Chuck Jones - The rules

The Rules - Chuck Jones

• The Roadrunner cannot harm or upset the coyote except by going 'MEEP, MEEP'.
• No outside force can harm the coyote, only his own ineptitude or the failure of Acme products.
• The coyote could stop anytime - if he were not a fanatic.
• No dialogue ever, except 'MEEP, MEEP'
• The roadrunner must stay on the road - otherwise, logically, he would not be called the roadrunner.
• All action must be confined to the natural environment of the 2 characters. The southwest American desert.
• All materials, tools, weapons or mechanical convenincies must be obtained from Acme corporation.
• Wherever possible, make gravity the coyote's greatest enemy.
• The coyote is always more humilated by his failures than harmed.

Do films follow rules?

• Some film makers will claim that there are no rules or that rules are there to be broken.
• However, most would agree that there are certain conventions that mainstream films observe in order for them to be acceptable to the mass audience.

Thriller Conventions:

• Young naive character
• Resourceful character
• Antaganist/Villan
• Suspense
• High tech gadgets
• Mysterious phonecall
• Fast pace action scene
• Flash back
• Hero mostly wins
• Cant kill children
• Hero always meets a girl
• Mystery that needs to be solved
• Curious character
• False hero
• Reason for conflict
• McGuffin