The treasure trove in your deleted scenes

Creative fuel from meh ideas

My daughter has been working her way through Pixar’s 30-year oeuvre. When she deems a film a favorite, she not only watches it over and over again, she wants to understand it from every angle. Which is how we recently found ourselves in the “Extras” section of Inside Out, watching all the deleted scenes.

They’re super rudimentary—think black and white storyboards, with jumpy animation, basic voiceovers, and minimal scoring. To watch the scenes is to see fresh ideas in very early development.

Here’s an example. The below is an early concept for an opening scene in the movie: