Oh man…
Forenote: First and foremost, I would like to apologize to everyone for my apparent…umm…“cockiness”. Either it’s just me, or I’ve been acting a little weird lately as far as posting goes. If you guys notice any change in my behavior, I sincerely ask for your forgiveness. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with me… Eheh.
I think that the main reason for this odd feeling is praise. Yes. Praise. You see, I get complimented…alot. I’m serious, it’s not even funny. I’m constantly helping people out because I, well, because I love to do it! I’m not kidding you. I love to make people happy. Due to this, practically everyone I know has been telling me how…nice I am and blah blah blah. Henceforth, I’ve been biting my tongue so as to not get full of myself, because I hate that kind of an attitude. (Is it possible to be sick of being complimented? (snigger) )
Anyway, I’m sorry about that. If I seem kinda…“full of myself” then please feel free to kick me in the butt. 
(snigger)
And now, onto the show…!
First of all, I apologize for not being able to remember every word in the the following story. Let’s just call the old man “Paul”…
[i]A Scottish man was walking down a long, country road…when he came upon a pub and decided to stop in for a drink.
Upon entering the pub and sitting down to order a pint of beer, he noticed an old man sitting beside him. The old man turned to look at him in a drunk fashion before glancing at the wooden cup poised in his hand.
“Ya’ see this cup?”, the old man asked. “I carved it with me bare hands, wood and all. But do they call me Paul the wood-carver? No!”
After taking another swigg of his beer, the man pointed out a far window at a stone wall just outside the pub.
“Ya’ see that stone wall out there? I build it with me bare hands from scratch. Heaved the stones and plastered them together meself. But do they call me Paul the stone-builder? No!
Ya’ see that pier over there?? I built it with me bare hands in the thundering rain and merciless waters for weeks on end. But do they call me Paul the pier-builder? NO!! But I did have *ex with a goat…”[/i]
T’was the first story that Mr. Stanton executed with apparent relish, force, and perhaps even delight. And I must say that it got a nice, hearty laugh from the audience, me included…
Before I dive into the optimistic pool, perhaps we should take a look at the previously pessimistic side of the division…
I believe it was September 11 when I received the call from my dad stating that I couldn’t attend the seminar after all due to the fact that all the available spaces had been taken. I was devastated only for a few minutes. Heh. No more spaces my butt!! I had been waiting for this my whole life and I wasn’t about to let some petty problem stop me then! God works wonders, that’s what happens. Prayers can take you far… 
After convincing my dad that I was going to go with him no matter what the cirumstances (to which dad replied with a rather humorous laugh (wow – laughs are humorous…) and a noncommital tone), I found myself in the front seat of his Honda on Tuesday morning, September 18th.
Needless to say, I was a little nervous. I’d prayed about the situation, but I was still having a little – just a little – trouble maintaining an optimistic attitude about the whole deal. I finally got my act together and just trusted God , though. Obviously, the result was fruitious…
After spending a day at the Disney Studios office being pelted by delicious chocolate-covered raisins from one of dad’s fellow employees (to which dad replied by bopping the guy on the head with a light-weight baseball bat), drinking one too many cups of hot chocolate (Disney Studios has the best hot chocolate in the universe – at least, I think so…), and drawing out of boredom, my dad, several other co-workers, and I departed for the 4:00 PM Andrew Stanton seminar that was to take place in the Disney Backlot.
Speaking of the backlot, why not check it out? These were the only pictures I got, so soak 'em in:
Part of the Disney Backlot:
Inside the Disney Backlot Garage – Floor 2:
Shot of the Disney Animation Building:
As far as the third picture goes, that is the same building where my sister and I met Andreas Deja and saw Ollie Johnston. This is also the same place where some officials wouldn’t let my sister and I in to see some theater screening with our dad, so we had to eat lunch in the ABC building (which is right next to the Disney Animation building). I remember us playing charades for the sake of it (and due to boredom).
Oh, and my dad saw Orlando Bloom on the Backlot once. True story. Too bad I wasn’t with him at the time, but, truth be told, I really couldn’t care less. (No offense to Mr. Bloom.) (snigger)
But back to the main subject…
Just a few minutes before 4:00 PM, my dad and I arrived at the Disney Studios Backlot and made our way to the main theater – the vacinity in which the theater was located, moreover, was packed to the brim with two billion other artists. My dad knew practically everybody we met, but I felt like an alien on an already inhabited planet full of creative minds. A few fellow artists gathered around my dad and I to engage in a little friendly discussion, and one of them asked to see my sketchbook. Turns out that the dudes liked my stuff, and I think they actually gave their honest opinions.
Finally, after waiting an extra half hour, the doors opened… And guess what? I got in without any problem. They didn’t even seem to notice me walking through the doors! God be praised… Heheh. <img src=“{SMILIES_PATH}/love2.gif” alt=“:loves:” title="In
Love" />
I’ll tell you right now that Mr. Stanton is quite the public speaker. He said he was rather nervous to talk about story-telling to everyone due to (I think) the numerous mistakes and obstacles the Brain Trust at Pixar had to endure to create a line of successful films, but he seemed to carry on just fine in my opinion. Heck, he was quite entertaining. I didn’t want the seminar to end!
He first started off by telling us that short, albeit entertaining and hilarious, little joke that I told at the beginning of my post before going on to explain that story-telling (and jokes in general) need a good punch line.
Afterwards, he explained to his audiences the difficulites that he (and the rest of the Pixar team) went through in creating the first five Pixar films (Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo). (He only mentioned the first five because he was more involved with those particular features than he was with the last three Pixar productions (The Incredibles, Cars, and Ratatouille.))
He showed/described to us a number of things, including how challenging it was to make certain scenes in Toy Story work, how particular scenes in films can evoke a specific and powerful emotion/message, and the various actors that were chosen to play the part of Hopper in A Bug’s Life.
As far as Toy Story was concerned, Mr. Stanton mentioned that it was hard for he and his fellow coworkers to develop the characters so that they and their personalities were likeable and convincing to the audience. They actually had to “tone down” certain characters’ demeanors and such, actually. Woody, for example, is a selfish toy in the final film, but he was originally even more selfish to the point that he was annoying and, overall, not very appealing/likeable. An early demo reel was shown in which Woody was ordering several of Andy’s toys (namely Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and one other toy) off of “his” bed. They wouldn’t leave, however, so Woody noisily ordered Slinky to come up onto the bed and evict the toys from the premises. Unfortunately, for Woody, Slinky sided not with the bossy cowboy doll, but with the other toys. This caused Woody to get extremely riled up and call Slinky a number of names, including “spring weiner”. It was actually pretty hilarious, but Woody’s selfish demeanor was more deeply integrated into his personality so that he only showed his bad side when hard pressed. (That clip was pretty funny, though. The whole audience was on the floor… 
)
I cannot, of course, remember every single thing that Mr. Stanton mentioned, but I did get a few good notes:
- Writing is rewriting. - If you have a perfect story every time then you’re not doing it right. Coming across conflicts, collaborating with others on how to resolve those conflicts, and achieving success is all part of the writing process.
- Only tell what’s vital and tell it linearly. - In other words, don’t go off track when composing a story. Focus on the key plot in hand.
- Inner not outer conflicts. - Try to show a character’s conflicts in an introspective sense. This can apply to the afore-mentioned deal in which Woody’s selfish personality was slightly hidden.
- Worthy punch line. - If you begin a joke, make sure it ends in a satisfactory punch line. The same goes for story: Don’t leave an open gap that isn’t resolved. (This could, I suppose, apply to the situation in Finding Nemo in which Nemo says to his father, “I hate you”. That’s the last thing you hear him say to his father, and it’s a conflict that you want to see resolved at the end. And, of course, you get it. Marlin finds Nemo and then Nemo says to his dad, “I don’t hate you”. Problem solved!)
- Don’t let the strings show! - You need “strings” to control your marionette, or your story in this case. However, it’s important to not let those strings show. You can tell a good story without explaining to your audience exactly how you did it. (I’m not exactly sure of what kind of example to use for this, so please forgive me.)
Posted by “PixarVixen”:
“Let’s pretend I’m submitting a portfolio to Pixar. I shouldn’t have to explain each piece included in it. Otherwise, the only message I’m sending to the recruiters is that the quality of the compositions is poor.”
This example better explains the meaning behind the “Don’t let the strings show” comment.
- Good storytelling never gives you 4. It only gives you 2+2. - Brain-storming is the only note-worthy word I can think of here. You’re always constantly…working on achieving your goal, and so you’re constantly brainstorming. Even after you get the result, you still don’t know everything about the “inside” of a tale. (Correct me if I’m wrong on this, Mr. Stanton.)
- Hint of a problem. - Make sure to give a small hint of a characters’ problem/issue near the beginning of the story; this way, the audience has a question to ask along the way: Will that problem be resolved? (Ie., if a little boy loses his ball, will he find it in the end?)
- Fantasy = rules. - A fantasy story is pretty much an “anything goes” type of tale. You can put your character into any ridiculous situation, the characters themselves can be out of context, and the setting can be out of this world, yet people will just take it for granted. However, that world must have a set of rules, no matter how unusual the situation(s) may seem.
- Find your key image. - I thought that this statement was particularly interesting. As far as Pixar’s first five films were concerned, each one of them had a key image…except for A Bug’s Life. These were the key images mentioned:
Toy Story 2 - Woody looking down the ventilation shaft in Al’s penthouse.
Monsters, Inc. - Sully and Boo positioned just ouside of Boo’s bedroom, Sully holding Boo’s hand in a delicate embrace.
Finding Nemo - Marlin holding the last remaining egg (Nemo) in his fin.
Each of these key images describe the film and show, I believe, the climax of the production in one shot. One of the reasons why A Bug’s Life didn’t work as well as it did was because it was the only Pixar film devoid of a key image. (And yes, I forgot what the key image for Toy Story was. Typical…)
Mr. Stanton also mentioned that Pixar Animation Studios has a set of rules called the “Pixar Philosophies”, these being (of the ones I can remember):
[b]- No politics
- Executives do not make the creative decisons; the animators are ultimately in charge[/b]
Yes, that’s all I remember. I was kinda tired afterwards and my memory isn’t the best in the world. So slap me.
They also created a list of things that were not to be included in their films:
[b]- No “love story”
- No “I want” moment
- No villian
- No songs
- No happy village[/b]
…and a couple of other things which I can’t recall. Keep in mind that this list was created before they started major work on the first Toy Story film.
Andrew Stanton also mentioned to…stay away from flashbacks. They actually had alot of them during production of Finding Nemo; Marlin “flashbacked” to various moments in his life that were spent with Coral, finally leading up to the baracuda attack. Mr. Stanton was eventually convinced by his fellow employees, however, to combine all (or several) of these moments and attach them to the beginning of the film. The result is the whole “baracuda attack” you see before the main title in Finding Nemo.
Edit: One last thing I forgot to mention is that Mr. Stanton stated that you have to like your main character. Even if he is a complete jerk, it’s important for the creator of that character to sympathize with him/her in some way, and to know his backstory well enough so that you care for that individual.
All in all, it was a great night. I felt like…Remy at the top of the roof when he first sees Paris. Heheh.
To top it all off, Andrew Stanton’s favorite movie is Lawrence of Arabia and his personal quote is this: “Be wrong as fast as you can.”
Oh, and if you’re reading this, Mr. Stanton, your Scottish accent is hilarious and downright awesome.
So yep. It was fun, dudes! It was fun. Unfortunately, no one got to ask him any questions due to the fact that he had to leave early. We didn’t even get to shake the dude’s hand. But heck, I was just happy to be there!
Wooo!! I’ve gotta get to Pixar now, dudes. It sounds like…Disneyland, only…in an animated format. (snigger) Yep, I’ll see ya’ there! 
– Mitch
