Topic: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Recently I've really wanted to make a Brickfilm of great animation and great story.  However whenever I get ideas for a story they never lead to any great conclusion.  So does anyone here know how stories should be written?  Is there some formula to great story structure?  Constantly my Brickfilming ideas and stories end with a disappointing ending.  No real conclusion after a climax.  And because there are so many brickfilms out there now it is hard to be original.  I sort of have an idea of what kind of film I want to make just, I need to learn how to end stories.

http://i.imgur.com/CSwoca1.png

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Well, the only thing I can say that inspiration comes to you, you can't find or create inspiration.

Hello BiM! Not making a comeback but may surf the forums time to time

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Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

That kind of depends on the kind of film you want to make. If you want to make a comedic film, make an "incomplete" ending. That means the main conflict is about to be resolved, but the viewer can easily imagine what the ending will be. It could also mean that the main conflict is over, but a new conflict related to the main one comes up. Beware, don't be too abrupt in your ending. It sounds like your problem is your conclusion is missing. After a climax, you need to have a calmer moment before you end it.

Not literally dead, just no longer interested in Lego or animation.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

If the ending is your problem, try starting with an awesome ending and working your way backwards to figure out how that ending came to be.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

develop the Characters.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

I've never really thought about how to write a good story. mini/eek It just comes to me naturally. And I have so many good ideas, that it's hard to make them all into movies.
But, when making a Brickfilm script, it's good to make sure you keep the punches rolling. Not just physical fighting, but the punch lines too. Try to make your video constantly amazing people with something that's funny, or just really cool. I think probably the easiest type of video to think up would be a story that's really short and extremely random and funny. Usually, it's easy to think up something like that and easy to to make.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Well, this is a difficult topic to really explain. Start with a style. Not some animation technique, but a common element in your films, such as a time period, or a universal theme, such as family, or revenge. and Alpha is right, develop characters. Nobody wants to see another generic main character. give him a tendency to do something, like jumping to conclusions, or making accusations, give him words he uses too much, give him personality. Do this with every character, the more personalities, the better. Write character sketches. Then, come up with a situation that requires multiple actions, and an actual problem. Like a social experiment gone wrong, or a powerful empire arising out of nowhere, or an apocalyptic disaster and the struggle to survive. Now take your characters and throw them into the situation and spend about a day deciding how they will react and the consequences. as long as the problem is resolved in the end, you have a story. And as long as it isn't generic or dull, it's probably a good one too.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Here's a link to a page on TV Tropes whuich has alot of information on how to write a story. mini/smile

Also, see other articles if you want more specific information.

Last edited by the frozen brick (May 22, 2011 (12:18pm))

I'm BACK! mini/bigsmile

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Wow Realbrick, your post has inspired me in writing my scripts. I've never really developed my characters, and you explained how to do it awesomely. Thanks! mini/bigsmile

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Your exactly right LEgoMovieFanatic.  RealBrick you have make an amazing point that should seem so obvious but yet no one ever does it.  So would you say something like "Egyptian Holiday" is an example of this?

http://i.imgur.com/CSwoca1.png

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

I would say so, the characters have their own personalities and motives in the story. Perhaps you should also consider other ways of expressing personalities. Even the car a character drives can help with that (personal taste is very influential.) for example, a person who drives this:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3381/3526622020_f35acc4666.jpg
would have a different taste than a person who drives this:
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y_XzDwrSyuA/TWj4HpXg0zI/AAAAAAAAAOs/veYixS88i3g/ds20050619.jpg
And you can also hide things about a character, but let the audience make the assumption. For example, a salesmen type person wouldn't say "I want your money." but the dialog could be slowly inferring that. That's a really bad example, but I cannot come up with one at the moment.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Interesting characters is one of the most important things. Just look at how bad Steven Seagal films are.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

Although this gets focused on often too much, I think that an important part of a story is a strong climax. One of the reasons that people did not seem to love the story in "Egyptian Holiday" (no offense mobile, I loved the film mini/bigsmile ) was because the climax was short and not too suspenseful. Even in a comedy, it is possible to achieve a strong climax. Remember, the entire film is building up to the climax, so it should be the most important part of the story in my opinion.

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Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

This doesn't work for all films, but one thing you can do is think about that Hero Cycle thing or Jungian Archetypes and see what you can do to give the story your own feel.

Re: How Can I Make a Great Story?

One other thing you should look at is what kind of film is this? Not just genre, such as science fiction, but is it a surreal film, is it a film with people doing things? Is it a documentary? But you could also go deeper, like, is the story revealed to the audience, or do they know the outcome. For example, you could have a World War Two story presented as a film where you follow the soldier through the city and could be surprised any second, or the story could be presented as an old man telling his grandkids the story. But Genre can also have a great influence in the story. Is your story about a normal man living a crazy lifestyle with all the variables of the situation at a normal stand. Or is this a science fiction where people can twist the elements to do crazy things (example: a car chase where the protagonist flips over the road so the enemy car falls and hits the ceiling.) Make sure to put all these things into consideration, and if you are like me, the story should just fall into place.
But one thing I want to make clear. Don't fall for the overused, "It's just Lego," excuse for a weak story, poor character development, or overall poor interpretation. It's no longer a toy once it's animated. See it as a medium of film. Just because they're little plastic people with printed on faces doesn't mean it has to be a lame comedy or mediocre dynamic duo. You can make a sad film and make people sad. If you're good enough, you could probably make someone cry. If you present your characters well, state a good and interesting story, (That means no Jim and Bob go to school 2) Use your effects in moderation, and create an overall powerful story, the Lego element of the film will melt away and people will actually see characters.