for the course:
computer animation
Goal of this Chapter: To show you how to capture and maintain an audience's attention. Tell a good story!
Table of Contents
- Defining a Story
- The 3 Main Components of a Story
- Where to Get Story Ideas
- Beginnings
- Endings
- Storytelling
- The Short Story
- Typical Short Story Types and Structures
- Storytelling Pitfalls that Can Ruin a Good Short Film
- Titles
- Format
- Tell your Story to Others
- Summary
- Disclaimer
1. Defining a Story
Definition
A story is the telling of an incident or event where something changes over time. For example, a journey is complete, a decision is made, a problem is solved, an opinion is reversed.
Theme
The theme is the main idea of a story, usually expressed in one word or a short phrase. For example, the theme of the The Wizard of Oz may be "Home is where the heart is".
Balancing Realism with Imagination
It's important to balance realism and imagination. The film must be creative enough to entertain the audience but familiar enough for them to be engaged. Too abstract and you may lose your audience. Too real and the short may seem boring.
2. The 3 Main Components of a Story
The three main components are as follows:
- Plot: the flow of events in a story. A plot generally has at least two events often related by cause and effect. Sometimes people get 'plot' confused with a 'situation'. Consider the following:
- Situation: A girl and guy are sitting on a bench.
- Plot: A girl and guy are sitting on a bench and the girl is trying to find the courage to break up with him.
- Characters: These are the beings that respond to or motivate the events in the story.
- Setting: This is the location and time of when the story takes place. It can include a number of things such as season, time of day and weather conditions.
2 out of 3 Ain't Always Bad
Out of the 3 combinations, 1: Plot and Setting, 2: Character and Plot, and 3: Character and Setting, the 3rd is most often the best choice. Let's review all of them:
- Plot and Setting: We can characterize this as a film centered around a major event (for example, the creation of the Universe). Unfortunately, audiences want to emotionally relate to films; this can be hard to do without characters.
- Character and Plot: We can characterize this as films that are of the abstract nature. For example, (opinion) the Apple vs. Microsoft commercials are a good example of an effective implementation of this combination of film components. To help audience's relate and understand the story, an indication of time and space is useful.
- Character and Setting: There are two types of Character and Setting combinations -
- Character-Driven - The plot is contained within the evolving personalities, actions and relationships of the characters. The characters motivate the story progression. For example, Pixar's Gerri's Game;
- Event-Driven - The plot is centred on external events and the characters mainly respond to the events.
Starting with an Event
A story can begin with an event. For example:
I saw my neighbours last night.
This is a situation but it's not particularly interesting. It should generate questions like, "What happens next?" (people should want to hear more).
Let's change the example:
I saw my neighbours ordering $5-dollar prostitutes last night.
This generates more questions such as, "What happened next?", "Why were you spying on your neighbours?", etc. It creates a cause-and-effect situation which is a good starting point for a plot.
If you want to see if you have a good starting event, tell a friend and gauge their reaction and their response. Interest and questions demanding for more information are a good sign.
Starting with a Character
There are 3 ways to go about this:
- Build a story around a characters goal: After you have defined at least the basic personality of your character, give them a goal. The process by which the character attempts to achieve the goal is what makes the story. The character must encounter conflicts along this journey and in the end, something must change. This can be, but is not exclusive to, location, emotion, opinion, health, and personality.
- Build a story around a set of questions: Ask interesting questions that will reveal some information about the character and its motives. For example, "What does he want?", "Who is his arch-enemy?", "Why does she want to break up with her boyfriend?". Answering these questions can often create more questions, leading to the development of a good story.
- Build a story around a relationship between characters: The dynamic between two charactes can help create a powerful plot. A common conflict is the 'two dogs and one bone' conflict. This is very similar to when you and your brother both want to play the Xbox but there is only one controller (clearly sharing is not an option in this case).
Before we move on, let's talk about types of conflicts. There are 4 types:
- External Conflicts: Man against nature/society. These are things outside of our direct control. For example, a impending DoS is an external conflict. (Damn those hackers!)
- Internal Conflicts: Man against himself. These are things that pertain to ourselves that are in our direct control. For example, deciding whether or not to sleep with that pretty blonde in the labs and risk getting caught on camera would be an internal conflict. (These are conflicts of the mind and include fears and character flaws).
- Physical Conflicts: Man against man/nature. When a character struggles with an external force to achieve success. For example, trying to be the Wisest Wizard after you've had 9 beers in an hour is a physical conflict.
- Moral Conflicts: Man against man/society. When a character struggles between what is right and wrong (whether that's determined by himself or external forces). For example, see Internal Conflict and make the person not believe in sex before marriage.
Starting with a Setting
Conflict
Fine Arts Films
3. Where to Get Story Ideas
4. Beginnings
5. Endings
6. Storytelling
- Genre
- Structure
- The Ever-Popular 3-Act Story Structure
- The Instigating Incident and the Climax
- Messing Around with Story Structure
- The Hero's Journey
- Pacing
7. The Short Story
- Long-Form vs. Short-Form Stories
- Variations on Long-Form Story Structures
8. Typical Short Story Types and Structures
- The Gag
- The Booty
- The Moral
- The Villain
- The Pickle
- The Parody
- I Wish…
- The Rescue
- The Journey
- Fine Arts
- Keeping it Short
- You're Making a Movie, After All
9. Storytelling Pitfalls that Can Ruin a Good Short Film
10. Titles
11. Format
12. Tell your Story to Others
- Objective Self-Criticism
- A Few Examples
13. Summary
14. Disclaimer
Some of this text is copied directly out of the book, 3D Short Film Production by Jeremy Cantor and Pepe Valencia. Eventually, I will come back to these and put it all in my own words.
Feel free to use any of this information in your notes but I remind you to study them in your own words for two reasons:
- You will remember it better;
- On an exam, if you write down word-for-word what I have written here, our professor will notice;