Story Stripdown

The Accountant does something different in that it introduces a new character that's never been seen in a story before, and it does it efficiently in a tightly designed first act. It distills this new character to its essential elements, then layers them in little 90-second scenes to briskly flesh out this enigmatic original character. Find out how they did it, and apply the same concept to your next new character!

Ted is a raunchy R-rated comedy about a man and his foul-mouthed teddy bear getting up to absurd antics, but it's also the story of being stuck in that transition from boy to adult. Themes of Identity and Change are not uncommon in movies, and when done right, can really stick in your audience's mind. This week we look at how Ted tackles these themes, as well as Ghost in the Shell and Far Cry 3.

Halo: Combat Evolved puts together intense FPS action with an atmospheric story... and right smack in the middle of that campaign is a sequence that strips you of your bravado and dumps you into a crazy horror sequence. Tonal shifts in stories can be effective devices to shock the audience and highlight specific scenes, or even completely bait-and-switch a story into an unexpected direction. Let's look at how Halo and movies like From Dusk Till Dawn and Scream do it.

How To Train Your Dragon had a simple, but compelling idea at its heart: dragons make awesome pets. So the entire story is engineered around this key concept, and it's all the better for it.Other movies have good ideas, but dilute them with unnecessary subplots. Let's look at how movies like How To Train Your Dragon and Tokyo Drift keep their ideas pure.

A Goofy Movie was an underrated gem that got swept under the rug and forgotten by Disney fans. This movie serves as a case study for what happens when a good story is packaged for the wrong audience - in this case, a story about teen and parent conflict put into a cartoon that appeals to young children. Let's see where it went wrong, and how you can avoid a similar situation.

A wild cowboy and a by-the-book veteran team up to solve a case, and due to their mismatched personalities, hilarity ensues! Buddy Cop movies are a staple of the comedy genre, and in this special Buddies, Bottles, and Banter episode of Story Stripdown, I chat with Subash from Reel Deal about our favorite buddy cop duos and what are the elements that make them special... and why are they almost always male-male pairings that favor bromance over romance?Follow Subash in these pages:Reel DealJio Play GamesTruth Be Known

Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle is an epic volleyball showdown between two high school teams. The entire movie takes place during this game, so how did it keep audiences engaged, even if they aren't volleyball fans? By using references to technical volleyball tactics and portraying both teams fairly and without bias, Haikyu manages to craft an authentic sports story with all the drama and none of the contrived conflicts.

Japanese horror-mystery creator Uketsu has a unique way of storytelling with a focus on different ways to convey information, like children's drawings and floor plans. Strange Buildings leans into the floor plans and strips back unnecessary details that might detract from the important elements and slow down the pace. But does it drop too many details and descriptions to the point where audiences detach themselves from the characters? This week, we look at the pros and cons of efficient storytelling.

Ah, the 90s! When movies were obnoxiously loud and cynical... but also full of character! What The Last Boy Scout does better that most other action movies is to infuse supporting bad guys with enough character that they stick around in your memory, even if they only appear in the one scene! From Scrabble Man to Chet, the "Touch me again and I'll kill ya" guy, find out how you can also make your own supporting characters more memorable.

Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, is one of the most tragic characters in StarCraft lore. How did Blizzard construct her to be so tragic, and why does that make her more interesting and compelling? And why is Dehaka so annoying?Join me as I try to evolve my understanding of tragic heroes using Kerrigan (and a puppy) as case studies.

If the characters in your story are in situations that aren't that relatable for most people, you can always find another way to help your audience find that emotional connection to them. In The Last Castle, the characters of a disgraced army general and a cruel prison warden are made more understandable by positioning them as a good boss and a bad boss. Join me as I figure out why this movie does these two characters so well that audiences can overlook its predictable plot!

Coming-of-age tales resonate with most people because almost everyone has experienced the joys and pains of growing up. Most, but not all. Kiki's Delivery Service is a wonderful example of such a movie, and it tells its story in a fantasy setting with a young witch's initiation, so I look at how fantasy can be used to tell a down-to-earth story about a 13 year-old overcoming adolescent issues.

Sequels sequels sequels! How do you put together a fitting sequel that continues a story well? This week, I look at two different types of sequels: Blade II and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. One takes the original premise and expands it, while the other evolves the story into another chapter. Let's stake out two very different sequels and see how they were put together.

Back in the days of MS-DOS, Wing Commander II was the gold standard for immersive video games, with advanced graphics, digitized speech and sound effects, and an emphasis on storytelling that was ahead of its time. Let's take off and see how adopting a space opera approach made this game's story so memorable.