top of page

WELCOME TO STORY

Week 2 livestream:

   Welcome to Week 2  |  Due Friday Oct 15th  | 3-4 hours work

Exercise 1: Elevator test (5-10 min)

This is a brainstorming activity you can return to many times during the creation of your character. As you get to know your character this exercise will become easier.

​

Imagine a character from your favorite "what If" idea is trapped in an elevator. What would they do? How would they react?

courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box

Your job for this week is to create a character profile.
Exercise 2: Internal vs. external features (15-30 min)

Part A: Identify 3 internal and 3 external features of someone that you know. (warm up)

​

Part B: Using the character your team has chosen, come up with 3 internal and 3 external features. Don't worry this can change!

 

Here are some ideas to help:

​

External features:

  • Is your character a human, animal, or object?

  • What kind of clothing do they wear or exterior do they have?

  • How does your character move?

  • What's the first thing you'd notice when looking at them from a distance?

 

Internal features:

  • What do they like to do?

  • What do they fear?

  • What emotion do they most often feel?

  • What makes them happy?

courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box

Exercise 3: Wants vs. needs (15-30 min)

Part A: Try to identify one of your own wants and one of your own needs.

​

Part B: Return to your character idea from the previous exercise. Brainstorm answers to the following questions:

​

  • What do they want most?

  • What might they need to learn?

courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box

Looking for more inspiration? 
Watch this week's advice:
Now you are ready for your assignment for this week.

​

Final Assignment: Make a character profile (1 hour)

Now it’s time to summarize the ideas you have discussed for your original character by using the sample script below. 

​​

  • The characters name is: ______

  • On the outside they look like: ______

  • On the inside they are: ______

  • What they want most is: ______

  • What stops them from getting what they want is: ______

  • What they need to learn is: ______

​

Then turn that into a short video by recording the script and adding an image or two (something you draw or find). 

​

Your team should decide on which character you want to develop further
and use this same character for all exercises this week.
Make sure you gave feedback on Week 1 submissions & checked your feedback
by clicking on your submission in the Week 1 gallery
(password story2021)
Next work through these story exercises with your team
Exercise 4: Obstacles (15-30 min)

Part A: Identify an obstacle that you've faced in your life. What was it preventing you from getting?

​

Part B: Using the character that you are developing. Brainstorm a possible obstacle they might face in the story.

courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box

Exercise 5: Character Arc (15-30 min)

Part A: How have you personally changed as a result of overcoming an obstacle in your life.

​

Part B: Brainstorm ideas for how your character might change as a result of the obstacle you’ve identified in the previous exercise.

​

  • What might they want at the beginning?

  • What might they realize they need at the end?

courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box

Watch full livestream (45 min)
Watch highlights (10 min)

Done?

Choose one person from your team to submit your assignment:

supported video formats (AVI, MPEG, MPG, MP4, MKV, WebM, MOV, OGV, VOB, M4V, MXF, WMV)

max file size: 1GB (smaller is better)

Upload your video here!
all fields are required

An error occurred. Make sure you have uploaded a video and filled in all required fields (*).

Your content has been submitted

LOUIS GONZALES started in animation in 1996 at Warner Brothers Feature Animation in their Training program where he studied both Layout and Animation.  After graduating from the WBFA internship program he worked on Quest for Camelot, Iron Giant, and Osmosis Jones.
In 2000 Louis moved to Pixar to work starting as a CG Layout artist on Monsters inc. & quickly made his way to the Story department on the Incredibles. His credits at Pixar include Monsters University, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Ratatouille, Cars, Cars 3, Brave, The Incredibles 1 & 2 and other shorts & films. 
He currently works as a Director at Pixar Animation Studios where he has directed 2 short films. “Nona” (2020) & “Know Your Rights.” (2021)

Our Next Livestream Guests! 
5pm PST/8pm EST Nov 29th on Week 8 page

McKenna Harris is currently a story supervisor on an upcoming film at Pixar Animation Studios. Previously, she was a story lead on Pixar's Luca, and directed its spin-off short Ciao Alberto. Her animation career began in character design on Cartoon Network's We Bare Bears; after Bears, she focused on pursuing storyboarding, which lead to interning in the story department at Sony Pictures Animation, and later joining Walt Disney Feature Animation as a story apprentice. Her feature credits include Wreck-It-Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet, Frozen 2, and Raya and The Last Dragon. In her spare time she loves dreaming up ideas for personal projects, drinking coffee, and binging on Netflix. 

The Public Exhibition is live!

Congratulations to all participants, we were blown away with your passion and dedication.

​

Shoutout to our wonderful facilitators who provided incredible student support and contributed to the success of the pilot.

​

Exciting News: There will be a Spring 2022 Story Xperiential with Pixar!  

Dates and program details will be announced early in January (aiming for a mid-Feb start).  For more information add yourself to our waiting list.

​

For tips on how your students can continue developing their storytelling abilities, please download this Resource sheet.

bottom of page