• Registered: 2014-10-20
  • Posts: 550
  • User Karma: 182

Topic: What have you learned from FIYH?

I was thinking today about how much I've learned from FIYH, and applications in my creative life, and I decided to pose the question to the forum:

What are three things you've learned listening to these guys? Provide an example of that knowledge being used if you can.

Three Things I've Learned from FIYH:
1. Foreshadowing (aka almost anything is ok if it is built up enough beforehand). First time it really came into play was when I watched Ocean's 11, and I got mad because the many elements of the story made no sense even retroactively. It was immensely gratifying to learn that many people don't like that movie because of that reason. I learned how to do that from FIYH.

2. That stories are often not inherently bad, but could have been way better. FIYH's dissection of the Prequels, Wild Wild West, and John Carter taught me a LOT.

3. That major developments of character or plot are best when they are EARNED. Characters dying for no reason, something blowing up, or emotional declarations of love or hatred are great as long as you put in the work to build them from the beginning. More than anything else, this has helped me in writing stories.

Between FIYH and Writing Excuses (which I learned about through this forum), my story structuring ability has shot through the roof. It's amazing how fun minefields are when you can see the mines.

THANKS, GUYS!

Witness me!

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  • Registered: 2010-11-12
  • Posts: 1,180
  • User Karma: 475

Re: What have you learned from FIYH?

1. Basically every single piece of VFX terminology that I know now is because of this podcast. More importantly, everything I now know about VFX in general--the state of the industry, what it's like to work in Hollywood, etc. etc. Listening to the guys talk about their plight as VFX artists gave me an insight into the industry that I otherwise would never have gotten.

2. How to express myself when talking about filmmaking and storytelling in general. I already knew a lot of the concepts that are talked about on the show when I started listening, but to be able to codify them and explain why they are the way they are, and by extension why certain stories do or do not work, hugely helped my critical thinking abilities and my ability to lay out a coherent argument as to why a story is the way it is.

3. In line with the above--how to think critically in general. As a filmgoer, certainly, but in the other areas of my life as well. I entered DiF as a creationist conservative who thought the Star Wars prequels were awesome, I left it completely the inverse. I can't ever thank them enough for that.

Last edited by Abbie (2015-03-20 19:39:19)

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