Looking at Pixar's 22 rules of storytelling

Let's put aside Cars 2 for a moment and think of Pixar's great films: Wall-E, Toy Story 3, and Up, to name a few. The studio's near-perfect track record, at least until late, has made many clamor to figure out their secret. A peek at their thought process comes from "Pixar's 22 Rules of Storytelling," which story artist Emma Coates tweeted out way back in 2011. The notes inspired Twitter user Dino Ignacio (@DinoIgnacio) to create accompanying graphics for each rule. The slide show is worth a browse, and it's also worth a deep think, as you rack your brain to evaluate how movies live up to these various requirements.

One of my favorites was #6, "What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?" In the classic Up, there's the crotchety old man and the intrepid (but not entirely prepared) Boy Scout--quite the pair to embark on a balloon adventure. In terms of upcoming movies, the plot description for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty seems tailor-made for this requirement: having a timid, watch-from-the-sidelines kind of guy actually go on an adventure himself. But what I think is interesting about this requirement is how flexibly it can be applied. In the case of Toy Story, what the characters are comfortable with is being in their child owner's bedroom, and being played with all the time. Both of these things are taken away (one by accident, one by him growing up), and then the characters are forced to adapt. Personality-wise, the characters have the courage and smarts to get through their adventure, but they make emotional changes on their journey through this discomfort. So many movies answer this question by taking the characters quite literally out of their element:

Toy Story: Out of the playroom, into the real world
Wall-E: Out of the ravaged Earth, onto a space station
Up: Out of suburbia, into a jungle
Cars: Stuck in the American Heartland; Cars 2: The reverse, thrust into worldwide races
Ratatouille: Out of the sewers, into the kitchen
Brave: Out of the castle, into the forest

There are exceptions to this: In Monsters Inc., the two main characters don't relocate, but instead must accommodate a child in their home, Monstropolis. Which brings us to point #12: "Discount the first thing that comes to mind. And the second, third, fourth, fifth–get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself."

If you're interested in scrolling through the rest of the 22 rules, check out the full slideshow.