To prepare for our film openings we watched a Ted talk by Andrew Stanton about storytelling. Andrew Stanton is a filmmaker who has worked for Pixar for movies like Toy story and Wall-E. I knew that I would enjoy the Ted talk because of its focus on the storytelling process. I believe that any good work of art tells a story correctly. Now as I am applying to many different arts colleges some thing that I enjoy is the fact that they even look for this. I absolutely loved the Ted talk and took many things away from it.
I was very taken aback because even though this guy works for Pixar he started his Ted talk with a big fat F bomb. He explain how story telling a joke telling know your punchline your set up and running which I could not agree with more. It was a very unique way of seeing stories but as soon as he said it I made many correlations to other comedians specifically Dave Chapelle who I look up to a lot. The best comedians take from what they know they’re real stories and they make it funny they set it up in such a way where you have to work for your gratification in the entertainment.
Stanton talks about how you need to make the audience care. He says make me care, I don’t care how, just make me care. He says that for a good opening you need to catch the attention and make a promise that whatever you’re watching now will pay off in the end. He compares storytelling to a slingshot saying that you see the little pebble in the beginning and then it gets pulled back, pulled back, pulled back until the climax when it then releases. Getting that attention is only the first part, it is making an affective story that really matters.
Stanton believes the best way to do this is making the audience work for their meal without knowing they’re doing it. He explains the 2+2 rule. He says instead of giving the audience four give them two plus two to make them work for it and also to make the order of events matter. If it so happens to be a 2+2 story it’s a 2+2 story, but sometimes your story needs to have a little exposition and a big climax like a 1+3 story or vice versa. Nobody wants to know exactly what’s going to happen in the exact way it’s gonna happen, and everybody likes to have their best guess as to what’s going to happen. Stanton says good stories are predictable not inevitable.
I think it’s really because of my theatrical background, but I love characterization and I love what Stanton had to said about a good character. He talks about how character should have a spine and a motive that drives them. He explained how he did this with Marlin from finding Nemo and I thought that that was pretty cool. He explained how right away you understand just how badly Marlon will care about Nemo because you see all of the other fish eggs that matter to him and his now to see his wife gone. Established by the conversation with the wife you know Marlin cares about these kids and now that there’s only one it makes this character so much more special. Even though Marlin may be mean to Dory at times he has such a heart and care for his son and you see it happen in his brain… you see the complexity of the character, but his most simplest of motives. And that touches on some thing that Stanton talked about to do you wanna have a character that’s like a ball but one that’s flawed. Pobody’s nerfect.
He really shows the flawed character approach with Woody from Toy Story. Woody is mean and selfish… and honestly I didn’t even notice this when I was a kid because he’s funny. Stanton goes to show that you like this character even though he’s mean and selfish because he’s funny, he’s giving you something that you enjoy throughout the film that makes you like him. Woody is a dick to buzz but you still like him he’s the main character. You see through his flaws because you’re understanding his story and you want to see where it gets to. Also he’s not a god he’s a man, he needs to be flawed to be believable.
“You can’t not love someone after hearing their story.” When Stanton said this I totally fell in love. I’ve never heard something more true, and I have never felt such a connection to some random Ted talk. Knowing myself knowing others knowing a whole bunch of shit, I’ve learned over the years that you will never see somebody is full story until you listen and give them a chance to say it. throughout much of my second half of high school I thought about how I would tell my story, because I know it’s that important.
Mrs. Stoklosa said after we watch the video most of what you say isn’t as important as how you say it. That was fucking crazy, mind boggling even. It further emphasized the claim that Stanton made saying that storytelling without words What is the purest form of Cinema. All year we’ve really talked about techniques and how they build meaning, but the storytelling being covered was literally… I feel like my mind shit a brick. It was all starting to come together in a way that truly mattered to me. Now I will take this and apply it to my opening, because Stanton said it best, “When an artist does that to another artist, you just have to pass it on.”
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