Bruce Block has shared his theories of visual storytelling with top studios worldwide, including Pixar, Dreamworks and Walt Disney Feature Animation, and was warmly received here at Brown Bag the week before Christmas for a three hour talk.
Darragh, Cathal & Bruce Block
Bruce is a Professor at the USC School of Cinema and Television, and has worked extensively as a producer and creative consultant on films as diverse as ‘Stuart Little’, ‘As Good as it Gets’, and ‘Spanglish’, and his vast experience and obvious passion for his genre made for a lively and informative session.
Block’s central theme is that the visual structure should reflect the ups and downs of the story structure.
His first step was to explain and define the seven fundamental visual building blocks; space, line, shape, tone, colour, movement and rhythm. He then discussed a number of ways to apply those building blocks to create the visual progression you want for your story , and he finished by highlighting the important link between visual structure and story structure. He explained these potentially complex relationships in a very clear and concise way.
Another really enjoyable part of his presentation was the variety of films he referenced – from The Lion King to Murder on the Orient Express, from Howard’s End to Raiders of the Lost Ark – he argued that in all great films we consistently see these same principles at work.
When our resident R&D supremo J.P had the audacity to disagree with Blocks assessment that a deep and vibrant image from ‘Run Lola Run’ produced a more dynamic emotion of attraction than a shot of two elderly people against a flat black and white background, Block welcomed it with open armed enthusiasm – ”That’s great you feel that!”. The point and the beauty of film, he continued, is that you decide what works for you, you decide what your visual rules will be to tell the story you want. Just be sure you stick with the rules you’ve established, and make sure you know how to make the visual components work for you.
All in all it was an inspiring way to go beyond the day to day detail and take a look at the big picture, and the main purpose of our craft – telling the story in the best possible way.
