Storytelling at Pixar
I found an article from 2007 on the Animation World Magazine website titled The Secret of Pixar Storytelling that gives good insight into the Pixar process. Some article highlights below from Pixar Writer/director Andrew Stanton. . .
- "Be wrong as fast as you can." Get your ideas onto the page. The real gold is mined later. This advice is similar to that of Chuck Jones on drawing -- make your mistakes early and fast, so you can get them out of the way. Refine your efforts until you get to the good stuff."Genius" looks effortless only because there are 100,000 bad drawings (so-called failures) already behind you.
- Empathize with your main character, even if you don't like all of his/her motivations or qualities. (For example, Woody in Toy Story initially masked his selfish desires as being selfless.)
- Unity of opposites. Each character must have clear goals that oppose each other.
- You should have something to say. Not a message, per se, but some perspective, some experiential truth.
- Have a key image, almost like a visual logline, to encapsulate the essence of the story; that represents the emotional core on which everything hangs. (For example, Marlin in Finding Nemo, looking over the last remaining fish egg in the nest.)
- Cast actors with an appealing voice, and whom the microphone loves. Test their voice performance with animation to see if it fits.
- Know your world and the rules of it. (Such as in Monsters, Inc.)
- The crux of the story should be on inner, not outer, conflicts.
- Developing the story is like an archeological dig. Pick a site where you think the story is buried, and keep digging to find it.
- Animation should be interpretive, not realistic.
- "Just say no" to flashbacks. Only tell what's vital, and tell it linearly.
- Consider music as a character to anchor the film. Music is a keeper of the emotional truth.
I just stumbled across an interesting project/website developed by the 