduction of a character: Our movie doesnât work if you donât fall in love with Miles Morales.
We open the movie with a montage that introduces the real Spider-Man. The scale of that scene is enormous. Itâs like seeing an entire superhero movie in 45 seconds, guided by this very confident narrator. Then we cut to Miles, and things slow down a lot. In an elegant script, everything is deliberate, and everything is a microcosm for something larger: When you meet Miles, we see him singing a song with headphones on. We made a very deliberate choice to spend the first couple of minutes weâre with Miles really just watching him. We wanted Miles to be kind of lovable. We see him drawing and making stickers; weâre establishing that heâs a creative person, heâs an artist, who is able to create without feeling self-conscious or encumbered.
The most important thing for this scene to communicate is that Spider-Man, as a character, is always punching up. In Miles, we have a kid whoâs not ready â heâs not ready for school; heâs not ready for this mission. He doesnât have all the tools, but he has spirit, and we fall for him because of that. We start the movie looking at Miles, and then we end it with him looking right at us.
We needed Miles to score a foolproof laugh at the beginning of the movie, right when you meet him. There arenât exactly jokes in this stretch, or any clever lines. Itâs just what a reasonably clever kid would say. We had this idea that if he sang a song that was out of his register, it would make the audience laugh. It got a big laugh in the preview screening a year ago, but there was one problem: The song we initially used was the Donald Glover song âRedbone,â and we liked the double-layered joke of opening with a Donald Glover song because of his history with Spider-Man. âRedboneâ killed ⊠until Get Out premiered.
It was critical that the song gag landed. We had a feeling it was because people knew the song, and they knew how he was messing it up. We were in big trouble when we couldnât use it anymore â we needed to replace one of the greatest songs of the year, and we had to do it in time to spend the three months we would need to animate that shot. It turns out âSunflowerâ is a massive hit song. We heard it as part of a batch of songs that Republic Records presented to us.
We also liked the metaphor this presents: Miles is singing a song that theoretically heâs a little too young for and he doesnât know the words yet. Thatâs the metaphor weâre going to be working with for most of the rest of the movie. Heâs going to be asked to step into shoes that he feels heâs not ready for, heâs not going to know the words, and heâs going to feel very self-conscious and nervous about that.
With Jefferson, we need to convey the authority he has in Milesâs life. His lines are delivered from either off camera, or passing. In a very subtle way, thereâs a bit of a disconnect between these characters: Miles and his dad talk to each other, but they donât necessarily look at each other, or face each other. Jefferson is a character whoâs searching for a way to communicate with his son. This line â âyouâre a grown man nowâ â was improvised by Brian.
Jeff and Rio are both helicopter parents in some ways. We were always riding a line, we didnât want Jeff to feel punitive or naggy. We always wanted him to seem like he was a good dad.
We had to have Spanish in this scene. We worked really hard with Shameik [Moore] and Luna [Velez] to have enough Spanish in there that felt credible and that didnât alienate English speakers when they heard it. It was important that it wasnât subtitled, that it felt completely normal, and was never presented as foreign or other.
Sometimes we overdid it. And at one point we underdid it. We spent a lot of time fine-tuning that stuff. Even in recording sessions where sometimes Rodney would be on the phone with his mom, and Luna would be on the phone with hers, and weâd be saying, âWhat would you say if I didnât do my homework, and you were going to call me out?â
We tried a lot of different versions of this scene, but sometimes the most down-the-middle structure works the best. A lot of these sequences were grounded in conversations we were having about how a lot of the characters in the movie were fighting against inevitable change, and were seeking to go back to a comfortable place in the past that didnât really exist anymore. That was the intention behind Miles and his old school, and wanting to go back to it. We decided that Milesâs school was around the corner from his house, because it let us say a lot of stuff very quickly.
The initial versions of this scene, in some ways, hit a lot of the same things but in a different order. You saw Miles hanging out a lot with a specific group of friends that we no longer meet specifically. There was a dinner-table scene with the parents, and a lot of the dynamic of that was eventually moved to the scene where he drives to school with his dad. You had stuff about how Jefferson feels about Spider-Man. In those drafts, the movie started with him telling his parents that he decided to quit school.
You donât get the sense that Miles is Mr. Popular, but you definitely get the sense that heâs a well-liked kid who has history and rapport with the people around him. In some ways we started to draft a lot on Shameik, and his charm. This is just a piece of flavor that popped up, between the writing and the recording sessions. Miles is not in control of his powers; itâs almost like setting up whatâs to come. He is a charming kid. He is starting to make connections with other people that may or may not be romantic; itâs unclear. Heâs capable of getting the connection, but he just isnât quite in control of what heâs doing yet.
The stickers that Miles works on came from Bob Persichetti and his rebellious, street-art-skateboarder past. In the initial treatment, we wanted him to have something that was a little lie that he would keep from his parents, because it felt like a good microcosm of the big lie that he has to keep from them, going forward into the next stage of his life. Whatâs cool with the stickers, too, is that they literally say âMy name is.â It very uniquely set up that Miles was someone who was still searching for himself and identity and wasnât quite sure who he was, and was almost trying out different versions of who he was, graphically, on these stickers.
There were many versions of this scene, even in its current structure. We tried over and over again to write more jokes for Miles. Beyond meeting Miles, this first scene with him is about mapping out the visual contours of what youâre doing, and the tonal contours of what youâre doing. Youâre conveying the overture for your whole movie, and the audience is paying attention. Sometimes if you donât establish that stuff early enough, it feels jarring later on if you take a sharp turn and do something that you havenât set up as one of the colors youâre playing with. A lot of jokes just didnât work. They either felt fake, or written. So we just said, âForget it.â All we want to do is fall in love with this kid, fall in love with his family, and convey a couple of very simple things. The kid feels a little overwhelmed; heâs not prepared. Heâs a regular kid who fibs to his parents, parents who have very high expectations of him because they love him and are trying to do as much as they can to help him. And, of course, we had to do all that in 45 seconds.
Aries Rising: Has a lot of enthusiastic energy towards associates and casual friends. Is open about meeting new people and letting others into their life. Shows their individuality clearly to all. Anger or passionate feelings show early on in relationships or even to strangers. With an Aries Rising one can be in or out of favor with them quickly.
Taurus Rising: Slower to open up emotionally and vulnerably but is approachable. Can view people as resources or have a practical approach to others, is patient and calm in more shallow relationships, can have a possessive view about the world, which can manifest in many different ways. Taurus Rising appreciates beauty and the physical, this carries over to when they are getting to know someone.
Gemini Rising: Usually very social but is ultimately more detached when first getting to know others. This person is talkative, funny, and interesting but takes a bit to get close to.They do well with networking, navigating groups, is flexible in âfitting inâ, and is observant. Duality can be seen in a Gemini Rising, usually via becoming distant and elusive vs. being highly attentive and involved with those they are still getting to know or are not close with.
Cancer Rising: Usually on the shyer side or is reserved. They take a while to open up and get close to. They can be sensitive and reclusive with acquaintances or more shallow connections. They may attract others with a bit of mystery or emotional appeal. A Cancer Rising can swing from being softly approachable to being closed off and prickly. Emotional biases could seep through their adaptable and pulled back exterior.
Leo Rising: Is usually a very warm and extroverted person on the surface. In more shallow relationships doesnât want to ever be looked down upon and tries to impress. They can be generous to those they arenât close to. Leo Rising might keep anyone threatening to their individuality or strength at arms length.
Virgo Rising: Can be shy or quiet, cares a lot about first impressions, critical or bluntness can come out in how they see the world, easygoing with associates or casual friends, remembers details about people they meet, and knows what they expect out of others. Virgo Rising gives practical advise to really anyone in their life. They are picky about who they truly get close to but is helpful to acquaintances, coworkers, and maybe strangers.
Libra Rising: Can seem like everyoneâs friend and approaches more shallow relationships with charm, persuasion, and mellowness. Relating to others is shown clearly but emotions and desires are not shown unless someone truly knows them/is very close. Libra Rising is personable but when people try to get close they tend to turn elusive and maybe distant. Those who compliment them, romance them, or confront their deep or emotional side can get in.
Scorpio Rising: Can be hard to read or figure out for some. In more shallow relationships they are reserved and private. When they do get closer to people they want to discover them and can be driven by mystery or fascination. Feels uncomfortable with surface level. Despite their reserved nature can be influential and magnetic in more superficial bonds/networking. Their intensity is usually felt rather than seen by peers.
Sagittarius Rising: Tends to be open towards meeting new people and making new friends. They accept all types of people, their attention can be grabbed by someone interesting, and some can be easily impressed. They have a heart-on-their-sleeve approach to more shallow relationships. Sagittarius Rising has an optimistic view towards others. They can be easily fooled or taken advantage of in more superficial connections. They prefer fun casualness and is serious or gets closer when meaning is created in a bond.
Capricorn Rising: Is dependable and responsible with casual pals, associates, and especially coworkers. They can be practical towards getting to know others, only getting close if there is a gain by doing so (this isnât always a materialistic or status gain). They can be cold and hard when you try to peer in closer at  them. They open their doors when others are patient and trustworthy.
Aquarius Rising: Tends to approach almost everyone in the same way, maybe this is viewing everyone as a friend or in a professional way. They try to get to the core of the individual when getting to know someone. Aquarius Rising are distant and can get indifferent when people try to pressure or pursue, usually emotionally.
Pisces Rising: Can lack boundaries when it comes to casual relationships and getting to know others. They tend to attract people who need healing/are wounded. They can be easily swayed by acquaintances and peers. Is intuitive towards the outer world. Pisces Rising can be vague and hard to pin down. They can get lost in impressions and might be changeable in how they approach a peer or acquaintance day by day.
not to get mad nerdy but I just discovered tabletopaudio.com and Iâm fuckin losing it
this person (people?) goes about making 10 minute long loopable ambient noise tracks for every imaginable setting (docks, taverns, forests, airships, spaceships, office buildings, sewers, EVERYTHING) and has over a hundred tracks to offer, and on top of that if none of them suit you thereâs a huge feature called soundpad where you can mix and match from their set of hundreds of individual sound effects and music clips to make your own ambient background track
I did a little further reading on his about and the guy running this is just a dad with two kids who like playing tabletops with him and he had the composition and musical training to start making soundtracks for his games then decided to spread that to the world for absolutely free, he even welcomes you to use his tracks in your works (podcasts, videos etc) and is open to being hired for custom tracks
This one was a little bit more challenging to do than I thought it would be â and that was mostly in all the detail (RIP) ,as well as figuring out ways to adapt a Klimt-esque look to Howl. It was really tempting to put him in his pink jacket since it lends itself to rectangular form so well. However I just had to go and make things difficult for myself⊠because I love his transformed version!
Guys, I edit professionally. This list is legit. Incorporating these suggestions before you hire an editor will save you A LOT of money. Even if you did these and nothing else, youâd see significant overall improvement in your work.
That said, you donât have to overthink these things when youâre writing a first draft. If you write, âshe said angrilyâ in a first draft, you can always revisit the phrasing in a second draft. I mention this because overthinking style can lead to a loss of momentum, and losing momentum is why so many people never finish a draft. Give yourself permission to write fast, write messy or ugly, and edit your draft into beauty later.
RUNAANS BOYF WAS CONFIRMED NESSA HOLY SHIT ONE OF THE TDP PEOPLE COMMENTED "figured it out huh?" ON A DRAWING OF HIM AND HIS BOYF ON IG IM XJDKDNNDNDBSBDBSNDBKSBDNDBDBBD
but uGH book!harry was so passionate and charismatic and witty and sarcastic and a natural leader and he didnât fucking need ginny to yell at a group to stfu to get them to listen to him because if harry wanted you to listen he would MAKE YOU FUCKING LISTEN because when he was angry he was intimidating as fuck and he had this intensity about him like he was usually pretty chill and laid back and up for a laugh but you knew if you really pissed him off he might kill you because he had so much inner rage because of his shitty life and sometimes he would explode and he also had an ego like he was humble but also arrogant at times and he could be such a douche but also super nice and like heâll save your life but he wonât bother being your friend because who the fuck are you to him really and jesus fucking christ HE WAS SO INTERESTING and movie!harry is like blandass oatmeal with no flavor like he was just such a flat character with no charisma NEVER FORGET WHAT THEY DID TO HARRY.
tbh people mock harry for going back to rescue fleurs sister in the second triwizard task but harry knows dumbledore better than anyone else. he probably looked at the situation and thought âwould dumbledore let an eight year old drown just because fleur couldnt do this bit? yes. yes he would.â
itâs also possible he was acting off of the lessons he learned in the abusive dursley household. thatâs why he does a lot of his so-called âhero complexâ shit. he takes a lot of personal responsibility for other people bc he learned growing up that âno oneâs here for you, no one will help you, you will not catch any breaksâ. he helps bc if he didnât, who would? certainly not the dursleys, and thatâs what he grew up with.
he does things by himself and the two people he actually trusts, bc heâs learned that authority figures are no help and will only make things worse. he takes situations at face value bc heâs never seen other options in his life, heâs never HAD other options in his life. speaking very personally, that was a serious marker of abuse that i saw in myself - i never thought abt escape, or what i could do to improve my situation, bc i didnât even see that as an option. the options were survive or donât, deal w it or donât, acclimate or implode.
maybe he wasnât thinking abt what DUMBLEDORE would do, what anyone at hogwarts would do. maybe he was acting off what he knew the dursleys (his main authority figures) would do. the dursleys would let the girl drown. and harry was there, and harry could do something, and so harry did. he took personal responsibility for fleurâs sisterâs safety bc all his life heâs learned that authority figures cannot be trusted to do so.
people characterize these aspects of harry as a âhero complexâ or a âstupid nobilityâ or a âlack of common senseâ, but i donât agree with that. i canât put my finger on exactly what it is. itâs not completely unhealthy; itâs even very useful and responsible on occasion.
itâs called âcomplex ptsdâ and if you get out of the abusive situation before youâre old enough to understand how fucked up it was, like Harry did, you donât end up with the classic flashbacks so much, just atypical behavior patterns and a high risk of other shit. Thatâs why Harry is so fucked up by everything that Umbridge does, itâs because heâs being retraumatized in his safe space.
Seriously, the Dursleys would have not only let her drown, they would have let her drown so they could blame Harry for it afterwards. (Although the loudest âPotter, too busy winning to care about anyone elseâ voice in his head would probably be Snapeâs.)
Incidentally this is even more clear in the first and second books, to me. Because Harry DID go to adults and say someoneâs trying to steal the stone, and what did the adults do? Did they say, yes, we know, weâre taking precautions, real, good protective measures? Noooo. Did they say, thank you, weâll look into it, even? Noooo. They said, donât be silly, itâs not your concern, nothing to see here, little boy, run along and do your schoolwork.
And they said this to a boy whose entire life experience has never involved an adult that can be depended on. And they lied, lied about their own knowledge, said âthatâs sillyâ when they know âthatâs true.â And they were too convincing: since he as well knew the truth, what they ended up convincing him was that they didnât know. And it fit right in with his expectations. Adults, whether actively malicious (the Dursleys, Snape) or well-meaning but oblivious (Mrs. Figg, Harryâs primary-school teachers, the other Hogwarts teachers), canât be depended on. If anythingâs got to be done, Harry and his friends have got to do it himself.
Second book, same thingâtheyâre headed for the teacherâs lounge to tell the teachers itâs a basilisk, and overhear the teachers saying that Ginny Weasleyâs been taken by the monster, and they need to close Hogwarts, and their only plan to rescue Ginny is to send Gilderoy Lockhartâknowing full well heâs a fraud, a coward, and no match for a Cornish pixie, let alone a basilisk. Once again, the adults are flat-out useless and if anyone is going to save Ginny, itâs gotta be Harry and Ron.Â
Notably, this is after another ball-drop on the part of the adults: when Harryâs been framed for underage magic and locked up in his room and starved by people who have every intention of keeping him out of Hogwarts forever, itâs other kids, Ron, Fred, and George, who go rescue him, and when the adults find out, one of them punishes and scolds and the other is only interested in how his car worked.
In book three, we meet a couple of adults that are competent, helpful, and willing to listenâSirius and Remusâand the other adults come in and the end result is, oneâs fired and the other has to go on the run lest he have his soul sucked out by dementors. Dumbledore does listen and give them the necessary hints, but itâs Harry, and Hermione this time, who have to do the work.
And then in Order of the Phoenix, in comes the smothering bullshit about how heâs too young to be in the Order and needs to leave everything to the grownups, after the grownups have dropped the ball four years running and are batting zero on the trust-and-listening factorâno wonder he threw a tantrum, I wouldâve thrown a tantrum, he was fucking entitled to one.
âWell, that was a bit stupid of you,â said Ginny angrily, âseeing as you donât know anyone but me whoâs been possessed by You-Know-Who, and I can tell you how it feels.â
Harry remained quite still as the impact of these words hit him. Then he turned on the spot to face her.
âI forgot,â he said.
 â OotP
âhe does things by himself and the two people he actually trusts⊠itâs not completely unhealthy; itâs even very useful and responsible on occasion.â - @gaelissfelin
âŠthis.  Harry sees people as: a. him and people he trusts, b. people to be evaded, and c. people in need of help.  When he gets backed into a corner (Voldemort inside his head, heading down the trapdoor alone, off to the DoM alone, into the Forest alone), the circle of people he trusts shrinks down from the DA/OotP, to the Trio, to just himself.  Harry never wants to be a hero or gets off on it, heâs just a person whoâs suffered from the bystander effect and doesnât want to be a bystander himself.
âŠthatâs what it is, why itâs useful, I think.  Itâs not a hero complex, itâs an anti-bystander complex.  Sometimes it only takes one person standing up.
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