Similar to telling a great story, giving a presentation on how to develop a story for one of the world’s leading animation studios requires a very organic and fluid approach. I mean, how would you present on a process that just sort of happens? In the first session of Basics of Animation, which focused on Story, our guest speaker, Ronnie Del Carmen, helped the audience understand how fluid the story development process is while sharing captivating stories of his youth, career, and family.
It was a beautiful day in San Francisco, with a home game of the 2014 World Series taking place not far from the Walt Disney Family Museum. A line formed right outside the Fantasia-themed theatre with a near sellout crowd and plenty of aspiring artists eager to hear our guest speaker. This event was the first of multiple sessions focused on the Basics of Animation. Similar to how a great film is developed, the first session of Basics of Animation began with Story. Ronnie Del Carmen didn’t waste anytime after being introduced to remind us that in filmmaking, and more specifically at both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Story is “King”.
Ronnie, who grew up in the Philippines, loved art since he was very young. After coming over to the United States, he began working on Batman: The Animated Series. He worked on various other projects before joining Pixar in 2000. His Pixar Animation Studios credits include: Finding Nemo, Up, and Co-Directing the upcoming Pixar Animation Studios film, Inside/Out, with Pete Docter.
Before presenting on “Story”, Ronnie preferred to warm everyone up with a little exercise. He felt that it would help him connect with each of us if we were to all participate in an activity.
His favorite word is “Yes!”
As an exercise for the group. his request was to have everyone shout “Yes!” at the same time. He seemed to feed off of the energy delivered from that powerful word. (SPOILER ALERT) He related it to the powerful scene in Finding Nemo when Nemo helped lead an entire group of fish caught in a fishing net to work together to escape.
Story Process and Storytelling
Now that we were all warmed up and engaged, Ronnie focused on Story and the Story Process. Ronnie described Story itself as being very nebulous, moody, and temperamental. Jokingly confirming that there has not yet been an app developed to help with the development of Story.
Developing a story is almost the opposite of needing a formal “Process”. Focusing too much on the Process can cause confusion for the audience.
Ronnie emphasized that story development revolves around strong storytelling which is expressed through the emotions of the storyteller. It helps create union because the life of the storyteller works itself into the story being worked on and the story being told. Ronnie’s presentation is a great example of this by how he wove a lot of his life into the presentation.
Images and Visuals
The presentation seemed to then transition over to images and visuals. Ronnie shared a short clip from Poltergeist which provided an example of how a captivating storyteller can help us develop images and visuals in our heads as the story is being told.
Ronnie then asked each of us to share a story with the person next to us of one time that we have been lost. We were then able to nominate an individual who had a great story and ask he or she to share with the entire group. I nominated the individual next to me because of the strong story that he had shared and because of how exciting it was for him to share his story with Ronnie Del Carmen.
Story Artist Career
“At our studio we don’t write our stories, we draw them.”
— Walt Disney
— Walt Disney
Ronnie had always been an artist, taking those visuals that exist only in imagination and creating amazing images that are rarely ever seen outside of the story pitch. Telling a story through images, the story process at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios has changed very little since Walt Disney’s leadership.
To wrap up the presentation before Q&A, Ronnie went through a speed round summary of his career and experience at Pixar Animation Studios. Ronnie loves coffee and he loves drawing, so Ronnie shared how he has combined his two loves by drawing Nina, a character that he had developed, in the foam of his espresso. One of his highlights in life was drawing a “Coffee Nina” in front of Japanese film director and animator, Hayao Miyazaki
As you can imagine, he is often asked how he became a story artist. His response is that he simply loved to draw. Ronnie’s father had great penmanship. Not Ronnie, Ronnie drew.
Ronnie showed a short story that he illustrated and directed titled, “Ulan”, and pictures of the research trip to Venezuela for “Up”.
Ronnie also gave “behind the scenes” explanation into developing a story at Pixar Animation Studios:
- Story process: Build it, watch it, tear it down – freely express “that didn’t work”
- Company screening of reels – feedback requested
- Braintrust notes sessions
- “You can be wrong” – No matter how much you believe in your movie, accept that you may be wrong about your story and may need outside perspective.
Ronnie then shared a video from Sir Ken Robinson (Author, speaker, expert on education, creativity and innovation) ending with his very popular quote – “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” – Sir Ken Robinson
Ronnie ended his presentation with a short production clip from “Up” that did not make it into the film. Sharing that he was inspired by his dad, who was ill during the production of “Up”. Ronnie’s dad saw production clips but passed away prior to it’s release. Ellie’s handwriting in “Up” is Ronnie’s and Ronnie was sentimentally confident that his dad would be proud of his penmanship when he saw the film.
Q/A session:
Q: After explaining how she had sobbed her head off during Up, she shared how she felt that Pixar has depth. How is everyone able to put parts of themselves into it?
A: It just sort of happens when each story artist shares input and personal experience.
Q: Asking Ronnie to expand on his rebounding/editing process
A: Boarded the entire life; Ronnie boarded the Married Life sequence. It was originally 30 minutes and Pixar was concerned about Ellie’s death at the end of the montage. John Lasseter’s feedback was that everyone should feel good at the end of the film.
Q: When up against failure, when do you decide to stop or keep going?
A: Always a big decision. For the betterment of the film/studio, Pixar may need to change leadership. (It has happened many times and not just at Pixar Animation Studios. “The Good Dinosaur” is the most recent example.”
Q: What is the best mentality to have to get the most heartfelt moments out of the film?
A: Casting and Top – Down dedication to tell stories emotionally. Create moments that are things you can connect to.
The follow up sessions on Basics of Animation will continue in early December that will dive further into the animation process, music, and lighting. The flow of these sessions remind me of the recently released Walt Disney Animation Studios: The Archive Series, a beautifully put together series of books sharing illustrations used by the Walt Disney Animation Studios to develop Story, Animation, Design, Layout, and Background.