Story story story-- that was the mantra throughout all my years at Pixar, and continues to be my personal mantra to this day. Ultimately, if something in the story isn't working, it should change. And if something in a film isn't serving the story, it should change too.
We talk a lot about structure when writing a story-- good screenplays are like finely-tuned machines, as they are complex with lots of moving and interrelating parts. And, since we're talking about film stories, as much as we hammer and push on the written story structure, we should be pushing on the visual story structure as well. How does colour support the story? How can the camera underscore the emotion? What's happening in the shape language, the pacing, the quality and quantity of light, the choreography of the characters, the backgrounds? Costuming, architecture, sound design, music? How can each of those storytelling voices harmonize with the story being told to strengthen the vision on screen and the viewer's experience?
That, to me, is much of the joy of filmmaking-- bringing all of these storytelling tools to bear on the whole to create a rich, resonant platform for performance. Why mention this in a blog about previs? Aside from it being my core passion, the reason I bring up visual storytelling here is that I've seen many film productions discover too late in the process that there was a stronger way to tell the story. Because so many hours and dollars have been spent getting production to that point, there often isn't either the time or the money to accommodate the change. Even if it will make the film better.
Previs allows a team to work through a rough version of a storytelling platform, which includes shape, colour, light, environment, costuming, lens, composition, character and camera choreography, editorial pacing, dialogue, sound, and music before committing production dollars, so that if something is not supporting the story, there's enough time and money to correct it. There is an opportunity for discovery and exploration as well as for planning and analyzing. And production artists and performers are more ensured that their hard work and attention to detail ends up on the screen-- all in support of story, story story.
Recent Comments