Madmind

Do you want to know what really is embarrassing? When you think you know something although in fact you don’t.
When you follow this post by Kevin Koch and the comments, you will see that I contributed my thoughts to it. This includes my understanding of the small little word “plot”. And you know what? I screwed up. So here is the deal: you have fun reading while I start my research engine, dive into the worlds of “plot” and “story” and will try to make clear what they mean.

Story and Plot, Aristotle and Forster

On the search for the right definitions and explanations regarding “plot” and “story” Wikipedia comes to mind as it is in many ways an (not always) adequate start

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(The following post (especially the second part) is quite a bold for a newcomer and outsider like me, so please bear with me. It has to be said… It is in no way offensive)

Although I am not a true part of the animation blog community it seems to me that there is quite some controversy going on. This seems especially true regarding the question “screenwriting or storyboarding?” as you can read here, here and here.

This is indeed some interesting stuff going on in this community but I believe that it not only misses the important part but also help to hide one even some more important points that seem to be forgotten.

Scriptwriting or Storyboarding?

One thing is for sure: the cartoon in its classic form is a hell

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One thing is for sure: the difference between Poster Art and Cover Art of the same movies most often cannot be bigger. While I often watch full of awe the things hanging down from the walls I am most often not amused by those “things” I see on many DVD Covers.

My personal “Cover of Hate” is the terrible DVD Cover Art for Matrix Revolutions which simply photoshops together all four different (and wonderful) single sheet posters (and is one reasons why I started to create some of my own poster/cover art of famous movies).

I can almost see the discussion going on for the DVD Cover Art of Matrix 3:

Manager 1: Well, well, we have a draw. Each poster got a vote. Now, what should

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Thanks to Kevin Koch and his blog post I not only got reminded of those various awards (BAFTA and Oscar anyone?) going on but he also delivered a list of all nominees this year. Of course I am talking about the animation categories at the moment. I sadly didn’t write anything about animation at all in the last few weeks (with the exception of my personal 3D short). So I take this good chance to, well, write something about the nominees and some that are missing.

Kevin already mentions it in his post but it is nevertheless interesting that each animated short is listed only once throughout the awards. I guess this is partly due to the politics and reasoning. One example is the short THE PEARCE SISTERS with

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(Spoilers ahead)

It seems to pay that I have read several books about screenwriting several times, especially STORY by Robert McKee. Because, while watching TALK TO ME, I suddenly switched to my Analysze Mode and realized that this movie is a constant ongoing conflict on many levels.

The Movie

Okay, what is TALK TO ME? TALK TO ME (2007) is a drama/biography that tells the true story of Petey Greene, a successful and popular radio show host during the 60s and 70s who once was an ex-con. Although it might sound cheesy a little bit this movie is nevertheless really good. Besides the interesting characters and the ongoing sparks of humor it is the constant conflict that sets this movie apart.

TALK TO ME, STORY and the use of conflict

Well, anyone who reads STORY …