Concept Development
Concept & Development
Section titled “Concept & Development”Timeline and Overview
Section titled “Timeline and Overview”- Average production time: 3-5 years to make an animated movie
- Starting point: Everything begins with a concept at the very beginning of the pipeline
Sources of Inspiration
Section titled “Sources of Inspiration”Concepts can originate from virtually anywhere:
- Your own original ideas
- Fairy tales
- Popular books
- Toys
- Sequels to existing projects
Emotional Foundation
Section titled “Emotional Foundation”- For a successful story, “it really needs to speak to you on an emotional level, on a human level”
- “You want the core of it to be kind of simple and to like ring with people’s emotions”
- Personal process: “Typically, I’ll have, I don’t know, 14 ideas a week and I won’t tell anyone about any of them until one of them, I just can’t get rid of it”
- Key indicator: “When I can’t stop thinking about it, that to me reveals the truth of like, Oh! there’s something here”
Concept Phase Team and Activities
Section titled “Concept Phase Team and Activities”Key Personnel Involved
Section titled “Key Personnel Involved”- Directors
- Producers
- Writers
- Executives
- Production designers
- Story artists
- Other creatives
Primary Activities
Section titled “Primary Activities”The team works on “taking an idea and giving it legs” through:
- Brainstorming clever titles
- Writing and rewriting the script
- Sketching out characters, props, wardrobe
- “All the details that define what an animated movie is”
Creative Discovery Process
Section titled “Creative Discovery Process”- “It’s one of the most exciting parts of the process”
- “It’s just the sense of discovery and be like, you know, seeing a piece of art that like inspires the movie and then we go like, can the movie look like that?”
- Process involves asking: “Can the movie look like this painting?”
Visual Development Tools
Section titled “Visual Development Tools”Artists use various tools to establish visual look and feel:
- Sketches: “Very rough sketches and ideas to see are we hitting the right emotion?”
- Paintings: Loose paintings to capture emotional tone
- Collages: Mixed media approaches
- Anything creative: “It could be absolutely anything” (especially on Spider-verse films)
Emotional Validation
Section titled “Emotional Validation”- Focus on testing: “Does that emotion feel like the right emotion for this moment?”
- Very loose approach initially with sketching and paintings
Animation vs. Live Action Differences
Section titled “Animation vs. Live Action Differences”Unique Animation Requirements
Section titled “Unique Animation Requirements”- “Unlike in live action, animation requires us to create every single thing you see on screen”
- Traditionally later-stage roles join early:
- Animators
- Editors
- Visual effects supervisors
- These roles “jump in here at the concept phase to add even more depth and sophistication to our idea”
Development Process
Section titled “Development Process”- “You start, you know, storyboarding, editing the sequences, building the whole screening of the film”
- Iterative approach: “You want to do that several times because you might like parts of it and want to redo parts and kind of refine it along the way”
Green Light Decision
Section titled “Green Light Decision”Success Criteria
Section titled “Success Criteria”After initial concept work, “a studio can decide to give the green light. That means all systems are a go”
- Concept receives “backing and the resources it needs to continue along that pipeline and become a real film”
- Unsuccessful concepts “get archived, maybe for another day”
Industry Comparison
Section titled “Industry Comparison”Live Action Process:
- Usually gets green light at script stage
- Proceeds “in a more linear fashion until completion”
Animation Process:
- “Requires some collaboration and a whole crew of professionals with various specialties coming together much earlier in the process”
- Need to “shape an idea and package it in a way that’s undeniable to the studio”
Script Development
Section titled “Script Development”- “When you have the germ of an idea, one of the first things to really get into is writing a script or a screenplay”
- Important distinction: “In animation, the script is really just a blueprint for what a movie can be”
Quiz Knowledge Check:
Question: What are some of the tools that artists use in the concept phase to start roughing in the visual look and feel of the project?
Correct Answers:
- Sketches ✓
- Collages ✓
- Photographs ✓
Incorrect Answer:
- Screenplays (these are blueprints for story, not visual tools)
The concept phase establishes the creative foundation through collaborative ideation and visual exploration, requiring significantly more upfront investment compared to live-action films. Success depends on emotional resonance and thorough development before receiving studio approval to proceed.