What Filmmakers Can Learn From Pixar

The process to create a film, no matter what type, can seem daunting when it comes to the pre-production. I know that I personally didn't realize just how much work goes into the pre-production period of a film, but with Pixar's collaboration with Khan Academy in their "Pixar In A Box" course, I've been able to get a better idea of what exactly I will be planning in pre-production.

While the course covers both pre- and post-production knowledge, the information I found most useful is that relating to pre-production. While the course is mostly directed towards animation, there are universal aspects to storytelling that I have already started utilizing in the pre-production of my short film. 

The section of character development and creating well-rounded, relatable characters gave me insight on how the structure of my film will go. All stories follow some variation of the hero's journey, but the vocabulary that I was able to refresh with Pixar's videos gave me insight (and even new ideas) for the development of my main character. However, this section was mostly a refresher. Some things that made more of an impact and cemented themselves as new information was regarding story structure and visual language.

Story structure, as I said before, has been taught time after time in school, but Pixar gave me new insight on how to perceive stories. As per my previous analysis of Spiderman: Homecoming, I learned how to perceive stories through the separation of acts and story beats. An act is a larger portion of the story, very similar to those in theater. With the start and end of each act, certain things are to be expected: the introduction of characters and narrative, the height of the conflict, and a resolution. Beats are smaller plot points, but these beats are what make the story interesting and give the story structure.

Story structure can be complex and stray from the norm, but with the use of acts and beats in pre-production, the story ends up being easy to follow and the true story being told can shine through. I can see this reflected in my own pre-production, seeing as I have started to set up a timeline for what will happen in my film based on each beat. Though I don't see to necessarily 'complete' the third act of a story in my film, the use of story beats will make my pre- and post-production much easier to handle.

Apart from story structure, a very helpful piece of information I was able to get from Pixar's Khan Academy course was visual language. I have always been interested in metaphors and representation, be it in the form of 'flower language,' where meaning and messages are conveyed using different flowers, or different uses of color in film and literature to skew audiences to think about a scene a certain way. The section on visual language broadened my horizons on this subject. 

Though it does focus heavily on animation, some things such as movement, depth perception, color, and the use of space/ filling the frame gave me a better idea of what makes films more visually appealing. It also helps that I have a deep appreciation for animation, and I believe that this helped me reflect the lessons in this section of the course to live-action much easier.

Pixar In A Box has a few lessons that doesn't truly pertain to film, such as rendering and animation, but small things from each section are useful for anyone who is interested in creating and writing stories.