Ce qu’on ne nous dit pas étant petit | Max Joseph | TEDxINSA
## Speaker Context - Speaker role: Speaker giving a talk (topic related to storytelling and life). - Speaker self-description: Very anxious person who has spent most of his life with 75 to 85% of his moment-to-moment brain power dedicated towards worrisome obsessions. ## People - Speaker: Self (the speaker). - Wife: Mentioned as the person the speaker's wife can be asked who wakes up every morning very anxious. ## Organizations - Fortune 500 company: Mentioned as an entity someone could be the CEO of. ## Tools, Tech & Products - Predator: Movie title mentioned in relation to seeing body energy. ## Concepts & Definitions - Anxiety: Defined by spending a large percentage of moment-to-moment brain power on worrisome obsessions. - Storytelling rules: The "rules underneath the rules of storytelling" that allow for a good, compelling, emotionally satisfying movie story. - Movie: Defined by the speaker as a series of dramatic questions. - Flow: Described as being musical rather than rational; the ebb and flow of energy. - Emotional playlist: A metaphor for how good stories, like music, build energy—suspense, anticipation, acceleration, deceleration, climax. ## Numbers & Data - 75 to 85% (percentage): Percentage of moment-to-moment brain power dedicated to worrisome obsessions. - 15 years: Time passed since the speaker's realization that becoming a film director has no set prerequisites. - 15 years: Time since the speaker started editing. - Over 20 years: Time the speaker has been editing. - More than 10,000 hours: Hours of editing the speaker has done. - Ninety minutes to two hours: Duration range for a movie. - Three acts: One possible structural division of a movie. - Five acts: Another possible structural division of a movie. ## Claims & Theses - The speaker is a very anxious person. - Rules provided structure and allowed the speaker to free his brain from anxiety during school activities. - Playing by the rules only works up until a certain point. - Once you're wanting to be a film director, there are no rules and no prerequisites. - Things like a resume and any of those things none of that matters for becoming a director. - Adult life has basically been an education in figuring out what rules I don't have to follow. - The foundational rules of storytelling allow you to tell a good compelling emotionally satisfying movie story. - For the speaker, a movie is a series of dramatic questions. - People are not data processors. - The things that people remember when watching media are the emotions they felt, not the information. - Flow is basically musical as opposed to rational. - If you make a playlist, you are not going to put three slow songs in a row or three fast songs in a row. - A good story's structure is similar to building a musical playlist. - If you prioritize flow, the audience will go along the ride with you. - Energy is greater than information. - The body doesn't lie when it comes to energy. - Following energy is crucial when choosing partners or mentors. - Things done purely for money are the worst things the speaker has ever done. - Things done out of love and passion, even if paid very little or nothing, are the best things. - To live well, one should find things and people that light you up. ## Mechanisms & Processes - Funneling anxiety through rules: School success and activities provided structure that comforted the speaker's anxiety. - The natural cycle of a movie: Posing questions at the beginning, building tension, answering the big question at the climax, and providing resolution/aftermath in the end. - The process of good storytelling: Building energy through emotional shifts (suspense, anticipation, etc.) rather than linear delivery of facts. - Editing for energy: Looking for parts where people "light up," where they tell a funny story, or where their face brightens, instead of just for information. ## Timeline & Events - In school: Speaker got A's, played tennis, won at tennis, was class president, or editor of the paper. - After school: Speaker moved to Los Angeles because he thought it was a prerequisite to becoming a film director. - Starting editing: Speaker started editing when he was 15 years old. ## Examples & Cases - School structure example: Doing homework, getting A's, playing tennis, winning at tennis, being class president, or editor of the paper. - Los Angeles requirement example: Thinking going to LA was a prerequisite to being a film director. - Movie example (Titanic): The question of whether their love would be successful or if they would survive. - Movie example (Fight Club): The question of whether Edward Norton's character would overcome his pathetic nature. - Movie example (American Beauty): The question of how Kevin Spacey's character would die. - Television show example: Speaker has been making a TV show for the last seven years, doing over a hundred episodes. - Sketching analogy: The best way to sketch someone is to draw the dark patches where light is falling and leave bright patches blank. - Relationship example: The speaker and his wife's relationship was based on great energy for the first three years, even though they didn't speak the same language. ## Trade-offs & Alternatives - Path A (Following Rules): Provided structure and comfort during formative years (school). - Path B (No Rules): Becoming a director requires no prerequisites, making it a "total free-for-all." - Information vs. Energy: Information is intellectual and boring; energy is what people feel and remember. - Structured Plan vs. Flow: Five-year plans are not a recipe for happiness; one must let the flow take you. - Facts/Data vs. Feelings: Choosing partners or mentors based on who energize you versus those who deflate you. ## Counterarguments & Caveats - Play by rules: Only works up until a certain point (graduation). - Film structure debate: Is a movie ninety minutes to two hours, or is it three acts, or is it five acts? - Over-relying on dialogue: Assuming characters saying what they want the audience to hear is effective. - Life vs. Movie: Life is not like a movie because it never gives definitive answers, unlike the catharsis provided by cinema. ## Methodology - The speaker spent time thinking about what a movie is, leading him to conclude it is a series of dramatic questions. - The speaker applied his understanding of storytelling rules to his own life in an attempt to reduce anxiety. ## References Cited - The speaker cites the movie *Titanic* as an example of a dramatic question. - The speaker cites the movie *Fight Club* as an example of a dramatic question. - The speaker cites the movie *American Beauty* as an example of a dramatic question. - The speaker cites the movie *The Predator* as an example related to perceiving body energy. ## Conclusions & Recommendations - To handle anxiety: Stop asking anxious questions to yourself and "put one foot in front of the other and move on." - For life planning: Take the pressure off making plans; prioritize letting the flow take you. - For navigating life moments: Listen to what life is trying to tell you to guide the "emotional playlist." - For selecting people: Go with people who energize you, rather than relying on intellectual discussions that leave you feeling deflated. - Overall principle: Find things and people that turn you on and light you up. ## Implications & Consequences - If one continues to focus on structure/rules: One remains trapped in predictable patterns. - If one ignores flow: Life becomes boring, like being in a car going dead straight at a constant speed. - If one prioritizes information over energy: The result is something that is intellectual but unmoving. - If one only seeks validation/prestige: The work will suffer because the heart won't be in it. ## Open Questions - What is the underlying fundamental structure of a movie? (The speaker claims to have an answer, but it is still questioned). - If life is not like a movie, how does one find the ultimate peace and catharsis? ## Verbatim Moments - "it's kind of funny that you guys invited me to speak about breaking the rules because most of my life I've followed the rules" - "75 to 85% of my moment-to-moment brain power dedicated towards worrisome obsessions" - "there are no rules there's no prerequisite to get there" - "it's just a total free-for-all" - "the rules underneath the rules of storytelling" - "a movie is a series of dramatic questions" - "Flow is king" - "people are not data processors" - "the things that they remember are the emotions that they felt while there while they were watching it they don't remember the information so much as they do the experience of watching it" - "flow... is basically its musical as opposed to rational" - "Energy is greater than information" - "if you're doing a sketch of someone the best thing you can do is actually instead of just like drawing an outline... the best thing you could do is actually just draw the dark parts where the light is falling" - "Life is fundamentally frustrating right and you don't get those answers" - "let's just stop asking those questions" - "let the flow let the flow take you" - "you have to prioritize that" - "I see like when people light up that's a moment that I want to use and when people kind of get bored or just start talking like that that's that's something to cut"