WELCOME TO STORY
Welcome to Week 7 | Due Friday Nov 26th | 3-4 hours
Your job for the next 2 weeks is to
create a rough storyreel for your entire story (Act 1, 2 & 3)
Make sure you've read and discussed your feedback from last week.
Make any changes you think will help your story.
Exercise 1: Flesh out Act 3 (30-60 min)
Last week you did this for Act 2, now you need to do it for Act 3.
Recall 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 final two steps in your story spine (what we call Act 3). Flesh out each major beat into 2 or more minor beats so that you can tell the end of your story.
Until finally____
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minor beat: _____
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minor beat: _____
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...
And ever since then _____
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minor beat: _____
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minor beat: _____
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...
Exercise 4: Sound & music (optional)
Now is a good time to start thinking about appropriate use of music & sound effects to enhance your storytelling.
Often music and sound effects are misused (too loud or distracting) and can detract from the story. This is why we consider this an optional step. Watch the video to get some advice on how to approach sound.
Looking for sound effects / music? Check out this guide.
Finally, work through this final assignment.
Before you get started, discuss how you want to divide the work of drawing,
recording audio and editing.
Assignment: Rough storyreel of your entire story. (60 min +)
Roughly sketch the images needed to tell Act 3 of your story & take pictures of each frame. (You can reuse your Act 1 & 2 images from last week that still work in your revised story). Use as many or as few images as you need to tell the story.
Record the audio for your story. Try to make the length of this video less than 5min, shorter = better.
Here is an example of what you will create.
BE SURE TO INCLUDE ACT 1, ACT 2 & ACT 3 in your storyreel.
Exercise 2: Storyboard Act 3 (30 min)
Try quickly sketching Act 3 on one page. Work fast and don't worry about making finished images. A good rule of thumb is one image per major & minor beat.
Click below to get a template if you would like, or just work from a blank page or use index cards.
Feel free to rewatch the storyboarding video if it would be helpful.
courtesy of Khan Academy/Pixar in a Box
You have 2 weeks for this submission.
UPLOAD BOX WILL APPEAR SOON
YOU CAN SUBMIT ANYTIME BEFORE NOV 26th
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.
Watch full livestream (1 hour)
Watch highlight (20 min)
Exercise 3: Turn narration into character dialog (optional)
Right now you probably have a narrator telling your entire story. The next step is to find ways to let your characters do the telling by giving them some dialog.
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narration: is when you, as the storyteller, tell your story
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dialog: is when a character you've created tells a part of your story
To get started try and find a few moments in your story where the character dialog can replace your narration.
This clip is a great example of the use of character dialog doing the "telling" of your story.
Done?
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