"The common story is 1 + 1 = 2... The real genuine stories are about 1 + 1 = 3. That's what I'm interested in" says filmmaker Ken Burns in this short film on the art of filmmaking and storytelling. Watching it I was reminded of a quote in Storytelling Tips from Ira Glass "You have to be really a killer about getting rid of the boring parts and going right to the parts that get into your heart. You just have to be ruthless if anything is going to be good. Things that are really good are good because people are being really, really tough". I don't think there is a wasted word in this entire video that punches you you in the heart.
"We live in a rational world where 1 + 1 = 2. And it does. But the things that matter most to us, some people call it 'love, some people call it 'God', some people call it 'reason', is that other thing where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And that's the 3. There are great stories everywhere. Abraham Lincoln wins the Civil War and then decides he has time to go to the theatre. When Thomas Jefferson said 'We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal' he owned 100 human beings he never saw the hypocrisy, never saw the contradiction, and more importantly never fit in his lifetime to free any one of them. That's a good story. The stories I like to tell are always interesting because the good guys always have really serious flaws the the villains are very. compelling."