Film Grammar – Khan Academy (2017)

This collaboration between Khan Academy and Pixar is a wonderful demonstration of building tool kits for self learning. Psychologists argue that an important cognitive function known as working memory is what made us into modern humans. As the highly inspirational illustrator Beatrix Potter put it, one cannot truly study anything without drawing it. Drawing is an effective working memory exercise that helps reinforce information by converting a short term memory into a long term one. That could be one reason why doodling and creating basic drawing may help us understand things better. It is also one of the steps in story telling. Here as a part of the Technical Notes in Nature Documentaries it is informative to look at how artists in Pixar break down a project into major components such as basic shot types, storytelling, story structure and character development. These skills can be very useful for documentary filmmakers as well.

Basic shot types are important in framing and staging. They help viewers to establish and orient themselves. Although there are three main types, this is most certainly not an absolute categorization. There is a continuum between shot types and gradations are possible. Different shot types give control and power to storytelling. Establishment shots for example are preferably wide framed. Other shot types such as center framing and rule of thirds are some of the key concepts in film grammar.

Next is storytelling using storyboarding:

Dividing a story into scenes is important. This is called storyboarding. It is pure art and involves a certain “theory of mind”. There’s no single right way in creating a storyboard and practice makes it perfect. Here we see a real time narrated process of storyboarding with minimalistic sketches as a first draft.

Once the outline of the storyboard emerges the storyteller can enrich it with the use of visual language. Shape, color, tone, contrast, framing, angle, size and proportions are all part of the visual language.

Storyboarding enables structuring of the story with an effective sequence of events. Sequences help reorganizing the story and hence the story structure. Flashbacks for example are used to add flavor. However this is not always good. As the story gets told iteratively the story structure can change. Sometimes what one articulated at the beginning may better be told in the end. In successful productions the story converges into the most effective form as examplified by the story structure of hugely successful Finding Nemo. Getting feedback and brainstorming is important in converging towards most desired result.

Here in this technical note only a few select tips are highlighted. You can explore yourself and find many more short lectures like these in Pixar in a Box collaborative with the Khan Academy.