Pixar knows how to tell great stories. But as you’ll learn in this article, it’s not always about the story - the secret is in great storytelling. Our Creative Director [thanks Rob!] is always the first to person to passionately push us into new and creative ways of thinking about experience [he forwarded this article to me] regarding the great read… (”the ability to captivate and entertain has less to do with the words on a page, or the beats of a story, as with the performance itself.”) We wanted to pass the article along: The Secret of Pixar Storytelling:
Some of the key points in this article include:
- 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.
- Developing the story is like an archaeological dig. Pick a site where you think the story is buried, and keep digging to find it.
- “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.
