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Pixar in a Box
Course: Pixar in a Box > Unit 2
Lesson 6: Pitching and feedback | 6Giving feedback
Help others improve their storytelling by providing constructive feedback! When listening to a pitch, consider clarity, intent, and pacing, and when delivering feedback, start positive, be specific, and offer suggestions. Remember, feedback helps storytellers refine their ideas and create engaging stories.
Want to join the conversation?
- i have 3 stories that I'm writing (two of them are mysteries and the other is a Fantasy and their all fiction stories), but I'm scared to show them to the world, and I'm too scared to read them on my YouTube channel, should i just go for it and read one of my stories on my YouTube channel?(17 votes)
- Heck yeah!
Go for it!
You should also try publishing the story on free websites like wattpad or quotev, see if you can get some constructive critic!
This way you can evolve your stories and you have people helping you point out your mistakes.(7 votes)
- it's just cool how khan lets us learn what these people do(8 votes)
- yeah but I still don't know how to join a class unfortunately it is to late for that because today is my last day on KHANACADEMY(2 votes)
- The pixar team is really working hard, cause it looks like their eyes are tired(6 votes)
- giving positve feedback is good for a begener(5 votes)
- 1 is the sandwich method going to work and 2 how is the sandwich method gonna work(3 votes)
- what if you don't want it to be personal?(2 votes)
- Break it to them nicely. Say something like "This looks great! I think the story would really shine if you added some more emotion to this part. Good job." hope this helped! :)(3 votes)
- Go for it! But what is it called? I might read it(2 votes)
- A snow leopard called Snowblaze was born for one purpose; destroy the Stone of Ice. but on the day that Snowblaze is to fulfill his duty, the Stone is stolen. Snowblaze is ordered to go after it, but he knows if he destroys the stone, he himself will be ruined. he goes after it anyway, the fact that the stone could freeze the world weighing on his mind.(2 votes)
- Is this a pitch? Sounds good! A little more backstory and character info would really make it shine. :)(1 vote)
- what happens when someone gives a negative feedback is the person punished(0 votes)
- The person wouldn't really be punished, but it could feel offensive if you say something like, "That doesn't make sense, nobody would get that," or, "You shouldn't have made that choice." It can feel like you made a wrong decision, and while that may or may not be true [depending on the decision], it's better to try to point in the right direction, rather than be negative :)(4 votes)
- how is pitching important to writing a story(1 vote)
Video transcript
- Welcome back. In the last video, we
talked about pitching as a way to improve a story. The most important part of the pitch is the feedback given by
those listening to the pitch and that's what we'll focus
on in this video, feedback. When you are pitching, there
may be parts of the story that are clear to you but not clear to those hearing
the story for the first time. That's why feedback is important. You learn what parts of your
story need to be clearer. After listening to a pitch, the feedback you give
helps the storyteller understand what's working and what's not. The more clear and articulate you can be, the more you can help the storyteller see how their story is perceived. So what should you listen
for when hearing a pitch? - When I'm listening to a pitch, I try to identify what the
storyteller wants to say with the idea like what
is the point of the story? - The way that they say the lines and so that it also
gives me an understanding as to why they drew the
character in a certain way so that I understand maybe how
I'm gonna time out that shot or what the intent is there or the energy level is for the scene which might give me an
idea what kind of music I'm gonna use or something. - When a story artist pitches
a three or four minute scene, we as editors wanna see
how that small scene will be incorporated
into the bigger picture. - Because you're looking at only one chunk of a film called a sequence and usually it's based on
whatever location you're in. So you have to go into it thinking, what's the beginning point
and what's the end point? Okay, I've got my brain there. Now, let's watch this. But mainly, you're listening
for performance and pacing and whether it's working
within the body of the film. - Once you figure out what
was clear and what wasn't and what was entertaining and what wasn't, it's time to give that
feedback to the storyteller and it can be tricky
to give honest feedback in a way that leaves the
storyteller energized to make changes rather
than feeling beaten up. Pixar artists have
developed a few strategies to make giving feedback
a positive experience. First, start with the positive by giving specific examples
of things that you liked, things that are working particularly well. - One thing we try to keep in
mind is the feedback sandwich. You start with something positive about the pitch that you really liked and that kind of breaks the ice for you to insert any constructive
feedback that you have for the storyteller and then you end it with
something positive again. So you kind of end on a high note and that's the feedback sandwich and it's easy for the filmmaker to digest because it's a sandwich. - When someone's pitching and
I'm there giving feedback, I have to go into it
knowing that that person worked really hard on this thing and they might have
worked late in the night and not seen their kids and so you wanna go into
it with a sense of respect for the artist. - You're more likely to listen to feedback if you feel like the person
who's giving you the feedback is on your side and has the same goal of creating something great and greater than one person
can create on their own. - Second, make it personal. That is, make it clear this
is your personal perspective. - When giving feedback, it's important that it comes
from your own point of view and it's good to use I statements. I didn't understand that. I thought this could be more clear. - I wasn't sure what you
were trying to convey here. - As opposed to saying, nobody's
ever gonna understand that or you didn't make it clear. - Nobody's gonna get that message, nobody's going to understand that because that's just
fundamentally not true. You don't know what everybody
else is going to understand. - Because everyone has an opinion and what's obvious to one person may not be obvious to another. - Third, be specific. - When you give specific feedback, it really helps the person to be able to do something with it, right? They can actually make
changes in their work. - When you give feedback
like it's not funny then it's not really
helpful for the filmmaker but if you say something like it'll be so much funnier
if you change the timing of the punchline one millisecond sooner or instead of this gesture,
it's a bigger gesture like those specific things that the director or the
filmmaker can actually use to address your note. That's always super helpful. - And so if you can be
specific and know what you want even though it may be wrong,
at least they have a direction. - And fourth, make suggestions
for the storyteller to consider as opposed to dictating what you think should happen. - So when giving feedback, it's important not to
dictate to the artist what you think is the solution. There could be a number of solutions. - Or ask a question like ask
for clarification like what, what was your intent when
the character said xyz? - What were you trying
to do with this area or what were you trying to, what were you hoping to achieve
with the ending of that, of this story and that kind of releases
the burden off of you to provide the solution for one but also, it kinda gets the
director or the storyteller to start thinking about, oh,
what am I trying to do here and then they can figure
it out for themselves. - So questions again involve
the pitcher in the process. - Ultimately, it is your job as the person providing the feedback to identify problems with the story rather than to fix those problems. Feel free to offer suggestions but solving the problems is
the job of the storyteller. The next exercise asks you to
work on your feedback skills with a few friends.