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If you don't have time for the full course, here is a hn-comment [0] that I really, really appreciated and helped me when telling stories to my kids: >Yes. Pix

by tomthe 6y ago

If you don't have time for the full course, here is a hn-comment [0] that I really, really appreciated and helped me when telling stories to my kids: >Yes. Pixar has a template: >Once upon a time there was ___. >Every day, ___. >One day ___. >Because of that, ___. >Because of that, ___. >Until finally ___. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20408283 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20408283 edit: it may have been another comment from here: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=%22because%20of%20that%22%20%22once%20upon&sort=byPopularity&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

w-m 6y ago
It's not unique to Pixar. Many stories and so many films follow the Hero's journey: a common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey). The character needn't be a hero either, if you consider Dan Harmons story circle technique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Harmon#"Story_Circle"_technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Harmon#"Story_Circle"_tech...): 1. A character is in a zone of comfort or familiarity. 2. They desire something. 3. They enter an unfamiliar situation. 4. They adapt to that situation. 5. They get that which they wanted. 6. They pay a heavy price for it. 7. They return to their familiar situation. 8. They have changed as a result of the journey.
- nickthemagicman 6y ago
  I watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia and they follow all the steps except step 8. They always return back to their original situation unchanged... many times having caused a lot of problems in the world along the way. Which adds to the humor and myth of the charachters being jerks.
tbabb 6y ago
I think the original source of that formula in relation to Pixar storytelling is from here: https://twitter.com/lawnrocket/status/201018115604230146 https://twitter.com/lawnrocket/status/201018115604230146 (The twitter account of a then-Pixar story artist).

by tomthe 6y ago

w-m 6y ago

It's not unique to Pixar. Many stories and so many films follow the Hero's journey: a common template of stories that involve a hero who goes on an adventure, is victorious in a decisive crisis, and comes home changed or transformed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey). The character needn't be a hero either, if you consider Dan Harmons story circle technique (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Harmon#"Story_Circle"_technique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Harmon#"Story_Circle"_tech...): 1. A character is in a zone of comfort or familiarity. 2. They desire something. 3. They enter an unfamiliar situation. 4. They adapt to that situation. 5. They get that which they wanted. 6. They pay a heavy price for it. 7. They return to their familiar situation. 8. They have changed as a result of the journey.

nickthemagicman 6y ago
I watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia and they follow all the steps except step 8. They always return back to their original situation unchanged... many times having caused a lot of problems in the world along the way. Which adds to the humor and myth of the charachters being jerks.

tbabb 6y ago

I think the original source of that formula in relation to Pixar storytelling is from here: https://twitter.com/lawnrocket/status/201018115604230146 https://twitter.com/lawnrocket/status/201018115604230146 (The twitter account of a then-Pixar story artist).