Story arcs
Story circle
1 . character in comfort zone
Five emotions live in the “brain control room” of Riley, a Minnesota girl who has a happy childhood under joy’s control.
2 . want and desire something
Joy hopes sadness doesn’t always make the girl sad. She wants sadness to stay in the corner safely, so that the girl’s memory ball will not have many blue sad memories.
3 . enter a strange situation
To make sure Riley is happy on the first day of school, joy orders sadness to stand in a circle and not meddle in anything on the console. But sadness somehow touched a core memory ball, causing Riley to cry and produce the first ever blue core memory ball, and joy tried to stop sadness. After a flurry of confusion, joy, sadness and core memory balls were all used to transport tubes from the brain control room to the long-term memory area.
4 . adapt to it
Joy and sadness met Bing Bong in the long-term memory area, and they wanted help. At this time, there was a contradiction. They got along for a long time. Although joy didn’t like sadness, they had to work together to return to the main control room.
5 . get what they want
The train fell to the bottom and they were back in the long-term memory again. Joy and Bing Bong fall into the oblivion zone. They are facing death (completely forgotten), and they are “nothing”; the “night of the soul” is when joy begins to cry and feels that he is really finished.
6 . heavy price to pay
When joy was crying, she picked up a core memory ball. She was surprised to find that Riley, who had lost the game, was sad alone. At this time, her parents comforted her and her friends came to lift Riley high. Riley became happy again. Joy recalled that when Bing Bong lost his pain due to the small rocket, sadness comforted him and he immediately got the motivation. This is when joy realized! It turns out that sadness is another way to get happiness. Riley and Bing Bong are both comforted and inspired by Sadeness. So she got excited, found the little rocket in the forgotten area, and returned to the long-term memory area above with the help of Bing bong.
7 . go back to what they’re familiar with
Joy and sadness return to the brain headquarters. Sadness pulls the “escape” button from the festering console. Riley repents and quickly gets out of the car to go home.
8 . change
The characters in the control room got to know sadness again and admired her. She solved the problems that joy couldn’t solve. Everyone really accepted sadness. Joy is no longer biased and complaining about sadness, and gradually feels her importance. The console in the brain control room has been expanded, and we have a harmonious relationship.
Story curve
1. Opening image
At the beginning of the film, the audience will have a general understanding of the tone, mood and type of the film. Its main purpose is to hold the audience firmly in the chair. The opening scene of “the secret service of the mind” gives us a warm, loving story about growth and adventure. Each person’s behavior is controlled by five emotions in our mind: joy, sadness, fear, disgust, and anger. These five emotions help us create “core memories” and enrich and create our different personalities. In this film, these five emotions live in the “brain control room” of Riley, a little girl in Minnesota. Under joy’s control, Riley has a happy childhood.
2. Theme stated
At the beginning of the film, with joy’s voice over, we learn about Riley’s life and how her various emotions are embodied in her life. “Disgust” broccoli, “fear” will hurt their own wires, “angry” Dad forced himself to eat But what joy doesn’t understand most is that sadness exists. Why does she always make Riley cry? Shouldn’t such a lovely little girl have a carefree childhood? At the same time, we can see that joy is a very good problem solver. When Riley encounters any situation, she always tries to make Riley happy. After all, she loves her little girl too much. I think the theme of the film appears here. Some people think that the theme of the film is “love can save everything”. Yes, this is indeed the surface theme of the film. But in fact, the writer tells a story about “accept”.
3. Set up
Just before the opening subtitle of this film. These parts let us fully understand the characters in the story, and also see the goal of the protagonist. In particular, the protagonist of the film is not Riley. Although this is the emotional story in her brain, the central character is joy. Joy’s words and deeds drive the story forward, and her ultimate goal is to solve all problems and make Riley happy.
4. Catalyst
It’s easy to understand that everything is going to change! There is a very obvious hint in this film. In the seventh minute, joy said, “things could’t be better! After all, Riley is 11 now, what could happen? And then it cuts to the scene that they’ve sold the house, and the Riley family are moving to San Francisco. Moving is an unknown, new thing for everyone.
5. Debate
On this point, for the first time, we started a debate, but the core of this part is “how to solve the current problems most directly through debate”. People don’t like the new home! The furniture had not come, only sleep on the floor; dad’s business seemed to have some problems, he could not accompany himself; there were dead rats in the house. Riley’s not happy! In this case, the protagonist joy tries to make Riley and his friends happy. She prompts Riley to play “paper hockey” with his parents, eat his favorite pizza with his mother, and do his best “armrest sliding” games When introducing myself on the first day of the new school, Riley tried to remind Riley of his happy past through the core memory ball and shared it with new students and new teachers. Everything seems to be settled easily.
6. Break into two
It needs to be made clear here that this “point” is very specific. It is a matter, in my opinion, or the “result” in the causal relationship. Because of this result, the protagonist breaks away from the previous world and goes to a new world. In this film, joy orders sadness to stand in a circle and not meddle in anything on the console to make sure Riley is happy on the first day of school. But sadness somehow touched a core memory ball, causing Riley to cry and produce the first ever blue core memory request (blue for sadness), and joy tried to stop sadness. After a flurry of confusion, joy, sadness and core memory balls were all used to transport tubes from the brain control room to the long-term memory area. At this moment, at this point, which is the “result” in the causal relationship I just mentioned, Act 1 turns to act 2.
7. B story
In the complex multi line story, this is easier to understand, which is the branch plot. We see the protagonist’s story to see almost, now want to see other, a related to the main line, but also a new character. Bing Bong！ He was Riley’s imaginary friend when he was a kid, and he had a lot of fun with Riley and their little rockets. But as Riley grew up, she hadn’t thought of Bing Bong for a long time. Joy and sadness met Bing Bong in the long-term memory area. They wanted help and promised to remind Riley of Bing Bong again.
8. Fun and game
This place should be the most interesting part of the film, but also the part with more space. Embodied in this film is the adventure story of joy, sadness and Bing Bong in the new world. Their goal is to catch the “train of thought” and return to the “brain control room”. They cross the “abstract thinking area” and “the land of imagination”. There is a foreshadowing point here. Bing Bong wept bitterly when he found out that his “small rocket” had been thrown into the forgotten area. Sadness went to comfort him, and Bing Bong finally regained his courage and led everyone to continue to chase the train.
9. Midpoint
In my opinion, I think it’s when they successfully use clowns to create nightmares in DreamWorks to wake Riley, restart the train of thought, and set off again. Their point on the train was a bit like a “false victory.” they thought they had finally succeeded, but then the train road was smashed, the train fell to the bottom, and they went back to the long-term memory again. At the same time, as I said, it’s a combination of a series of small actions, starting with waking up the clowns, starting with their intention to create nightmares. From this point, it’s all back to the origin.
10. Bad guys close in
The bad buy here is not, to some extent, the villain in in the film, but everything that prevents the protagonist from succeeding. Riley is awakened by the nightmare, and fear, strange, and anger in the control room are back to work. Anger can’t stand such a life any longer. By default, he inserts the “escape” button into Riley’s brain, which makes Riley have the idea of running away from home, and makes her steal her mother’s credit card and buy a ticket. This behavior directly led to the collapse of “honest island” in Riley’s five main personalities, breaking the way of thinking train. This is the meaning of “bad people approaching”, which has caused great setbacks. Who do you think is the villain in the film? Is it sadness who’s always in trouble? Or angel, who just did something bad? It’s not The real villain is change. It is the impermanent “change” that none of them expected.
11. All in lost
12. Dark night of soul
Putting these two points together is because the two points are closely linked in many moments, and their appearance is very similar. However, “nothing” is more like the result of behavior. They seem to have lost everything and “smell the smell of death”; and “soul night” is spiritual, that is, the protagonist completely feels himself at that moment finished. In this film, joy and Bing Bong fall into the forgetting zone, facing death (being completely forgotten), and they are “nothing”; the “soul night” is when joy starts to cry and feels that he is really finished.
13. Break into three
In fact, the turning point of the third act is also very close to the night of the soul. When the protagonist’s mental state is completely collapsed, ah, things have changed and new solutions to the difficulties have been found! In the movie, joy picks up a core memory ball when she is crying. She is surprised to find that Riley, who lost the game, is sad alone. At this time, her parents comforted her and her friends came to lift Riley high. Riley became happy again. Joy recalled that when Bing Bong lost his pain due to the small rocket, sadness comforted him and he immediately got the motivation. This is when joy realized! It turns out that sadness is another way to get happiness. Riley and Bing Bong are both comforted and inspired by Sadness. So she got excited, found the little rocket in the forgotten area, and returned to the long-term memory area above with the help of Bing bong. At this point, it turns to act three, the ending.
14. Final
The end doesn’t mean the end. Finally, joy and sandness return to the brain headquarters. Sadness pulls the “escape” button from the rotten console. Riley repents and quickly gets out of the car to go home. At home, Riley wept and confessed to her parents about her mistakes and confessed why she had been so moody recently, that is, she didn’t like and didn’t adapt to the new environment and new life. Mom and dad didn’t blame her. On the contrary, the family was frank with each other and hugged each other. Riley laughed happily. On the other hand, people in the control room got to know sadness again and admired her. She solved the problems that joy couldn’t solve, and they really accepted sadness. Here, the theme is pointed out very thoroughly. On the road of growth, we should learn to face ourselves honestly and learn to accept others. Learn to accept differences and respect each difference. This part is also the climax of the film, a happy ending.
15. Ending
The ending picture and the opening picture must be different, which means it must correspond to the change. At the end of the day, Riley added many personality islands; more and more core memory balls are colorful, that is, a variety of emotions constitute the core memory; the console of brain control room has been expanded, and everyone has a harmonious relationship; at the same time, Riley is 12 years old, officially entering adolescence, and everyone will face new challenges.
Character Joy & Sadness Timeline
Joy is in charge of the girl’s control room. She doesn’t understand why sadness always makes girls unhappy.
To make sure Riley is happy on the first day of school, joy orders sadness to stand in a circle and not meddle in anything on the console.
But sadness somehow touched a core memory ball, causing Riley to cry and produce the first ever blue core memory request (blue for sadness).
Joy tried to stop sadness. After a flurry of confusion, joy, sadness and core memory balls were all used to transport tubes from the brain control room to the long-term memory area.
Joy blamed sadness.
Joy and sadness met Bing Bong in the long-term memory area, hoping for help and promising to remind Riley of Bing Bong again.
Joy, sadness and Bing Bong’s Adventures in the new world. Their goal is to catch the “train of thought” and return to the “brain control room”.
Joy and Bing Bong fall into the oblivion zone, where they are faced with death, when they have nothing; the “night of the soul” is when joy begins to cry and feels that he is really finished.
Joy recalled that when Bing Bong lost his pain due to the small rocket, sadness comforted him and he immediately got the motivation. This is when joy realized! It turns out that sadness is another way to get happiness. Riley and Bing Bong are both comforted and inspired by Sadeness.
Joy and sadness return to the brain headquarters, and sadness pulls the escape button from the festering console.
Character Archetypes
Inside the headquarters, there are five people responsible for controlling Riley’s main emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear , Disgust, and Anger . Because these five emotions are completely different from each other, their images also have a huge contrast. The use of distinct colors in the film’s emotional design of five different roles in daily life. The main color of Joy is golden yellow, dazzling and pleasing to the eyes; worry is dark blue, which can not be forgotten; fear is lavender, he always keeps vigilance; weariness is green, which is consistent with the color of broccoli that Lily dislikes most; anger is red, who loves to get angry when meeting things, and even can jump up a flame on his head. Through the appearance of the characters, the audience can clearly understand the character characteristics of the characters.
Joy (Yellow)
Joy is the first emotional character born in the brain with Riley when she was born. Joy is a bright yellow little man. Yellow gives people warm Association and satisfaction, newborn sun, golden wheat wave and so on. Bright yellow can stimulate people’s brain ability, can treat depression, help people wake up enthusiasm for life, activate people’s confidence and optimism. Joy’s task is to keep Riley in a good mood. She is always carefree, optimistic and cheerful, looking for joy all the time. Joy regards every challenge Riley faces as a new opportunity, and those unhappy moments are just small episodes before happiness comes. Lily’s happiness is the joy of Joy.
Sadness (Blue)
The opposite of Joy is blue Sadness. Blue contains depression and melancholy, which can play a calming role. It can awaken concentration and intuition, and eliminate some compulsive thoughts. However, excessive consumption will lead to depression, and there is a feeling of isolation, sadness and loss from others. No emotional villain knows what the role of Sadness is. Sadness wants to be optimistic and make Riley happy, but she finds it hard to maintain a positive mood. Sometimes she thinks the best thing is to lie on the floor and have a good cry.
Anger (Red)
Anger is red. Red represents strong vitality and will. Red can often raise the temperature. Too much red can lead to excessive stimulation and irritability. Anger is always active in fighting for a fair deal for Riley. He has a bad temper and is ready to get angry when things don’t work out. He’s an acute man who can’t stand an imperfect life.
Disgust (Green)
Green is the color of nature, which symbolizes peace. In Islam, it symbolizes nobility and holiness. Therefore, the Disgust of green is critical to things. Tired, stubborn and honest, she protected Riley from poison – both physically and mentally. She is cautious about what Riley comes into contact with and where she has been, whether it’s broccoli or last year’s fashion trend. The starting point of weariness is good, she just doesn’t want to lower her standard.
Fear (Purple)
Purple is an excellent color for fear. People who like purple are easy to be sentimental, sensitive and neurotic, so the Fear in the film has always been the image of fear. The main task of fear is to keep Riley safe. He always pays attention to the external environment and evaluates the potential threats around Riley. In the view of Fear, there are traps in life everywhere, and we should be vigilant every minute.
Bing bong (Pink)
In addition to five kinds of emotional villains, there is also a pink playmate “Bing bong”, which represents Lily’s childlike interest. Pink is full of sweet color and has the effect of relaxing. “Bing bong” gives people a warm power, and uses his words to prove the expression of her emotions. This is Riley’s imaginary good friend. His body is mostly marshmallow. He looks like an elephant, but he has the tail of a cat and the sound of a dolphin. He was very timid and afraid of strange things, so when Joy and Sadness appeared in front of him, Bing bong ran away immediately. Bing bong is now more lost, because lily has slowly forgotten this childhood fantasy friend. And his dream is to go to the moon with a broomstick. Bing bong have been helping as Joy and Sadness try to get back to brain headquarters. When Joy and Bing bong fall into the memory dump, Bing bong abandon themselves and help Joy reach the platform above the dump. Bing bong is the concentrated embodiment of the staff in Riley’s brain. It is their selfless dedication that makes her grow up healthily.