Comments on: Storytelling the Pixar way

By: flosofl

flosofl — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:53:00 +0000

Yes! Exactly! Just like… every… Pixar…movie?

What?

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:18:00 +0000

Villain in Up was seemed rich to me.

By: timquinn

timquinn — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:21:00 +0000

Ooh, you forgot these;

23. Make sure your villain is an ugly or bent person and comes from the poor family on the block.
24. Make sure the poor people in your story are suspicious and sloppy.
25. Make sure your hero is squeaky clean and boring.
26. Pimping, bad. Pandering, good.

By: AnthonyC

AnthonyC — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:15:00 +0000

This, to me, is the essential difference between Tolkien and JK Rowling. LotR feels like history, because he was a worldbuilder, not a storyteller, while Hogwarts makes little internal sense but is lots of fun to read.

By: Joseph Francis

Joseph Francis — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 22:34:00 +0000

Don’t miss the Ted Elliott Terry Rossio ‘Wordplayer’ columns.
http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/welcome.html

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:01:00 +0000

I was just about to recommend #5 to G.R.R.M.

By: OldBrownSquirrel

OldBrownSquirrel — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 20:14:00 +0000

…and #19 is why I hate “Jane Eyre.”

By: Ethan Taliesin Houser

Ethan Taliesin Houser — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:21:00 +0000

These storytelling ideas smack too much of the specious advice in the “Save the Cat” book–written by the dude who wrote “Stop or My Mom Will Shoot.” Sound stuff in the abstract, but generic disasterville in the doing. I think it’s a danger to follow a template too closely because if these story conventions are contrived, they come out pretty lame.

By: Damien

Damien — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:37:00 +0000

They missed the obvious one that’s been Pixar’s primary rule for every feature film to date (though it seems Brave is an attempt to go against type for one sub-clause)…
Tell a coming-of-age story about an outcast/misfit/loner; who’s a bit child-like and relates to the audience’s inner child; who lacks confidence, and doesn’t know he has the hidden ability to succeed; and can rely on his friends to come together for help when the going gets tough. And, as the main character, is male — strictly male — the few interesting female characters are all killed, removed from the picture, relegated to Supporting Character, or put back into their cliche-box — this must be established in the film’s intro.
They are getting better in some regards: “The Incredibles” had a token black sidekick, and “Up” had a token Asian supporting character.

By: malindrome

malindrome — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:32:00 +0000

“George Lucas R. R. Martin, please read #8.”

Fixed that for you.

By: Franklin

Franklin — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:46:00 +0000

I took a Pixar story master class workshop in NYC last year, it was awesome. two full days of great stuff like this

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:28:00 +0000

Great ideas. Pixar has been consistently great storytellers over nearly every one of their films. I’m a huge fan.

By: cooljames

cooljames — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:21:00 +0000

I think that Toy Story 3 is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. I’ll watch it again and again. Still, though, the influence of #19 on the plot is overwhelming.

I didn’t need an insider’s perspective to know that this is part of the design patterns for their writers. Throughout the movie, Woody’s posture seems to take on an increasingly labored stance as things keep getting worse and worse.

By: Alastair Stephens

Alastair Stephens — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Exactly, and that’s one of my favorite examples of how to do it well!

By: jtnix

jtnix — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:16:00 +0000

#19 should also add: Coincidences that let the character think they are getting out of trouble but end up getting into even more trouble are THE BEST!

By: sweetcraspy

sweetcraspy — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:14:00 +0000

I think #4 is valuable for overall story concept. If you start the camera or the first chapter at “One day __”, you can still fill in “Once upon a time __” and “Every day __”. I think Toy Story did this well, starting with Buzz’s upsetting introduction, and using the bedroom-changes-montage to convey what life used to be like for Woody.

By: WillieNelsonMandela

WillieNelsonMandela — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:00:00 +0000

#19 is at the root of neary every “Three’s Company” episode. (“Man About the House” for those of you in the UK).

By: zachstronaut

zachstronaut — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:45:00 +0000

Awesome! I am struggling a bit with my assimilation of this one though: “#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.”

I’d be interested to hear how other people are understanding that one. What’s the difference between testing and refining? I guess it is just semantics, but aren’t you refining your story if you are testing different things, and keeping what works?

By: yri

yri — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:38:00 +0000

George Lucas, please read #8…

By: Alastair Stephens

Alastair Stephens — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:18:00 +0000

We discussed this on the StoryWonk Sunday writing podcast last week, and the only one with which we disagreed was #4. Too many writers spend too much time establishing the world; start your story with trouble, and fill in the details as you go. Your reader — or viewer — will thank you for it.

By: Samuel Valentine

Samuel Valentine — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:10:00 +0000

As a person who likes to go to movies and then discuss them, this was my fave:

“#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?”

I feel like critiquing a movie without this step is useless.

By: corydodt

corydodt — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 16:05:00 +0000

I particularly love #9, because it’s basically a trick you play on your own mind.