Dedaland

Brad Bird... I took some notes on him from old interviews...:

- Adult... adult comicity in cartoons also for kids... I think ppl underestimate who goes to the movies and that adults are the one to bring kids in the movie teathers and they deserve to laugh as well.

- I think any innovations are accidental, rather than a result of trying to break new ground.

- Our generation is deathly afraid of being corny to the point where we're sarcastic about everything. It's much, much easier to maintain that distance from your heart. I don't think you can ever get to an audience on a certain level unless you roll the dice and risk looking really foolish. I think you've got to open your heart and basically risk being a fool.

- I'm interested in showing that animated films are films first, and animation second,We want to have something for adults, as well as children. Animation is storytelling. Storytelling can be anything.

- It's also like the old Walt Disney films, in that they had moments of quiet and moments that were very character-based. Slower-paced moments as well as faster-paced moments.

These are the things he said that impressed me the most... these are the questions I want to ask him:

What kind of studies he does of his characters. (does he do writing exercises, like stream of consciousness, psychological studies or does he base them on people he knows. Does he feel they should be likeable at all time to satisfy the public’s opinion?)

If he follows a structure pragmatically.

If chooses plot based stories over character based stories.

What does he think are the main differences between storytelling for film and animation (although I have a feeling he considers animated film as regular films first! Should a story work all the time? It must a story good enough for every media)

If he approaches writing a story for a short film and feature length in different ways.

Where does he think a limitation to “be out of the box” should be set and if he ever set limitations to his own being “out of the box”.
How different it is to write from TV and Film (except that on TV the characters are already set up, if he can sees other differences in the main structure)

Ultimately I’d like to know if he had a mentor… WHO WAS HIS MENTOR? How did he influence his life? His career? Is he still in touch with his mentor?


PLEASE ANSWER ME MR. BIRD!!! I am in a slope with my script now... I need to remember what I forgot!!!

I need a few magic words to put me back on track... somewhere between learning and applying myself I lost of sight my goal.