Structure: Toy Story 2

The second movie in the Toy Story trilogy resonates with me the most. Toy Story 3 builds on it thematically, far more than on the first installment. Like all Pixar pics, Toy Story 2 is not just a kids movie. It digs deeply into the fears of its characters. After seeing Inception this week, for me … Read more

Structure: Toy Story 1

In his book Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach, Paul Gulino offers an excellent analysis of Toy Story 1, based upon the tools of anticipation.  The breakdown below follows this almost religiously, except only for some minor details. Apart from the division in 3 acts and 8 sequences, later I will also indicate how some story points … Read more

A Story within a (Toy) Story

In great movies, structural principles apply to more than one level: story, act, sequence etc.

Once you understand how drama functions, you can apply it to EVERY level of the story.

Earlier we have looked at how the Mentor Sequence in The Untouchables was conceived as a mini 3-act story.

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