Write Your Way Into Animation and Games: Create a Writing Career in Animation and Games

425 Pages·2010·4.28 MB·English

by  Christy Marx

Write Your Way Into
Animation and Games
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Write Your Way Into
Animation and Games
Create a Writing Career in
Animation and Games
Christy Marx
AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Marx, Christy.
Write your way into animation and games : create a writing career in animation and games /
Christy Marx.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-240-81343-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Animated films--Authorship. 2. Video
games--Authorship I. Title.
PN1996.M444 2010
808.2’3--dc22 2009049947
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-240-81343-1
For information on all Focal Press publications
visit our website at www.elsevierdirect.com
10 11 12 13 14 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
B978-0-240-81343-1.00030-3, 00030
Contents
Part 1  l  WrItING FOr aNIMatION
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................1
SectION 1  l  the First things You Need to Know 5
chaPter 1 animation terminology.............................................................7
chaPter 2 the Basics .................................................................................29
chaPter 3 Basic animation Writing Structure .........................................61
chaPter 4 Developing characters ............................................................67
SectION 2  l  Widening Your Perspective 83
chaPter 5 animation comedy and Gag Writing .......................................85
chaPter 6 the animated Feature ............................................................99
SectION 3  l  Opening the Doors 107 v
chaPter 7 the Pitch ................................................................................109
chaPter 8 Breaking and entering ............................................................115
chaPter 9 agents, Networking, and Finding Work ...............................135
Part 2  l  WrItING FOr GaMeS
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................139
SectION 1  l  the First things You Need to Know 143
chaPter 10 Writing vs. Design ..................................................................145
chaPter 11 Interactivity and Its effects ..................................................177
chaPter 12 Old tools/New tools .............................................................191
chaPter 13 Interactive Media and the Writer .........................................209
chaPter 14 creating a Work of Digital Storytelling: the
Development Process ...........................................................227
SectION 2  l  Interactive Narrative 249
chaPter 15 the Script Format ..................................................................251
chaPter 16 Script and Proposal Formatting ...........................................271
Contents
chaPter 17 Interactive Multimedia Narrative and Linear Narrative ....293
chaPter 18 the elements of Interactive Multimedia Narrative ............303
SectION 3  l  Widening Your Perspective—
Serious Games 321
chaPter 19 Designing Simulation Stories from tacit Knowledge..........323
chaPter 20 Simulation Stories and Free Play .........................................331
chaPter 21 experience Management .....................................................339
chaPter 22 Back Story and Free Play .....................................................347
chaPter 23 Stories in State-of-the-art Serious Games ..........................353
SectION 4  l  Opening the Doors 355
chaPter 24 Working as a Digital Storyteller ...........................................357
chaPter 25 creating Your Own Showcase ...............................................371
chaPter 26 Breaking and entering ..........................................................383
the multimedia components for this book can be found by
vi
visiting the companion Web site: http://booksite.focalpress.
com/companion/Marx/Your-Way/
PART 1
Writing for Animation
IntroductIon
Audiovisual storytelling has a long, well-developed history. As far back as
the earliest known prehistoric times, human beings have communicated the
essence of story through the use of pictures and sound: whether it’s cave paint-
ings of the hunt, a poet proclaiming the epic adventures of Odysseus, Greek
actors performing tragedy or comedy in an open amphitheatre, or through
modern times where this primal form of storytelling is expressed on a digital
“stage” through television, film, computers and other gadgets.
To write for the fields of animation and games, we must master the craft of
using words to create images and sounds in the mind of the reader. It’s a
form of storytelling that is both entirely new and essentially ancient. The
words we write when working in animation or games aren’t intended for the
final audience but are interpreted and expressed through the talents of many
contributors: concept artists, animators, actors, directors, programmers,
game designers, world designers, composers, and others. If you thrive on
this sort of collaborative creative effort, you’ll enjoy working in animation
or games.
PART 1 Writing for Animation
First, you must learn your craft and be prepared for whatever opportunities
come your way, and that’s what this book is designed to do. The authors in
this book will present you with a variety of information, experience, and
viewpoints. If you like what you read of their contributing chapters, you can
seek out their complete books to expand your knowledge and expertise.
In the first half of the book, we’ll cover writing for animation. Today, animation
is thriving as never before. Television series come in a variety of flavors and
styles, ranging from comedy to action, with material for kids and for adults.
Increasing numbers of animated features are being released theatrically or as
direct-to-video DVDs. There’s an international movement for independent
animation production that is rich and varied, representing many cultures.
Finally, there is the no-holds-barred frontier of the Internet where (for better or
worse) anyone can create and post a work of animated storytelling. There are
many paths available for the writer who loves the animation medium.
In this half of the book, we’ll cover topics such as these:
Terminology
●
Script formats
●
Television series
●
Features
●
Developing characters
●
Creating pitch bibles
●
Writing comedy
●
2
Making a pitch
●
How to find work
●
Agents and networking
●
Two authors share their many years of experience in developing, producing,
and writing animation.
Christy Marx, Writing for Animation, Comics and Games (ISBN-13: 978-0-240-
80582-5)
Christy Marx has spent nearly 30 years developing, story editing, and writing
animation series and features. Her experience spans working on 65 half-hour
shows for syndication through to network television. She created the cult favor-
ite animation series Jem and the Holograms, along with developing, story edit-
ing, or writing dozens of animation series such as Zorro: Generation Z, Conan,
X-Men: Evolution, Beast Wars, G.I. Joe, ReBoot, War Planets (Shadow Raiders),
Spider-Man, He-Man, Bucky O’Hare, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. She was
awarded the WGA/Animation Writers Caucus Award for making outstand-
ing contributions to the profession of the animation writer. She contributed
Chapters 1, 2,and 8 to this book.
You can learn more about Christy Marx by going to www.christymarx.com.
Jean Ann Wright, Animation Writing and Development: From Script Development
to Pitch (ISBN-13: 978-0-240-80549-8)
Writing for Animation PART 1
Jean Ann Wright started professionally in the entertainment industry when she
was in the fourth grade. Her college degrees are in acting from the Pasadena
Playhouse and art from California State University Northridge. Her first job in
the animation industry was at Hanna-Barbera as an artist trainee. She worked
there for eight years before moving on to work as a freelance animation writer.
Most recently she’s had her own business as an animation preproduction
consultant, giving advice on developing animated series and films (including
character and background design, writing, and recording). She has taught at
schools and conferences in the Hollywood area and in Brazil. She’s written
two books for Focal Press: Animation Writing and Development and most
recently, with M.J. Lallo, Voice-Over for Animation. She did the writing, and
Lallo produced a CD to go with the book. Wright is a member of Women in
Animation (where she takes part in a voice-over group and serves on the Los
Angeles Chapter Steering Committee), the Writer’s Guild Animation Caucus,
and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She contributed Chapters 3,
4, 5, 6, 7, and 9 to this book.
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