"Story, Story, Story...": Edi-storial

In animation, editors were historically left out of the story development process for many good reasons. But a creative environment open to new roles, combined with the powerful, new application of digital tools on Toy Story, made Pixar editors writers from the start of a production. The Pixar editor's presence in the pitches opens an almost imperceptible gap between old tradition and new approach. The story artist, like a stage performer, can sense in the moment-and adjust to-that audience and their energy in the room. In live-action, editors can break rules of continuity. They can cut, for instance, from something moving to the left side of the screen to something in motion from the right to create excitement, a visceral reaction. But in storyboards, because nothing is moving at all, the audience would just be disoriented if a character or object jumps from one side of the screen to another.