This Is What Pixar Says About Story Structure
I’m coming at you today with wisdom straight from Pixar.
We all know Pixar has mad storytelling skills- is there anyone you know that hasn’t cried during at least one of their movies??
How can a bunch of toys holding hands as they approach a furnace make me shed so many tears? (Toy Story 3)
I digress.
But In this day and age it seems like everyone is all about “STORY.”
Brands and companies are “telling their stories.”
And every which way I look, I keep seeing/hearing people say, “tell me your story!”
I know, I’m using ““ a lot and I’ll tell you why. Because the word Story has become a buzz word and is being used widely and loosely. But in this space we’re talking about story as it relates to our film/video production.
And a GOOD story (engaging and effective) always has a STRUCTURE.
STORY STRUCTURE IS LIKE
THE FOUNDATION OF A BUILDING
This tip is a straight quote from a creator from Pixar, and I couldn’t agree more!
You need an effective structure when you’re telling your story because it’s the foundation of the whole narrative!
When your story has strong bones, a strong core… it holds up well and becomes a STRONG STORY.
However, if you have a weak structure, your building (story) is going to collapse.
And if you have no structure, you may just have a pile of rubble. You may try to pile on all the “cool and trendy things” like cinematography, drone shots, special effects, fun music, flashy graphics or editing… but essentially, there’s still no building.
Story structure is like a blueprint or formula that you can apply to every single project to help you develop a solid storyline.
In my courses I call it the Story Wave because I created a graphic that represents the storyline and includes the acts/plot points and it looks like a wave.
THE SINGLE BEST THING
In all honesty, learning and applying the story structure is the single. best. thing. I’ve done for my career. It changed everything. I learned about the 3 acts, essential plot points, how to find strong characters, how to hook the audience and a lot more. It made my workflow super streamlined and the stories I produced started getting better and better! It lead to more audience engagement and effective results for clients (fundraising and the like).
Suffice to say it’s the best thing I’ve done for my storytelling career.
I want that for YOU!
The more of us (video creators in the nonprofit world) that can master storytelling in this way, the GREATER OUR WORLD IMPACT!! Can you imagine if all the video creators in the nonprofit world became master storytellers? Can you imagine how greatly that would impact our world??
Wow, it’d be amazing.
Let’s do it.
Are you ready for the next step? I am so excited to share and teach this effective story structure to you! I promise it will help you create strong stories every single time, plus it will streamline your workflow as well. I’m ready when you are!