Story Story Stor - Animating with Blender: How to Create Short Animations from Start to Finish - page 18

● Tell someone else the story without delivering a conclusion. Act as though you have a conclusion but
want them to guess what it is fi rst. This seems underhanded, and it might feel like cheating, but there may
be something obvious that you're missing due to being so absorbed in the details. Or your friend may just
be a better storyteller than you and deliver a great idea. If that's the case, be sure to credit them on the fi n-
ished product.
● Act out the story (in a door with a lock, preferably), taking the place of the character most able to take
action just before the turn. When it comes to that point, what do you feel you should do? Try it again,
but act out the part of another, less powerful character, and see if it suggests a new course of action.
● If your story is a tragedy or is sad, try giving your character what they have been striving for but in an
unexpected way that makes them wish they had not accomplished their goal. If your story tends to be a
comedy or on the light side, stick your character with whatever fate they have been trying to avoid but
have it be pleasantly and unexpectedly rewarding for them.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you cannot fi nd a satisfying turn or conclusion to your story. This is a
sign that you have missed something earlier in the process. Are your characters acting consistently in char-
acter? Are there actions, characters, or ideas involved that do not support the theme? If so, it is time to take a
step back and begin to rework the story.
● Make sure that the characters are consistent. While complex characters who change gradually throughout
the tale are a hallmark of good long form fi ction, you just don't have the time here. A character, while it
can contain interesting contrasts, should always act in character.
● If there are elements of the story—actions, characters, or ideas—that do not support the theme, either
change them or get rid of them. As I mentioned before, have no mercy. They are there to hurt your project.
One last possibility is that you are just telling the wrong part of the story. Most likely, the story is bigger than
the part you are telling. If the story of The Beast with all of its relevant information were ordered purely
chronologically, it would go like this:
A very ugly baby grows up into a beautiful woman and has a baby who is just as ugly as she used to be. She loves him
despite his looks, never seeing any point to the negative reactions and expectations of others. One day, he gets in a fi ght
with the family dog and ends up throwing fl owerpots around and drenching the mother with the sink sprayer. Although
angry at fi rst, she is overcome by his “cuteness.” We assume that under her loving care, the Beast grows up in a similar fash-
ion to her, hopefully changing his looks for the better as he ages.
Notice that the actual action as presented in the animation only makes up two of the fi ve sentences of that
summary. The story as presented above is called the objective story line . It is objective because it is the overall,
fully encompassing view. It is the story as your Deity of Choice would tell it. No doubt there were other
incidents along the way that were similar to the one highlighted in the animation and ones that were differ-
ent. But from the entire time span of that objective story line, a single incident was chosen to demonstrate the
theme. That story as presented in the animation is called the subjective story line .
Your story is most likely a subjective story. Think for a moment about what the objective story is. How does
the story you are trying to tell look in the greater context of the character's existence? Could the theme have