One of the most important things I learned from the Dramatica theory of story was this idea of a separation between the Main Character’s storyline and the overall storyline. It’s a basic concept but one that, if not done correctly, can cause all kinds of problems when trying to write a meaningful story. The biggest is the idea that the Main Character is always the Protagonist.

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Can there be anything more dramatic than a story of revenge?! That initial stinging feeling of being unjustly wronged, the wicked and intensely private scheming that goes on as one plans what is dutifully owed the offender, and finally the execution of said sweet reward. Nothing is more universal than the satisfaction of one getting what one so rightly deserves.

But how does one go about constructing a story like this?

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A great story consists of two fundamental arguments: the headline and the heartline. One argument plays towards the logical side of our existence; the other plays more towards the emotional. Both are essential. Why? Because you want to create stories that are both logically satisfying and emotionally fulfilling. Leave one side out and the audience feels cheated.

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Finally. A decent trailer for Pixar’s 2008 Summer release Wall-E.

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Having worked with Dramatica for over ten years now, the one thing I’ve come to learn is that there is always a new way of looking at things. Often this new perspective is so simple that I can’t help but smile and think, “Why the hell didn’t I think of that?!” This happened to me recently when trying to decipher the throughlines for Michael Mann’s Collateral.

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The Problem Solving Style of your Main Character can be more than just the last choice you make in a storyform. It can also be a strong indicator of how much power your Main Character has over the Objective Story.

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Believe it or not, one of the more difficult things to do when analyzing a story is deciding who the Main Character is. Because the Dramatica theory of story separates the concept of Main Character from the Protagonist, determining that essential character calls for a more precise analysis. This became a problem when analyzing the last film for the Dramatica Users Group - Laura.

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In Children of Men, rich thematic elements of hope play out against despair in a dystopian vision of the future. Many have commented that while they found the film highly entertaining, they felt cheated at the end. They often go on to complain that the movie was half-finished. I disagree. I would say it was 3/4 finished…

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A recent review in the New York Times labeled Disney’s newest animated film, Meet the Robinsons, “one of the worst theatrically released animated features issued under the Disney label in quite some time.” While I have to agree that the first half of the film was excruciatingly painful, when all was said and done there actually was a decent story buried in there. If only we as an audience had been informed of that a bit earlier…

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The latest Ratatouille trailer for American audiences is out and whaddya know…they managed to keep the relationship throughline in there. It’s ready to view either on Disney.com in HiRes or here in LowRes YouTube fashion. They score a big 5 out of 5 for creating a compelling and gorgeous trailer that has just enough in there to entice audiences into theaters this summer.

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