Building Story - Ideas for the Animated Short - page 147

• When constructing the story, there are variations on structure that may work better for
your situation:
• Linear
• Parallel
• Circular
• Bus-Stop
• Ping-Pong or Zig-Zag
• Know your ending before you build plot points. Let your ending infl uence your
beginning.
• When building confl ict, remember that confl ict occurs in patterns:
• Compounded
• Accumulated
• Confl ict must rise in intensity.
• The character in confl ict will try different tactics to resolve the confl ict.
• The reaction of the character to the confl ict is driven by thought and emotion. This is
called internal monologue.
• The audience is also driven by thought and emotion. This is called external monologue.
• The audience will be in one of four places in relationship to the character and the
story:
• The character knows more than the audience
• The audience learns as the character learns
• The audience knows more than the character
• The audience thinks it knows more than the character
• Successful storytelling requires the exploration of possibilities until you fi nd the most
entertaining way to tell the story.
Recommended Readings
1. Linda J. Cowgill, Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters
2. Robert McKee, Story
3. Jeffrey Scott, How to Write for Animation
4. James Mercurio, Killer Endings , DVD
Notes
1 Stan Howard, MakeMovies: AnimationScriptwriting. http://www.makemovies.co.uk/ .
2 Stan Howard, MakeMovies: AnimationScriptwriting. http://www.makemovies.co.uk/ . This structure
is not a new idea, but I have not found the term bus-stop used in any other source.