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Pixar offers free online lessons in storytelling via Khan Academy
- jwellt 10y agoStorytelling is a really valuable skill. However, it seems to me that it is one of those abilities that some people just seem to be born with and that it is inherently difficult to learn. Can anybody offer anecdotal insights into whether or not this is something that you can become good at through practice?
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- tent 10y agoWhile I'm sure they exist, I've never met any young kids who were particularly good at telling stories. As with all things, some people have more natural talent than others, but I don't think anyone is very good right off the bat. Think of it like any other art. Not everyone is equally good at it, but with practice, everyone gets better.
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoHow many young kids have you met? I used to be a Cub Scout (ages 7-10) leader in the UK. There were definitely certain children who could spin a yarn effortlessly. Though I can't rule out that being nurture it seems more likely to be based on a natural propensity. Even in toddlers, with almost no language, some seem particularly adept at entertaining, which to me is a precursor for story-telling. That's not being a novelist though, I think that's a different skill altogether. Novelists can be terrible story-tellers in person. As a parent I've made up a few stories on the spot, it's really hard. Indeed just the telling part, with a story you think you know well (eg, for me, The Three Bears) is hard work.
- birdman3131 10y agoThere are two things involved. The first is a good imagination. Most people are born with a good one. Imagination tends to be more born with and can be harder to improve. The second is understanding how to take what you see in your head and tell it to others. This is the part that needs help. Speech class for oratory story telling, art class for telling stories with images, English class for telling stories with the written word and many others. (These also can overlap.) The basis behind story telling may be innate but the ability to share with the world is something that needs a lot of practice and training to be smooth.
- kijin 10y agoI'm not sure about the "born with" part, but I think exposure to good storytelling in early childhood might play a significant role in whether you grow up to become a good storyteller. A consistent theme among famous writers is that they loved to read from a very young age, their parents used to tell them lots of bedtime stories, etc. Maybe this early exposure to fiction influences a developing mind in a way that's much more difficult to achieve once you have grown up. Learning to jump seamlessly between Narnia, Hogwarts, the Hundred Acre Woods, Victorian England, Medieval Europe, the Arabian Nights, and back to the real world is a bit like learning a new language, a new culture. Children learn new languages much more easily than adults do, and the languages you learn in your childhood stick with your accents for the rest of your life.
- Stanleyc23 10y agoI'd take stand up comedians as an example. I remember watching interviews of now well recognized comedians recount how they started out doing terribly. but through persistence, learned the craft and became professional storytellers.
- icantdrive55 10y agoTracy Morgan. He developed into a hilarious comedian. It took awhile. I didn't think he had the talent. I was so wrong. That said, besides Rodney Dangerfield, I can't think of to many comedians whom got better with age. I sometimes think the comedians whom get better with age need to have a few really big setbacks in real life. Oh yea, Louie Whatshisname got funny later in life, but kinda petered out. It almost seems like monetary success affects humor in some comedians?
- coldtea 10y agoWell, the one asking about this is a "dead" account, but still: >That said, besides Rodney Dangerfield, I can't think of to many comedians whom got better with age. Louis C.K. obviously.
- charris0 10y agoMore and more I've come the opinion that there is no skill someone is just 'born with' that cannot be learnt. It may be the case though that some people are exposed to events and circumstances that help them practice from such an early age as to have a huge headstart above others. Anecdotally, I never thought I'd be able to draw, I used to think drawing (and art in painting, etc) was just something I wouldn't be able to do, though it's surprising and encouraging what you can do after dedicating some consistent time to practicing. Also something I've started learning about recently is the art that goes into public speaking (from the Washington Uni Coursera course). With knowledge broken down and explained by professionals, the mysterious becomes reachable through reasonable amounts of practice.
- iopq 10y agoAt the same time, some people are just more talented. No matter how much I try, I'll never be that strong compared to other guys. I can barely bench press above body weight ONCE. It took me years to achieve a 210 lbs max. I've taken time off and even after months of working my way back I'm still not back at this strength level yet. Why can't the same be applied to skills that have a more mental component? Some people just don't get it.
- street 10y agoGet on a decent program and eat more. Physical strength is an example of a skill that is absolutely a matter of hard work, not being born lucky.
- sethammons 10y agoThere is a genetic component for sure; not everyone can become an elite athlete or lifter. However, with consistent training on a decent program (like you say), I would believe that nearly everyone who does not have a disability could get to a point where they can deadlift 2.5x ideal body weight, squat 2x, and bench 1.5x. And if you get here, you are physically strong. I don't do specific training on those lifts, but I am approaching those targets. Hard work, eating right, and appropriate training. To me, eating right means a good balance of carbs, fat, and protein. I target my ideal body weight in lbs x 1.5 as grams (about 260g of protein a day). I don't always get there, but I try to get to over 1/3 of that by early morning with some overnight oats with added protein powder, a protein shake post early morning workout, and something with protein for breakfast right before I start work). If I am building, I eat around 3k calories a day. If I am cutting, I try to stay around 2k. Hard work means getting my heart going, sweating, and tracking and increasing my percentages. I enjoy crossfit style workouts. I track what my training max is, and lift an appropriate percent of that for given sets. Do varied lifts. Olympic lifts, power lifts, gymnastics, etc. Appropriate training. Find a program and stick with it a while. A 5/3/1 program can be solid. I got a lot out of a cycle of juggernaut training on my back squat a while back. I went from 240 lbs to 305 lbs in a short window where I thought I had plateaued. I'm currently at 345 lbs. I'm in no rush to add the last 35 lbs to that to hit my 2x target, but I'll get there. If I wanted to get there faster, I'd be back on 5/3/1 or juggernaut again.
- kqr2 10y agoDirect link to Pixar In A Box : The Art of Storytelling https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar/storytelling https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar/storytelli...
- timac80 10y agoIts interesting how storytelling has really been important for people in all time periods. I imagine this being one of the most important skills for early cavemen wanting to gain respect among their peers.
- Fricken 10y agoDan Harmon, the co-creator of community and Rick & Morty, and also something of a guru on storytelling uses the analogy of the stone-age hunter to illustrate the most basic structure that underlies pretty much every story can be mapped to a story about going out, finding food, killing it and bringing it back home. http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_...
- mentos 10y agoImmediately Ctrl+F'd to see if anyone mentioned Dan Harmon. https://youtu.be/KkUz8KgKHhA?t=6m24s https://youtu.be/KkUz8KgKHhA?t=6m24s
- forgottenacc57 10y agoPixar stories always descend into violent and frightening scenes. It's probably a Hollywood expectation - "it's not a movie without a flat out terrifying villain"! Kids that I take to see Pixar movies quake in fear - that's not good kids entertainment. I stopped worshiping Pixar storytelling when I realized this. So don't go learn from khan academy how to emulate Pixar, learn to tell kids stories without fear and violence.
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoAre there mainstream stories that don't have an element of fear in them? Even love stories have fear of loss, or fear of unrequited love, or similar as a facet. Disney/Pixar probably are just emulating European classical storytelling that we find in fairy stories?
- forgottenacc57 10y agoTake a 6 year old to see"A bugs life" and watch the kid instead of the movie. When you see the child in absolute terror, ask yourself "is this the right way to entertain a child, through pure terror?" Or do the same thing with the Pixar movie "Up", a fabulous and gentle movie until it gets the mandatory part where they go all out to scare the living shit out of the kids watching with attack dogs.
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoIt'll depend a lot on the child.
- forgottenacc57 10y agoSadly true, perhaps many little kids are brought up on intense violence and might not be scared by Pixar films, which is really sad.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
- AnotherHustler 10y agoA respected book on this subject is McKee : Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting. The principle is simple, each atomic item (a moment / a beat etc.) in the story needs to represent a polar change in human values (e.g. Love->Hate, Hope->Despair etc.) - atomic items are grouped into higher levels (scenes), which again have an overarching change in values, and again these levels are grouped into even higher levels (acts etc.) which repeat the same pattern. Finally, at the top level - the story itself from the beginning to end also has the value change idea. One of the things McKee taught me - if a scene, beat or moment doesn't have a change in values - then it's probably not interesting (filler) and you should think about cutting it. Hope this helps anyone interested in story structure... I highly recommend reading McKee.
- iopq 10y agoAnd then there's a movie like Clerks which has a lot of filler, but ends up being endearing. Most of the dialogue is just people saying funny random stuff.
- mathgeek 10y agoClerks actually has a lot of polar changes in that filler, though. As the topics of conversation change, your mind goes with it and your emotions shift. Similar to other "geek out" movies.
- PunchTornado 10y agoif everything is a polar change, nothing is a polar change. having a boring conversation about nothing doesn't make it a series of polar changes.
- rhizome 10y agoOn the contrary, and just pulling a number out of my butt because I haven't watched in in awhile, I'd say there's like 20 conflicts and resolutions throughout the course of the plot. Maybe this makes the movie more of an epistolary than the three-act structure that movies are normally compared against, so zooming out until some overarching consistency emerges is not always the most faithful mode of analysis.
- 1337biz 10y agoMy question is: How do you make boring things interesting on the fly. For example: If you are asking me - how was your day ? I will tell you: Well, I switched on the computer, did some x and y, ate lunch, continued and switched it off again. Some coworkers of mine can go you on and on about their day and it stays entertaining. There are some things that they do differently, eg focus on people and emotions. But still I have such a hard time drawing out the banalities of everyday into an exciting adventure. This skill is super valuable - anyone having similar problems and ideas on how to improve it?
- nolok 10y agoSorry for the generic answer but that is the best thing you can work on to improve that skill: focus on the journey, not the end result. Another way to put it, and I think it was a quote by Stephen King but I cannot find it back at the moment, is that if you want to convey something don't spell it out, make the person listening/reading your story see/feel it for themselves by the way you describe it.
- briandear 10y agoSex and violence. Every good story has it. I am not referring to the obvious of "having sex and fighting," but every piece of conflict has some element of one or the other and sometimes both. And obviously, that means conflict is essential to every good story. Nobody wants to watch The Village of the Happy People. The mundane becomes exciting with conflict.. either physical, emotional or both.
- 1337biz 10y agoBut how do this on the fly if you are telling somebody about a work project or some idea you have been tinkering about in your free time? Or when they are picking some random time in your life ("how was highschool for you?"). I have read quite a few books and a bunch of videos on YouTube but they always focus on prepared story telling.
- cJ0th 10y agoMundane actions need interruptions to become exciting and there have to be references to stuff you've mentioned earlier have somewhat of a story. Lame: I was going to school as usual. After I had arrived the bell rang and our biology teacher entered the classroom. He showed us a movie about wolfs. Better: I was going to school when all of a sudden a wolf started hunting me. It almost got me the second I entered school but fortunately I managed to close the door behind me just in time. When the bell rang our biology teacher entered the classroom and showed us a movie about wolfs! Can you believe it? I grew incredibly nervous when the narrator began talking about wolfs attacking humans. While the movie was still running I turned my head away from the screen for a second and glanced through the door's window. At first I wasn't sure what I was looking at. I only sensed movement. But then it became clear that the wolf which had followed me earlier this morning was strolling down the hall. Somehow he must have managed to sneak in.... Of course, you don't need a wolf chasing you to have material for an exciting story but the general principles still apply I think.
- coldtea 10y agoI hate to be negative (well, not really, but maybe a little, since this is free), but I've always found Pixar storytelling to be contrived, cliched and the worst kind of sappy with lame attempts at humor. So this is more like "Max Martin offers lessons in songwriting" than e.g. John Lennon(or Tom Waits or Jack White or Chuck D. or James Murphy, or whatever unique voice you fancy).
- arkitaip 10y agoYes, both Pixar and Disney come of as cynical in their approach to storytelling. It's the same manipulative beats over and over again. Just because these movies are targeting kids doesn't mean they have to be mediocre.
- jasode 10y ago>, but I've always found Pixar storytelling to be contrived, cliched and the worst kind of sappy with lame attempts at humor. Instead of an abstract complaint, it would be more instructive if you could provide concrete examples of children's films that are: not contrived, not cliched, not sappy with no lame humor.
- th0ma5 10y agoI'd like to offer as examples anything by Miyazaki, although they aren't just for children. Sometimes the initial plot setups are a little contrived or cliche, but they aren't material to the films.
- coldtea 10y ago>Instead of an abstract complaint, it would be more instructive if you could provide concrete examples of children's films that are: not contrived, not cliched, not sappy with no lame humor. Where to start? The works of Miyazaki, as somebody already mentioned. Anything by Tex Avery. The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Triplets of Belleville. James and the Giant Peach. The Illusionist. And tons of others (haven't even delved into anime). And if we get to overall children's films, e.g. not just animation, there's a whole range too. Heck, old (2D) Disney films were much less contrived as well.
- baby 10y agoThis is a departure from the usual blackboard videos of KhanAcademy right? I haven't watched enough of them to be sure. I've also noticed that Coursera has a load of courses that are not free anymore. So it might explain why Pixar chose KhanAcademy. Is it the last resort for free education? I'm really sad about Coursera as it was the platform that made me discover cryptography with Dan Boneh. And now I'm wondering if the platform's new spin on monetization is the reason Dan Boneh is not releasing Crypto II.
- diminish 10y agoMe too I'm waiting for the "Crypto II" since few years, what happened to it :)
- blitzd 10y agoI've found that a lot of the time Coursera is just making it difficult to register for free for courses, but if you find the right page it's still an option. Go to the specific page for the course, not any collection that it may be in, and when you click 'enroll' look for the tiny 'audit' link.
- britcruise 10y agoHey folks we'll be putting out new story lessons every ~6 weeks - there will be 6 in total