Film Studies and Cinematography/Project 1 – Story Development
24/09/2024 - //2024 (Week 02 – Week 06)
Shao Han / 0369187
Film Studies and Cinematography / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylors University
Project 1 – Story Development
- Introduction
- Lectures
- Project 1
- Feedback
- Reflection
INTRODUCTION
LECTURES
Week 1
In this week's course, Mr. Kamal showed us the MIB content of this subject and explained it to us, telling us the main content of the course and the approximate tasks of each stage.
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| Fig1.1 Class Notes,Week 1(24/9/2024) |
Week 2
Introduction
The power of storytelling lies in its ability to connect with people on an emotional level.
Incorporating personal experiences into stories makes them more alive and relatable.
Stories evolve through multiple retellings before they become perfect.
Pixar aims to inspire others to tell their own stories through their process of storytelling.
Your Unique Perspective
Pixar storytellers discuss how they started telling stories and expressing themselves creatively.
They talk about drawing, comic books, and finding inspiration in their own lives.
Each person emphasizes the importance of personal experiences and unique insights in storytelling.
Viewers are encouraged to think about a vivid memory and express it in different ways.
Highlights the power of storytelling and the unique perspective that each person brings to their stories.
What story first pulled you in?
How the imagination is sparked by asking “what if” questions
"What if” questions drive imagination and storytelling.
What ifs unlock the doors to imagination by shutting down the logical part of the brain.
The director of Sanjay's Super Team used a “what if” question to guide the creative process.
What ifs are used as a simple way to communicate story ideas at Pixar.
Notes:
World and character are essential elements in storytelling.
The world can be a metaphor for a deeper theme, like growing up in Toy Story.
The character should be captivating and compelling, even if the world takes a backseat.
Some artists prioritize character, while others prioritize world in story development.
The best stories are created when the world and character intersect.
Advice from storytellers
Week 3
Character Development is a lesson that explores how to make audiences care about characters by putting them in difficult situations.
Highlights
The Elevator Test is a helpful tool to understand characters and their reactions in a crisis.
Characters should be deeply flawed yet entertaining, as flaws can be key to why audiences care about them.
Characters will guide the audience through the story, sharing their lessons, challenges, and emotions.
The lesson encourages experimenting with different exercises to create compelling characters.
The helpful robotic woman is always available to provide guidance and support.
Character Development Process
The goal of character development is to create fully developed characters that viewers can care about.
Characters can be explored by considering their external features (design, clothes, appearance) and their internal features (insecurities, bravery, jealousy).
Authentic human emotions and experiences are important in creating believable characters.
Drawing inspiration from real-life people and situations can help in developing specific and unique characters.
Understanding a character’s desires is crucial in driving their journey.
Understanding the difference between what a protagonist's wants and what they need is crucial when developing a character. Wants drive a character's actions, while needs are the things they must do or learn to grow and succeed in life.
Obstacles
Obstacles are elements that stand in the way of a character getting what they want or need.
Obstacles can be external or internal, such as a person, distance, or fear.
Pixar story artists create obstacles to make their characters face challenges and grow.
Obstacles force characters to confront their fears and lead to fight or flight scenarios.
The best obstacles reflect the character’s flaws and shortcomings, making them think about their wants and needs.
Character Arc
Character arc refers to the choices a character makes in response to obstacles and how the character changes as a result.
Obstacles are what shape a character and lead to their transformation.
Without obstacles, the character's arc would not exist.
In movies like “The Incredibles” and “Inside Out,” the characters face obstacles that lead to their personal growth and transformation.
Characters need to work for their achievements in order to truly value them.
Understanding and establishing stakes in a story is crucial to creating tension and engaging the audience. Stakes can be categorized as external, internal, or philosophical and help answer the question, “Why do we care?”
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| Fig1.2 Class Notes,Week 3(8/9/2024) |
Here's a list of definitions introduced during this lesson.
External feature: the clothes, design or look of a character.
Internal feature: the personality, beliefs or drive of a character.
Want: something that drives a character to act.
Need: something that a character must do or learn in order to succeed or grow.
Obstacle: something that stands in the way of a character obtaining what they want.
Character arc: the choices a character makes in order to overcome their obstacles and how they change as a result.
Stakes: What is at risk if the character fails to achieve their goal (OR, what are the consequences of their choices?)
External: what will physically happen to a character or the world
Internal: what will happen to a character emotionally
Philosophical: what will happen to the values or belief system of the world
Week 4
- STORY STRUCTURE
- STORY SPINE
- THEME
Apply story spine in you story based on the structure:
ACT 1
1. Once upon a time…
2. Every day…
3. Until one day…
ACT 2
4. Because of that…
5. Because of that…
6. Because of that…
ACT 3
7. Until finally…
8. And ever since then…
The moral of the story is…
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| Fig1.3 Class Notes,Week 4(15/10/2024) |
Week 5
Six screenplay format elements
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| Fig1.4 Template,Week 5(22/10/2024) |
Week 6
Introduction
Major and Minor Beats
Basic shot types
Extreme and angles
Static vs Dynamic shots
Storyboarding
Elements of Film Grammar:
Framing
Staging
Motion
Editing
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| Fig1.5 Class Notes,Week 6(30/10/2024) |
EXERCISES
Script is one of the key elements to support animation. A good script can improve the quality of animation and convey profound ideas and spirit.
The creation of the script needs to start with an inspiration or concept. I am inspired by the plot of the Pixar animated film "Inside out" and the Disney animated movie "the House of Magic". Write a story about an adventurous young girl who breaks through herself.
"Inside Out": This movie tells the inner world of a girl named Riley. When she faces the challenge of growing up, five emotional characters (happy, sad, angry, fearful, and disgusted) guide her behavior and emotions in her brain. Riley experiences inner conflicts and emotional reversals, and finally understands that accepting all of her emotions is an important part of growing up. This is similar to the story of Ellie experiencing changes in her personality and abilities in the "Reversal Mirror" and finally finding self-awareness, both emphasizing inner growth and awakening.
"The House of Magic": Mirabelle within the motion picture lives in a family with enchantment. She is the as it were one without enchantment, so she feels estranged. The story tells her enterprise and investigation, uncovers the privileged insights and injury of the family, and emphasizes that genuine control lies in understanding and tolerating oneself and one's family. The similarity with Ellie's story lies in finding self-worth and understanding the source of true power.
With the basic concepts, I need to write a story outline, which is the skeleton of a script, and needs to list the main plot nodes, key scenes and the direction of the story, which contribute to the overall coherence of the story.
Storyline
According to Mr. kamal's request, we arrange the script according to the standard script format.
When writing a screenplay, it is a process of expanding the outline, and it is necessary to write the details, dialogue and scene description of the plot into the text, so that the story can be fully expressed.
At the suggestion of Mr. kamal, I improved the script, improved the rhythm of the story and the logical fluency of the plot, and finally decided on the script.
Script
FEEDBACK
Week 3
My idea is slow and needs to be speeded up.
Week 4
My story has no focus on the characters, and there are a lot of foreshadowing in the early stage. We should reduce it appropriately and introduce the theme as soon as possible, because the length of the whole story should not be too long.
Week 5
It can appropriately increase the character's lines, highlight the character's mood and character, and at the same time set off the protagonist's image through the reaction of the supporting role, which can make the character image more vivid.
REFLECTION
Experiences
In the first project of Film Studies and Cinematography, "Story Development", I completed the whole process from story conception to plot development alone. This experience gave me a new understanding of personal creativity and self-management. From the initial inspiration collection to giving motivations to the characters and setting conflicts, each step needs to be carefully considered. In the process of completing it alone, I found that although there was less feedback from group discussions, I was able to focus on my own expression perspective. Through constant review and adjustment, I gradually improved my grasp of the story's layering and emotional expression, especially in balancing the logic of the plot and the shaping of the characters.
Observations
Observing the irreplaceable role of lens language in telling stories, I studied the functions and effects of different lenses in more depth. From close-up shots to express character emotions, to long shots to show the atmosphere of the environment, I realized that the choice of lens directly affects the audience's feelings and understanding. In terms of picture composition, I tried many ways to emphasize the key plots of the story, and synchronized the audience's emotional experience with the character's inner changes through the arrangement of lens transitions and rhythm, which gave me a new understanding of the fine design of audio-visual language.
Findings
Through this project, I found that completing a complete story creation on my own requires not only creativity, but also strong self-motivation and perseverance in repeated polishing. In the process of independent creation, I learned how to examine my own work and how to find the narrative method that can best impress the audience after multiple revisions. This project experience not only improved my creative skills, but also made me better understand that in film creation, the uniqueness of the story and the complementary nature of the lens language have laid a solid foundation for my future film and television creation.
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