January 5, 2012
Pixar's rules of story

healywu:

bridgecomedy:

Most of these apply to improv & sketch & anything else you want to tell.

(via jamandearlgrey:andrewsteven)

Pixar’s rules of story

  • Empathize with your main character, even if you don’t like all of his/her motivations or qualities. (For example, Woody in Toy Story initially masked his selfish desires as being selfless.)
  • Unity of opposites. Each character must have clear goals that oppose each other. You should have something to say. Not a message, per se, but some perspective, some experiential truth.
  • Have a key image, almost like a visual logline, to encapsulate the essence of the story; that represents the emotional core on which everything hangs. (For example, Marlin in Finding Nemo, looking over the last remaining fish egg in the nest.)
  • Cast actors with an appealing voice, and whom the microphone loves. Test their voice performance with animation to see if it fits.
  • Know your world and the rules of it. (Such as in Monsters, Inc.)
  • The crux of the story should be on inner, not outer, conflicts.
  • Developing the story is like an archeological dig. Pick a site where you think the story is buried, and keep digging to find it.
  • Animation should be interpretive, not realistic.
  • “Just say no” to flashbacks. Only tell what’s vital, and tell it linearly. Consider music as a character to anchor the film. Music is a keeper of the emotional truth.
  • One universal guideline that Pixar follows is to make the story organic… no jokes that require outside information that isn’t supplied by the film itself.

Fantastic!

(via paulbriganti)

4:36pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZhrTKyEJcEzF
(Notes: 612)
  
  1. vulcanchicks reblogged this from elixiroverdose
  2. someartinspirations reblogged this from nikki0417
  3. alwaysfollowtheowls reblogged this from savingdonnanoble
  4. justotherstuff reblogged this from cockatielcove
  5. cockatielcove reblogged this from snowtrooper
  6. steam-powered-jetskis reblogged this from skully-pens and added:
    Very helpful to anyone who wants to write stories…
  7. kenreplay reblogged this from nessicake and added:
    Pixar’s rules of story Empathize with your main character, even if you don’t like all of his/her motivations or...
  8. lovelysia reblogged this from skully-pens
  9. skully-pens reblogged this from elixiroverdose
  10. open-down-and-close-up reblogged this from jenocidal9
  11. howlingblaster reblogged this from nessicake
  12. razzybeans reblogged this from nessicake
  13. jenocidal9 reblogged this from nessicake
  14. nessicake reblogged this from raruraru
  15. raruraru reblogged this from accioharo
  16. sidetrack643 reblogged this from meggannn
  17. cosmographia reblogged this from lunashadow
  18. lunashadow reblogged this from rubitinmyeyes
  19. infinitestardust reblogged this from meggannn
  20. timelessalice reblogged this from goddamnitreddas and added:
    These are good rules, for the most part (barring the flashback thing).
  21. goddamnitreddas reblogged this from boobermensch and added:
    Citizen Kane pretty much was an entire flashback, but I would argue that the entire flashback plot scenario in this...
  22. missamouse reblogged this from jslattx3
  23. boobermensch reblogged this from catatlas and added:
    I only disagree with the flashback rule. They can be very interesting/thematically useful. For instance, Citizen Kane is...
  24. catatlas reblogged this from catd94
  25. jim-whorrison reblogged this from malarkiness
  26. brookecantcook reblogged this from jslattx3
  27. jslattx3 reblogged this from meggannn
  28. snowtrooper reblogged this from soulthecat
  29. malarkiness reblogged this from catd94