Peter Greenaway Quotes

I retain characters more often than plot, but what seems to happen is that I latch on to specific moments, turns of phrase, and dialogue as touchstones for me to recall what happened in the book. Kind of like freeze-frame.

We've all watched hundreds of movies from characters' points of view that are not our own. That's part of the gift movies give us.

I think as storytelling has changed, you know, it's kind of turned into kind of hyper-reality movies.

Why is it that we are born remembering, and live forgetting?

Remembering is the most overrated thing. Forgetting is far superior.

I like to tell stories that have beginnings, middles and ends.

I don't want to criticize any other designers, but I have to say that many of the people involved in this industry - directors and producers - are trying to make their games more like movies. They are longing to make movies rather than making videogames.

I have to say that movies have as much impact on me as music. And that I learned as much about narrative from movies as I did from reading novels, how to arrange stories, how to juxtapose things.

Whether you're writing a horror show or a James Bond film, I think what bubbles beneath is interesting characterization. The colors that emerge through storytelling is what a dramatist does. There's always got to be something bubbling underneath that will erupt at some point.

There are very few films that work like a novel.

The luxury we have when we do a series is that we go through a long journey, and it keeps a lot of information and things to be revealed.

Not only a great game, 'Uncharted 2' raised the bar for storytelling for the medium. The game treated action as a part of the overall story rather than a way to move from plot point to plot point.

All movies assault the viewer in one way or another.

It's the story that counts.

You cannot base a whole movie on just the imagery alone. It has to be the story and the characters.

Stories develop from things I read and also from my own experiences and experiences of people I know.

People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.

Listen to great storytellers; slowly, you will learn about voice, timing, tension, structure, climax - all the things you need to tell stories that will capture the imagination of your audience.

I love movies. Movies have influenced me as a writer.

In a film you only get two hours to do this big arc and so you have to pick and choose your moments carefully, but with television you get to take your time and just take it episode by episode and discover new things.

I want to tell a story and shape it all the way through to the end.

The place I begin is with story. If the audience doesn't care about that, then it doesn't matter how amazing the spectacle is. My central philosophy is that people go to the movies to be told a story, not to see stuff blow up.

If you're sitting in your minivan, playing your computer animated films for your children in the back seat, is it the animation that's entertaining you as you drive and listen? No, it's the storytelling. That's why we put so much importance on story. No amount of great animation will save a bad story.

I find that most people know what a story is until they sit down to write one.

The technology available for film-making now is incredible, but I am a big believer that it's all in the story.