STORY DEVELOPMENT
After a first draft has been written it’s customary to explore a story and it’s characters visually. Not to get lost or bogged down by too many unnecessary details, this is often done in broad strokes, called "story beat" drawings.
I like to think of it as doing the movie first as an illustrated children’s book.
I have done this kind of work for Tim Burton and at Pixar for John Lasseter and Pete Doctor. Also at Disney Studios I worked in Development along side great story men such as Joe Grant, Vance Gerry and Joe Ranft.
The movie CARS, sprang from my idea and drawings of The Little Yellow Car, that I did while at Pixar in 1995. Joe Ranft and I co-wrote the first draft script for the final movie with John Lasseter as master of ceremonies.
My original story and pitch for a Pixar movie starring CARS. "Yellow Car" 1995
Beatboards for the movie" CARS" 2006
Development sketches and beatboards for "A Bugs Life" 1998
Development sketches and beatboards for "Frankenweenie" 2011
...more beatboards for "Frankenweenie" 2011
Beatboards for "Toy Story 2"
While at PIXAR, I developed a couple more original stories after my work on CARS. One I called "The Spirit of New Orleans, a Pixar Ghost Story". I belive my work later inspired the Disney feature, "The Princess and the Frog".
For ReelFX's "FREE BIRDS"
For Pixar's "MONSTERS INC."
For SECRET OF HALLOWEEN story (copyright LANI PIXEL 2017)