Shadowing Practice: Pixar in a Box | Welcome to Pixar in a Box | Khan Academy - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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- Welcome to Pixar In A Box a collaboration between Pixar Animation Studios - and the Khan Academy.
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- Welcome to Pixar In A Box a collaboration between Pixar Animation Studios - and the Khan Academy.
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- I'm Fran, I work here on the technical side of things.
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- And I'm Alex, I work here on the art and story side of things.
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- (Fran) Pixar In A Box will introduce you to some of the fundamental skills we use to make our movies.
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- (Alex) There's examples of real life film challenges that show how an artist's idea can create a tidal wave of technical creativity.
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And how technical advances can inspire artists to think of new ideas to bring to the screen.
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You'll meet artists, scientists, animators, coders, sculptors, all kinds of different people.
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- And the thing is, most of them use skills you may already be learning in school.
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But here in the Box, you can see how we use those skills to make cool stuff.
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Before you dive into these lessons, you should see how it all fits together inside Pixar, the real Pixar.
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Come on, check it out.
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(light, flittering music) - At Pixar on any given day we're working on various stages of many films.
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- But it all begins with an idea.
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For example, "Toy Story" started with the notion that when kids leave the room their toys come to life.
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And, honestly, I was convinced that my toys did that.
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(scampering instrumental music) - Our films start in story, along with the director and the writer we figure out what happens using simple drawings.
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- (Fran) It's kind of like a comic book.
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- (Alex) Exactly, and while we're drawing, production designers and their team start designing the world and the characters.
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(smooth, cheerful orchestral music) While they're painting and drawing and scultping our storyboards go to editorial, where they string together all the drawings that we've created.
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- We time them out, add music, dialogue and sound effects.
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(clicking) - He's the only one who knew what the heck was going aaaaaaahhhhhhh!
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- And as these shots go through each stage in production, we'll update the scene over and over again.
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And this is where the science and the math come in.
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- Who knew what the heck was going aaaaaaahhhhhhh!
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(mischevious music) - What's next?
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Pipeline, we're ready to start making the film you'll see in the theater and this happens in a particular order.
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It's time for our technical artist to figure out how we're going to create the movie in the computer.
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- I've been here for nine years and I still have no idea how you guys turn our drawings into the finished film.
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- To be honest, something stumps us on every movie.
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- Hey Galyn.
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- Hey. - You've been here since Toy Story, what's been hard on each film?
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- Well on Toy Story everything.
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Here let me show you.
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On Toy Story we were inventing the entire process from scratch.
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Monsters Incorporated, fur and clothing.
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On Cars, reflective metal surfaces.
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On every new film there's a new technical challenge.
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On Inside Out we had to deal with a character made of glowing particles and it took lots of people to figure out just that one thing.
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- (Alex) Whoa, what is she made of?
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- Her shape will be made of points and particles of light.
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She was tough, this is the 17th version.
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- And the characters have to move, so someone has to add controls to the model.
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- Like a puppet, right?
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- Yes, except instead of strings, our animators will use a computer program to move the characters in a digital world.
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(bemused music) Next in the pipeline, sets.
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(playful music) - (Alex) So for Cars 2 you built the entire city of London?
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- We needed a huge chunk of the city because Mayor and McQueen speed through it.
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So we figured out to grow buildings with enough variation for them to look real.
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- (Fran) And we move through that set with our virtual cameras.
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Next up, animation.
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- I do know what the animators do.
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They bring the characters to life.
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- (Fran) You see how she's moving but her clothes and hair are missing?
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Adding and moving those elements is going to be someone else's job further down the pipeline.
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And by somebody else, I mean me and about 20 other simulation technical artists.
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Where are you getting all these shirts?
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We have to build everything you see, including the textures and surfaces which help make the world and characters believable.
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Next stop, lighting.
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- Ironically it's really dark in the lighting department.
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(playful music) So when you start, there are no lights?
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- No any source of light is something we have to add into the scene.
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In this shot alone there are 230 lights.
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- (Fran) Last stop, the Renderfarm.
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- A film is really a series of images or frames.
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There's 24 of them every second.
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(light, moving music) - (Fran) This is where we make the frames.
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Everything comes together here, all the art, math and science.
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A single frame can take more than 24 hours to render, and that's just one frame, and that's assuming we don't run into any snags.
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- Whoa! (thuds) (soaring orchestral music) - Wow, it's incredible seeing final shots.
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And now that I know how they're made, even cooler.
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- So that's the tour, our next step is to jump back into the Box and choose a lesson.
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What do you want to try?
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- Well this one on building robots using combinatorics, that looks pretty cool.
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- What about the one on sets and staging?
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- Yeah or the one on animating The Incredibles.
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- (Fran) Awesome, I always wanted to animate.
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(silly trumpet music)

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Context & Background

In the video "Pixar in a Box" from Khan Academy, you are introduced to a captivating world where creativity meets technology in the film industry. The speakers, Fran and Alex, share insights into the intricate process of making animated movies at Pixar Animation Studios. They explain how an idea transforms into a full-blown film, highlighting various roles from artists and animators to technical experts and coders. This collaboration showcases not only artistic vision but also the essential skills you may already be learning in school, making it an incredible resource for English language learners who aspire to improve their communication skills while exploring an engaging subject.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

  • "Who knew what the heck was going on?" - A phrase expressing confusion or surprise, useful in casual conversations.
  • "Let's check it out." - A friendly invitation to explore or discover something together.
  • "It all begins with an idea." - A great discussion starter about inspiration or creativity in various contexts.
  • "This is where the science and the math come in." - A phrase highlighting the importance of technical knowledge, perfect for explaining concepts.
  • "I've been here for nine years." - A way to express personal experience, useful in both professional and informal settings.

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

If you want to leverage the shadowing technique to enhance your English pronunciation and speaking skills while watching the Pixar video, follow this structured approach:

  1. Watch and Listen: Begin by watching the video without any interruptions. Pay attention to the intonation, rhythm, and emotion in the speakers' voices.
  2. Choose Short Segments: Select one or two sentences at a time, such as “It all begins with an idea,” and focus on understanding their meaning and pronunciation.
  3. Repeat and Imitate: Use the shadow speech method by pausing the video after each sentence. Repeat the phrases out loud, trying to mimic the speakers’ pronunciation, intonation, and speed.
  4. Practice Regularly: Integrate these phrases into your daily dialogue. For instance, use “Let’s check it out” when inviting friends to explore new things, which ties into your IELTS speaking practice effortlessly.
  5. Record Yourself: After several repetitions, record your shadow speak, and listen for any areas of improvement. Compare your recording to the original to fine-tune your pronunciation.

By incorporating the shadowing technique into your learning routine, you will significantly improve English pronunciation and become more confident in your spoken abilities.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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