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Pixar in a Box
Course: Pixar in a Box > Unit 2
Lesson 1: We are all storytellers | 1- Introduction to storytelling
- Your unique perspective
- Activity 1: Expressing memories
- Your favorite stories
- Activity 2: Your three favorite films
- What if...
- Activity 3: What if...
- World & character
- Activity 4: Characters & worlds
- Advice from storytellers
- Glossary: Storytelling
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World & character
A story is born when world and character meet.
Want to join the conversation?
- I think character comes first, but sometimes you need to scrap a character and put them in a different world and story because they don't quite fit in the puzzle.(25 votes)
- For me i think of the massege that i want to tell then i create the world and after that characters who can fit in it.(9 votes)
- character definitely come first for me, I've never even thought of doing it any other way(13 votes)
- just checking. Was I the only one who never treat my toys the same again after watching toy story? even know as a teen I am so sure that my table has feelings like what the heck?(6 votes)
- Me too! You’re not the only one. 😉(6 votes)
- What if we come up with both, the character and world, and all we need to do is put the pieces together?(6 votes)
- That's what I usually do. Or I read books, and find a world I like, and then make characters to live in it. And time travel is a common occurrence in many of my stories, as the protagonist 'outgrows' the world he lives in, and is hastened to a different time where he can grow his character further.(8 votes)
- What if metaphors became reality?(8 votes)
- that would be soooo weird(3 votes)
- Alright, let's go!
What if a Man, Identical to everyone else in every way except character just was doing his everyday job in this perfect utopia, or so it seemed...
And he was doing his Job, long black socks, black slacks, a business shirt, and a freshly straightened tie. He was drawing and the business corporate leaned over and said "May I ask what you are doing? And why?!"
The Man replies back "Nothing much. Why do you need something?"
The Corporate says back "Yes sir, I Need you to get out of my building for you are hereby fired from this business!!"
The Man walks out of the building, his tie, no longer straightened and frowning, he suddenly falls into a pothole earlier reported by one of his Co-Workers, he saw them report it.
The man falls in the pothole, man his luck meter was low today! He got back up with mud all over his white business shirt and everything crinkled.
He had nothing else to do but to cry, nothing was going well for him. He did not have any money for a cab to go home so he walked, and walked, and walked. He decided to take a short cut down a slim alleyway, knowing nothing worse could happen to him just as he thought nothing worse could happen it did! He decided not to go home, so he fell asleep in the garbage.
but just before he could get into the garbage the wall started to swirl and turn and twist. within a second of it happening a person came out, unlike any person he'd ever seen. and a great light was emitted and all the power went out in a 20 kilometer radius. A black hole was created out of this hole and started to suck up everything in this alleyway and the alien quickly whispered, "Stop." In the most beautiful voice he'd ever heard! and He gasped for she too was beautiful and she heard him. He tried to play it off, as if he were never there. But she found him, and he said, "I am sorry to startle you, but if it is okay with you I'll walk away and pretend I didn't see anything." She said to him "No, you may not. You shall be my second hand, and I will be your leader..." and with that being said the entire world started to fall apart. and the Lady put on some armor and said, "I never liked this place anyway, Everything is fake, just like your leader, and I'm going to kill him first."
The only thing that went through his head was
Blood + Armor + Army = War!
He tried to run but swiftly fell to his knees with a Knife in the
back of his head. "I told you not to run!" She said(6 votes)- "In war, harm is given. It is also taken. By harm, we understand each other's feelings, just like in love. Therefore, war is a symbol of love."
- some anime that exists, not pointing out names(3 votes)
- I have a book that seems too fast paced, how do I remedy this?(4 votes)
- i have that issue A LOT when i write. try changing how you write it for a page or two and see if that helps. or write it out in one style and swap it for the other for the final draft(6 votes)
- What if their was a character who could shape the world they live in as they see fit, change it at any time, and control rules and concepts, but still has the mind and knowledge of a normal person?(6 votes)
- What if our world is taking place in a another world but no body is aware of that. But our hero feels somthing is wrong with it. Thats the motive to start the journy.(6 votes)
- That reminds me of the book "Key to Rondo". Basically there is this music box that has a whole other world in it, the general idea of the last lines of the book are (no spoilers) "Time doesn't pass in our world like yours until the crank is turned." "I am glad our world isn't like that." "What if it is." Your idea sounds different also, and cool, I like it.(3 votes)
- What would happen if our world just become one big movie?(5 votes)
- world will be domination is an impossible goal(2 votes)
Video transcript
- A What If statement
is ultimately connected to a world and a character. When we say world, what we really mean is the environment, or set of rules, in which our story will take place. It could be literal, like a coral reef, or figurative, like the
mind of a young girl. Character, of course, refers to the subjects or individuals we follow on the journey of the story. What if there was one
last robot left on Earth? Let's hear about some of
the worlds and characters that inspired our Pixar story artists. Star Wars has this great What If question, which is what if there
was a band of rebels that were trying to be the
guardians of the human spirit and let's say there was this
great war that was going on between this non-feeling technology trying to wipe out this
kind of subtle human feeling and it just has this great
powerful What If question that really drew me in to that world. - The great thing about
the world of Toy Story is that it's this really
beautiful metaphor for growing up. And it's so genius because it's so, from the outside it looks so simple, but from the inside it's so complicated and so beautiful. So I think that's a really good example of a world sort of leading the story and a world containing
a metaphor within it that we can all sort of
grasp and hold on to. - One of my favorite
movies is Raising Arizona by the Coen brothers. Well, the world takes a backseat to the character of this protagonist who wants to sort of steal a baby, so him and his wife
could have this family. That character is so
incredibly alive to me that he could just stand
there on the screen and it would still be really compelling. - Personally, I always think
character should come first and then the world comes after. For example, a blind
person forgetting his pants and going to work will have
a completely different story than a seeing-eyed person
forgetting his pants and going to work. Two characters will have
completely different stories but all of the objects and the setting and everything else is
completely the same. So, for me, character is king. - Everybody works a little differently. So, for me, I like to come
at it from world first and then find the character
to go into this world, or who that character is going to be. I needed to set the stage for a bunch of other
characters to go through and then that was the equation for stories to come out. - Sometimes the world comes first and sometimes the character comes first. Either way, the story's
born when both things, world and character, meet. Let's get warmed up in this next exercise, thinking about characters and worlds in the stories you love.