1144: The Frame Is The Game

In 2009, Pixar's Up brought my gnarly heart to tears.

(My BIG tearjerker is still ET of course – when the flower blooms – but I digress.)

Yesterday we talked about Psycho, and the attention storytellers generate when they show us that the world isn't what we think it is.

But it's more than attention that's being created; it's opportunity.

Opportunity for persuasion. Opportunity for change.

The opening 11 minutes and 34 seconds of Up are a masterclass of storytelling, particularly the montage that begins at 7 minutes 14 seconds.

For four wordless minutes, we watch as the dreams of Carl and Ellie Fredricksen grow, falter and fail.

It's beautiful work, but it's also necessary. Without that montage, Karl is just another grumpy old man sitting on a porch.

And in stories (as in business) the frame is the game.

The oft-cited Medium post, "The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen", starts like this:

1. Name a Big, Relevant Change in the World

And that makes sense because humans don't do anything unless there is tension.

Karl's whole world changes when Ellie dies.

Rose Walker's whole world changes when she meets Jack on Titanic.

Harry's whole world changes when Hagrid arrives (on the world's 2nd-best motorbike*).

Each of these reframes the world and creates a tension that MUST be resolved. By adventure. By death. By Hogwarts.

But this isn't just for stories. Before I talk to clients about story or status or copywriting, I work to reframe their world.

Whatever our business, the frame IS the game.

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This is one of thirty riffs on #Business #Storytelling. Follow me to get the series.

*Except Streethawk.

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The Stories Mean Business podcast with Nick Warren.
One Idea A Day, Every Day.

Get deeper into business storytelling:
https://storiesmeanbusiness.com/storybusiness/
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