Inside Out classroom resource
About
Inside Out tells the story of Riley, an 11-year-old girl who has to deal with the disruption of moving from her home in rural Minnesota to San Francisco. Such a huge change causes intense emotional upheaval, a rollercoaster of feelings, responses and memories.
This modern and zany fable explores the complexity and power of a person’s inner life by imagining the internal landscape of the mind as an unpredictable world populated with idiosyncratic characters.
By representing elusive feelings, thoughts and emotions as characters that can be seen and heard, the narrative gives young people the chance to talk about their own feelings as well as consider their behaviour and the circumstances that influence how they feel and what they do in response to those feelings.
Visit the website of Pixar Animation Studios for behind-the-scenes insights relating to theme, character and production design.
Recommended Year levels: 5–6
Learning areas: English, Media Arts, Personal and Social
Before the film
Discuss as a class
Do you always know how your friends are feeling?
What are some of the ways you can learn more about other people’s feelings?
Are you ever confused about your own feelings? Maybe you don’t know why you are upset, or why a comment, action or event can trigger strong feelings.
Brainstorm
Brainstorm as many feelings you can think of and list them.
In groups, compare your responses. Discuss how you might draw particular emotions so as to communicate their meaning.
Choose an emotion to illustrate.
Share and compare these illustrations.
Watch the Trailer (below)
What aspects of the story does the trailer emphasise?
What do you think about the look of the film?
After watching the trailer, what do you want to know more about?
What audience is the trailer targeting?
Does it make you want to see the movie?
After Watching the Film
Initial response to the film
What stood out in the film? Which scene was the most memorable?
Make a list of adjectives that describe the film.
How did the film make you feel? Did you go through a range of emotions? Describe them.
What was the message of the story?
Did you have any favourite characters in the film? What did you like about them?
Two Worlds
Inside out takes us into two different worlds, the real world that Riley lives in and the inner world of her thoughts and feelings. Put together a selection of shots from the film and ask the students to think about what is being communicated about these worlds.
Describe each of these worlds. Focus on: colour, shape, design, lighting, characters and layout (topography).
What can you learn about these worlds from the way they look?
Narrative
The story of Inside Out portrays how our inner lives connect with our everyday lives and experiences.
In the scene at the dinner table, how do we learn about the role of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Disgust and Fear in Riley’s life?
Think, Pair, Share: a time when you experienced a mix of emotions when faced with a change or challenge in your life.
What is the effect of Joy and Sadness getting lost on Riley’s behaviour around her friends and family, and at her new school?
Riley’s inner life is represented as a landscape. The changes in Riley’s life turn her into a different kind of person. How do the Personality Islands help tell the story of what is happening to her?
What is the role of Bing Bong in the story? Where do Joy and Sadness find him? What happens to him in the end? What does this tell us?
Character Design
Consider the character design of each of the main emotions: Joy, Fear, Anger Disgust and Sadness.
How do their colour, size, shape, features and voice communicate the feelings they represent? You can find out more about the character design here. (Don't worry about the dead video links, there is still plenty to discover.)
In the following video, Pete Docter lets his audience on on some of the secrets behind designing the characters. Did you know that disgust is modelled on a piece of broccoli?
Design your own characters
If you were creating a version of the Inside Out story to communicate the feelings and qualities that are a big part of your personality, what would they be? How would you design characters to represent these feelings and qualities? What would they look like? How would they sound? What are some of the things they would say?
Use the character design sheet (below) to help you design one or more of these characters.
Music and sound effects
Choose a scene from the film where the sound effects and/or music are particularly important.
What is happening in this scene?
How does the music enhance the scene?
Describe the mood of the music?
Why was the music important to the scene?
Would the scene be different if there were no sound effects/music?
It can be really interesting to play a scene without any sound and consider what is added by sound and dialogue. This will also highlight how much of the story is told through the visual narrative.
Dealing with loss
Why is Joy so determined to keep sadness from affecting Riley’s memories?
Why don’t Riley’s parents give her the chance to be sad about all of the changes in her life?
Why is it important to recognise sad feelings as well as happy ones?
What is the effect of Sadness listening to Bing Bong as he remembers his time as Riley’s special friend? Why is listening so important? Why don’t people always want to hear about people’s troubles and the things that make them sad?
Think of some of the times you have felt a sense of loss or faced a particular challenge. What are some of the ways of dealing with the feelings that arise in these situations?
In small groups, design a poster to help others cope with difficult times. Suggest what they might be able to do and who they could talk to.
Communication
Throughout the story we see how difficult it can be for Riley to communicate her mixed emotions about moving houses. We also see that Joy and Sadness have trouble communicating with each other.
In pairs, choose a scene from the outside world and another from the inner world where the characters are failing to communicate effectively with one another. Discuss words or gestures that the characters could have used to communicate their feelings more effectively. Maybe you could recreate one of these scenes in a role play to come up with a more effective approach to communicating feelings and emotions.
Design a Map of Your World
Design a map of your own inner world. Include Headquarters, Personality Islands and Memories.