I had the opportunity back in November to sit down with Barry Cook (director of Mulan and co-director of Arthur Christmas) and the students at Regent University for a chat on story and growing as an artist and writer. It was an enlightening and affirming conversation, so I wanted to share the highlights with everyone. Even if you’re not an animator, writer, director, whatever, some of these truths will apply to you. Because they apply to life. (All of Barry’s quotes are paraphrased from my own notes during the session. Thanks again, Barry, for chatting about the industry and how we can pursue what we love.)
Pitching
You’ve got to be compelling. Disney was like the gong show. There was a time where anyone in animation could pitch stories. But you only had one minute. People are compelled by a visual prop and talking about a compelling character. When you’re telling a story, absolutely concentrate and put yourself in the story because that makes it more believable.
Pitfalls
Make the mistakes!! You have to go through it! Experience is invaluable. Perhaps the number one rookie mistake is imitation. Making your version of something else or spoofs can be good. But usually, trying to do something JUST LIKE someone else can be a pitfall. Find your own voice.
Storyboards
In live action, storyboards help with basic continuity. They give you good ideas for camera angles. But a lot of the creation happens on set when director’s walk the space. Things can change. In animation, storyboarding is a much larger part of the process and building of the foundation of a story. Story artists direct a scene one way and usually have to completely re-work it. So much so, someone started calling it the story re-boarding department. Story artists help play the story out on paper, see what works and what doesn’t and work with the writers to craft the story. Eventually, they take it to animatic form.
Audience
ALWAYS think of the audience while writing. You’re essentially telling a ghost story around a campfire. You’ve got to think to work the crowd.