On his blog, animator Kevin Koch published some notes he took at Screenwriting Expo 5 last year, in Los Angeles. The speaker was Pixar's Andrew Stanton. One of the points Stanton mentioned is the importance of rules within a fantasy picture. This is how Koch summarized that point:
"The next key is to Know your world. As an example, Fantasy = Rules. In a fantasy world, you must establish your rules (which can be anything you want), but then you must be consistent and true to those rules. A key element of audience enjoyment is anticipation mingled with uncertainty. If you don’t follow any rules, then there’s nothing to anticipate. Anything can happen, so nothing matters. In Monsters Inc. a crucial story development was the invention of the rule that screams = fuel — this gave the film structure, and much of the story came easily once this was established."
That’s a great point-- especially regarding a fantasy world, where the rules will be different from the rules every knows about in the ordinary world. This is where a lot of horror and scifi pictures fall apart–because anything can happen (no rules) when it does, there’s no surprise or tension, it’s just one thing after another.
