This week's article talks about Disney and Pixar. More specifically it talks about the process they go through to just come up with the ideas for their movies.
The process is called research and development, and it can take up to a year to finish. It all starts with a story pitch. Or three to be exact. Three separate directors spend four to five months constructing the world, characters, and a theme for their story and then they present. The ideas aren't always picked up, but if they are that director is sent on their way to work more in depth on it. Sometimes there is a certain aspect to the story that is liked a lot, and they are sent off to further that before they pitch again. R&D is mostly used to further develop the given pitch. It takes process through endless notes and pictures and live action reels and this and that until at the end you stand in a story room surrounded by countless notes. The people at Disney and Pixar travel for their research, like to talk to a woman with 36 rats for Ratatouille or to tepuis in Venezuela to create Paradise Falls for Up.
After all this research they then have to find a scriptwriter. They read tons of scripts and then interview writers they have chosen to see if they fit the mold for a Disney or Pixar script writer. It is basically summed up that introverted writers are not really fit for this job. The writers then get together with the story artists to work out an outline and beat board of the main characters emotional journey. Once these outlines are approved by Disney's Story trust and Pixar's Brain trust, boards made of directors currently at the animation studios the story can take its way to scripts and storyboards.
It is necessary to "Be Wrong Fast". The Brain Trusts and Story Trusts have this motto because they need to be able to pick out flaws earlier in the productions rather than later. They will sit and watch the movie six to eight times in various stages of its production. From storyboards to the animation with dialogue, because it is vital to find everything that is wrong fast.
This article gives the reader three key takeaways as it travels through a short movie making process: take the time to develop before launching into creating, know your world through research, and find trusted collaborators to pull your story about as you go through making it. The time you take to develop ideas before launching into them will benefit you in the long run because the idea will be more fully fleshed out then "wow what a good idea lets work with just this and nothing else that could build on it". Knowing your story's world through the power of research will give you the ability to work with everything in it. You won't be unsure how something happens because you will have fully planned it before you even started writing. Collaborators to pull your story apart sound harsh, but they are good because then you have someone who isn't you finding flaws that linger in your world. It is always better to have extra people because you don't often see your own flaws.
This article brought into greater light just how much goes into animated movies. I never really thought about it, but to sit and work an idea to its greatest potential for up to a year before even starting a script or a storyboard is a lot. Being an animator is no joke, there is work upon work to do.
I'm amazed by the amount of time put into just fleshing out a story. I may not be equipped to ever become an animator, but I do know reasearching for a story. I can spend up to a week learning a topic that is only going to be in my story for about three paragraphs. If I ever thought about working for one of these companies I wouldn't mind being with the research and development team.
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