Video commentary on Studio Ghibli's world building.

[Svrtnsse]

I stumbled upon this video earlier today:

It's focused on animation, but I think most/all of the principles discussed can be applied to writing as well, or any other form of storytelling. What's your thinking?

EDIT: It would seem I can't spell to "world" would an admin be able to update the thread title?

 

[skip.knox]

EDIT: It would seem I can't spell to "world" would an admin be able to update the thread title?

Apparently not. As mod I can edit the post itself, but not the Subject line.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Apparently not. As mod I can edit the post itself, but not the Subject line.

Oh well, it's not like I never spelled anything wrong before.

 

[TheCrystallineEntity]

I love Studio Ghibli movies! Spirited Away is my favourite.

 

[Black Dragon]

I fixed the spelling for you.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I fixed the spelling for you.

Thank you.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Okay, so to bring up something that's mentioned in the video - what about background details? in the video it's commented in several ways on how various little details are added in order to make the world seem more real and believable, and different examples are given.

There are two things that seem relevant:
1. Everything that's shown is there by design. In animation, nothing is added by accident.
2. A lot of the details that add depth and realism to the story aren't directly relevant to the plot.

The first point above applies directly to writing as well. You don't accidentally write something in your story without noticing. You may accidentally write something that has a different meaning than what you thought it did, but you still know what you meant and what you wrote. Words don't just appear on the page by themselves.

The first point is also relevant to writing, but it's more difficult to apply in practice. There's only so much unrelated detail you can add before the reader gets bored or distracted. The difference between film and book is that in the film there can be things going on behind the main action at the same time, but in a book the words come one after the other.
In a written story it's more difficult to be subtle about irrelevant details as they all require their own words on the page and their own share of the reader's attention to be read.