Until now we have explored almost all four elements of Set-up before I discuss Character relationships in How to train your Dragon, I want to share small concept of Dynamic Relationships ..

Two types of relationships exist between characters

1. Static Relationships
2. Dynamic Relationships

Static relationships are which do not change throughout the story like Friend , father, mother, boss, neighbor, enemy, brother and there is no development of relationship ,

i.e. from the start of the  story  until the end the perception of each other for each other remains same

And most important and awesome are Dynamic Relationships in story.. and it exist at that moment of story for example ..

When Woody is talking  to Buzz at first he meets him ,

Dynamic relationship

Woody –> Buzz :  Woody thinks Buzz is Andy’s new toy and must be welcomed

Buzz-> Woody : He is on different planet and Woody is some kind of local police authority

So when they are talking they have this mutual different perception of each other

And at the next moment , when all toys are impressed by Buzz

Dynamic Relationship (in next 40 seconds after meet )

Woody -> Buzz :  Now for him Buzz is threat and plus he thinks Buzz as stupid toy

Buzz ->Woody : Its still the same

As movie progresses the dynamic relationship changes continuously ..

It depends on the story how the relationship exist Static and Dynamic , story has both relationships!

But most important moments of story are when Dynamic Relationship changes between characters .. the most emotional scenes in story have awesome and major Dynamic relationship change ..

For example in “Bolt”, where Rhino convinces Bolt that why he should save Mittens , or in Cars where McQueen realizes that Doc was a famous race car. . .or in Up where for the first time Carl sees the complete adventure book his loving of wife and that moment his dynamic relationship changes with Dug, Russell(before it was “I’m stuck with you”), Kavin

The Dynamic relationships helps us to like , relate , hate , understand , love the characters in story , if there aren’t Dynamic relationships , it will be like putting together one dimensional robotic characters, who belong to different story and brought together , and forced to interact with each other..

Watch bad boring movies you will notice the difference ..

Now lets see

the Dynamic Relationships in “How to train your dragon” ,

1. Hicup<-> His father
2. Hicup<-> Toothless
3. Hicup <-> Astrid (for Astrid from Looser to the first Right Viking in 300 years)
4. Toothless<->Astrid
5. Toothless <-> Father (from hate to thank you for saving my son)
6. Hicup <-> Gobler
7. Hicup <-> friends

1. Hicup<-> His father

Every father has expectations from his son , and every son wants to fulfil them , sometimes both succeed majorly, sometimes not , its like everybody’s story .. right there we relate to this son – father relationship..

At start of Set Up we see , that father think of him as weak son and needs to be protected , we can see the desperate need of Hicup to fulfil the expectations , he thinks of his father as strongest person out there and we literally can feel the emotional distance between both , they are emotionally far away from each other ..

When in middle , where Hicup is doing good in school and Father comes back from trip and talks to him .. how he appreciate his progress in school ..

That was amazing scene , both are struggling to talk with each other

And this relationship undergoes through changes until the end , from protective father ,screaming ,”stay away ” to happy and satisfied father , laughing and encouraging , “you gave your best shot “

Another awesome Dynamic Relationship is

2. Hicup and Toothless

From strangers to best friends , when Hicup first touches Toothless  , that scene was amazing , really touchy , it starts special relationship that ever existed in their world ..

This is the best pair of friends I have ever seen , so many emotional scenes are there ..

When they learn to fly , when they play , when Toothless comes to help Hicup , when Hicup jumps in water for Toothless and last 2 minutes of movie are so emotional and portraying the uniqueness and outstanding friendship, love  we have never ever seen in any Animated movie ..

I mean I can go on and on about their Relationship its so innocent and beautiful.

And the rest of the Dynamic relationships are assignments for you.. I will discuss that when we will be studying Dynamic Relationships in  Character Series , we will plot the graph and see dynamic relationship changing along with progression of sequences in story

Though its story of ordinary guy , who fights and wins in the end , but on broader level it contains really awesome message , it shows the difference in the perception of countries or cultures may be totally wrong for what they are fighting from many years , without knowing exact wants and needs of each other and when we really understand each other together we can really make world better and most beautiful, peaceful and happy place like heaven !!”

This is one of the emotional reasons we all can relate to the story.

The conflict is really big enough and the obstacles for Hicup are planted really well. The intensity of conflict increases gradually and at one point it seems impossible for Hicup to overcome.

We haven’t learned about Resolution, still , the story has the best Resolution. (we will see about that in upcoming articles of story writing )

Lets see the Intensity of conflict using the Pyramid of transformation for Hicup, like every awesome movie “How to train your dragon”  have awesome Pyramid of Transformation for main character/s

5.Environment

It changes he is in school , he has new friend Toothless ,

4. Does/Do

What he usually do doesn’t work , he still trying to figure out some way, until  Astrid meets Toothless and freaks out

3. Capability

Somehow he convinces Astrid the truth but he realise he doesn’t have capability to convince others

2.Belief / Values

But he believes that if in the final exam he proved in front all that the truth about dragons by actual performing practically , everything will be perfect , and he drops

His weapon  , father freaks out , dragon gets more angry

1. SPIRITUAL
   

When toothless is gone , he realises whatever he believed didn’t work , father is upset , everything is falling apart ..

He sees toothless going and father on final impossible battle , knowing both might not come back again .. he is helpless ..  he thinks he made huge mistake at first not killing the dragon … which he could have..

And then he answers the Question .. Why didn’t he kill the Toothless ..

At that moment he taps into his spirituality .. and says , “ I looked at him , I saw myself “

Suddenly he transforms ..

2. Belief-Values :

His belief changes , suddenly he realises there is something more

3. Capabilty : He realizes the his true capability of his team and dragons

4.Do: What he does is outstanding , train all to ride dragons

5.Environment : Environment radically changes , in fact all his world Changes which we see in last one minute ..

Similarly you can find Pyramid of Transformation for  Hicup’s Father,

I give you a hint he reaches his Spiritual Level , when he saw  his son jumps in water to save Toothless ..

So in this way we have explored many Aspects of “How to train your dragon “using the Animation Story writing tools we have learned until now . I have left some assignments please do that they will help you a lot..

And the last thing, I think there could have been even more crucial role of Astrid .. so just think this way if you have to make Astrid as more memorable character and more important character , what things you have done in story without changing the essence of the story and emotions that portrays story.

Here I’m saying bye .. see you soon with more exciting Animation Story Writing Articles

Mahesh

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For some scenes we were on the edges of our seats, for some scenes we were so lost in the emotions , we looked at each other and said , “wow!! That’s amazing ..” and for some scenes we just looked at each other and our eyes were saying, “ this is the one of the best emotional scene i have ever seen”

Lets explore its story structure with tools we have learned in our Story Writing classes ..

Here is link where you can read about the terms i’m going to use ,so that you will get even more understanding of structure

Click here

The Most appealing things in story

1. “Toothless” : the best ever character created  in Dreamworks (i liked him even more than Poo)
2. Ordinary but yet extraordinary character Hicup (He is not appealing in appearance at first and  that’s what made him special as perfect character for story)
3. All The Dragon characters(The mighty beast is incredible)
4. The dynamic relationships between characters(specially Hicup and Toothless , Hicup and Father)
5. The progression of story
6. Some really emotional scenes  ( best ever created in Dreamworks,  reminded me of Spirit)
7. Obviously  awesome Set-Up
8. Dragon Rides
9. Cinematography is awesome

Let’s Start with the Set-Up

So we have learned that Set-Up has 5 essential things which grows and progress through the movie and planted in the

Set-Up in How to Train Your Dragon

They are

1. World
2. Rules
3. Characters
4. Character Relationships
5. Motivation And Goals

1 .2. World & Rules

The world in “How to train your dragons” is NEW ..

John Lasseter , once said that , one of the most incredible thing about Animation is that we can create any new world and not just that but we can make audience believe that this world actually exists .. (Thats why there are Pixar’s  Toy’s World, Bug’s World, Monster’s World , Fish’s World, Car’s World, Superheroe’s World …..i mean from the day I have watched Cars, in real life I still see Cars talking to each other all the time, Don’t you?)

One of the most important ingredient in Animation Story is that Exploring New worlds , instead of using already explored worlds ,  Dreamworks have created whole new,amazing and unseen world ..Which has Dragons and Humans, who are having daily battles of life and death ..

So as we know, when we create new world , we must need to educate audience about that new world and showing them that , its the similar world as they have , but somewhat different, still have same emotional needs and emotional challenges , what kind of world it is what challenges they have , how they live , what are the beliefs in the world ?

And what are the RULES of the world

The SET- UP is so perfect that it plants so many things skilfully

As the story starts ,We see dangerous battlefield on fire , mighty dragons and mighty warriors , Hicup tells about his World , its Rules and about characters in few minutes, what are their wants , what are his wants ..

As always for any story its always awesome when Character learns all the Rules , backstories and beliefs about the world in Set-Up..

And in this Hicup joins the school where he learns more about dragons , that’s perfect for us as we learn about the World even more.

Do you remember my article on Rules, where i discussed that sometimes story has some Rules already Set for the World and at the end the Protagonist Removes(changes) that rule/s and story World also changes at the end (Like A Bug’s Life) , click here for Rules article.

“How to train your dragon” also falls in that category

1. There are already set Rules for Dragons (His training)
2. Hicup studies the Rules(training,book) , and during the Set-up he realises  the exact truth in all the Rules Set in their world(His friendship with Toothless, his ride to the nest)
3. Finally fights and changes the perception of everyone (The world Changes Completely at the End)

The best supporting thing for Set-up in “How to train your dragon” is

We learn so much about dragons and their world when Hicup is being trained in School ..As I discussed in articles Its always best when Lead Character starts learning about the world , Lion king, Bambi , Dumbo, Spirit, ..(like in Avatar , the protagonist learns about the new World “Pandora”)

This way the story also progresses and we learn so much along the way ..

Sometimes there is risk in learning process of Character, it may feel boring and story is going nowhere , But In “How to train your Dragon” , the momentum of story is keep increasing , it has really nice progression ,not even for second we feel like story is going nowhere ..

You must see how they have maintained the balance between Learning process in school and with his(Hicup) friend Toothless , progression of his dynamic relationship with Toothless and with his father and Story’s momentum and progression ..

5 . Motivation And Goals

As the story starts  , we realize the Motivation and Goal of Hicup’s father , we also realize the Motivation and Goal of Hicup and along the way we realize about Astrid and all guys ..

The motivation and Goals are clearly shown , that’s what is really important for any story ,

What are character’s wants?

Why they want, what they want?

And What they actually Need?

See stories are all about filling the Gap between Wants and Needs , I read somewhere before , “You  might not get what you Want , but you may get what you Need !!”

In all his world Hicup is alone , emotionally far away from his father, though he says he have to kill the dragon , may be he will get girl friend and he will get recognized .. (Want)

Unconsciously he wants to get close to his father, he doesn’t have mother to understand and comfort him, saying ,”Hicup , you are different and you know what you are special , there must be GOD’s some purpose that you are not able to hunt dragons..”

When he meet Toothless, he get chance to be close to someone and at the end he really gets close emotionally  to his father , and even more close to Toothless (the why behind that we realize in last 3 minutes of story )

3. Characters

One of the best thing for any story is having perfect character, its like you will never able to separate him from his story (physically and emotionally).

We need appealing main characters its not always true,  We need characters which story needs .. We need the perfect character which will tell the story best possible way so that Audience will feel all the emotions, the story wants to experience them.

Hicup

One of the part is appearance of Character ..

The Story of  “How to train your dragon?”, is of really ordinary guy but unique in some way.

That’s why Hicup is perfect character for story , he looks really ordinary and not some special appealing hero ..

But he thinks differently , he has good sense of humor, He understands the emotions of people, he is LEFT handed kid, who have ingenious mind , he is constructive in his approach, he is curious to know why behind the things,

He is ordinary guy yet unique, and totally different from every Viking that ever existed in his world

Toothless

The most appealing character created in Dreamworks until now, his big eyes, sometimes he behave like a dog and sometimes like a cat , and his awesome wings , and the way he moves and flies is incredible , his quickness in movement  and his innocence… He doesn’t talk but we want to say ,“will you please at least say a word..please.. “

The moment you see him, you definitely relate to him (I showed the poster of toothless to my 1 and half year niece and she loved it )

How to Train Your Dragon : Gobber and Hicup's Father

Hicup’s father

His concern for his world , his caring for son , he is also awesome character , his motivation and Goal is really clear , he has clear vision for his world , he knows his strength .. he is also character that any father can relate to , it‘s really awesome to see strongest father and his caring for his son , his protectiveness towards him.

Gobber

He is amazing character , you definitely remember him. He is best friend of Hicup’s father , and he also cares for Hicup. He is funny and unique character out there, you also relate to him and recognize him..(I mean everyone has(wishes to have) uncle like that who tells  stories of dragons at night .. ha ha..)

While we are exploring about the Set-Up and its elements , I just realized that article have become bigger so I think I should chunk it down , in this chunk we have seen the elements how they are used in , “how to train your dragon?”

So just refresh your eyes , may be you want to stand up and stretch arms , come on move little bit and if you are not moving , at least change the breathing pattern, take a deep breath and start now ..

Now let’s see how the audience is got emotionally involved in the story .. click here ..

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Before reading this you must read the previous article if you haven’t Click here

Well come back guys , few minutes ago we learned ,

1. Intensity of Conflict depends on Character and it works on two levels Physical and Emotional
2. We learned the Basic Loop of Change, at every iteration intensity increases
3. Intensity of Conflict is directly proportional to the Urgency to solve the Conflict
4. Comfort Zone of Character
5. Three Golden Rules for Decision making (Focus-Meaning-Action)

Now we are going to learn the core important tool, when you will learn this, you will notice it in every best movie and you will also able to apply in your story too.

Imagine a pyramid , its Pyramid of Transformation

5. Environment/Atmosphere (Top of Pyramid)

4. Do

3. Capability

2. Belief-Values

1. Spiritual (Bottom of Pyramid)

During following process , at each level he is asking The Three Golden Questions consistently.

5. Environment

So when change Occurs character tries to create The familiar Environment, which he has in his Comfort Zone,

He says to himself, “okay, its change , but if I create my usual Environment , it will be alright”

He will try to behave as if its normal , but guess what it doesn’t work ..

4. Do

So he will say to himself, “ okay , I can’t create the Environment but I know what I can do”

So he will do what he usually do in such situation ,

Guess what , this  also wont work.

3. Capability

He will say to himself, “What I usually do its not working , but I know what I’m capable of , I can do this , I can turn this around!!”

He tries hard , to make it work.

But it doesn’t work ,life is not that easy ,

Now his morale is getting down , he still don’t want to give up 

2. Belief-Values

He says to himself, “ now what I do, is not working, my capability is not working , but I believe that someone else have turn around this or I believe if I do this other way and don’t give up it will definitely work out”

He have some references in past , or from he seen somewhere , and he has belief system so he thinks he kept moving forward in this new way it will work out , but again it doesn’t.

1. Spiritual

Now its crisis,

He says to himself, “oh lord , everything is falling apart , my capability , beliefs aren’t working , what should I do!”

He is calm , he is now empty vessel.

At this Spiritual level , it doesn’t mean just God , it can be Nature , or even the character himself .

The spiritual is the part that has immense potential , those are beliefs too but they have no references , no supporting legs.

Like if I ask you , is there God and you have your own concept of GOD , its true for you , even you don’t have real references to back that idea up, but deep down we believe there is one energy behind every living thing.

Same applies to the beliefs about the character himself, which is his identity

And when the character is  in this Spiritual level , thinking about problem in totally different perspective, he taps into Great deep unimaginable potential inside. He discovers new energy within.

And now he step through all levels again , but he has transformed

His beliefs change , his values change

He realize his true capability

Now  what he does  is special

Now he have created new Environment for himself

And finally he Solves the Conflict ,

His Comfort zone gets expanded.  He becomes bigger than his problems.

See when I was going down the pyramid from Environment  to Spiritual,

The intensity of Conflict was increasing .

Finally at last level he transforms , steps up in each level and finally conquers that Conflict

That’s how my friends Intensity of Conflict increases and the Character Finally discovers his true potential and wins over the conflict.

So for the whole movie , sequence is like this

SET UP + CONFLICT = level 5-4-3-2-1

Conflict reaches at its peak

RESOLUTION= level 1-2-3-4-5 .

THE END

Now take movie examples and it will be even more clear .

In Kung fu panda

When Poo gets selected as Dragon Warrior

Environment

1. His environment changes , in training he tries to create  the familiar environment with others but everybody ignores him

Do

2.He tries to fight like he used to in his dreams , in funny way it doesn’t work

Capability

3. He thought he was capable of until he realizes he have to stop Tai Lung and he tries to run.

Beliefs-Values

4. Deep down he believes he can make it work , he works hard until he founds that there is nothing in that Dragon Warriors Scroll for him

Spiritual

5. He gives up , he realizes he is just normal , not special and not Dragon Warrior, and he is blank , and then he realizes that there is no Magic Ingredient , and You have to believe that there is and make it special.

Beliefs-Values

6. His beliefs change about himself,  he realizes he is Dragon Warrior

Capability

7. His capability changes, he knows that he can Stop Tai Lung

Do

8.His Actions change

Environment

9. His environment changes

The End

Now lets look at

Master Shifu

1.When Master Oogway chooses Poo as Dragon Warrior , Shifu gets a naive  student , who is cranky , fat, crazy , funny with no quality of Warrior,  he tries to be with him like he behave with others but it doesn’t work

2. He teaches Panda like he usually teaches other students , that even doesn’t work

3. First he thought that if Master Oogway thinks that I can teach him , then I may be capable of teaching Poo too , so accepts Poo as student

4. When Oogway dies and until now he was believing that somehow he and Oogway will make Panda as Dragon warrier , but when Poo tries to run , he even finally gives upon his beliefs too

5. Then he realize he cant do anything , without Oogway and he is blank , helpless and he remembers the Words of Oogway, “There are no accidents” .

Now he believes in the words ,which has no references for him , until he sees Poo eating the Monkeys Food ,

Master Shifu  Transforms

6. He realizes he can make it happen, he now believes “there are no accidents”

7. He realizes his capability , he realizes he can teach Fat Panda

8. Now what he does is Unconventional , new way to teach Panda

9. He creates the environment that will able let him coach Panda very effectively , finally he achieves it and makes Panda a Dragon Worrier

THE END

In Toy Story

1. Buzz thinks he’s on different planet , he tries to behave like he is in space
2. He acts with Gadgets like as if they are real
3. They don’t work , but he thinks he has the capability to destroy Zerg
4. Then he realizes after seeing advertisement (Not a flying Toy), he is toy and no special, no real space ranger, still he believes he can jump out the window , it doesn’t work , and his identity , beliefs get lost
5. He is blank vessel, acts like a looser , and tells Woody that , for the first time he is thinking , and Woody was right all the way .

And he is just meaningless toy.

But then Woody convinces him , that Being a toy is way more special than being a space ranger, because there is kid in that house who loves you more than anything in the world.

At this point its virtual reference for Buzz ,and when he sees the name of ANDY on his shoe , he is in spiritual level , he feels amazing connection between Him(Buzz) and Andy , a spiritual connection.

And he Transforms!

1. His beliefs change about him being a Toy
2. He realizes his true capability , and removes Woody from box.
3. He acts differently
4. He creates now different environment , not the previous of Space but the real Environment

THE END

If you watch any great movie  Up, Meet The Robinsons , Cars, Ratatouille, Incredibles,Coraline any awesome movie that touched you emotionally it goes through this Pyramid

5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5

From 5 to 1 the intensity of Conflict increases and 1-5 character transforms and wins over the Challenge.

In Up , when Russell leaves and Mr. Frederickson is alone seeing the Elley’s Diary , he have reached up to level 1 i.e. Spiritual and when he sees all the Diary ..

He realizes the amazing connection between him and Kavin – Russell-Dug.

You can see him transforming, at that moment , his back spine becomes straight , its like he have got new energy.

Guys If you see any movie, and that didn’t touch you emotionally it’s only because they didn’t go through pyramid overall for their characters.

We have discussed so much , I hope that will help you lot , and don’t read this stuff , apply to any movie you will watch , apply to your favorite movie , don’t just buy it because I’m saying . try it.

And this Pyramid Concept, I have learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

Guys please give your feedback.. What you liked in article?  Or where should I improve? Or anything that you want to see in next articles…

So here guys  I’m signing off, see you next time , until then

Keep Animating .. Keep contributing .. Keep Growing

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

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Mahesh

Hey guys, actually its after long time , I’m writing the article, I’m working on something about story  if it works out , it will be awesome for us!

I’m also going to discuss about “Character” in this but don’t worry it won’t be too much , I will have whole another series for Character like this one.

Last time we learned about the “Progression of Conflict”, in this article I’m going to cover the Intensity of Conflict.  In this article, we are learning so much stuff , so just be comfortable , read slower , this ride going to be pretty big than usual.

That’s why I’m dividing this whole thing into two chunks , so after finishing this article read the next one immediately.

We learned in last article that, A story is all about “Change”, and “Cause –effect” relationship. Its all cause set in Motion.

Something changes, and that causes something else and chain continues further. Generally in Story as it progresses forward the Conflict starts to reach at its peak, its grows and grows , the speed of Story also increases. You can say that “Intensity of Conflict” also increases.

But what determines the Intensity of Conflict?

See it’s all about the “characters”, they face the conflict, it becomes hard for them to bear the pain of it!

And it works out on two levels

1. Physical
2. Emotional

When “Conflict” is bothering so much on both levels for “Character”, the intensity increases. It forces him to take action .

Basically,

Its Basic Loop of Change

1. Something Changes
2. That forces Character to take Action
3. He takes action and that causes something else..

it loops back to step 1,and every time Intensity of Conflict increase until the Conflict is not resolved.(or character gives up)

You also can see that for the Character,

“Intensity of Conflict” is directly proportional to “Urgency to solve the conflict”

i.e more the intensity – more the urgency to solve it

or less the intensity – less the urgency to solve it

Before going to learn about “Intensity of Conflict” in detail, we need to learn two small Concepts

1. Comfort Zone

2. Three Golden Questions

1. Comfort Zone

Once again, “All story is about Change”

Now imagine a Small Circle , suppose the Center of Circle is Your Character and the area of Circle is your character’s Comfort Zone.

That means , anything happens and which is in his Comfort Zone , he can handle that easily.

Now when Conflict occurs , Character gets Challenge , and all problems are outside the Circle and they are banging on the edges of Circle.

Now if he doesn’t do anything , the Conflict doesn’t go away , it increases and  now imagine the Circle is getting smaller and smaller.

The intensity increases , Character feel immense pressure to solve the problem , and Finally he takes massive action , pushes himself , now his Comfort Zone  expands he becomes more than he was before the Conflict.

So you got the basic Concept .

Now let’s dig little deeper. So that we will learn about Intensity of Conflict

2. Three Golden Questions

When change occurs Character takes Action.

He makes a Decision and then takes Action, right?

How does he make decision ?

Consciously or Unconsciously he asks 3 Questions ,when change occurs

1. What I’m going to focus on?
2. What does this mean?
3. What I’m going to do?

If two guys fail in exam after studying so much ,

One might “focus” on  How bad it is ?   How unfair it is ?

He will say this “means” End , this means I’m failure , this means studying is useless

He will decide that what he is going to “Do”, that’s why this time I’m not going to study at all!

Other guy will “focus” on , okay it isn’t that bad , he will focus on that he have got another opportunity .

He will assign meaning that the result says that the way I studied and written papers wasn’t proper , I need to implement something new strategy .

He will “Do” something different and efficient than his previous attempt.

Now watch any movie,when character makes decision and take action , before that he evaluates with these “3 GOLDEN Questions” (focus-meaning-action)

This is another incredible thing I learned from our Coach Tony Robbins.

When we will go into Character series, we learn even more about how character makes Decisions. For now these “3 Golden Questions” will be fine, okay?

In few seconds , I will meet you for learning how exactly the Intensity of Conflict works with really good examples from Animated Films like Kung fu panda, Toy story , Up.. click here for next article !

don’t forget that “We are committed to CANI! ” click here

Mahesh

Hey guys, I guess you must have watched “Avatar” and if you haven’t then first go watch the movie and comeback to this article..   I’m just kidding, because if you have watched it then while reading this article, You will say , “Oh that’s why they did this? Or oh that makes perfect sense or Boy now all the story writing articles i read  make even more sense”

And for all those guys who haven’t seen AVATAR , you will get even awesome practical application of all the stuff we have studied until now regarding story ..I promise that I won’t tell you the story of AVATAR at all ..

Now it sounds strange that how can i discuss the Story Structure then  .. just stay with me .. okay

Here is link where you can read about the terms i’m going to use ,so that you will get even more understanding of structure

http://www.bramhaa.com/animation-storywriting/

AVATAR is an Incredible movie , everybody must watch it because  what one can imagine and create , is something beyond our expectations and where we can feel actually that imagination , and we don’t want to come back to real world ..

It will win many awards about different things (sfx,animation ….), and IF THERE IS  AWARD CALLED “THE PERFECT SET-UP AWARD”, its totally for AVATAR.. !

This movie is Case study for all of us , where it shows the importance of “SET-UP” in story .. there are so many reasons to see it but to all of you guys who want to study the STORY first .. this would be one of the good reasons to watch

The first half of movie is SET-UP!!

And the director knew the importance of SET-UP .. he have taken as much as time he would need that’s why its slight long than usual movies . Its like test cricket , take as much as time to set on pitch , then go like rocket launchers

See if in AVATAR they didn’t have take time for SET-UP , then we the audience would not have felt deeply about the new World and Characters ..

AVATAR is one of the best examples for SET-UP

We have seen that SET-UP has following elements whose seeds are planted in SET-UP and they grow during the STORY ..

1. World
2. Rules
3. Character
4. Character Relationships
5. Motivation and Goal

See one of the important thing is to know that WHAT’S THE OUTCOME OF SET-UP?

For AVATAR ..

1. At the end of SET-UP audience must be emotionally  got attached to the new world (Pandora)
2. They must understand the Character, character Relationships
3. THE AUDIENCE MUST FALL IN LOVE WITH NEW BEAUTIFUL PLACE
4. They must care about the new world and the good Characters and their relationships
5. They must learn about the strength of NEW caricatures , there strength and Weakness (the Rhino type animal, the flying dragon type characters, the wild wolf type characters)
6. What are the Rules of new world?
7. What is their energy source ?
8. What is their idea of LIFE?
9. What is their culture?

See motivation and Goal of Story , Motivation and Goal of each Character is clearly shown . (of Protagonists (Heroes), Antagonists(Villains),Allies.)

The biggest challenge is IF YOU ARE CREATING NEW WORLD LIKE PANDORA , that is totally different that has each small insect different than normal ,

You will have to teach the Audience everything, every little detail about the world and also tell the story , so that they don’t feel like a new world documentary.

Do you remember i have discussed before , that its ALWAYS GOOD IF THE HERO Learns about the new world , and along with him audience also learns about the new world. Like Lion King, Bambi, Spirit .. in all these movies They  all were just starting to learn ..

That’s what we see in AVATAR .. THE SET-UP is totally dedicated to that because their must outcome is that WE MUST FEEL THAT IT is BEAUTIFUL and PEACEFUL place ..

Only because IN CONFLICT WE MUST FEEL BAD ..

All the things planted skilfully in SET-UP , so that it can be used in CONFLICT and RESOLUTION effectively ..

The yellow unique dragon, the wild Rhino and wolf sequences, the video personal diary, every small detail .

These masters planted every little details skill fully in SET-UP and used all the things awesomely.

See only masters can do all these things smartly in basic structure.

Another thing is,Showing beautiful doesn’t mean audience will associate the same feeling.

Its only happens through “SITUATION”,  that’s why “Situation Tool” we studied is so much important ..

Seeing somebody crying don’t bring tears in audience’s eyes .. its the “situation”  that matters..

That’s why there are tears only once in movie..it strengthens the situation.

But even without crying characters, there are situations where we feel deeply touched only because of PERFECT SET-UP.

And another important thing,

AVATAR is good example of how can you take cliche’ or simple concept and give it totally new look that audience doesn’t even feel that they have seen the story before.. I’m not saying that its copied from any movie or story but the basic plot is no special but the WORLD, THE CHARACTERS are SPECIAL, PRECIOUS .. it holds you such that you don’t want to come back from the world ..

Its world that’s special .  Its World that’s new and that’s why they needed the PERFECT SET-UP ..

So I’m signing off.. i don’t want to make article big ..  i have just explained some stuff … and have so much to tell about every small detail .. But i know you are smart enough to figure the structure even more clearly ..

Use the following articles, read them you will learn a lot of things and you can figure out how to create an AWESOME STORY.. its my promise .. Because i notice a very very tiny detail in Story that how are they using it and how can i use it ..:)

http://www.bramhaa.com/animation-storywriting/

Don’t forget to share your views.. Specially regarding concepts we have learned so far in Animation Story Writing articles..

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“ She knew that tomorrow he is going to come for her , finally its her turn , she will get eaten by the Devil Dragon … there’s no way to stop.. she was crying … sometimes tears bring nothing but the tears … it’s her last night in the castle .. after all to save the kingdom she has to die , like her other 6 beautiful sisters..

He is at huge entrance of kingdom … now the wait is over … he is shocked … he sees the knight in front him …. As the knight comes closer … he cant believe his eyes … it’s the 7^th princess!!! He laughs (thinking at least … there is MAN in this kingdom, he almost traveled through 100s of kingdoms , but every kingdom sacrificed their prince or princess , all gutless creatures … FINALLY I WILL ABLE TO TASTE THE WARRIORS BLOOD .. and I’m thirsty …)

Princess is looking like a beautiful storm , on white horse … she thrust forward … her horse jumps … jumps higher … princess aim the neck of Dragon …. Blood is coming through neck… he screams … (without even talking a word she clears her intension)

He turns toward her .. she is coming back … but this time dragon .. fires up through his giant mouth …. Aiming the princess .. she jumps from horse … she’s on ground … she picks of sword … dragon is coming towards her …she thrusts forward … making grip even tight .. she throws the sword like a spear aiming the eye of dragon… misses the target… she is weapon less … she is trying to run … dragon is very close to her .. she is going towards the huge entrance … the dragon sets the walls and entrance on fire … now no place to run… he picks up her like a tiny stone … he enters in kingdom… roars setting everything on fire … still no sign of life … finally a small kid comes from nowhere , and throws small stone at dragon .. dragon turns towards the kid … princess trying to escape… kid is gone … no he is isn’t he is trying to pick up the sword … but he cant .. how could he ? dragon picks up the kid in his other hand.. he is about to eat the kid ….”

Hi there , I thought I should start with bang for a topic(as usual ) ….

In this series of Story writing ,Up to this article we have finished the conflict stage , my aim with this story is,

1. whatever we have learned from throughout the series of Story Writing , is not just for 3 hrs film , it can be applied to short like say 6 -7 minutes
2. I have purposely left the story incomplete , cause we have to still learn the last stage “Resolution”
3. Look at the first paragraph Its Set-up

Where indirectly I’v introduce so many things , RULES,WORLD,BACKSTORY,SEEDS OF CONFLICT,CHARACTER/s, Exploring the character through SITUATION,MOTIVATION and GOAL

When you look at the second paragraph those things become more clear and clear , even you learn about both characters Dragon and Princess

4. The most important parts ..

1.THE PROGRESSION OF CONFLICT

AND

2.INTENSITY OF CONFLICT

See from third paragraph , there is “Progression of conflict”

Its extremely important Part of story , which decides that the story is Exciting , Boring or Confusing

Just setting the big conflict, does not mean that you’re done with story conflict , you have to consider the two important parts one its “progression of conflict ” and “ intensiy of conflict ”

So here are types for Progression of Conflict

1. Compound Conflicts

1.1 Domino effect

1.2 Cascade effect#1

1. Accumulated Conflicts

2.1 Cascade effect#2

2.2 Ripple effect

2.3 Butterfly effect

Don’t get frustrated , only names are slight burdening , but learning it will be fun.

I learned this types from book “Finding And Building Stories- ideas for animated short by Karen Sullivan , Gary Schumer, Kate Alexander”

This is must have book. An incredible for student short films .

Anyway if you cant wait for next article , study that Progression of Conflict from the book ,

But come back, because I’m gonna discuss the OUTCOME OF EACH TYPE OF PROGRESSION which is not in book

And try this assignment

Go through today’s story of Princess and Dragon , and write down all the elements that we have discussed through all previous articles , please do this it will be really helpful for you as You will recognize

1. how all basic elements of story rendered together ?
2. how perfect SET-Up is created ?
3. How conflict is introduce ?
4. We’ve learned every element with its ultimate OUTCOME , like what is the OUTCOME of SETUP , CONFLICT , How it can be achieved ?

Study the story with this point of view

Thank you so much see you in next article …

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“ ….you are prepared for interview , walking along the road & suddenly it starts raining ……. It’s not stopping at all …. And no cab all around , Finally you scream looking at sky ,

“You know, this just perfect …” ….”

Guess what?  its “conflict with situation”  or you may call it “conflict with Environment” …  I learned an important lesson from my mentor and this is perfect to describe this conflict.

Consider three concentric circles ,  smaller – bigger – biggest

Imagine you are the center ,

The smaller circle represents  THE THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL TOTALLY,

And they are YOUR THOUGHTS , and THE MEANING , see these are the only things we can control ,

And if you are not then ITS CONFLICT WITH SELF!!!

Another the bigger circle is THINGS YOU CAN INFLUENCE ,

That means you can influence people around you , but that doesn’t mean control , it just you can help to direct or may be influence.

And the “conflict with others” lies in this section of circle .

The biggest circle represents THINGS YOU CAN’T CONTROL at all ,

First thing is the MOTHER NATURE , you can not control mother nature , its impossible ,

THE CONFLICT WITH SITUATION lies here in the biggest circle.

This is type of conflict you cant personify (like I mentioned in last article of conflict with others)

But you know what , Its not just Nature you cant control , you cant control so many things that happen in whole universe , and but when you become the some part of  consequence of  What happened due to Natural Situations or Events ; it becomes CONFLICT WITH SITUATION.

So how can we  use this conflict ?

Actually  You might have guessed that Conflict With Situation can be theme of film , like Dinosaur , Jurassic Park , the day after tomorrow, Armageddon .  It becomes question of Survival !

The most important part is we cant personify  that; we are just dealing with Situations.

For character dealing with this conflict starts from Biggest outward circle to small circle ,

That means he can influence(not control) the other characters around him , but ultimately it comes to his Thoughts and the Meaning he wants to give to the situation.

See it works  like ,

In example I’v taken “the raining on the day of interviewing”

You change the character in situation –according to him he will determine the meaning- and he will act.

The unique thing about this conflict in other conflicts  character knows to whom he should react ,  but in this conflict(with situation) , he has nothing to react but he has to react some way. (may be I went to far )

The wind , rain , snow, comet , law of physics , all are the things of nature one cant control but he has to deal with the consequences , it becomes conflict with Situation.

So what could be the outcome of this type conflict?

Its simple , the character has to determine the real meaning , i.e. at first he has to accept that its one of those things he cant control , appreciate the nature and find the ingenious way to overcome the challenge  caused by the situation.

This also explores the character to audience in larger extent,

It raises interesting Narrative Question , that “How will character handle the things he absolutely cant control?”

So  this is it , we have finished all the three types of conflict.

I just wanna remind that its not just one type of conflict is necessary , but they all exists in story with different shades, at different times (at the same time) but they all have ultimate aim , to explore character to Audience, how he deals with conflict ?

Points to remember –

1. Conflict with situation is when character has to deal with things that he cant control like mother nature.
2. The unique thing about this type of conflict is character has to react to something that cant be personified
3. It raises narrative question “how will character handle the things he absolutely cant control?”
4. Like other two conflicts it can be the Theme of story , raising the question of survival.

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What is Conflict with others? what are it’s types? how to introduce? what its purpose ? and what is its outcome?

In last article we discussed about the Internal Conflict , in this article we are going to study The Conflict With Others.

Actually its not a new thing , its simple.  When I was learning my Management Subject, I learned that there are 3 types of Conflict with others, they are

1. One to One Conflict
2. One to Many Conflict
3. Many to Many Conflict

General Story structure is that , a simple guy who doesn’t care about world , then faces the problem and then he struggles , stretches himself and finally overcomes the challenge and changes in a Good Way!

We are talking about the Problem/ Challenge he faces during that journey.

That problem may be created by Something Or Someone! If its something then I call it Situation because its something that you cant specify in one word! and

if its someone that is Villain or Antagonist (Other/Others).  I learned someday ago its always best if you can Personify the Challenge in the form of Villain. But not always.

In most movies , One to One Conflict is used and its good , as in this Protagonist and Antagonist are clearly defined. Its like to opposing forces

One to many conflict is where one is opposed by others or vice versa .

In Film ‘Dumbo’ , Dumbo is facing this conflict with his community of elephants. Or same in case of ‘Beast’ in film ‘Beauty and The Beast’

(and you are smart enough to understand that When in Film the Incredibles where Bob’s Superhero  Family handles the problem, its Many to one conflict)

Now third one is Many to Many Conflict , it has to types

1. Inter group Conflict
2. Intra Group Conflict

Inter group conflict is when two different groups stands against each other.

And intra group conflict is when the conflict is within group , as if group is divided into 2 or more groups.

(Here you can take group is like 2 or more characters)

May be up to here your confused, like “yeah what’s new here I know it already …”

So pay attention to this , its not that only one type of conflict will present in movie , and that’s why we cant generalize all movies like , here is this and this conflict and not other.

These are like different tools , different colors used in different proportion to direct the story.

In Toy Story 1 , when Buzz accidentally falls out from window by Woody ,

After that for Woody its Conflict with others , and specific its “ONE TO MANY CONFLICT”

Before that he feels that he(Woody) is getting replaced because of  Buzz , its ONE to ONE conflict for Woody.

(“Stay away from Andy he is mine, else lets you and me One on One, outside!”, here Woody tries to Threaten Buzz)

Always pay close attention to the story , you will notice all types of conflict , obviously the Internal Conflict too, along different stage of story.

Conflict with others is simple type , and but again if your are not seeing the importance of it , here is the most important point, and you can use it in your story.

See the important outcome of  Conflict is to challenge the Protagonist, and at conflict stage  its almost seem impossible for character to overcome the challenge ,

So if using just any type of conflict if  you are able to create the Biggest challenge , then its not always necessary to introduce other conflicts because you already done the important outcome.

But if you have to introduce more and more resistance to the plot , you can use these conflicts in different proportion .

So conflicts in different magnitude adds resistance , adds delay , creates more and more excitement.

Another and most important work of conflict is , it shows the different internal dimension for character , that is it helps to understand the characters involved in conflict.

If you again clearly watch  the Toy Story 1 just notice , Woody handling all types of conflicts , and that’s why it explores the Woody to us .

The last one I’m telling you the small but important example of  How conflict explores each character involved in Conflict.

A real life example,

If you are with friend ,walking and suddenly somebody comes with knife and threatens, demands the money

See first from your head what will you do ?

See now from as if  your are in friends head ? (change the names of friend and try to think, if friend is cop, If  friend is .. I don’t know your friends)

Now see as if you are the attacker , (if its your first time, if you are professional)

See the way anyone handles it explores that one , if  Dad is with us , he will say hey hey calm down no need to harm anybody , just take this watch , wallet … (he is responsible person)

If  my grandma  , she will say “ take this , this and this but Remember what goes around comes around” …(she is like the GOD who speaks good from heart)

A film example ,

In Toy Story 1 , when Buzz falls out from window because of Woody , they(Andy’s toys ) are trying to punish Woody, and Woody in his defense asking everybody like “ do you think I can do this ?” something like that , its important conflict for him and toys ,

When he asks Rex (The Dino toy) , now its conflict for Rex too, as somebody asking his opinion and in front of everybody, where everyone is against Woody

He replies , “I don’t like confrontations !”

It says he is a Easy Going and the one who wants to be in general flow of people , and doesn’t give importance to his opinion.

So far we have learned that,

1. Its good if we can personify the Conflict.
2. there are three types for Conflict with Others One to One, One To Many, Many to Many (Inter Group and Intra Group)
3. All these can be used in different proportion
4. These conflicts add  more resistance to the plot
5. Conflict explores the Characters involved in it.

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“If you can see your enemy then get close look of him but don’t go closer , because he can be dangerous. If you are not prepared, you are dead…

But what will happen , if you are unaware of the most powerful enemy ,and  you are not prepared at all , he is invisible and he closest to you , I mean closest like may be inside you ……….”

Its not advertise of any horror movie, its Identity Crisis, it’s Internal Conflict!

In last article (Conflict with self), we discussed SITUATIONS where Conflict with self occurs, and then some strong decision, You might be wondering that, Conflict is the middle and important part of Story, then how come its just A SITUATION!

Actually it’s not just the situation; I included examples that were situations.

Because most of the times The Conflict with Self will occur in Situations but what if the Conflict with Self is the THEME of your Story, the Driving force of Story?

It’s a great way to tell the story where Internal Conflict is the Driving force.  Most important point here to be noted is that “ In such type of Story , Protagonist (hero) and Antagonist(Villain) are Present In THE SAME PERSON….”

Character seems to be confused, sometimes strange for him and for others.

I learned someday ago from a great filmmaker who tells the easiest way to create Best Story. He tells in the one statement,

“ Write simple stories and Complex Characters”

What could be the more complex character than this where both Protagonist and Antagonist are present in the same character.

When you place such character  in any simple situation , it creates Fun , sometimes problems. The best example of this type of character is “Buzz” in toy story.  Where he thinks that , he is the real space ranger where actually   he is the space ranger TOY.

The Movie Bolt is the best example of  Internal Conflict as the driving force of movie.

Another important point to be considered is that , the character is unaware of the Internal Conflict , but at somewhere in the middle of Story he should discover that Something is wrong with himself and also about the internal conflict.

After realizing the exact problem , he will have his ACTUAL GOAL and he will go in the pursuit of that GOAL!

So what he will chase until the middle of the story and how that will hold audience?

Personally I feel that this is the biggest challenge here for us. That until the  middle of the story he will chase some different GOAL , and that should hold Audience.

That Different Goal is must be introduced at the Start , i.e. at the SET-UP Stage.

Alfred Hitchcock calls this GOAL as ‘McGuffin’ which means a anything, object, or device that exist SOLELY FOR INITIATING THE PLOT

When we look at the film BOLT,

Mcguffin is that he thinks his person (Penny) is missing and he has to find her and Rescue her.

Until the middle he chases this GOAL, and at about middle he realizes that His TV serial powers are not Real, and Penny is not in danger and she is just a TV serial character.

Then what is the next Goal for him , after that ? (I don’t wanna tell, you must watch this Best film)

And last and important point is that, after resolving the Internal Conflict, the Character changes Drastically! I mean he becomes totally different person in the Same Body !

Best example is Buzz , (Bolt can be the best example but why Buzz? Wait I’m gonna tell you)

In Toy Story 1 ,

Look at Buzz , he is confident , adventurous , smart but funny because he acts as if he is real space ranger until he realizes that he is not .

Then he changes drastically , becomes stupid for a while because of Shock ! During the last 20 min , he accepts the Truth and Changes Drastically. But this time he is totally different Character in same body.

Now when In Toy Story 2,

We meet Buzz again , now see how much he is changed after that. And that’s why took the example of  Buzz because you will get to study the change for long time , as We have Toy Story 1 and Toy Story 2 (I wish that there should be BOLT 2…J )

What we have learned in this article ,

If the Internal Conflict (The Conflict with self ) is the Main Conflict in the Story then

1. In this Protagonist and Antagonist are present in the same character.
2. Initially character is unaware of internal conflict, so we need McGuffin at the start of SET-UP.
3. To come with good McGuffin and hold the audience for long time is the Challenge for us.
4. After resolution of internal Conflict Character changes Drastically!

In next article we will learn about other two Conflicts , Conflict With Self and Conflict with others.

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“ He started  out doing better in life as he grew up… but he didn’t understand why he is doing , whatever he is doing at that time; he was confused and helpless . He was dragged in thoughts , sometimes he delved into his past and present. Finally he done something terrible he wouldn’t even believe that he could do such thing .. After that at each and every step he found himself guilty. .  still at some times he rebel against himself try to justify himself to him and others.  It became worst when people started hating and avoiding him… He locked himself in a room far away from town in the forest and he never came back again.. people think that his ghost is in forest … but they will never understand that he still cant forgive himself though he is dead …now he cries for help .. he would never understand that actually he is the only one who can help himself ! He never learned to deal with himself , others and situations!!!”

Hi guys , im back ! Here in this session we are going to learn the Types of Conflict and how they are articulated in story.

So when you look at the story its discouraging (I guess), but I thought it would be great way to  learn basics of Conflict.

There are 3 types of conflicts and they are

1. Conflict with self
2. Conflict with others
3. Conflict with situations

Though I started with negative story that doesn’t have happy ending and all , (sorry for that ) I wanna remind you that Conflict is not always negative . Sir Edd Hookes calls it ‘Negotiations’

Negations implies conflict,

Obstacle,

Opposing needs

But it  suggest search for a positive resolution. (And that’s what matters)

1. Conflict with self :

When character come against his own values and has to do something against  his values in order to satisfy his wants (that he cant avoid ) and has to sacrifice something important that’s internal , and has to make decision is called as Conflict with Self.

In my story the character is confused and doesn’t know what he is doing..

After doing  something wrong his mind rebels sometimes .. he tries to justify is the conflict with himself.

When this Conflict Resolves something Dramatic and important happens , character changes drastically , a complete change .

When a warrior sacrifices some internal for his duty he becomes more and more stiff .

Sometimes this conflict leads to rebel against bad things , against the huge empire though  the character knows he is the only one who is rebelling evil .. He doesn’t care.

So bottom line is that this conflicts leads to STRONG ACTION.

Mostly this conflict is the effect of other two conflicts , sounds complicated but I will explain it in next article.

In Ratatouille when Remy has to make decision to be wid family or to be with his new human friend …

When in Toy Story Woody has to decide between old friends and new place , new friends …

When in Beauty and Beast, Beast  has to choose between his life and freedom of the one he is in love with though she doesn’t know that he is in love with her…

In Alladin when Gennie has to choose between his freedom and help a friend Alladin , or

for Alladin his promise to Gennie and to save his love …

And there are many legendary scenes and important decisions , many self Conflicts

But all ended in positive resolution at the end !

They were so much important ….

I will tell  you the best example with my favorite superhero (I love him so much)

Spiderman … when you see the series he has lots of going on internal and lots of internal conflicts and lots of sacrifices ….

I will never forget the words

“ With  great power comes great responsibility!”

And Peter always sacrifices something important …

Important points :

1. Self conflict occurs when character has to do something against his own values and mostly has to sacrifice something internal (love, passion etc.)
2. Self Conflict is the critical decision stage for character.
3. Self Conflict produces some powerful action by Character
4. Mostly it ends in positive solution but not always.
5. It adds more drama to story and holds audience strongly.
6. After this sometimes audience start caring the character more and more and notice each and every action , decision carefully
7. This is last and most important

Whenever there is self conflict , and decision has to be made audience unconsciously try to put them in place of character , try to make decision … believe me audience always fail to make decision because our characters make biggest sacrifice , suffer lot.

And bam ! audience starts caring for character more and more. Try to feel his emotions (that’s what we want , Audience Involvement)

In next article we will see about other two Types of Conflict.

(When I will start Series about Character, you will get more and more clear picture about this conflict part )

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