PBS 2013 Online Film Festival!

In March 2013, PBS launched the "PBS 2013 Online Film Festival," showcasing 25 shorts, voted on by the public.
Example: "The Story of an Egg:"

Watch 2013 Festival | The Story of an Egg on PBS. See more from PBS Online Film Festival.

7 basic plots in storytelling

Some advertising "creatives" applied Christopher Booker's "Seven Basic Plots" ideas to the advertising world and give some examples.  (The AdWeek page takes FOREVER to load because of all the YouTube videos)

7 Basic types of stories:

1)    Underdog: Overcoming the monster

2)    Rebirth

3)    Quest

4)    Journey and Return

5)    Rags to Riches

6)    Tragedy

7)    Comedy

 1. Overcoming the Monster. This type of story goes back through Beowulf to David and Goliath and surely a lot further than that. It's the classic underdog story. Ad examples include Apple's attack on Big Brother in "1984" and American Express's attempt to dent the dominance of Black Friday with Small Business Saturday.

Example: Apple's ad from 1984:

22 Rules of storytelling, according to Pixar

 On Twitter, Pixar storyboard artist Emma Coats has compiled nuggets of narrative wisdom she's received working for the animation studio over the years:

#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.