Video 1: We are all storytellers

- Hi, I'm Valerie Lapointe and
I'm a story artist at Pixar.

I'm going to be your host for our

first lesson on storytelling,
designed to introduce you

to how we tell stories at Pixar.

Throughout the next six lessons

you'll have a chance to
create your own stories

and you'll go from a rough idea

to having real storyboards
like we use at Pixar.

Each lesson features Pixar story artists

sharing their insights about
the story development process.

- My name is Domee Shi
and I'm a story artist.

- Hi, my name is Sanjay Patel.

I'm an animator and storyboard artist.

- I'm Kristen Lester.

I'm as storyboard artist.

- Hello, my name is Mark Andrews and

I'm a director at Pixar Animation Studios.

The goal of this video is to remind you

that you already are a storyteller.

It's something we do naturally,

and start doing as children.

To kick this lesson off, let's hear how

some of Pixar's storytellers first

started telling their own stories.

- Out on the playground where you're

making up stories or
playing in the backyard

where we're making up whole worlds.

From then on I started
drawing my own comic books

and I would fake being sick
to stay home from school

so I could draw my comic books
and come up with my stories.

- What I did is I would take a drawing

of Betty and Veronica that
was in the comic books

and I would trace it,
and then I would draw

fashion on them, and I did this thing

called Betty and Veronica Fashions.

Somewhere in my mother's
basement there are

thousands and thousands and thousands

of these drawings of Betty and Veronica.

- These poster assignments that my

art teacher would give me in high school,

and even in junior high school as well,

they were always around a theme

of American history, and so the idea

of this kinda homework of doing

American history in a visual form

was the kinda the first avenue

into telling stories in just one picture.

- When I was really young I would

draw pictures and I
would show them to people

and they would react,
and I'd really like that.

Like I'd love getting
reactions out of people

with the things that drew
and the stories that I tell,

and I wanted to get more
reactions out of people

so I drew more and more and more.

- I have to say, like
growing up I felt like

I had no ideas, like I was just the most

unoriginal, like, I
always felt like artists

have to have like these
kinda waterfalls of ideas,

endless amount of ideas,
and I had like zero I felt.

- So I get most of my stories
and my ideas from my life.

I think about a lot of
stuff that's happened to me,

like when was the last time I was happy?

When was the last time I felt really sad?

When was the last time I
cried or got really angry?

- Most of my stories originate from

my own personal experiences, and I think

there's a touchstone there
that is very important

to the storyteller to find
because it makes us honest.

I'm not just gathering kind of ideas

and chucking them together
and there's a story.

No story comes ready made.

- One way is that I think long and hard

about my experiences in life and

moments in my life where I've had

what I kind of consider to be an epiphany.

I have gained some sort of insight

or learned something that I think

is really important to
share with the world.

I think those are the kind of stories

that are really fun because they

only can come from you
and your experience.

Nobody else can have the same insights

as you because they haven't
lived the same life as you.

- No two people will
experience life the same,

so no two people will
tell a story the same way.

Think of this as a superpower we all have,

your unique perspective.

Only you see the world this way.

Now I want you to think
about a memory you have.

It can be your most embarrassing memory,

a frightening memory, or a
time you were very surprised.

Whatever it is, it's a
memory you remember vividly.

In this first exercise
you'll have a chance

to express this memory in various ways.