Walt Disney Feature Animation 11 Years As Story Artist and Effects Artist

Paul Briggs Walt Disney Feature Animation 11 years as Story Artist and Effects artist Warner Brothers Television Animation www.pbcbstudios.blogspot.com

Here’s my responses to your question as well as some extra questions at the end of it. When it comes to staging I’m constantly studying Akira Kurosawa or Terrence Malick film. There’s a couple of great sites that collect film grabs too: http://framefilter.blogspot.com/ http://image-par-image.blogspirit.com/archive/2005/10/30/roger-deakins.html And I believe Harald Siepermann did an interesting post on Phi and the Golden Rule: (scroll down) http://haraldsiepermann.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html

Hope this helps - pb

Q: What background skills do Storyboard artists need to be successful? What would you tell a student to do to prepare themselves for this profession (or just to be good at storyboarding for their own films)? Training? Books? Lectures? Websites? Other Sources or kinds of experiences?

Paul Briggs: A story artist has the added pressure of not only being a good writer but being a good artist as well. It takes A LOT of practice. So not only do you have to write as much as you can you have to draw as much as you can too.

I think the some of the best training I get is just meeting people and letting them tell you their story. The most fascinating stories are ones in which a life-changing character decision has been made. What I find to be the most inspiring is understanding why they made the choice that they did. Listen to old people, they’re full of this wisdom.

Q: Are there special characteristics that you find professional story artists have in common. What makes the successful ones successful? Is great story telling ability or humor something one can learn or is it an innate skill that some people have and others do not?

Paul Briggs: We all have the desire to tell stories about characters that we believe in and can empathize with. We want to be immersed in a world that we can relate to and at the same time be fascinated by.

Q: What is your top ten list of “must see movies” to help a person understand good film/animation-film construction and story telling? (to make one a better storyboard artist)

Paul Briggs: Usually I like to lump my favorite films by directors because they tend to tell the stories that I’m most interested in. A great way to learn though is to look at BAD films and figure out what makes them so bad. How could they have improved the story.

10 favorite films:

1. Amelie – Director Jean Pierre Jeunet A great live action film with many sincere and poetic moments.

2. Ran – directed by Akira Kurosawa A must see for studying staging and art direction.

3. A Straight Story – directed by David Lynch A simple story well told.

4. To Kill a Mockingbird – directed by Robert Mulligan Harper Lee’s amazing novel is extremely well translated to film.

5. City of Lost Children – directed by John Pierre Jeunet A live action film with so much animation influence. The characters are straight out of a fairy tale.

6. Walt Disney’s Pinocchio – directed by Ham Luske and Bill Sharpsteen A beautiful film with such strong scenes.

7. Witness – directed by Peter Weir Every element is dictated by the characters emotional story unfolding. Lighting, Composition, tone, dialogue, etc.

8. The Grapes of Wrath - directed by John Ford An amazing story in American History.

9. Royal Tenenbaums – Wes Anderson A film full of interesting characters and great art direction.

10. Dumbo – Ben Sharpsteen One of the big reasons I got into animation. Not only is it an elephant and it can fly but completely believe in and feel for this character.

Q: Do you have any favorite sequences – what are they?

Paul Briggs: I love the sequence in Disney’s Sword in the Stone where Merlin is teaching Wart how to be a squirrel but he also ends up getting a lesson in love. He realizes the heart is a fragile thing and not to toy with it. It was boarded by Bill Peet who had an amazing story sense.

I really love the Baby Mine song sequence in Dumbo. He goes to visit his mother after she’s been caged up in solitary confinement because she’s thought to be a threat. It strikes a deep fear in a lot of us of child/parent separation. Such a heavy scene handled so delicately. It gets me welling up with tears every time.

Q: Have you looked at any student story boards? What do you think is most often lacking in them? What were some of the big “lessons” you learned when you first began as a “new hire” story artist?

Paul Briggs: The most difficult thing for me starting out was I wanted to make my drawings as "pretty" as possible. Each of my drawings could have been an illustration but I learned very quickly that storyboarding is also a process of re-boarding. It's a time of discovery with characters and you have to be fast and confident with your drawing ability to make many changes and be able to let go of drawings you may have already done.

The second most difficult part was standing in front of a room full of directors, producers, and other story artists and pitching your drawings. There's so much pressure because it's your drawing's that have to visually sell the story! You have to leave your ego at the door and be very charismatic and able to pitch your ideas clearly. When I first started out I had to pitch a test that involved a dinner scene to every Director, Producer, and Head of Story in the building. So, this meant I was pitching my ideas to Glen Keane, Ron Clements, John Musker, Chris Sanders, Don Hahn, and on and on!!! It was the most intense and stressful thing I've ever done! but it made me a strong story artist because I now know that if I can pitch to those guys I can pitch to anyone.

Q: How much freedom do you have to interpret how a scene is to be presented? Are you encouraged to explore unique and adventurous solutions to story telling problems or are you given very specific guidelines and expectations.

Paul Briggs: The relationship between the Director and Story artist is a very close one in animation. At our studio it’s the director's story and your goal is to try and visually tell that story back to him. You’re constantly pushing and testing characters and events because you want to make sure this is the strongest way to tell this story. Of course, you may have ideas or ways that you think can strengthen it. Your job as a story artist is to find the clearest way to tell it. You're drawing a blueprint that he's going to take with him throughout the animation process so it has to be as strong as it possibly can be. If there are any weaknesses or flaws they will only compound themselves down the road.

Q: Can you describe your process? Do you thumbnails, what drawing materials do you use? Do you do key shots first and then work in between or do you work “straight ahead”?

Paul Briggs: I personally start out by thumb nailing on paper and figuring out what the major beats in the sequence. I’ll then work all digital on a 21" Cintiq monitor drawing all my boards in Photoshop. I usually work straight ahead but once I’m done with the sequence I’m always going back into it and reworking it. Whatever you feel comfortable using and best conveys your ideas is what's important though. A lot of artists still draw on paper and use chalk, crayon, marker, pens, etc. others work all digital using Photoshop or painter.

Q: How would you describe the difference between story boarding for film and any other kind of sequential artwork like comic books or book illustration?

Paul Briggs: Comics and Storyboarding are very similar. They’re both visually telling a narrative. Storyboarding just uses more panels to tell it because we have to account for it turning into images moving at 24 frames per second. A lot of story artists usually publish their own comics.

Q: How would you describe the difference between story boarding for animation and Live Action?

Paul Briggs: In animation all the elements have to be planned out in advance. You don’t have the luxury of shooting multiple shots in animation. It’s too expensive so it all has to be carefully worked out before hand. Live action mainly storyboards for layout and camera angles because you have to have it figured out before you get on set. You can’t waste time setting up shots. Of course, there are always exceptions to this. Alfred Hitchcock liked to board his films completely and they show. His films are extremely well thought out. I highly recommend checking out Harold Michelson’s boards for The Birds.

Q: What are some of the “tricks” you use to prevent “pitfalls”- to keep your ideas and images fresh and dynamic?

Paul Briggs: A great element of animation is the broadness you can get with your ideas. I always like to take my ideas as far as they will go and then ask to be pulled back.

Q: How do you research or find ideas when fresh ideas are not coming easily? How do you wake up your brain, get inspired, and solve that “artist’s block” problem?

Paul Briggs: Look and Listen – get out in the world and just soak it in. There’s inspiration everywhere. The internet is a goldmine for it s well. So many professional artists have web sites and blogs – including me!

Q: How much do you do by yourself and how much do you work in a team? Do you think about story structure a lot or do you just work intuitively and refine things later?

Paul Briggs: Usually you’ll board a sequence by yourself until it comes time to pitch to the story crew and director. Then it becomes a like a construction site. Everyone gets involved hammering and sawing at all the elements of the sequence. You’re constantly questioning structure and focusing in on weak spots. After the dust settles you’re usually left alone to address the notes that were suggested and re-build it until it gets to the point where it’s solid enough to move on to editorial to be cut into the story reel.

Q: Do you worry about editing transitions (fades and cross dissolves) or match cuts and pans at your stage of the process? What would you say about staging? Are there any basic principles that you apply to your work?

Do you think of yourself as actor, cameraman, editor, designer and/or all of these things in your job? Have I left anything out?

Same with issues like lighting and atmosphere and environment do you need to address these or is that “Layout’s domain”?

Paul Briggs: All of these questions are yes and you do them all to serve this –

Q: How much do you think about the “emotional content” of your story as well as the specific action or event?

Paul Briggs: It’s all about the character. You’re finding all the best ways staging, acting, tone, pace, cutting, etc. to tell this character’s emotional journey. This emotional journey effects all the decisions making in your boards.

Q: Who are your heroes (past and/or present) in the storyboarding world?

Paul Briggs: I really love Bill Peet’s boards. Which is interesting because when you look at his work it seems a little crude but after close examination you realize a lot of careful thought went into each panel. It’s all about the character and he did an amazing job of visualizing it.

Vance Gerry was another amazing old Disney story artist. He had a way of using simple line work and blocking in shapes that felt fresh and unlabored but extremely solid and full of emotion.

Joe Ranft, a Pixar story artist had a way to make sequences timeless.

Presently, I really love to study Chen Yi Chang and Dean Wellins’ boards. Their boards take on a life to them and are full of solid story and drawing structure.

Q: What about drawing? Do you draw any from observation, photo and film references. Do you find you have to overstate the action, acting, etc in order for it to read in the storyboard – or do you leave that problem to be solved by the animator? How many times are you likely to re-draw your original drawings – in other words, approximately how many drawings do you actually make before you complete one 100 panel story sequence?

Paul Briggs: Like the great Joe Ranft said – “storyboarding is “re”boarding”.

You’ll toss away so many boards you’ll never be able to keep count.

Q: How much of yourself goes into the scenes you help a director visualize?

Paul Briggs: A lot of yourself goes into a sequence. There's a saying among writers that is "write what you know." You base a lot of things on your own life experiences because you know these moments to be true. That's why it's really important to get out and enjoy life and talk to as many people from as many cultures as you can. A director will also match sequences with artist's personality's that best fill that role in the story. Some guys are really good at the fast, action paced sequences, or the slapstick comedy bits or others are really good at the slow, sentimental scenes. A really strong experienced story artist has a wide range of scenes he can board.

Q: Do your ideas make it to the final project?

Paul Briggs: Definitely, a lot of times a story artist will come up with better ideas that are stronger or funnier for characters during boarding. That's why in Feature Animation we have "pitch session" where you pitch your sequence to the director and the other story artists. That way anyone can throw ideas or notes that will improve the sequence.

Q: Are there any new trends in storyboarding?

Paul Briggs: I think with the possibilities in computer animation it makes it easy to want to move cameras all over the place and wow audiences with special effects but, ultimately any element should best serve what your trying to tell in the story.

Q: What does it take to make a good Storyboard Artist?

Paul Briggs: 1. A strong understanding of character and structure in story.

2. Very strong drawing skills. You have to be able to represent your ideas in the simplest, clearest ways in a short amount of time.

3. A great sense of humor and personality.

Q: Where do you think this position is headed in the future?

Paul Briggs: I don't see the position changing down the road. Story artists now are doing it the same way they were doing it almost 70 years ago on Snow White! The things that change are the type of stories, the way we tell them and the tools we use to convey them. Joe Grant who was an amazing story/development artist was always embracing new technology. He was 90 years old a few years ago and he was talking about how one day the screen would be a hologram and audiences would soon be able to watch a movie like it was right in front of you. He was always looking to the future and thinking of how technology would improve the experience.

Q: Do you have to print your story boards out?

Paul Briggs: Depends on the director if they want them printed and pinned up. I usually digitally project my sequence on a big screen and use a program called Iview to click through it like a slideshow. I don't think I view is Disney creator/owned software. After you're done pitching you can go to a format that displays all the images like they were pinned up on a board. The program also allows you to move images around, delete images and change dialogue so it's very much like moving paper pinned to boards. Ron and John have gotten pretty comfortable with us pitching that way because it really represents what's going to be on the screen for the screening.