
Pixar offers free online lessons in storytelling via Khan Academy - ehudla
https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/15/pixar-offers-free-online-lessons-in-storytelling-via-khan-academy/?sr_share=facebook&utm_content=buffer4fe1a&utm_medium=buffer_social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=buffer_updates
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AnotherHustler
A 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
And 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
Clerks 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
if 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
On 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
My 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?

~~~
cJ0th
Mundane 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.

~~~
WA
Well, so what do you do if there was no wolf chasing you around?

Because the question of your parent is: How do I tell mundane things in an
entertaining way _if nothing entertaining or exciting is happening in my
life_?

One could argue: Then do something exciting, but I think what your parent
poster wanted to say is: Some people still manage to tell stories about
everyday things but make them interesting nevertheless. They don't experience
something exciting in particular.

Your example is good, but it actually only works because of the wolf chase.

~~~
cJ0th
> They don't experience something exciting in particular.

yes, but that's (somewhat) besides the point. The trick is to look for value
in what you've got.

A more mundane example:

Lame: It was so hot this morning that I didn't want to go to work but I knew
that I had to. During lunch I heard from my colleague from the other team that
their boss had bought ice cream for them this morning. Too bad I wasn't on
their team.

Better: It was so hot this morning that I didn't want to go to work but I knew
that I had to. The bus I was sitting on drove past an ice-cream vendor. "Man"
I thought to myself, "it is so frustrating that I can't get off the bus right
now to buy some ice-cream". During lunch I heard from my colleague from the
other team that their boss had bought ice cream for them this morning. Too bad
I wasn't on their team! When I then finally got out of office the ice-cream
vendors were long gone but I still had an an ice-cream hunger to satisfy. So I
went to McDonald's and ordered a McSundae. The guy behind the counter sighed
and told me "Sorry, we're out of ice-cream since 10 am" I then gave up on my
quest for ice cream and thought to myself: "For tommorrow, I need a plan..."

In the "lame example" you just complain about two things (the heat and you
being in the "wrong" them). In the "better example" you turn your appetite for
ice-cream into a story instead.

~~~
WA
So like: _Getting the ice cream_ is the goal, _work_ is the conflict, _other
team has ice cream_ makes the craving more intensive and hopefully, there's
some resolution to this journey.

~~~
gloverkcn
The other thing that makes the anecdotes better is avoiding thinking/emotional
statements. Also using smiles and metaphors to give the listener something
some color. Try to tie it back to an experience they’ve probably had.

\----

How can it be so hot in the morning that you sweat right after the shower? My
first shirt? I immediately sweated through it. On the bus I sweated through
the second one too. The only open seats were the ones in the sun. That plastic
was on fire! I had to shift around in my seat until it cooled enough for me to
sit still. At one of the stops I spotted an ice cream cart. The smoke from the
freezer floated out as the dude was reaching in to grab one of those drumstick
cone. I would have bailed on work, bought the cart, and took a nap inside if
we didn’t have that meeting scheduled.

A couple hours ago I saw John walking with an ice cream cone. I was like
“Where’d you get that?”. Turns out his manager has an ice cream social every
week. I tried to crash it, but the break room had nothing but empty cartons in
the trash. At this point, it’s like God himself is telling me “Go forth my
son, find some ice cream.”

So I went to Dairy Queen to get some Blizzard action. You know what? They were
out of ice cream! I’m like “How can you be out of Ice Cream? Dairy is in your
name!”, He’s smirks and said, “We still have cheese.”. CHEESE?!?!. So I
ordered cheeseburger. It’s was good.

------
kqr2
Direct link to _Pixar In A Box : The Art of Storytelling_

[https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-
content/pixar/storytelli...](https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-
content/pixar/storytelling)

------
baby
This 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.

~~~
blitzd
I'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
Hey folks we'll be putting out new story lessons every ~6 weeks - there will
be 6 in total

~~~
Klover
Awesome. I'll keep it bookmarked.

Is there a special reason as to why you're putting these out there? Trying to
attract talent, or making the world a better place?

------
timac80
Its 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
Dan 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_...](http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit)

~~~
mentos
Immediately Ctrl+F'd to see if anyone mentioned Dan Harmon.

[https://youtu.be/KkUz8KgKHhA?t=6m24s](https://youtu.be/KkUz8KgKHhA?t=6m24s)

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forgottenacc57
Pixar 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.

~~~
coldtea
> _So don 't go learn from khan academy how to emulate Pixar, learn to tell
> kids stories without fear and violence._

To prepare them for life in the magical unicorn fairy-land?

Besides, have you read the original Brothers Grimm stories and such?

~~~
forgottenacc57
I don't take my kids to movies to prepare them for life, I take them for fun,
to be entertained.

Yes, in a magical unicorn fairyland.

Sounds like you either don't have kids or you're prepping them for doomsday.

~~~
coldtea
> _I don 't take my kids to movies to prepare them for life, I take them for
> fun, to be entertained._

Yeah, let's produce more fragile snowflake adults that can't handle life, and
can't understand movies and art either, unless it is merely "entertainment".
Because that has worked so well in this past few generations.

> _Sounds like you either don 't have kids or you're prepping them for
> doomsday._

Or you know, am using millennia old best practices of preparing them for life,
for which art, storytelling and (this last century) movies has been one of the
best ways.

Instead of feeding them the art-equivalent of McDonalds, which is bad for
their soul and for their upbringing.

------
coldtea
I 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).

~~~
jasode
_> , 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.

~~~
coldtea
> _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.

~~~
jasode
To me, all those well-regarded films feel like they are full of cliches.
Tvtropes lists dozens and dozens of examples.[1][2]

But I'm not arguing with you. I had a different standard of "cliche" in my
head so I misunderstood how you categorized originality before you listed your
examples. That's fine. I tend to think that _everything_ is cliche and
derivative[3][4] and therefore, those attributes don't bother as much.
However, I realize that others weigh it differently.

[1] Miyazaki:
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SpiritedAway](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SpiritedAway)

[2] Tim Burton:
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TheNi...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas)

[3] 7 basic plots:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots#Receptio...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Seven_Basic_Plots#Reception)

[4] Hero's Journey:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey)

~~~
coldtea
> _To me, all those well-regarded films feel like they are full of cliches.
> Tvtropes lists dozens and dozens of examples.[1][2]_

I find the TvTropes examples lacking (or worse, BS). I mean their list has
stuff like: "Adaptation Expansion" (that the story was based on a poem Burton
had once written), "Black Comedy", "The Blind Leading the Blind", "Bogeyman",
""Cassandra Truth", etc. Those are supposed to be cliches?

Those are more like listing all possible states of matter, and calling some
part of the universe a cliche for containing them.

So, yeah, TNBChristmas is not some abstract surrealist image sequence -- it's
a story and contains aesthetic concepts and narrative similarities with other
stories, starting from the Iliad. Those are not cliches -- and I'm not
convinced TvTrope author even knows what a cliche is.

Same, or worse, when discussing Miyazaki:

"Adults Are Useless: Well, Chihiro's parents are, hence the need to rescue
them"

"Big Eater": Chihiro's parents when they transform into pigs. Boh eating
chocolate.

They even mention "Bittersweet Ending" as a cliche (and I'm sure they have:
Ambiguous Ending, Happy Ending, Sad Ending, etc thrown at other movies too).

Whatever...

What I objected to is also not about the "hero's quest" or "the 7 basic
plots". Rather, a good movie (or literary work for that matter) is not about
the plot at all, the plot is a merely a vehicle, and the movie transcends it.
Pixar movies are all about the plot, and they are also all about the plot
unfolding linearly and predictably, with big arrows pointing at any "critical
moment".

------
jwellt
Storytelling 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?

~~~
Stanleyc23
I'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.

~~~
coldtea
Well, 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.

