There are few organizations in the world that can claim more expertise when it comes to storytelling than Pixar. The Disney-owned animation studio is known for its ability to consistently create…
Pixar has released lessons on the technical sides of movie making before, but these lessons are an emphasis on storytelling itself. This reminds me of The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar written by a storyboard artist for Pixar. Some great insight into what makes a great story.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone.
I’m guilty of this… A lot.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
I wish more of Hollywood would follow this rule.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
Both of these are a nicer way of paraphrasing Kurt Vonnegut, “Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.”
Self-control is a very important skill to develop which is sometimes pretty difficult to learn. According to Laura Markham Ph.D. of Psychology Today1, “Only 30% of 4 year olds can manage their emotions, anxiety and impulses to resist temptation.” Why should that matter? I’m actually surprised that the number is as high as 30%!
Common Core and vouchers down, but many other reforms still popular. Source: Ten-year Trends in Public Opinion from the EdNext Poll: Common Core and Vouchers Down, but Many Other Reforms Still Popular Fascinating data into common core, tenure, teacher salaries, etc. I especially like the differences in responses to questions such as spending and salaries…
Over a period of two years, skateboarder Christian Flores fell down thousands of times, broke boards, went to the hospital twice, and cracked a rib trying to do a laser flip down a triple set of stairs. Source: Landing the hardest trick after 2 years of trying A great example to show students on how to…
Teachers in Littleton, Colorado — like teachers in many places — are increasingly asking students to read and write online. Free tools like Google Docs have made it easy for students to work on the same piece of writing at home and at school, and have allowed teachers to explore collaborative writing assignments and synchronous…
Two big updates to Google sheets, the ability to visualize data with machine learning and syncing data in Google Sheets to Google Docs or Google Slides. Machine language charting allows you to ask Google Sheets questions about your data, and let Google Slides figure out the best way to present the information to you. This is…
So next time you’re faced with a “data-driven” scenario do this: instead of looking for the answers the data provides, look for the questions it generates. Source: If You Want to Be Creative, Don’t Be Data Driven – Microsoft Design – Medium Data always has its purpose and reason for being collected, but blindly doing…
