Wade Wilson

11/5/13
Andrew Stanton:A Story Worth Telling
The clues to a great story is a video in which Andrew Stanton delves into the essentials of
storytelling he learned during his experience in the film industry as a writer and director Stanton draws
emphasis on !nowing how a story will end when writing it and he expands upon this through a
demonstration to the audience" he tells his life story from the end to the #eginning While doing this he
shares the lessons he learned at those specific points in time in his career Stanton goes into how a story
is similar to ma!ing a promise to the audience and paying it off #y the end of the story $e then goes
into a more personal story of how at age four he learned he almost died in child#irth and re%uired a
#lood transfusion"leading to how that impacted him Stanton&s final lesson is using experiences to help
create story Andrew Stanton relays a story in a manner that also unfolds li!e a story to strengthen his
overall message of elements to consider when plotting a story
' #elieve Stanton&s story is well constructed #ecause it relays a series of events that connect to
each other and tell a cohesive tale of how Stanton learned in his career different ways to approach
telling a story Stanton opens with a (o!e a#out telling a story to someone This is paralleled with how
he goes a#out his presentation" given his point and reasoning for telling his life story starting from the
end of it is how" much li!e when someone is telling a (o!e" which is similar to telling a story" it helps to
&&!now your ending&& )Stanton* This introduction sums up the lesson hes trying to teach his audience"
all that comes after that point is (ustification meant to strengthen that point $is story does in fact end
where the story of his life would start for him the audience now !nows what has gone into the
construction of how to tell a story as well as how Stanton learned how to do so himself
' agree with Stanton&s views $aving seen the films he has #een involved with following these
principles of story" and how well executed and successful they have #een at communicating a well told
story" its difficult to dispute his claims 'n addition to that ' agree with his points" one of which #eing a
main goal of story telling is to ma!e an audience care a#out what transpires in the story Another lesson
he imparts is infusing a sense of wonder and intrigue when translating a story ' agree with these
notions #ecause ' #elieve that if an audience does not #ecome emotionally invested with a story they
will not care a#out it for the simple reason it does not connect to them personally or intrigue them
After all a story can #e devised as the most intelligent or heartwarming wor! it can #e" however that
means nothing if the audience does not care a#out it or #ecomes #ored #y information and events #eing
spelled out to them Stanton successfully avoids that when he relays his life story
$e relays a compelling yet at the same time interesting story that if told wrong could have
resulted in a self indulgent recounting of his own past The reason this connected to his audience is that
he &&made them care&& )Stanton* $e infused writing advice with his learning experience as he went
through his story $e #oiled down the essentials of story to what an audience wants when they see a
film This shows the audience listening to this speech that the %ualities that go into constructing a story
relate to what people want from a story This is something that they can #e invested in"and want to see
the outcome #y the end +o#ody wants to listen to an uninteresting story
According to Stanton &&ma!e the audience wor! for their meal&&" they have to care otherwise the
story falls flat and #ecomes a missed opportunity )Stanton* $e cites his film Wall-E as an example of
this 'f the audience did not care a#out Wall,-" this for the most part silent character" they would not
#other to #ecome invested in his struggle to find love with the female protagonist of the film -ve The
audience would #ecome #ored and %uestion what they were watching $owever following the pillars of
storytelling Stanton has outlined" the spine of the film&s story is a ro#ot discovering love and pursuing
it This ma!es him an endearing and li!ea#le character given this human relatea#le goal .espite saying
very little the audience grows to #ecome interested in his exploits and on the edge of their seats #y the
end "wondering if everything will wor! out for him #y the end of the story All of this accomplished
#y having a running theme and arc Stanton formatted his speech with these same principals
Stanton tal!s a#out story #y telling a story $e wal!ed the audience through several film
learning experiences Such as his first time directing a live action film" John Carter -xperimenting
with how to tell a story with little dialogue with Wall-E"relaying an emotional experience #y investing
the audience with Finding Nemo /ressing on from that to the logical precursor of having a li!ea#le
character #y sharing the missteps of Toy Story when it was #eing developed This followed #y what
what introduced him to memora#le characters and the film experience when seeing the .isney film
Bambi as a child $e could have gone a#out it many other ways "#ut he chose to ma!e his life story into
an actual story" ma!ing it more en(oya#le 'ts a learning experience of what can ma!e a story
memora#le and entertaining Stanton could have (ust told his audience the information straightforward
'nstead he made it into a genuine experience $e lead the audience through an emotional
(ourney increasing their interest #y #uilding on what they learn from each story as he did at those points
in time of the story 0etting the events unfolds li!e a story" 1est of all a good story