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The Art of Storytelling - You are a Storyteller

Note taking made during the Pixar lessons for the ‘art of storytelling’. A lot of the content retraces the information we’ve already been told, but from the perspective of someone in the animated film industry.

I myself am more interested in animated television, but I thought that working through this might be helpful.

https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar/storytelling

(These notes were typed up originally on a word document so it’ll be messier here than where it was first typed up. I haven’t done all of the activities, but did the majority).

Character Story Structure Visual Language Film Grammar Pitching and Feedback

Why do you think you connected with these stories? Come up with at least one reason for each. What, if anything, do these three films have in common? How are they different? Three favourite movies - How to Train your Dragon: This film is about a human and a dragon becoming friends despite all odds, both of them being disadvantaged in some way. I think I was drawn in by the visuals first of all, but later it was the work that the characters put into their friendship. For me personally, I think it was the close bond the characters formed, because at the time of watching I didn’t have this and perhaps desired it. - Tangled: This is a retelling of the fairy tale ‘Rapunzel’. Rapunzel has a dream but is held back by her ‘mother’, and works with a rogue to achieve more than she anticipated. This film has a strong sense of passion for a goal and doing whatever it takes to achieve it, which is an idealistic desire I share with it. It also had a believable and cute romance shush. - Bambi: This older film follows a baby deer growing up and becoming the great prince to replace his father. Throughout the film Bambi endures happiness and hard times, a more realistic look at life despite the age rating, and as a child I think I could relate to this. It also had a minor theme of saving the forest / environment, something we learned a lot about at that age and fervently supported. These 3 films are all visually appealing and were obviously able to grab and hold my attention, and are definitely part of the reason I come back to watch them again. They all feature a character that feels lost and alone for at least one section of the film, before growing into more of a unit with friends and family.

‘What if’ questions How to train your dragon: What if dragons were real? Tangled: What if the princess was the hero? Bambi: What if deer lived in the forest?

What if fairies were real?

What if cats could talk?

What if magic was real?

What if the clouds were dying?

What if earthquakes happened every week?

Part A: Return to your 3 films. Identify the worlds and characters in each. Write these down.

Who are the main characters? - Hiccup and Toothless - Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (Pascal and Max) - Bambi, Bambi’s Mother, Thumper

Is there a character you identify with most? - Hiccup, he doesn’t fit in with the others but finds his way through his hobbies. - Rapunzel, she’s ‘trapped’ in one way or another, and her arc involves a strong theme of achieving her dreams. - Bambi, due to the amount of responsibility that was put on him so young.

Where does the movie take place? Is it one world or multiple worlds? - How to train your dragon takes place in a single world on a single viking island, in a more medieval era. - Tangled takes place in a small section of a medieval kingdom, between a hidden tower and a bustling fantastical city. - Bambi fully takes place in a woodland forest, in an era where humans have gunpowder.

Part B: Try mixing a character and world from different movies. Try this a few times and see what happens. - Hiccup in a woodland forest, modern(ish) era. Without the magical element of the dragons, Hiccup might have been in the same boat as he was at the start of his own film. Having a similar threat (as the humans are to Bambi) may be the same as the dragons, however, and perhaps he would try to stop the conflict by communicating with them. - Rapunzel on a viking island inhabited by dragons. It’s likely that due to Rapunzel’s nature she would have wanted to befriend the dragons, much like Hiccup was inclined to do. - Bambi in a fantastical world. Bambi’s story would have most likely been less tragic in these circumstances, as animals are seen as more humanoid to the characters. Perhaps he would have had the support of humans instead of them being a constant threat.

Part C: Return to your three "what if" statements from the previous exercises. Pick your favorite one. Can you imagine a possible character and world? (Optional) Draw or write about what life would be like in this world. What if the clouds were dying? The main character may rely on the clouds for their survival, for water, or maybe they’re something insignificant that only the main character seems to care about. I think I would want to go for the character living within a larger population, and they are the only one that seems to notice the clouds and their usefulness. This would be a child character trying to warn the adults that something has changed in the clouds, and that it’s a bad sign for future harvests / their survival. None of the adults seem to take much heed however, but the main character feels stuck. They meet someone who agrees with their hypothesis and gives them something magical in order to start their journey, which will involve a lot of time in the sky. Perhaps there are cities in the sky that no one can see from the ground that she gets to explore.

Always remember your initial feeling / idea when you’re refining something.

Something that might affect you might not affect someone else in the same way, you need to find a way to get in touch with the whole audience’s emotions.

Elevator Test: Put the character into an elevator and trap them there, see how they would react in a crisis.

Step 1: Pick a character from one of your favorite films. How would they respond to being trapped in an elevator? Draw or write a single page about what happens. Rapunzel: She would be quite calm and logical in this situation and would be keen to find a way out.

Step 2: Return to a character you are in the process of creating and do the same thing. Juniper: She would try to be calm but the situation of something not going exactly to plan would put her on edge. She would try to quickly find a way the fix the problem (pushing buttons, tapping the door to try and activate the missing mechanism etc), and if this didn’t work she would then start to panic.

You want to be able to imagine the character in any situation and know what they would do / how they would react.

External features, internal features. Sometimes external features can suggest internal features when you’re designing the character’s personality.

‘Characters have to come from authentic human emotions and experiences’, being based on real people that you know personally. These are things that are hard to make up on your own, especially to make them believable and relatable.

External Features: Long blonde hair, fantasy-like purple dress, energetic stance. Internal Features: Naivety, optimism, curiosity

External Features: Thin, rough and dated clothing, long face Internal Features: Smart, inventive, stubborn

External Features: Large head, large eyes, spindley but flexible form Internal Features: Curious, energetic, cautious

Return to one of your character ideas from the last lesson. Brainstorm some possible answers to the following questions (Aeli)

Is your character a human, animal, object? - Human, but with some Fae DNA that gives her magical properties.

What kind of clothing do they wear? - A large celtic poncho/cloak, leggings

How does your character move? - Without much grace, much like a child playing in a playground, but graceful to an extent when using her powers.

What's the first thing you'd notice when looking at them from a distance? - The conflicting colours between her cloak and hair, as well as the weird shape of her hair.

Internal features:

What do they like to do? - To explore and to push her boundaries, climbing trees and talking to new people.

What do they fear? - Disagreements, as these often lead to shouting which she is fervently afraid of.

What emotion do they most often feel? - She’s usually happy, and goes with this emotion, allowing it to motivate a lot of her actions until they get received badly. Her second most frequent emotion is sulky anger.

How would they respond if trapped in an elevator? - She might try to attack the elevator, hoping it’ll just know what to do.

What does your character WANT? It’s the most important thing about a character, it pushes the story.

They will NEED to do something in order to be fulfilled or happy, this will be a conflict within the character - what they want and need.

The NEED is the emotional heart of the story, what the audience will remember afterwards.

Rapunzel: She wants to see the lanterns, but ends up needing the connection with Eugene (this leads her to also ‘needing’ to find out who her true parents are). Hiccup: He wants to fit in with his people and make his dad proud, but needs to instead revolutionise them, doing the exact opposite of fitting in. Bambi: Bambi wants his carefree life, but ends up needing to grow into the great prince he was born to be. (?)

I want to make a cartoon of my own, but I first need to approach my own independence and see how far I am able to push it in order to accomplish this goal. Perhaps I ‘need’ to work on someone else's project?

What do they want most? - Aeli most wants the power that she sees Juniper have, and the freedom it must grant.

Who do they want to become? - Someone who people look up to, who can solve any problem.

What might they need in order to succeed? - She needs to realise that not everything is black and white, good or bad, and that some situations are more difficult than others to solve.

What’s the best way to get a character to realise what they need to accomplish?

Force your character to react, what choice would they make and how would that obstacle reflect their character?

Rapunzel: Mother Gothel, her hold on Rapunzel emotionally and later in the movie, physically. Hiccup: His father, who disagrees with him ideologically and later takes control from him - taking his dragon. Bambi: Bambi’s mother dying, as this means his ‘safety net’ is gone and he needs to learn to fend for himself. My parents splitting up meant financial and emotional instability for me growing up, which proved to be an obstacle when it came to doing what children ‘should’ be doing, like school trips, playdates, parties etc.

Aeli is in a world where she has power but is not nearly as strong as those around her. If someone disagrees with her and decides to use brute force to get their way, there’s not much she can do to stop them. Another obstacle is just how naive she is to the world she is really in, and she needs that knowledge to accomplish her goals.

Character, obstacle, goal. Obstacles change the character as their arc continues, before they reach their goal.

The character is formed as the story continues, they develop as it progresses.

If you get something for nothing, you won’t value it, it’s the same for the character.

Rapunzel: She wants to see the lanterns in the beginning, and realises that she instead needs to make connections with people like Eugene and pursue the outer world. Hiccup: He starts the film wanting to fit in with his village, and realises that no, he needs to flip their beliefs on their head for the good of their future - he had to ostracize himself. Being less ‘spoiled’ with financial gain, I find it easier to do without certain things, and learn to do my best to be prepared for the worst financially. Aeli starts her story wanting to be strong enough to essentially get her way, but as she proceeds she learns that what she wants isn’t always right, and there are many ‘right’ ways of doing things. She’ll still fight for what she believes in, but won’t force it on others if she sees there could be another way.

Why do we care? What’s at risk if the characters fail - if the stakes are low the film won’t be very entertaining.

Early in the arc the stakes might not be too extreme, but as it progresses it might get more and more important that the character wins.

The stakes should be very important to the character, it should be the world to them.

Externals stakes - physically what will happen to the character or the world?

Internal stakes - what’s the character feeling emotionally or mentally? What do they care about, what will happen to them internally?

Philosophical stakes - the values of the belief system of the world (if Frodo doesn’t throw the ring into the fire, the world will be under the control of evil forever). Good vs evil, greed vs generosity etc. Underlying ideas or values.

Rapunzel: When she was back in the tower, Rapunzel figured out that she was the lost princess, and had to make the decision to blame Gothel, which would make her hostile and would result in Rapunzel being imprisoned more forcefully than before, and Eugene’s ‘death’. This would be a physical stake, perhaps also internal as it puts Rapunzel under a lot of emotional distress. Hiccup: When fighting the ‘alpha’ dragon, Hiccup had to decide to lead the threat away from everyone else, sacrificing his and Toothless’ safety in the process. He lost his leg because of this. This would have been a physical stake, and perhaps a philosophical stake as it changes the vikings’ view on dragons forever.

Aeli needs to choose to pursue what she thinks is right, in comparison to what her family says is right. She holds the power and the people she loves find her almost terrifying, and she needs to put her own desires aside for their sake. The relationships she has are at stake in this situation, as well as her safety. This is a physical stake, but could also count as an internal one, as her stubbornness and pride are pulled into question. Perhaps it could even be philosophical due to the decision being one that many people make at some point in their life, but it doesn’t reflect the world very much.

What do you want the audience to know, and when? Introduction, buildup and pay off, it’s important to get the order right otherwise it won’t have an impactful affect.

Structure can affect how the audience reacts.

The structure of the story is the most important part, before you start to work on dialogue and the extra bits. It’s the concrete foundation of the story, and needs to be solid before adding anything to it.

Story beats: the most important parts of your story. Don’t get into a detailed plot, but identify if the protagonist is making a decision that’s important, and if it could affect the rest of the plot. (Buzz lightyear looking at the rows of toys like him and realising that there’s more like him, this would quantify as a story beat).

Story spine: ‘once upon a time, every day, until one day, because of this, because of that, because of that, until finally, ever since then…’

Choose a format (outline form, using index cards, sketchbook, etc.) to identify and describe the beats that are part of the structure in each of your three favorite films

How to train your Dragon:

Beginning:

Once upon a time - there was a viking boy who lived on an island.

Every day - Dragons would attack, and he wouldn’t be able to help.

Until one day - He shot down a Nightfury.

Middle:

Because of this - He learned he couldn’t hurt dragons, even though it’s what he wanted at first. Because of this - He trained and became friends with the dragon. Because of this - the vikings found out about his dragon and took him away.

End:

Until finally - The boy’s dad accepts him.

Ever since then - The vikings became friends with the dragons, and they respect the boy.

Tangled:

Beginning:

Once upon a time - A princess was kidnapped for her magical hair.

Every day - She sat in her tower, never leaving but wanting to go.

Until one day - A thief breaks into her tower, giving her the opportunity to leave.

Middle:

Because of this - She became close to the thief.

Because of this - She comes to the kingdom and learns about the lost princess.

Because of this - When the thief is framed to have left her, she goes back home with her mother.

End;

Until finally - She realises that she was the lost princess and rebels against her captor.

Ever since then - She’s lived in the kingdom with the thief.

What are you trying to say in your story?

The theme is connected to the moral, this is what your character learns by the end of the story.

Something without a core idea or theme is quite unmemorable - it needs this so that if the audience tries to refer back to it, they can simply summarise the theme.

Finding out what the protagonist needs is often the theme of the production.

It’s important to know the theme or moral before you start the story, although this can develop as you work on this. You don’t need to start with a theme, but you need it to be clear before the story is finished.

Part A: Describe the moral or theme of your three favorite films. Can you identify the lesson that the main character(s) learns by the end of the film?

HTTYD: Accept people for their differences.

Tangled: Follow your dreams.

Part B: Think of a story from your own life. What was the moral of your story? What did you learn and why?

Throughout secondary school I thought there were certain things I could / couldn’t do due to a ‘status’ I perceived myself to have. As I grew up I realised that anyone can do whatever, no one cares. So the moral would be along those lines - be an individual.

Part C: Return to the story you are developing and try the following:

Brainstorm ideas for the moral in your own story (return to the needs of your main character from the Character lesson) Aeli needs to learn throughout her story that not every problem has a black and white answer, and this can encompass a few morals. Perhaps the core one is to ‘accept people for their differences’, or to ‘think about others’. She’s a child so it’ll be something simple at first.

Most common film structure is the 3 act structure - beginning, middle and end.

Act 1: We find out where the story is taking place, and what type of product they’re about to watch, we see what’s normal for the characters and what’s going to set the story into motion. Can also feature an antagonist.

You meet the character and see their place in the world, and grow an affinity for them, so you want to follow them through their story.

Inciting incident - will introduce a conflict that will force the character into action. This will generally happen at the end of the first act.

Part A: Identify the First Act in your three favorite films.

Who is/are the main characters, and why do we care about them? HTTYD: Hiccup is our main character and we care about him because he is the underdog of his village, and we see his determination to succeed. We also see that he’s picked on a lot, and we sympathise. Tangled: Rapunzel is the main character and we know that she’s been kidnapped, even if she doesn’t yet know. This is already morally bad so we want her to be reunited with her parents.

Where and when does the story take place? HTTYD: On a viking island. Tangled: In a fantastical kingdom.

How do we learn what type of movie it is? HTTYD: We see that Hiccup wants to join in with fighting the dragons, but that everyone around him is discouraging, showing that this is quite like an underdog story. Tangled: We have an introductory sequence where we see baby Rapunzel being kidnapped, and we see that she’s entranced by lanterns flying every year on her birthday. We know that she wants this, even though it seems impossible.

What is the inciting incident? (how is the world disrupted?) HTTYD: Hiccup lets a Nightfury go, realising he can’t hurt the dragon. Tangled: A thief, Flynn Rider, breaks into Rapunzel’s tower.

What or who is the antagonist HTTYD: Hiccup’s dad is the main antagonist, although he’s not always seen as the ‘bad guy’. It could be argued that his dad’s ‘closed-mindedness’ is the antagonist that gets defeated in the end. Tangled: Mother Gothel, the woman who kidnapped Rapunzel in the first place.

Act 2: Progressive complications that make our characters make choices, some that are difficult for them to make.

‘Beat your character up a lot’. ‘A story with no conflict has no shape’. It’s where you see the most growth.

Act 2 shouldn’t go on and on. A series of challenges for the character, toward the ultimate ‘fork in the road’ where they have to make the most important decision.

The low point - when it seems that all hope is lost. They could have achieved everything they want, but they feel unfulfilled because they haven’t gotten what they need. Force them to confront what they didn’t want to confront in act 1.

Act 2 happens after the inciting incident. There’s often a choice that they can never come back from, or the low point.

Part A: Identify the Act 2 in your three favorite films.

What is the want/goal of the main character(s) at the start of Act 2? HTTYD: He wants to become friends with Toothless. Tangled: She wants to go to the kingdom to see the lanterns.

What (if any) is the point of no return or turning point (when the character learns something and changes their path)? HTTYD: Hiccup is pinned down by a dragon, and Toothless comes to his rescue, revealing himself to the other vikings. Tangled: Rapunzel is chased along with her new companion by palace guards?

What (if any) is the low point? HTTYD: Toothless is taken by the vikings, and they all head toward danger that he feels that he can’t save them from. Tangled: Rapunzel is taken back to the tower by her mother.

What did the character learn by the end of the second act? HTTYD: Hiccup learns to let other people in, teaching the others how to ride dragons. Tangled: Rapunzel learns her true identity, and the greed of Mother Gothel.

Act 3: We head toward the inevitable climax. The main character fears losing everything they care about. They face their ultimate test. They need to make choices they weren’t capable of making in act 1.

After the climax, the characters return to their world, but better than they were in act 1. They’ve grown and everything might seem better.

They sacrifice their wants for their needs - it’s time to demonstrate the change.

SHOW that they’ve learned something - the reason you made the story in the first place.

You don’t know how well the first and second act worked until it’s completed by act 3 - it should be satisfying.

A satisfying resolution means that the character needs to complete their emotional arc (it needs to be emotional).

Sometimes the resolution can come with a surprise / an unexpected ending.

Part A: Identify Act 3 in each of your three favorite films.

What was the crisis? HTTYD: Hiccup and Toothless defeat the large dragon, but they both fall into the flames. Tangled: Gothel chains Rapunzel up, stabs her companion and is about to take her away.

How is it resolved? HTTYD: Toothless caught and protected Hiccup, solidifying his dad’s trust in the dragons. Tangled: Eugene cuts Rapunzel’s hair, killing Gothel. Rapunzel cries and this brings Eugene back from the dead.

How does the main character demonstrate that they learned what they needed? HTTYD: Hiccup wakes up to a world where vikings and dragons are living together. Tangled: Rapunzel meets with her birth parents, becomes princess and eventually marries Eugune.

What was the theme or moral? HTTYD: To accept people for their differences. Tangled: To do what you feel is right / follow your dreams.

Was the character arc emotionally satisfying? Why or why not? HTTYD: Yes. Hiccup started the film not fitting in and wanting to be one of the proper vikings, but through his relationship with Toothless he stops caring about this, and revolutionises his original goal. Tangled: Kind of. Rapunzel does find out who she is, and follows her dreams to what she was meant to be. She loses some of her naivety from the start, but I’m not sure if she has a strong emotional arc.

Work backwards. Know where you want it to end, so you know how to set it up.

Expose yourself to as much as you can, as many stories as you can. Find a new story.

Study structure in films and tv shows, how it would typically go. You can then invent your own way, once you understand what is standard at the moment.

What is important to you? Write what you know - what you care about.

You have to be willing to tear it down and try again.

The bigger something is in a frame, the more important they are. Everything you see on screen is a choice.

Value (light or dark) can make something stand out more.

Line

Where a character looks, it’s like that’s where the audience will look.

The different thicknesses and directions of lines can suggest different things, these translate into the final film. Can suggest motion, emotion etc.

How would a line move with certain personality attributes?

Part A: How is line used to convey meaning and emotion within the frame below? Can you identify the primary direction of lines that direct your eyes to different parts of the frame?

The line of the birds beak points you toward Carl, and this is emphasised by the horizon line of the opposite cliff - it’s less prominent but adds to the effect. So we are pushed to look at Carl, and are led to look at the dog and Russell afterwards.

Part B: On a blank sheet of paper write down two different feelings that you’ve had recently (one at the bottom left, and the other at the bottom right). Visually represent the feeling on the left as a line traveling across the paper to the right. Then transform the line as it starts to take on characteristics of the feeling on the right.

Frustration

Melancholy

Part C: Create a character with just one line and give it a name and short description. Try creating additional characters using multiple lines.

Boffry: A short tempered line, but he has a soft side.

Shape

Start with primitive shapes like circles, squares and triangles - different shapes represent different traits the character may have.

Circle is friendly, triangle is active, square is reliable / robust.

More detail = more information and more emotion

Characters should be easily identifiable from their silhouette.

Using basic shapes you can plot out a scene to help tell the story. Notice how these help to draw the eye, how they suggest the character personalities in a scene. A rectangular shape around a character could suggest they feel boxed in etc.

Contrast between characters’ shapes could also suggest certain things.

Part A: Study the above image for a few minutes.

Can you locate the main shapes in this image? - Sully is a rectangular shape, Mike is a circle. They have a rectangular shape behind them, and the shadow of Boo could almost be triangular.

How does shape influence where you look and what meaning and emotion is conveyed? - Sully being the largest and most stable shape is what draws the eye immediately, and then you read the image from right to left, looking at Boo’s shadow and to Mike, following the rectangular structure of the blinds behind them.

Part B: Find a frame from one of your three favorite films. Notice how shapes are used.

What are the unique characteristics that help establish the mood and story? - Rapunzel is conformed into a rectangular shape in the background, and when we look at her we follow where she’s looking, to Pascal. He’s wearing a mini dress, so his form becomes more triangular. As he’s posing in this shot, the activeness of his shape makes sense - Rapunzel being a more stable rectangle makes her feel like more of a background image. The circular table contains the two and we focus on whatever is within that area. - Hiccup is in the foreground here, forming a strong rectangular shape in the corner, and our eyes are drawn to Toothless, the more active of the two with a more triangular shape. The scene is contained by the cliffs behind them, so we focus solely on this interaction.

On a piece of paper, draw the composition using the simple shapes. Feel free to overlay each frame and trace on top of it with a highlighter.

Part C: For your own story, identify the main shape for your main character(s).

What does the shape of the character imply? She’s mostly rectangular with a more circular head. She’s stable and friendly, and her hair has small triangular spikes that suggests her activity.

Does their shape change over time? Not much, her cloak might flow a lot behind her when she’s gliding through the air, forming more of a triangular shape.

Space

Linear perspective. Positioning vertical lines can create an illusion of depth, and changing the line density can emphasise this.

Make things smaller to appear further away etc.

One point perspective, showing depth at a single point. All the lines converge at that one point.

Force your eye to know where to look in the image.

Can make story suggestions - have a character feeling cramped in a space, or the space never seems to end etc.

Part A: Study the above image for a few moments and then answer the following questions:

How is the illusion of depth achieved? - The lines on the road leading backward, and the cars getting smaller as they stretch behind the characters. The buildings in the background also add to this, but they don’t go very far.

Are there any objects that show size differences? - The cars and the buildings.

Can you see how shapes and lines contribute to the depth of this scene?

Try answering the same questions using the frame you found from one of your favorite films. The circular table has a lot of area, taking up most of the screen so it appears mostly in the foreground. The objects in the background are much smaller than the foreground characters.

Here is a partially finished example as a reference:

Movement

Motion lines extend from an object along its line of action to suggest it’s movement.

Line of action, an imaginary line that runs down the spine of the character, it guides the pose and makes it feel more dynamic.

Motion lines don’t need to be blatant, they can be included in the background, framing the movement. This could separate the subject from the rest of the background.

Part A: What kind of movement (motion lines or line of action) is implied in the above images? Compare the role lines play in achieving a sense of movement in both.

The cars are being led in more of a direct line, leading them straight into the side of the frame as indicated by the lines. They’re moving really quickly, as demonstrated by the motion lines. The mouse has very fluid movements, having a lot of curve to his spine in his movements. He seems to move a lot slower than the cars do, the straightness of the lines in the cars indicate a lot more speed, which the curved lines of the mouse does not have. Logically a character that is so curled up wouldn’t be able to move very fast, and this comes across quite clearly.

Part B:

Find a frame from one of your three favorite films which shows movement. On a sheet of paper, swiftly sketch the line(s) of action or motion lines that provide the sense of movement in the image.

Part C:

Draw a character from your story performing different movements. Use a line of action to guide each pose.

Combine lines of action in a character with motion lines to create a scene with lots of movement from your story. Don’t be shy with your use of lines and shapes!

Tone

Adjusting the light and shadows can be another way to direct the viewer’s eyes in a scene.

Contrast is the relationship between light and dark - this can be more or less extreme.

Our eyes actively move to the point of highest contrast in a scene.

Everything in the foreground could be darker, framing the subject more clearly, etc.

Gradients can put across an emotion too.

We can also control what information gets revealed to the audience using tone.

Part A: In the above image, how is tone used to help create emphasis and direct the viewer’s eye?

What mood is conveyed? - We get the sense that the two characters are meeting in secret - the darkness framing them hides them from observers. The only light rims them slightly, the majority of their forms being in shadow, suggesting that they want to be hidden in this interaction.

What kind of contrast is used (low, higher, highest?) - There is a high amount of contrast between the lamp, the light source, and the characters in the frame, who are a lot more shadowed.

Colour

Contrasting colours can divert our attention, colours that are closer are more unified.

Different colours can demonstrate different emotions and personality traits. Different colours can solely represent different characters.

Cold & warm colours can suggest different things too.

Warmer light often represents the end of something / sunset.

Colour isn’t used very often in storyboarding, unless it puts across a different idea / point, to emphasise its importance in a scene.

Part A: In the above image, how is color used to help create emphasis and direct the viewer’s eye? What mood or emotion is conveyed? What kind of colors are used (similar, contrasting, complementary?) The character in the scene is the darkest, contrasting the light, and this is where our eye is drawn first. We then drift over the scene to the light. The colours are pale, suggesting a softness / fragility, and the colours are almost complementary, just toned down. We get the sense that it’s early in the morning, and the character is still weak and tired from sleep.

Look up storyboarders from films you like, look at their work, ask them questions relevant to that field.

Keep drawing. Look at life and draw from this.

Do a lot of quick and fast drawings with the elements of visual language, and slowly you’ll forget them and it’ll become natural.

Do really small and quick thumbnail sketches through a scene, see how it works and if it matches what you see in your head, before working on the real storyboards.

Stringing a sequence of shots together to tell a story.

Film is an emotional medium.

Framing, staging, motion, editing.

A scene defines a particular time and location - something that is happening at one point in time before moving on to another scene. It could also take place in one particular arc of the character, where they might change locations quickly but it’s focusing on this one idea.

Each scene gets broken down into minor beats, following the character throughout the scene to see what new thing they learn and how this changes them through the mini ‘arc’ of the scene.

Basic Shot Types

Common to start with a wide shot to give a broad perspective of a new environment and characters. Often followed by a medium shot, focusing more on the character.

Close up shots are good to punctuate more emotional points.

What do you want the audience to know, and what do you want them to feel?

You want a variety of shot types to put emphasis on certain plot points in a scene, to make it feel more dynamic.

Framing story points clearly is essential.

Center frame offers stability or neutrality - easy to direct attention.

Rule of thirds!

Extreme Shot

Extreme wide shots can make details difficult to see, and show a larger world.

Extreme close ups can make it much more intimate.

Up shots give a character the feeling of power or dominance.

Down shots, trapped, fear.

Plant your camera where it needs to be to sell the story beat.

Avoid extreme angles that don’t mean anything, make sure they’re where they are for a reason.

Don’t use them too much, they’re there for emphasis.

Rules can be broken as long as you understand film grammar before you do it.

Dynamic Shot

Static shots - when the camera doesn’t move.

Sense of speed, change of focus.

Pan, Dolly shot (parallel to the ground), zoom, tracking shot.

Reveal information to the audience when you want it revealed, focus on a character during an emotional speech, keep the action in the shot.

Handheld shots can give a spontaneous and unstable feeling.

Always keep the audience in mind, what you want them to feel at the time of the shot.

A moving camera brings attention to itself so you have to be careful with how much you use it.

Storyboarding

Think about what composition you might want before you start drafting (does a character need to assert more dominance in a shot, do they feel afraid etc).

What’s the dynamic between characters in your scene?

Complimentary shot - when you have an over the shoulder shot, you want to show the reverse. Show the other character’s over the shoulder, but keep the dynamic consistent (if one character takes up most of the space, keep this going).

Do rough sketches of the key points in a scene, experiment with different ways of expressing it, keeping an eye on what the composition means.

Each scene will have a ‘change’, a climax that we build to, even if it’s a small one.

Camera movements can be sketched out to emphasize the point of the scene further - to focus more on the dominant character etc.

Take the most important part of the scene and draw an image for it. This will help you move quickly through the product, letting you see what you want to focus on when you come back to fully board it.

Research how films are put together, listen to what directors say about their work and why they did what they did to build their film.

Pitch your stories early on, get feedback while you’re still able to refurbish the whole thing. You have to be willing to rethink it.

Do what you can to find out what works and what doesn’t.

When pitching, let the story unfold one idea at a time (refer to the pitch for Finding Nemo!).

You don’t have to explain every detail of your drawings, just fill in details not shown in the boards, and be descriptive with this.

Try to put yourself into the story while you pitch, if it’s an action scene it’ll move quickly, and if it’s an emotional scene it’ll be much slower.

“Make the movie feel like the movie”, don’t over explain.

Don’t just read, perform the pitch.

Giving Feedback

Listening to a pitch: Identify what the storyteller wants to say, what’s the point of the story? How do they say the lines, how this relates to the timing or energy level of a shot. How will a scene be incorporated into the bigger picture?

Performance, pacing, does it work?

Start with the positive, give specific examples of the things that you like. Know that the person worked really hard on their pitch, have a sense of respect.

Make it personal - make it clear that it’s your personal perspective. Use ‘I’ statements. You don’t know how other people will interpret anything.

Be specific, allow them to see what they can do to improve. Don’t be vague on things that they can improve.

Make suggestions, don’t dictate what you think should happen.”What were you trying to achieve with this, what were you trying to do with that” etc. Identify problems but don’t fix them.

Digesting Feedback

Try your best not to take critical feedback personally, they just want to improve the scene.

Focus on the work, not the person.

Take a step back to analyse the notes that you’ve been given.

Put some distance between you and your work, take a break from it so you can look at it objectively.

Look for the ‘spirit’ of the note, what problem is it really addressing - maybe it says that a part of the scene isn’t very clear, maybe an emotion isn’t getting across.

Storyreels

Once a pitch is approved, it moves into editing and is made into a story reel (an animatic).

Timing and sound are very important.

Start with the dialogue, and time them out. Then add the storyboards, timing these out to work with the dialogue, then you add the sound and music.

Sometimes the scene will change after being made into a story reel, and won’t have the same effect.

Cut out as much stuff as you can, shoot more stuff so you have the ability to cut it later. Try every variation of a shot, feel it out and experiment with many avenues.

Tenacious beats talent - the more you want it and the more you work toward the better.

Apply yourself to your craft as much as possible. The harder the problem, the more proud you are of the solution you come up with.

Draw for yourself, based on your inner self. Don’t draw to get a job.

Immerse yourself in different kinds of stories.

Use your experiences to write your stories.

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