Pixar Storytelling Rules

This is the rules that Pixar storywriters abide to when they are writing scripts:
  1. Admire a character for trying more than their successes.
  2. Keep in mind what is interesting to an audience, not what is fun for a writer.
  3. You won't see what the story is actually about until you finish it- see a theme and then rewrite to surround the theme better.
  4. Once upon a time there was _________. Everyday __________. One day __________. Because of that ________. Because of that _________. Until finally _________.
  5. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours.
  6. What are your character's strengths? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
  7. Come up with the ending before you figure out your middle.
  8. Finish the story - let go even if it's not perfect.
  9. When stuck, make a list of what wouldn't happen next.
  10. Pull apart stories you like and find the best features; they are an embodiment of you as a writer.
  11. Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. if it stays in your head, you won't share it with anyone.
  12. Discount the first thing that comes to mind- get the obvious out of the way.
  13. give your characters opinions; passive/ malleable characters are poison to the audience.
  14. Why must you tell THIS story?
  15. If you were the character in the situation, how would you feel?
  16. What are the stakes? Give the audience a reason to root for the character. What happens if they don't succeed? Stack the odds against them.
  17. if it is not working, let go and move on; it will be useful later.
  18. story is testing, not refining.
  19. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out are cheating.
  20. Take the building blocks of a film you dislike. Rearrange them into something you do like.
  21. You've got to identify with your situation/characters.
  22. What's the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build from there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trailer Analysis 2: Deadpool

For my next trailer analysis, I am going to evaluate Tim Miller's Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds. This superhero comedy is one of Marvel and 20th Century Fox's highest grossing films of 2016, and is also the highest grossing R rated movie. The film's director, Tim Miller, has been known for making the opening sequences for films such as 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and 'Thor: The Dark World', so he has previously worked with Marvel before and have experience and credibility with them as a company. The narrative type for this trailer is mostly linear, however, towards the end, montage's are used which makes it non-linear. Deadpool, as an entire film links to Steve Neale's genre theory of repetition and difference. Which states that "difference is absolutely essential to the economy of genre" and by not subverting to the standard genre conventions, a film becomes more appealing to audiences. Alternatively, a film also needs to con...
Read more

Company Logo

Image
I had decided to adapt my logo from last year; I thought that the name was aptly suited for the genre of horror as it is a double entendre as not only is it my initials but it is also a sound of fear. I wanted to  show a link to horror through my logo and I used the colours for my typography together as it seemed distorted and blurred, which links well to the distortion of reality and the supernatural which is present within horror films. The circle used over the start of the text is what would resemble the clarity of the normal world, which is normally brought to light towards the end of a film. the colour black has been used as a base colour purely to make the font stand out more. it also represents the unknown which is usually used to develop some fear from the audiences within films.
Read more