Potential and Limitations: Pixar's Storyboarding Process

'I will never let something go into production unless it is working fantastic in that version with the still drawings . Because no matter all the great animation you can do will never save a bad story. We will work and rework and rework and rework these reels-sometimes thirty times before we let it go into production. We're really adamant. We'll even slow the production down or stop production to get the story right because we believe its the story that entertains audiences. It's not the technology. It's not the way something looks. It's the story.' 

-John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer 

Pixar is an animation studio renowned for it's characters as well as telling emotionally resonant stories with well-written narratives. Their approach in regards to the pre-production is unique in that they approach narrative from the emotional perspective of their characters. The storyboard artists at Pixar receive a 'beat outline' which provides the basic guidelines for the character's emotional journey through a scene. Artists then pitch their ideas going by these basic outlines to the director who will then finalise and approve them.

According to John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, the reason the storyboard process is so important to them is because unlike in live action, the animators cannot have coverage, every asset has to be constructed from scratch , so what they do is edit the movie before they start production, for which they use storyboard drawings. Essentially the animators create their own rough cut of the film from the still drawings, complete with their own scratch track, voices and temp music. It is only after that, when everything has been approved and finalised that full production can begin.