Category: Animation

  • D23Expo 2015: Walt Disney Animation

    On Friday afternoon (Aug 14), Walt Disney Animation and Pixar presented their upcoming slate of animated features.

    The presentation was kicked off by Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios.   He showed a history reel of Disney/Pixar animation highlights, and explained how proud he was to be connected to the heritage and legacy of Disney animation — to have a connection to the people who invented the art form of feature animation.

    He further explained that when Ed Catmull and John Lasseter took over (as part of the acquisition of Pixar), the development model changed from an executive-driven process to a filmmaker-driven process.

    He then introduced John Lasseter (head of Pixar and Disney Animation) to take us through the films.

    I’ll cover Walt Disney Animation in this post, and Pixar in the post that follows.

    ZOOTOPIA

    John explained that he’d always been a fan of animation featuring anthropomorphic animals — animals that wear clothes, use machinery, drive cars (he cited Mr. Toad as an example here).   Zootopia is a film in that mode.

    Director Byron Howard (Tangled, Bolt), Director Rich Moore (Wreck-it Ralph) and Producer Clark Spencer came out to present a film clip.   In the clip, Nick Wilde, a fox (voiced by Jason Bateman) is trying to con an ice cream shop owner out of a free ice cream for his son ( left the wallet at home … it’s the kid’s birthday … the poor kid is sick .. etc. ).   Watching this is bunny Judy Hops (voice by Ginnifer Goodwin), who will later pair up with Wilde to solve a missing persons case.

    The area they inhabit is very richly designed, with different environs for the various types of animals — tunda, burrows, dunes, rainforest.

    Ginnifer Goodwin came out to give some background on her character — she plays a cop, and in this world cops are always the bigger, tougher animals.  So as a bunny, she’s assigned to be a meter maid rather than getting the good assignments.   So the missing persons case she is working (it wasn’t explained how that will come about) is going to be her big break.     In  another hilarious scene — where Nick and Judy are trying to get information from a DMV employee played, appropriately enough, by a sloth — it’s unclear whether Nick is really trying to help or hinder the investigation.

    We had a very brief video from Shakira, who played just a few seconds of her song Try Everything from the movie.  She is also playing the character of a gazelle.

    Zootopia will be released March 4th 2016.

    GIGANTIC

    Lasseter to returned to the stage to explain how, whenever Disney does a fairy tale story, it tends to become the definitive version of that tale.   Many of the Disney stories had been told and re-told in many different forms before Disney’s version.

    So, Lasseter announced that Disney is now setting out to tell the definitive version of the Jack and the Beanstalk story.   The movie will be titled Gigantic, with a release date of 2018.   Nathan Greno (Tangled) will direct, and Dorothy McKim will produce.

    The film is set in Spain during the Age of Exploration.   We heard that when Jack goes up the beanstalk, he encounters not just a single giant, but a whole community of giants.  In particular it appears he becomes the plaything of one young girl (Inma – not sure about the spelling).

    Bobby Lopez and Kristina Anderson-Lopez (Frozen) will create the songs for the movie.   They came out on stage and Kristina sang “Little Man” from the film while storyboards for that sequence were shown.

    No casting was announced.   The movie is scheduled for a 2018 release.

    MOANA

    John Musker and Ron Clements (The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog) directing, Osnat Shurer producing.

    Moana directors John Musker and Ron Clements. Image (c) D23.com.
    Moana directors John Musker and Ron Clements. Image (c) D23.com.

    This tale is set in the South Pacific.   The islanders in this region, historically, have been some of the greatest navigators in the world.   Yet, for some unknown reason, about 2000 years ago they stopped exploring and basically stayed at home for a thousand years.   Then, about 1000 years ago, they resumed their seafaring ways.   This story sets out to tell us why.

    Teenager Moana longs to explore the ocean, but her father doesn’t want her (or anyone) to venture past the reef-protected immediate vicinity of their island.    She is encouraged and motivated by her grandmother.   She is also inspired along the way by a demi-god, Maui, played by Dwayne Johnson.

    At this point Dwayne came out and told us more about his character.   A clip was played where he tries to impress Moana.  The character Maui is covered with tattoos, which will animate to tell about his deeds.   He carries a giant fishhook with which he can pull islands up from the ocean floor.

    Dwayne Johnson. Image (c) D23.com.
    Dwayne Johnson. Image (c) D23.com.

    We saw a clip where Moana, as a young girl (about 2), meets the ocean for the first time.  This is a beautifully animated sequence in which the ocean has real personality — it teases Moana by withdrawing to reveal shells, and as she moves forward to collect the shells, the ocean forms a wall around her, creating a virtual aquarium where she can see the sea life around her.   A wave then gently carries her back to the beach.

    A Polynesian musical number was then performed by a large group of singers and dancers; I’m not sure if this was actual music from the movie or just to show the general tone, but it was beautiful and should be amazing when paired with animation like the preview we were shown.

    Release date:  11/23/16

    Those are the upcoming films from Walt Disney Studios feature animation … Pixar will be covered in the next post, and the live-action releases (Disney, Marvel, and Lucasfilm) in the posts that follow.

  • D23 Expo 2013: Art & Animation (Part 3: Disney Animation)

    Part 1 of the Art & Animation presentation (Pixar) is here.

    Part 2 of the Art & Animation presentation (Disneytoon Studios) is here.

    The final segment of the Animation presentation covered upcoming releases from Disney Animation Studios.

    Before beginning the Disney Animation Studios portion of the presentation, host John Lasseter took a few minutes to recognize 60-year Disney animator Burny Mattinson.   Burny started as an animator with Disney in 1953, and is still working today.   He’s the last active animator at Disney who worked directly with Walt Disney.    Burny was in the VIP section of the audience and apparently unaware that he would be honored; he received an enthusiastic ovation from the crowd when he joined John on stage.

    We were then treated to something both new and old.   The Disney short Get a Horse was shown; I think this was the first time it was shown to an audience.   This is a very interesting mash up of a film — and I think the less you know about it going in, the more you’ll enjoy it.   It will be released as the short in front of Frozen later this year.

    The first Disney Animation Studios feature we were told about is Big Hero 6.   Director Don Hall took the stage to introduce the film, based on a relatively obscure Marvel comic.   We were shown a trailer for the film, that introduces a brilliant young robotics student whose invention falls into the hands of super villains.   He then must assemble a team of would-be super heroes to save San Fransokyo (a visually interesting city that mixes features of San Francisco and Tokyo).   He is assisted by the robot Baymax, an inflatable robot intended to function as a nurse, but modified by Hiro extensively.

    Zootopia was the next film presented; this feature is being announced for the first time at the D23 Expo.   Director Byron Howard (Tangled) and writer Jared Bush presented.   This is a buddy action comedy set in a world where humans never existed, so we get a view of how the world would be different if it was designed for, and run by, animals.    Cities aren’t divided up into ethnic neighborhoods, but rather into habitats, so you have a tundra area, a desert area, etc.   The film’s creators were trying to get the feel of some of the classic Disney films where you had animals in clothes such as Mr. Toad and Robin Hood.

    Frozen is the next feature coming from Disney, releasing on November 27th of this year.   Director Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee took the stage to introduce us to the world and characters of Frozen.   Frozen stars Kristen Bell as Anna, Idina Menzel as Elsa, Jonathon Groff as as Kristoff, and Josh Gad as Olaf.   The story is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.

    Kristen and Josh joined the directors on stage to talk about the film and show a few clips.   The first is when Olaf (the snowman) first meets Anna and Kristoff.   The second clip shows Olaf singing a funny, if somewhat clueless, song about how much he looks forward to experiencing summer for the first time.    (Yes, he’s in for quite a disappointment).   Songs for Frozen were written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Book of Mormon).

    To wrap up the presentation, and end the animation presentation, Idina Menzel (Elsa, or Elphaba in Wicked if you prefer) came on stage to perform Let it Go, from the film, while the audience was showered with confetti snow.    A powerful ending to the morning session and kickoff of the D23 Expo.

  • D23 Expo 2013: Art & Imagination (Part 2: Disneytoon Studios)

    continuing the coverage of Disney’s upcoming animated features started in this post

    Disneytoon Studios is the producer of mostly direct-to-video releases, usually sequels.   We were given a brief update of their upcoming animated features.

    Disneytoon has been doing a series of Tinkerbell friends involving Tink and her fairy friends (not that there’s anything wrong with that).    We were shown preview information about the next two entries.

    Legend of the Neverbeast is an action-adventure story, coming in Spring 2015.   We were given some story details but honestly, given that I’m not exactly the target demographic for these movies, I didn’t make any note of the details.

    The second Tink film looked a little more interesting, simply because it begins to tie Tink’s story in to what we already know about the character.   (We, in this case, mean those of us that haven’t been following the Disneytoon films of Tink’s adventures in Pixie Hollow).   In The Pirate Fairy,  Tinkerbell leaves Pixie Hollow and encounters more of Neverland.   She meets Zarina (the titular Pirate Fairy, voiced by Christina Hendricks), and James, voiced by Tim Hiddleston.

    Both Christina and Tim were on hand to talk about their characters.    James, a cabin boy on a pirate ship, turns out to be more than he appears … he is the character who will eventually become Captain Hook  (this story takes place in his two-handed days).

    Tom treated us to an a capella rendition of The Bare Necessities.    A very un-Loki moment.

    After the Tinkerbell series, we moved on to the Planes series of films.   The first film in this series released Friday (the same day as the presentation).    They are already at work on the second film in the series, Planes: Fire and Rescue, about a wildfire air attack team working out of Piston Peak National Park.    It features Dusty Crophopper, the character introduced in the first Planes film, working as part of a wildfire fighting unit.   Julie Bowen will voice Dipper.    We saw the first footage ever presented from this film, in rough form, and it definitely fits into the world introduced in the Cars films and now being continued with the Planes series.

    That concluded the DisneyToon Studios portion of the Animation presentation.   Next up, Walt Disney Animation Studios.   That’s for another post.

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  • D23 Expo 2013: Art and Imagination (Part I: Pixar)

    The 2013 D23 Expo kicked off with a presentation of upcoming animated feature releases from the various Disney studios.

    We were welcomed by Bob Iger, Chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company.   (Bob was here live this year; two years ago his introduction was taped).   He mentioned that since the last Expo, Disney has acquired LucasFilm, but that we wouldn’t be getting details of Star Wars Episode VII during the Expo.   He also said this Expo was the biggest yet.

    Bob then turned the floor over to Bob Lasseter, who was the host for the remainder of the 3-hour presentation.   John is the Chief Creative Officer at Pixar, Disneytoon, and Walt Disney Animation Studios, as well as the Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering (in other words, he has ALL the best jobs at Disney).

    The presentation was divided by studios, so I’ll divide the blog posts accordingly.   First up:  Pixar.

    We first heard about the success of Monsters University, currently in theaters.   John mentioned that one of the break-out characters from the film that really surprised them was the slug.   And then John was joined on stage by SNL alum Bil Hader, the voice of the slug.   They had a brief bit of banter before John announced the first D23 Exclusive of the day:  we were shown a new Monsters University short film, Party Central.   This was a really cute short film  that will be released theatrically in front of The Good Dinosaur.

    And that lead us in to a discussion of The Good Dinosaur, Pixar’s next film.   The premise here is: what if the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs missed the Earth?   director Pete Sohn and producer Denise Ream came on stage to discuss the film.   The first clip shown was of the dinosaurs engaged in farming activities.   This was a very lovely, pastoral scene that was different in tone from the funnier scenes that followed.    The animation style (particularly the character design) is more cartoony, and less photo-realistic, than I had anticipated based on what I heard previously.

    The voice cast includes John Lithgow, Frances McDormand, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Green, and Lucas Neff.    Bill and Lucas came out to talk a bit about the film, they both play siblings in the featured dino family.   We then saw another clip of the film, where Arlo (Luca’s character) meets a human for the first time.

    The Good Dinosaur will be in theaters in 2014.

    The next film presented was Inside Out.   (Announced at the 2011 Expo as The Untitled Pixar Film That Takes You Inside the Mind, but for some reason they chose not to stick with that title).    I can’t help but think of this as Cranium Command: The Movie — fans of that shuttered Epcot attraction will recognize the story line similarity.

    The movie as about 11 year old Riley, a young girl whose family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco.   As she adjusts to her new surroundings, we see her emotions personified as characters in her head.   The voice cast features Lewis Black as Anger; Mindy Kaling as Disgust; Bill Hader as Fear, Amy Poehler as Joy, and Phyllis Smith as Sadness.

    Phyllis Smith (The Office) and Bill “I’m not Dwight” Hader then came out to talk about the film.   Phyllis certainly nailed the Sadness role as she was in character throughout.

    The film takes us various places inside the brain, from HeadQuarters (the command center) to Long Term Memory, Imagination Central, Abstract Thought, and Dream Production.   All these areas are connected by the Train of Thought.

    We saw a story reel (essentially storyboards plus temp voice tracks) showing how a family dinner goes with the family — we get to see the inner emotions of the Mom and Dad as well as Riley, and the hilarious scene went over very well with the audience.   This looks like a gem.

    Next:  Finding Dory.   Director Andrew Stanton and producer Lindsey Collins set up the film, which takes place about a year after Finding Nemo.   Dory’s homing instinct kicks in and she takes off to search for her original family; her new family then has to search for her.   Voice cast includes returning Albert Brooks (Marlin) and Ellen DeGeneres (Dory), plus Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents, Ty Burrell, and more voice cast to be announced later.    At this point Bill Hader came on stage dressed as a Sea Cucumber to beg to be cast in the movie … with 3 Pixar films in a row under his belt, if he could just get one more, he could become Pixar’s “Lucky Charm”.

    Well, that comment just could not be allowed to stand.   At this point Pixar’s reigning lucky charm, John Ratzenberger, came onto stage accompanied by a full brass band that punctuated his every joke with a rim shot or appropriate flourish.    We saw a slideshow of all 14 of the characters John has voiced in Pixar films.    I don’t think Bill will be unseating John anytime soon.

    John Lasseter then explained that Pixar has been thinking about TV specials even before they did the first Toy Story, but now have finally created their first.   Toy Story of Terror will debut this Halloween, and we were treated to the first 10 minutes of the special.

    That concludes the Pixar portion of the animation presentation … the next post will pick up with the Disneytoon Studios project calendar.

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  • Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives

    As chronicled in the last couple of blog posts, I made a recent visit to Southern California to see Disneyland during the Christmas holidays and to visit the Reagan Presidential Library.    The Reagan Library is current hosting (through April 2013) an exhibition entitled Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives.

    The exhibition is presented by the Disney Archives, and includes many unique items from throughout the history of the Disney organization.    Because of the venue, some of the items selected for the display highlight Disney’s connection to Reagan (his work for Disney included emceeing Disneyland’s opening day broadcast) or to the presidency in general (Hall of Presidents sculptures, for example).   But the exhibition is far broader than just a few tie-ins.   Some of the items have been displayed before (such as at similar exhibitions at the D23 Expo in 2009 and 2011), but some are being displayed to the public for the first time.

    In the earlier galleries, we see items such as a movie poster from one of the Alice comedies.  (These early films combined live action and animation and were loosely based on Alice in Wonderland).   We also see a pencil sketch of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit — the animated character that Walt developed prior to Mickey Mouse.   And of course we see the early Mickey Mouse, including some of the early merchandising efforts for the character.

    Poster from an Alice comedy
    Poster from an Alice comedy
    Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pencil sketch
    Oswald the Lucky Rabbit pencil sketch
    Early Mickey Mouse merchandise
    Early Mickey Mouse merchandise

    There are cels here from some of the most notable early Disney animation shorts, including Academy Award winning Silly Symphonies Flowers and Trees (the first color cartoon) and The Three Little Pigs (famous for the song “Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf”).

    Cel from Silly Symphony "Flowers and Trees"
    Cel from Silly Symphony “Flowers and Trees”
    Cel from Silly Symphony "The Three Little Pigs"
    Cel from Silly Symphony “The Three Little Pigs”

    While animation buffs (such as myself) are likely to be familiar with a lot of the short features highlighted here, it was the move into feature length animation that really set Disney apart from what every other studio was doing.   One of the interesting artifacts on display was a partial Snow White costume, worn by Marge Champion when doing live action reference for the animators.

    IMG_2770

    Several of the feature length animated features started in the same fashion — with a shot of a story book.   As the camera zoomed in, the story book would open, and we would dissolve into the animated scene.   Several of these storybooks (from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella) were on display, including some of the interior pages.

    IMG_2773

    Also on display was Herb Ryman’s original Disneyland sketch.   The story of this sketch is that Walt needed something to show to investors, and Herb produced this very detailed sketch over the course of a weekend as Walt described what should be in the various areas of the park.

    IMG_2775

    Another fascinating exhibit was a full-scale re-creation of Walt’s formal office — every detail just as he left it, right down to the ordering of books in the bookcases (including one that is shelved upside down, because that’s the way Walt had left it).

    IMG_2779 IMG_2780

    After leaving this area of the exhibit, we start seeing props and costumes from some of Disney’s most well-known live action films from the early days.   This includes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Nautilus submarine model), The Absent-Minded Professor (Model T), and Mary Poppins (Julie Andrew’s costume).

    IMG_2785 IMG_2787 IMG_2788

    Still more costumes … we get costumes and an office set for Cruella de Vil (from the live-action 101 Dalmatians movie), Belle’s ball gown from the Broadway Production of Beauty and the Beast, several costumes from Annie Leibovitz’ Disney Dreams photo series (Tiny Fey’s Tinkerbell,  Scarlett Johansson’s Cinderella, and Rachel Weisz’ Snow White), and Whitney Houston’s fairly godmother costume from a TV production of Cinderella.

    IMG_2791 IMG_2792 IMG_2793 IMG_2798 IMG_2799 IMG_2795

    Yes, we do have more costumes — here are 3 from Enhanted:  Giselle’s wedding dress (Amy Adams), and costumes worn by James Marsden (Edward) and Susan Sarandon (evil stepmother / wicked queen)

    IMG_2797 IMG_2796 IMG_2800

    We also have some props and costumes from Alice in Wonderland . . .

    IMG_2801 IMG_2803 IMG_2802

    . . . and also from Tron (both the original and the recent sequel)

    IMG_2804 IMG_2805 IMG_2806 IMG_2807

    We have quite a bit from the Pirates of the Caribbean series:

    IMG_2794 IMG_2818 IMG_2819 IMG_2820 IMG_2822 IMG_2823

    Last of the movie stuff:  props from Marvel movies (Iron Man 2, Captain America, and the Avengers)

    IMG_2808 IMG_2811 IMG_2809 IMG_2810

    We also get to see some interesting items from the theme parks:  Malificient in dragon form (from Fantasmic!), hitch hiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion, a ride vehicle from Mr. Toad, and busts of all the presidents from the Hall of Presidents:

    IMG_2813 IMG_2814 IMG_2816 IMG_2827 IMG_2830

    This is far from everything that is on display at the exhibit, but I hope serves to give a good flavor of the kind of items that are on display.    The Reagan Library and the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit are both worthwhile, and I really enjoyed the day I spent there.

  • Destination D: Day Two Afternoon & Evening

    Hearing Voices: A Salute to Disney Voice Artists

    This is one of those you-had-to-be there sessions; hearing is everything.    It’s impossible to listen to Bill Farmer doing his most well-known Disney voice without breaking out into a big Goofy grin.

    Bill Farmer

    Bill Farmer does the voice of Goofy and also Pluto (and for Pluto, he not only does Pluto in English but in foreign languages as well … what range!).    He talked about auditioning and winning the role of Goofy, and gave a dramatic reading of Goofy doing Romeo.

    Lisa Davis voiced Anita in 101 Dalmatians.   She had worked with Zsa-Zsa Gabor in (I’m not making this up) Queen of Outer Space, and had learned to do a pretty good Zsa-Zsa impersonation.    Walt had heard this and wanted Lisa to do the voice of Cruella De Vil, who he pictured as being Zsa-Zsa like.   During the audition, during which Walt read the Anita part to Lisa’s Cruella, Lisa felt she just wasn’t right for the character, and asked if she could try Anita.   They tried it that way, and Lisa won the part.

    David Frankham did the voice of Sgt. Tibbs (the cat) in 101 Dalmatians.

    Kathryn Beaumont was Alice in Alice in Wonderland, and also Wendy Darling in Peter Pan.   She shared stories of working directly with Walt.   She was cast, she says, because her voice was English enough to fit the role, but not so much so as to sound too foreign to American audiences.

    Kathryn Beaumont

    Chris Sanders was the director of Lilo and Stitch.   Frequently during the animation process, animators or others working on a film will do temp voice tracks to use during early cuts of the film, when animation is in storyboard or pencil test form.   Chris did the Stitch voice fully intending that it would be replaced with a real actor at some point.   Even when no better voice was found, he was very hesitant, telling his co-director that if his track wasn’t great, there would be no hard feelings about tossing it.    But he obviously nailed it.

    Bruce Reitherman is the son of Disney Legend and animator Woolie Reitherman.   He did the voice of Christopher Robin in the first Winnie the Pooh featurette,  and also Mowgli in The Jungle Book.

    Snow White: Still the Fairest of Them All

    Since the theme of the weekend was “Celebrating 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation”, it was only fitting that a segment be devoted to the one that started it all, Disney’s first full-length animated motion picture.    Tim O’Day was again the host, joined this time by musicologist and historian Alex Rannie. and special guest Marge Champion.

    Marge was the original live-action reference model for Snow White.   She’s 93 years young and can tell great stories about how certain scenes were staged for the reference (for example, ropes hanging from clotheslines were used to simulate the forest Snow White runs through).

    Marge Champion
    Marge Champion as Snow White

    An Evening with Alan Menken

    Once again, the evening was capped off by a concert.   Dick Van Dyke set the bar pretty high, but I’d have to say the performance by 8-time Oscar winner Alan Menken was even better.   Other than the opening and closing numbers, the evening progressed chronologically through Alan’s career.   Because of the sheer volume of things he’s worked on, most movies and shows were represented by just brief excerpts of songs, rather than full numbers.   I think this was a great choice so that more material could be included.

    There were a number of songs featured that did not make it into the movies or shows, for whatever reason.    Songs written for Little Shop of Horrors back when they were still trying to find the right tone for the musical; songs dropped from Aladdin when the story was extensively reworked, even a song from a Roger Rabbit prequel that was never made.

    The evening opened with Prince Ali, from Aladdin.   Then we heard selections from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater; Little Shop of Horrors; The Little Mermaid; Beauty and the Beast; Aladdin; Newsies; Pocohontas; Hercules; Hunchback of Notre Dame; Tangled; Enhanted, and several others.    The evening concluded with Proud of Your Boy, an Ashman-Menken collaboration that was dropped from the Aladdin film, but is being used in the upcoming Broadway production.

    Alan Menken

    This really ended things on a high note, and the weekend was a fantastic tribute to the long storied history of Disney Animation.

  • Destination D: Day Two Morning Sessions

    Wild and Wacky Disney Animation

    When you ask animation buffs to describe the style of Disney animation, you’ll hear that the drawings are lifelike, the overall style realistic, the stories moving, the characters memorable.   Other studios like Warner Brothers and Fleischer get the adjectives funny, wild, zany, and of course looney.

    But in the long history of Disney animation, there have been many wild and crazy bits of animation, and this morning’s session set out to provide that Disney can be just as wild and wacky as any animation department.

    The evidence:

    • A clip of deleted material from Steamboat Willie, described as NSFW, and definitely NSF PETA members.   Mickey engages in various forms of animal abuse to create music.
    Steamboat Willie deleted scene
    • A segment from The Barn Dance.   Mickey and Minnie are dancing, and he keeps stepping on her feet.  Oblivious, he walks on her feet, flattening them and then proceeding to her ankles and right up the leg, which is getting stretched out and starts being dragged across the floor behind them.   Eventually her tortured leg gets so long that she has to tie a knot in it to shorten it back to length, and then cuts off the excess.
    • Mother Goose Goes to Hollywood, a caricature piece featuring many Hollywood notables (Katherine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep, the Marx Brothers, etc.)
    Little Bo Peep
    • Thru the Mirror, in which Mickey Mouse has an Alice in Wonderland experience.
    • Toot, Whistle, Plunk, and Boom, a history of musical instruments
    • The Fantasia Dance of the Hours segment, featuring dancing hippos and alligators.
    • The Fantasia 2000 Carnival of Animals segments, in which a flamingo masters the yo-yo (and asserts his individuality over the flock)
    Flamingo with Yo-Yo
    • Pink Elephants on Parade, from Dumbo
    • “After You’re Gone” segment from Make Mine Music
    • “Blame it on the Samba” from Melody Time
    • A bit of early Genie animation.   When Disney wanted to get Robin Williams to play the Genie, they wanted something to show him.  So they used audio of Robin performing his stand-up act and animated the Genie to that as a demo.
    • A few clips of never completed Alice in Wonderland scenes
    • The soup eating scene from Snow White (this is a bonus feature on one of the DVDs)
    • Donald’s dream sequence from Three Caballeros.

    The verdict:  Disney can indeed be pretty wild and wacky.

    Drawing with Personality

    This was great to watch, and a write-up just won’t be able to do it justice because it was so visual.

    Animator Andreas Deja brought a number of pencil drawings of well-known Disney characters drawn by top animators.   His comments were insightful, pointing out where certain poses really showed strength of line, or pointing out various things that make a drawing “work”, but that a non-artist would not likely notice.   (One thing that comes across again and again in all these presentations is the tremendous respect that the current animators have for those that preceded them … there is just such a legacy there, and it seems they never lose sight of that and are incredibly respectful of it).

    Seeing so many great drawings from the archives was interesting, but the presentation really took off for me when Andreas picked up a marker and began drawing some of the characters he was the supervising animator for.

    A gallery showing these drawings is here.

    Tinker Bell: The Evolution of a Disney Character

    Frankly, going in this was a session I was not really interested in … Tinker Bell isn’t a favorite of mine, and knowing that at least some of the talk was covering “modern” Tink (3D graphics and she talks!  The horror!)  I was tempted to duck out and take in a few rides.   I’m glad I stayed … although it wasn’t my favorite talk of the weekend, it was very well researched, contained some surprises, and was worthwhile.

    The presenter, Mindy Johnson, is author of an upcoming book from which most of this presentation was drawn.   (The book, Tinker Bell: An Evolution, will be coming out in fall of 2013 so don’t go looking for it yet).

    The presentation started with the earliest ideas about Tink in J. M. Barrie’s writing and early stage adaptations of his works.     Tinker Bell was represented on stage by just a light effect and the sound of a bell.   (Specifically a bell such as would be used on a tinker’s wagon to alert customers, not unlike an ice cream truck’s music or horns).   The character, originally called Tippy Toe, thus became Tinker Bell.

    We saw early concept art of Disney’s Tinker Bell as a redhead before Marc Davis drew the character we know today.    We heard from Margaret Kerry, who was the live action reference model for Tinker Bell, and also from Ginny Mack, an ink and paint girl who was recruited as the facial model for Tink.

    Moving on to the modern era, we also heard from Mae Whitman, who has voiced Tinker Bell in recent releases, and director Peggy Holmes, director of Secret of the Rings, the next film in the Tinker Bell series.

    That was it for the morning panels … come back tomorrow to hear about the afternoon panels.

  • Destination D: Day 1 Afternoon & Evening Highlights

    (for coverage of the Saturday morning presentations see here)

    Inside Walt Disney Animation Studios Today

    Based on the title, I thought we might be getting some insight into how the animation department works today (how CG and hand-drawn animation departments compete or co-operate, and similarly for Disney and Pixar animation groups).   Instead, this was really a look at upcoming animated features and shorts.

    Frozen

    The first feature that we heard about was Frozen.  This is a Holiday 2013 release.  I had not heard anything about this feature prior to Destination D, so it was exciting to get a look at something completely new.

    The presenter was CG animator Darrin Butters (Prep & Landing, Bolt, Fantasia 2000, and others).

    Frozen is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.   We saw a number of story sketches here; no finished animation was previewed.

    The story focuses on two sisters, younger Anna (Kristen Bell) and older Elsa (Idina Menzel from Wicked, Rent, and Enchanted).   Few plot details were given other than it involves a curse, some prophecy, and snowmen sidekicks.

    Songs will be provided by Bobby Lopez & Kristen Anderson Lopez (Book of Mormon, Avenue Q, Winnie the Pooh).   We heard one song from the movie, “Let it Go”, performed live for us on stage to close out the presentation.

    Paperman

    The short film Paperman will play in front of Wreck-it Ralph coming this November.   We were shown this delightful film in its entirety, and were the first non-industry audience to see it.

    The presentation prior to showing the film described the unique animation style that is a blend of hand-drawn and computer generated.  The idea is to preserve the animators original sketch lines (which usually get cleaned up) all the way to final animation.   The technique was interesting but it was really the story that made this stand out.

    Paperman is the story of a chance encounter; boy meets girl on subway platform, then they are separated.   While at work, he spots her in a building across the street, and tries desperately to reach her with a paper airplane.   Then another.   Then another.    You’ll have to see the film to find whether it all works out in the end.

    Wreck-it Ralph

    The final film discussed in this presentation was Wreck-it Ralph, coming in November.    We were shown about 10 minutes of footage from the movie.  I think most of the information that was shared with us (casting, plot details) was already known, so I’ll just recap briefly.

    Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain in the 80s style arcade video game Fix-it Felix Jr.  (Felix is Jack McBrayer).   But Ralph doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore.  So he leaves his game in search of a place he can be the hero.  (The premise here is that the power cord for the game leads to a ‘Game Central Station’ — a power strip where all the games are plugged in — allowing characters to come and go, and enter other games.

    Ralph’s adventures will take him to the Sugar Rush game (think Mario Cart) where he’ll meet Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) and Hero’s Duty (similar to Call of Duty or any first-person shooter) where he’ll encounter Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch).

    The different games have very different visual styles which definitely makes things  interesting to look at.   There are many, many cameos by game characters dating from classics such as Pac-Man and QBert right up to present day.

    The Greatest Disney Animation You Never Saw

    This sounded like it would be a fun presentation, and it certainly was.   This was a presentation of Disney rarities — I probably had seen close to half of what was presented here, and given the Disney Geek quality of the audience I was probably not unusual in this respect.   But the animation that was shown has been in the vault for a long time, so it’s certainly hard-to-find, rare footage that it was fun to see again, or for the first time, as the case may be.

    Don Hahn and Dave Bossert were the hosts.   The format was to alternate film snippets (or in some case complete shorts) with commercials; it was very entertaining to get a look back at a time when Disney was more than willing to have their characters used in ads for all sorts of products.

    The playlist:

    • Back to Neverland.   I absolutely loved seeing this again — it was the original introductory film to the Animation Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios park.  The film features Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite and is vastly superior to the current film with Eddie Murphy’s Mushu character from Mulan.   Can we bring this one back, please?   Also, we were told that Robin’s performance here led to his being approached for the role of the Genie in Aladdin.
    • A 1950’s “I Like Ike” commercial produced by Roy O. Disney  (Walt’s brother, Roy E.’s dad)
    • The Roger Rabbit short “Tummy Trouble” (1989).
    • A commercial for American Motors featuring Jiminy Cricket (for the 1955 Nash Ambassador).
    • The pre-show film from Cranium Command at EPCOT’s Wonders of Life pavilion.  Directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale who would go on to do Beauty and the Beast.
    • A commercial for Peter Pan peanut butter featuring Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, and Captain Hook
    • Film of Walt performing Mickey’s voice for “Mr. Mouse Steps Out”
    • A commercial for Jell-O featuring Alice and the Cheshire Cat.
    • An extended deleted sequence from Who Framed Roger Rabbit where Eddie is “tooned” (has a pig’s face painted on his head).
    • Roger Rabbit advertising Diet Coke
    • Early pencil animation for a very different version of the Fantasia 2000 Pomp and Circumstance segment.   In this one, we get a parade of all of the Disney princesses and many other characters both major and minor.   At the end of the segment, a flock of storks, led by Dumbo, deliver babies to each of the princesses.   A true what-were-they-thinking moment that had the audience unsure whether to laugh or cringe.
    • An ad for Disney Magix cereal, from the 1990s, featuring Mickey.
    • A sequence pitch for a never-produced Hiawatha movie.
    • Another Peter Pan ad, this one with a cowboy and a spaceman.   (Definitely not Woody and Buzz, but maybe this was inspiration)
    • and finally, the Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah segment from Song of the South.

    This whole presentation was just wonderful; kudos to whoever curated the content as it was a great mix of historically significant pieces, just-for-laughs segments, and great nostalgia for bygone attractions.

    Animating the Disney Parks

    Like some of the morning sessions, this was a session that focused very much on personalities rather than technical aspects.    Essentially there are three individuals whose contributions to the parks were featured, although a lot of other imagineers and animators were mentioned along the way.

    Claude Coats was the first to be featured.   Tony Baxter (Sr. VP, Imagineering and future Disney Legend) who worked with Claude, did this part of the presentation.   Claude did the show design for some of Disneylands’s most memorable attractions, including the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland, and Mr. Toad.  At EPCOT he contributed to Horizons, World of Motion, Universe of Energy, and several others.    On several projects he collaborated with Mary Blair.

    Claude Coats with Mary Blair

     

    The next Imagineer to be featured was Herb Ryman.   If you’ve ever seen concept art for Disneyland or EPCOT, it was most likely Herb’s work.   The original concept drawing for Disneyland, shown to investors to help line up financing for the park, is a Herb Ryman piece.

    Herb Ryman’s Disneyland concept art

     

    Next we hear about Marc Davis.   As an animator, Marc worked on Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan (Tinkerbell), and others.  He drew some of the definitive Disney villains including Maleficient and Cruella de Vil.   As an Imagineer he worked on it’s a small world, the Jungle Cruise, the Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and others.

    An Evening with Dick Van Dyke

    After a day full of presentations, after dinner we had a fabulous performance by Dick Van Dyke and his a capella group, the Vantastix.   They opened with Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and continued with selections from Bye Bye Birdie. Mary Poppins (of course!), Jungle Book, Dumbo and quite few others.   It was a magical evening of music and laughter, if you ever have the chance to see this group perform, don’t miss it.   (Buy their CD here)

    Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix perform

  • Destination D: Day 1 Morning Session Highlights

    On August 11th and 12th 2012, D23 (The Official Disney Fan Club) presented the third Destination D event.   The theme of this one was “Celebrating 75 Years of Disney Feature Animation.

    The event was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel.

    I’ll be recapping the event over the next several blog entries — in this first post, I’ll cover the two Saturday morning presentations, which covered different eras in the history of Disney animated features.

    Walt and the First Golden Age of Disney Animation

    The first presentation of the day covered the earliest days of feature animation.  This panel was hosted by Disney Archives director Becky Cline, and included panelists:

    • Disney Legend, animator, writer, storyboard artist, and director Burney Mattinson
    • Layout artist and producer Joe Hale
    • Documentary filmmaker Ted Thomas, son of Disney Legend Frank Thomas
    Becky Cline, Ted Thomas, Joe Hale, Burny Mattinson. In background, the Nine Old Men

    The discussion started off with anecdotes about working with Walt and generally what it was like to be working in animation during that era.  Then the discussion focused on each of the nine old men, with anecdotes about working with them, and discussions of specific films and scenes that each man was responsible for.

    Anyone who has an interest in animation is familiar with how storyboards are used to present ideas for the story; we were treated to a video of Burny doing a story pitch using storyboards for the “Eeyore loses his tail” segment of the new Winnie the Pooh movie.

    Overall the panel was very informative and did a great job of setting up the history of the animation studio.

    Roy and the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation

    The second panel of the morning moved on to the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation, a period that started with the Little Mermaid.   This period of studio history is very well chronicled in Don Hahn’s  Waking Sleeping Beauty.

    The panel was led by Tim O’Day and included panelists

    • Roy Patrick Disney, son of Walt’s nephew Roy E. Disney, who was head of animation.
    • Don Hahn, director (Waking Sleeping Beauty) and producer (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King)
    • John Musker and Ron Clements, directing team of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, and The Princess and the Frog

    (No photos were allowed during this session so I can’t show the panel)

    The panel opened with a film called “Mickey’s Audition”.   Although it wasn’t identified as such I’m pretty sure this used to play as part of the Backlot Tour at the Disney-MGM Studios park (as it was then called).   Very entertaining with cameos by Angela Lansbury, Mel Brooks, and other stars.  The significance here was that it featured the acting debut of Roy E. Disney, portraying Walt  (and there is quite a resemblance).

    The second panel was far more energetic and lively than the earlier one.   Don Hahn is always entertaining, and moderator Tim O’Day kept things moving along and frequently injected a bit of humor (not that it was lacking otherwise).   It seemed to be generally agreed among everyone, as Don Hahn stated, that Roy E. didn’t just save animation at Disney, he saved the company.

    There was an amusing anecdote about a scene in a True Life Adventure where a scene of a duck sliding across the ice was cut short by the cameraman before the inevitable collision with another group of ducks just standing around.   When Walt was shown the sequence, he insisted that they had to “find” the “missing” footage of the collision, but it didn’t exist — the cameraman had stopped filming.   But Walt was insistent, so eventually Roy E. and a crew had to head back out and get the footage — bowling with ducks.

    We also got to see, courtesy of Roy P., some candid family photos of the Disney family.    A favorite was a shot of him and his siblings standing in front of a nondescript pile of dirt — a pile of dirt in the spot where Cinderella Castle would soon be built.

    Overall, this was less of an animation history lesson and more of a tribute to Roy E., and that seemed an appropriate and fitting way to conclude our first morning.

    Would love to hear from other attendees in the comments — what were your favorites in the morning sessions?