- [Voiceover] Choosing an idea
is all about finding the essence of your story.
Most good stories revolve around watching a character
struggle outside of its comfort zone.
We love watching characters
have their polar opposites thrown at them.
A rat who wants to be a chef.
Think about that idea for a moment.
What could be worse for a rat
than to have a passion for cooking,
to dream to be a chef in a gourmet French restaurant?
Like most of the storytelling rules,
this one is as old as time.
In The Hero With A Thousand Faces,
Jack Campbell distilled all of the famous classic myths
into arc narratives.
A hero who lives in her ordinary world
until someday she gets a call for adventure
and is sent off to a different strange, scary
and exciting world with which she's not familiar with.
This is exactly what Pixar talks about.
Think of Woody the cowboy.
He's extremely comfortable being Andy's favorite toy
and the leader of the toy community.
What is the worst thing that could happen to him?
What will make him the most uncomfortable?
How about a new shiny toy taking his place,
his prestige, his identity?
This polar opposite
is more than just the worst case scenario.
It is a change that forces our hero to react to deal with it
and in the best movies, to grow and change.
It's not enough to have something bad to happen.
It has to be something that makes Woody react emotionally
and be called to action.
We're looking for tailor made catastrophes.
Pixar managed to find even more polar opposites for Woody.
In Toy Story 2,
he discovers a whole side of his identity
that he didn't know existed, a past family,
and he's forced to choose where he belongs.
In Toy Story 3,
Woody is afraid of being left behind completely.
Yeah, Andy plans to take him to college
but Woody and Andy's best years are behind them.
Most of the movie is an exodus
of surviving in the world without Andy
but in its emotional core,
it's about Woody letting Andy go.
At the end of the movie as Woody and Andy both say goodbye,
shows both of them
accepting the end of their time together.
The movie wisely introduces an example
of what happens to a toy
who can't reach this level of acceptance.
They become twisted and malicious like Lotso the Bear.
From an extremely nervous father,
a small fish who must cross an ocean to let his son go,
to a superhero stuck inside the most mundane of lives.
Just look at this image.
You take one look at this guy
and you know he's not in his comfort zone.
A heartbroken old man
who must take responsibility over an innocent child.
An aspiring monster who just isn't scary.
A race car who must slow down emotionally and physically.
Pixar excels in putting their characters
in the worst place possible for them.
But why is this rule so important?
Because this polar opposite,
this infringement on a character's cushy life,
is the essence of story.
Let's get back to Remy,
the rat who wants to be a chef.
Once you have that premise,
you immediately get layers of conflict
and conflict is the fuel of any story.
Remy is different.
His friends and family don't get him
which makes him lonely, rejected, a disappointment.
These feelings cause him to feel torn
as if he has to choose between his abnormal passion
and his family and community.
A passion he can't really pursue.
He can't take one step inside a restaurant's kitchen
without someone trying to kill him.
Once you have this essence,
you have a seed you can sprout into a story
and you also have a good tool to keep it economic.
What isn't part of this essence
probably shouldn't be a part of your story.
Uncomfortable characters are so appealing
because we all like feeling comfortable
and once our cushy existence is taken from us,
we need to reconcile these new circumstances.
The difference is that Pixar characters go the distance.
They will go to amazing lengths to get their life back
whether it be space, the ocean or Sid's basement.
Watching them react to their new circumstance,
fight and grow is what makes Pixar movies so emotional
and enjoyable.
Alright, guys, thanks for watching.
In the next episode of Pixar storytelling rules,
we're going to talk about characters.
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(fun music)