Epic Movie

Click on the picture below to check out the trailer for a movie called Epic. It's by Blue Sky studios, who did the Ice Age movies. 

Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling

• #1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
• #2: You gotta keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
• #3: Trying for theme is important, but you won’t see what the story is actually about til you’re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
• #4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
• #5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
• #6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
• #7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
• #8: Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
• #9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
• #10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; you’ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
• #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.
• #12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
• #13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
• #14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
• #15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
• #16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
• #17: No work is ever wasted. If it’s not working, let go and move on - it’ll come back around to be useful later.
• #18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
• #19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
• #20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
• #21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
• #22: What’s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

E3 2012

So the epic E3 has come and gone yet again...leaving all of us gaming nerds psyched for the year to come. There were sequels to long running game series like Resident Evil and Halo, reboots like DMC and Tomb Raider and even a company blending a MMO with a TV series. I figured with the Expo over I'd talk a little about what I'm the most excited about. The blending of the TV and film industry with the gaming industry.

 Over the years we have seen this just beginning. Since video games first came out, people have been making games based on TV and movies. Then came the porting of video games to the big screen. With both of these there were usually issues when they crossed media. TV writing didn't always lend well to an interesting game and games most certainly didn't have stories that could stand alone as a film without the interactive element. Over the years video game writing has become very grand and much more detailed than in the past. Games like Skyrim, InFamous, Killzone and MANY others created sweeping, dramatic, and even sometimes, comedic stories. But even with these sweeping story lines, removing the interactive element seems to take something away. Now a gaming company and SyFy network want to try and blend the media. In 2013 SyFy will launch a TV show that will take place in one city in the USA and, simultaneously, an MMO shooter game will be released that takes place in another city, but on the same time line. The actors from the TV show were recorded and shot and modelled into the game so they can cross media. For example, one of the main characters in the video game starts in the MMO and then after a couple weeks ends up in the other city on the TV show.

This idea has apparently taken 4 years to plan and sort out and I can only image the problems that have arisen and the walls the creator must have faced. The first one through the wall is always the bloodiest and this person is most certainly breaking through a wall to a new idea. I would love to think that this is the future of gaming. Especially as an animator. I would love to be able to take part on a project like this and be able to cross industries. Meet the talent and workers of both media.

Check out the video links below to see an interview with one of the actor's as he gives a detailed description of the project, and the trailer that was shown at E3.

Interview with Grant Bowler (one of the actors in the series/game) 

Defiance E3 Trailer