Transcript: Mark Andrews Visual Storytelling Lecture (CalArts)
If you are into story you probably know this video. It’s one of those things I keep going back to. I love to hear Mandrews talk story. Because there is so much great stuff in this talk, I went and wrote-out the main part of it. I figure this transcript might be helpful to people so I posted it below. Please note that I didn’t write-out everything, and edited-out most of the playacting, as well as most of the right’s and you-know’s. (In other words make sure to also watch the video!)
BTW Mandrews take on thumbnailing is not undisputed. I know many story-artists who do thumbnail, but he does make sense when he states that thumbnailing can be a waste of time.
If you hadn’t seen this video before make sure to also check-out part 1 here.
Transcript:
There is a story that I heard, when I started storyboarding at Hanna-Barbera on The New Adventures of Jonny Quest, from the old-time storyboard artists. They were doing things like Jonny Quest, and Scooby Doo, and that stuff. They were telling me that there was this one guy, this one storyboard artist there, if he had a two-week assignment, he would take a week and a half and think. And then he’d crank it out in three days, and it’d be done.
Everybody has their own process. The first thing you gotta do is, before you can draw anything— Before you can draw anything, you have to know the story! There is different ways of knowing the story. You’ve got to think about it in your head, you gotta start making decisions of what you want, you have to plot it out, you have to— Write down the beats of the story. (…) You know, you beat it out. But beating out is just a function of putting it in you head so you can figure out what your story is. Another assignment I give the interns is I give them 25 beats of a train- …robbers capturing a train. Just 25 beats. Now, that doesn’t mean 25 shots. That means these are the 25 things that have to happen. And only those 25 things. Sometimes they go and they spread out and they add all these other things. It’s like, hey, what are you doing? Just these 25 things. It’s how you do those 25 things.
What are you gonna show? When are you gonna show it? What is the information of that thing you are going to show? (It) carries weight, there can be no waste!
So what I do, I just think about it and I just start drawing images. I explore. I visually explore. I just start drawing ideas. Where is this place? What’s the island look like? What’s the old man look like? Am I gonna do all classic, Clash of the Titans on it, or am I gonna do something else. What do I wanna say with these images? But the first image I drew, was the table with him spread out on it. And then the birds circling in the sky. Then I started putting those two things together. And it almost becomes like poetry, you know, the storytelling. And you let the image speak for itself. And get into the audience. Because the audience has to be participatory to the story.
They’re asking questions, they’re going: Where am I? Who is this? What’s gonna happen? What’s gonna happen next? And you lead the audience on that journey. You’re giving them question-and-answer the whole time.
So I’ll visually explore. And once I’ve visually explored I start getting into the beats of it. Writing down the beats, figuring out the beats. And then I’ll just start boarding and I’ll board as fast as I can! Every idea, as fast as I can, as sloppy as I can! Nobody else’s gonna see these drawings, but me. Because I can understand my chicken-scratch. (…) You have to explore your options. You have to try several different takes of something. Am I shooting this guy like this? Or is it like this? Is it like this? Maybe I’m behind him… No, no, no, maybe I’m over here and I’m using a wide lens (…) All these things mean something. Can mean something. It is telling the audience information. So I’ll explore that while I draw as fast as I can. Once I’m drawing as fast as I can, every step of that process is just getting into my head what this story is. And how it needs to be told visually. Does that make sense? It gives me choices. I can go: ‘Gawd, duh! Don’t go that way!’ And trow it away, so I can get other ideas. People go: ‘Do you start at the beginning, or at the end?’ I go all over the place! I’ll start in the middle. I’ll start with the second shot. I’ll start with whatever moves me, and patch it around. Move things around, and edit it, look it, and get it done, and look at it and edit it. Move things around, and go: I don’t need that shot, this could be one shot. You know on second hand, that shot’s gone. Let’s do all this. Oh, jesus, I just got a new idea. Throw it all away, start again. That’s why story’s hell. It’s not this perfect stroke you’re trying to get in golf. It’s supposed to be messy. You’re supposed to be— It’s Bill Murray in Caddyshack. That’s what you gotta be as a story-artist. You gotta be down and dirty, guys! This is your time to mess up! Messing up is good! As long as you know you’re messing up. (…) That’s what I do on a daily basis. You think Brad comes up and goes: Woohoo, you got it! No way. (…) I’m serious guys, nobody has the answer out there. Nobody does. People can only come to the answer by asking questions. And trial and error, that’s it.
So I’ll visually explore. And once I’ve visually explored I start getting into the beats of it. Writing down the beats, figuring out the beats. And then I’ll just start boarding and I’ll board as fast as I can! Every idea, as fast as I can, as sloppy as I can! Nobody else’s gonna see these drawings, but me. Because I can understand my chicken-scratch. (…) You have to explore your options. You have to try several different takes of something. Am I shooting this guy like this? Or is it like this? Is it like this? Maybe I’m behind him… No, no, no, maybe I’m over here and I’m using a wide lens (…) All these things mean something. Can mean something. It is telling the audience information. So I’ll explore that while I draw as fast as I can. Once I’m drawing as fast as I can, every step of that process is just getting into my head what this story is. And how it needs to be told visually. Does that make sense? It gives me choices. I can go: ‘Gawd, duh! Don’t go that way!’ And trow it away, so I can get other ideas. People go: ‘Do you start at the beginning, or at the end?’ I go all over the place! I’ll start in the middle. I’ll start with the second shot. I’ll start with whatever moves me, and patch it around. Move things around, and edit it, look it, and get it done, and look at it and edit it. Move things around, and go: I don’t need that shot, this could be one shot. You know on second hand, that shot’s gone. Let’s do all this. Oh, jesus, I just got a new idea. Throw it all away, start again. That’s why story’s hell. It’s not this perfect stroke you’re trying to get in golf. It’s supposed to be messy. You’re supposed to be— It’s Bill Murray in Caddyshack. That’s what you gotta be as a story-artist. You gotta be down and dirty, guys! This is your time to mess up! Messing up is good! As long as you know you’re messing up. (…) That’s what I do on a daily basis. You think Brad comes up and goes: Woohoo, you got it! No way. (…) I’m serious guys, nobody has the answer out there. Nobody does. People can only come to the answer by asking questions. And trial and error, that’s it.
(…)
How many people thumbnail? Waste of time! Waste! Of! Time! Draw it at size, and draw it! Throw it away. Anytime you spend thumbnailing is taking away from actually what you gotta— ‘This is what I’m planning on doing, and then I’ll do it …’
No, just do it! Just start going, woohoo! Who cares if it sucks? You’re gonna find it. (When) you’re thumbnailing, your going: ‘Oh, ah, yeah, maybe- and now I’ve got to blow those up and then … No, that’s no good.’ And you just did double the work.
Thumbnailing is good for, like, animators. To figure out, do I want this, or do I want this— Animators thumbnail, storyboard artists do not thumbnail. Storyboard artists do it! And then you throw it on the floor if it’s not good. You know what I mean? You have to get through this birthing process of your sequence, of your story, of your assignment. Just do it, just put the paper down and draw the shot. (…)
Planning is— We’re not architects. I don’t need plans. You gotta go at it, man! We’re marines. A marine doesn’t get out of the boat and goes: ‘What do you wanna do? I don’t know!’ They said GO! And you go: ‘Right on!’
I know you guys write this stuff down on your desk, so write that down on your desk: ‘Right on!’ Just do it! I could be a spokesperson for Nike. (…) I just go. And you find out if it’s too long. Because there’s no, really, mistakes. There is no like magic process, you just got to do it.
And then, the biggest part of the process is to look at it once you did it, and be honest. You go: ‘Wow, first time through and it’s beautiful!’ And then, you remember my words: first time through can never be beautiful. And those words will echo like a ghost: ‘Mandrews said the first time is never beautiful’. And you go: ‘Uh-oh, then what’s … what do I do? What’s wrong with it?’ And then you’ll start seeing stuff: ‘You know, that could be a little bit better … Oh, I was kinda lazy on this shot … This whole gag, I really don’t need …’ And then you find it.
I’m sure there are (storyboard artists at Pixar who thumbnail). Everybody has their own process. Not on my team. If I catch them storyboarding I lay down the law. Cause it’s about time-management, people! If you’re sitting there, wasting your day away, thumbnailing and thinking about what you’re doing, I’d rather have it down and wrong. At size, for me to go: ‘What the hell were you doing?’ ‘I just went straight ahead like you said …’ ‘Okay, now were getting somewhere!’ (…) That’s what I want, you know what I mean? And if you can do that, like this—better than thumbnailing. Thumbnailing is about being precious, people. Thumbnailing is about: ‘I thumbnail so that my boards will be rocking’. (But) if it’s rocking and wrong, what do you got? Poop. Poop!
Just do it! That’s why we call it a “rough”. (Did you get that?) Rough! Do it rough. Do it for you, knock it out. Make your mistakes as fast as you can. Go down the wrong roads as fast as you can. Cause now you really have something to look at and analyze. (…) That’s the process.
So mess up! I give you permission. I mess up all the time! It doesn’t seem like it, but I do. It’s all messed up. I go and I mess up. It’s wrong, it’s wrong, it’s wrong, and then I find what’s right.
I’m sure there are (storyboard artists at Pixar who thumbnail). Everybody has their own process. Not on my team. If I catch them storyboarding I lay down the law. Cause it’s about time-management, people! If you’re sitting there, wasting your day away, thumbnailing and thinking about what you’re doing, I’d rather have it down and wrong. At size, for me to go: ‘What the hell were you doing?’ ‘I just went straight ahead like you said …’ ‘Okay, now were getting somewhere!’ (…) That’s what I want, you know what I mean? And if you can do that, like this—better than thumbnailing. Thumbnailing is about being precious, people. Thumbnailing is about: ‘I thumbnail so that my boards will be rocking’. (But) if it’s rocking and wrong, what do you got? Poop. Poop!
Just do it! That’s why we call it a “rough”. (Did you get that?) Rough! Do it rough. Do it for you, knock it out. Make your mistakes as fast as you can. Go down the wrong roads as fast as you can. Cause now you really have something to look at and analyze. (…) That’s the process.
So mess up! I give you permission. I mess up all the time! It doesn’t seem like it, but I do. It’s all messed up. I go and I mess up. It’s wrong, it’s wrong, it’s wrong, and then I find what’s right.
