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Your job in this program is to step into the shoes of a Pixar story artist and create a storyreel for your own short film.
Each team collaborates to create one storyreel.
What is a storyreel?
A storyreel is a rough draft of an animated film using simple drawings edited together in a sequence.
Watch this 1 minute video to hear why storyreels are important at Pixar:
Welcome to Orientation | 30 min
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8/9
CONCEPT
ACT 1
CHARACTER
ACT 2
ART
ACT 3
OUTLINE
EDITING
Each week you will take another step towards a finished storyreel following Pixar's process:
(click here for detailed outline)
Week 1: Brainstorm 3 "What if..." ideas
Week 2: Create a character profile
Week 3: Sketch your character & world
Week 4: Outline your story using the Story Spine
Week 5: Flesh out Act 1
Week 6: Flesh out Act 1 & 2
Week 7: Flesh out Act 1, 2 & 3
Week 8: Edit and Pace your storyreel
Week 9: Make revisions/Buffer week
Every week follows the same pattern: Livestream, Self-Paced work, Upload, Feedback.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Livestream @ 5pm PST
Submit work in progress
Self paced work
Submit work in progress
Self paced work
Submit work in progress
Self paced work
Give/Receive Feedback
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Monday: 1-hour YouTube livestream with Pixar storytellers, 5pm PST/8pm EST
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Tuesday - Thursday: Continue to work independently supported by the weekly content & community
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Friday - Sunday: You can upload your weekly assignment to the weekly gallery
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Next Monday: Give & receive feedback on other teams' work in the weekly gallery
Congratulations, you've completed your orientation!
We look forward to seeing you March 7th!
Feedback and iteration is the engine of creativity, both at Pixar and in our program.
Each week, every team member will provide feedback to 6 other groups, and they will do the same for you.
The quality of your feedback plays a role in your teams' final evaluation in the Exhibition.
Here is some feedback advice from Pixar:
Your final step is to upload a short (10 sec) "hello world" storyreel.
This will help us to confirm you have a video editing tool and understand how to upload your files each week for feedback.
Instructions:
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Include 3 simple stick figure drawings
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Add a "hello world I am from ___" voice over
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Export your video 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratio
Here is an example:
Give it a try!
Before hitting the submit button below, be sure to check your file:
1. Listen to the audio; is it easy to hear?
2. Look at the images; is anything out of frame?
3. Double check; does the video get cut off at the beginning or end?
If you answer yes to any of these questions, make necessary adjustments and re-export the video.
