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Welcome to Week 5 | Due Friday Nov 5th | 3-4 hours work
Livestream:
Your job for this week is to
make a storyreel for Act 1 of your story.
Storyreel Options
You will need a video editing app to make your storyreel.
If you are already using one you can skip this step.
You will need a video making program to:
1. combine your images in a sequence
2. record your voiceover/dialog to accompany the images
Here are some free options you can run in a browser:
- weVideo (Chromebook/Mac/Windows)
- Adobe Spark (help video)
Here are some free downloadable options:
- iMovie (Mac & iPhone)
- Video editor (Windows)
If you still need help, ask a friend, Google or email us anytime help@storyxperiential.com!
Watch this short video to make sure you understand why a storyreel is important.
courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box
Make sure you've read and discussed your storyspine feedback from last week.
Make any changes you think help your story.
Then, work through these exercises as a team.
here is an optional worksheet to help you.
Exercise 1: Introduction to minor beats (30-60 min)
A major beat is a step in your story spine. You already did these.
For example here is a major beat
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"A bank is robbed"
While minor beats are the series of events that happen at each major beat.
For example here are minor beats:
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"Someone in a disguise walks into a bank"
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"They sneak back to the safe and input the code"
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"They stuff the money into a bag"
Now look at the first three steps of your story spine (what we call Act 1). Flesh out each major beat into 2 or more minor beats so that you can tell the whole beginning of your story. Think of this as the first draft of your stories opening.
Once upon a time _____
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minor beat: _____
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minor beat: _____
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...
Every day _____
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minor beat: _____
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minor beat: _____
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...
Until one day _____
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minor beat: _____
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minor beat: _____
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...
courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box
Exercise 2: Storyboarding (30min)
Watch this great video and then try quickly sketching the minor beats in your first act on one page. Everyone on your team should try this as it's an important skill.
Click below to get a template if you would like, or just work from a blank page or use index cards.
courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box
Finally work through this final assignment as a team.
Discuss how you want to divide the work of writing, drawing, recording and editing.
Final Assignment: Act 1 storyreel (1-2 hours)
Roughly sketch the images needed to tell Act 1 of your story & take pictures of each frame.
Record the audio for your story (don't worry about adding music or sound effects this week). Try to make the length of this video less than 2min.
Here is an example of what you will create.
Watch full livestream (1 hour)
Watch highlight (18 min)
Done?
Choose one person from your team to submit your image:
all fields are required
max file size: 1GB
Submit button will be available after your file has uploaded.
Troubles? help@storyxperiential.com
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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.