Directing For Animation- Everything You didn't learn in art school (Narrative Research)

Directing For
Animation- Everything You didn't learn in art school -

Bancroft T, (2014), Directing For Animators- Everything you didn't learn in art school, 1st edition, Focal Press, Milton Park, Abingdon UK

(Bancroft, 2014, P.)

'Auteur Style; means the film reflects the directors personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur", in spite of  the production of the film being apart of an industrial process' 18

'The opposite [to auteur style] is the corporate style of directing which has been popularised more recently by many studio's mandate that none of their films will be developed outside of their own corporate "brain trust group" '. 19

'Many Major film studios work under the committee system. They are commercial films that don't particularly feel personal but connect with the widest possible audience' 19

'Cartoons entertain. Cartoons make you laugh, cartoons make you feel. But most of all, cartoons make you forget your troubles and escape.' 20

'Style should be about creating a believable world that the viewers feel comfortable in and excited to explore. Consistency to design style is what holds the viewer in that world' 46

'Great visuals can enhances a good story but no amount of visual wizardry can save a bad story' 67

'Stories are apart of every known culture around the world, we as people connect through stories, we relate through stories. We relate to stories about characters we know.' 68

' Our story opinions are based on how we were raised morally, (right and wrong), our life experiences, the people we have met and the stories we have heard in our youth- the whole of our journey.' 68

'What comes next as you journey down the corridors of story knowledge is a richer understanding of character story structure and emotional pay-off ' 69

'Story structure, form or pattern, what ever you prefer to call it, the way a story is put together is the basic of creating a strong story.' 69-70

'"House formula"- Mid 1990's' 70

'Take one "fish out of water" here (preferably a princess) place the hero in an exotic location (china, middle east, European village, under water ect) add one love interest (attractive and opposite to hero) stir in hybrid of songs (the "I want song", the "love song", the "villains song" ect) top with a "lesson learned" theme (don't judge a book by its cover, love conquers all, be true to yourself) and repeat and repeat and repeat until audiences move on' 70-71

'If the audience can predict the out-come of the story by the songs being sung, then the "tried and  true" becomes of cinematic poison.' 71

'These tried and true, passed-the-test-of-time story stages are how man tells stories...
This is how audiences are used to their stories being served up.' 72

 'What he "does" [the hero] is the plot, and what he "learns" is the theme.' 73