Day 3 – Part 2: Destination D: 75 Years of Feature Animation

So, after spending a wonderful morning touring the Roy E. Disney Feature Animation Building, we load back up on our buses and took the short trip over to the executive entrance to the Walt Disney Studios.  First order of business was lunch, which is good because it was lunchtime and, even with the snacks from earlier in the morning, my stomach was beginning to grumble and rumble.  Lunch was set up for us in Legends Plaza on what turned out to be one of the hotter days in Burbank, but, with some umbrellas it was passable.  Nothing against D23, they can’t control the weather.  But, the food was delicious.  I have been the victim of many a buffet line, where you’ll find a myriad dry over cooked chicken, tasteless fish, and tough beef dishes.  Not today!  We had chicken dish that was moist and succulent, and a marinated beef skirt steak that was amazingly tender and tasty.  And, the sorbet served for dessert was more of a slushy, but that was to be expected given the heat.  All in all, I was very impressed with the meal.

While lunch was being served, several D23 staffers circulated among the tables giving out different colored wristbands.  Yup, we were being assigned to different tour groups again, but, with 100 people it’s not surprising, on the three Studio tours I been on, the tour group range between 15 and 25.  After lunch, before the tours began, each group assembled in front of the northern door of the old Animation Building for a group photo, and then it was off to explore the studio.  My group’s first stop was the Ink & Paint Department.  In Walt’s day, this was where all the cells that made up a cartoon short or animated feature were created before going to the camera department for shooting.  The paints of the day were toxic and took a very long time to dry – as much as 8 hours.  Since the paint could only be applied one color at a time, it could take several days to complete one cell, and a proficient paint girl could work on 8 to 10 cells per day.  As the actual rooms in the Ink & Paint Department are rather small, our group was temporarily split in two.  The first going in while the second was entertained with a Q&A by one of the tour guides in the hallway.  In the first room, in reality the middle room has walls of shelves with bottle upon bottle of colorful paint.  But, we were first headed to the little room on the left, the walls covered in hundreds of small paint chips.  This is where we learned that the Ink & Paint Department is still active today, though today the studio no longer uses hand inked and painted cells to do animation.  Today these very talented artists use the tremendous skills to produce most all of the commemorative and limit edition cells available in the parks and special piece upon request.  In this first office, an original drawing can be called up from the archive to be reproduced.  These drawing have all the artist’s original notations for color specs, and here is where the paint chips are pulled.  In the paints room we learn that today paints are an acrylics based paint which now dries in 5 to 10 minutes, making the production of their pieces today much quicker, though they can still only apply one color at a time.  We got an explanation of how all the colors we see on the walls are produced from a few base colors they receive from and outside vendor.  There are no real formulas for mixed these colors, someone mixes and compared paints to sample until an acceptable match is achieved, at which time the bottle is marked CE for close enough.  In the final room we meet to artists, one who is demonstrating the inking, which is transferring the lines of a drawing onto a cell (celluloid sheet).  It is a skill that requires a very steady hand.  Once the inking is complete and dry, and painter takes over applying each color one at a time.  The paint is applied on the back of cell from front colors to back, and it is flowed on to the cell, not painted or brushed on so as to not leave brush marks or minute blemishes in the paint.  It was actually quite impressive that Disney puts that much effort in keeping the Ink & Paint craft alive to this day.

We’re now off to the old Animation Building on the lot, and up to the third floor theater next to Walt’s old office.  Those of you who remember, this is my second visit to this theater.  I was here two years ago during the D23 Disney & Dickens event with my wife, where we were treated to a few of Disney’s holiday shorts and a featurette.  Today, we were introduced to some of Disney’s film preservation efforts by one their Archivists (sorry remembering names is not my strong suit) involved in the effort.  He started out by telling us that Disney is the only studio that has not lost any film, whether it be the original film or a copy produced somewhere along the way.  That by itself is a pretty impressive fact, at least to me.  Next he told us about the types of film and the problems with preserving them.  Before 1952 all movies were created on celluloid nitrite, a very volatile substance not prone to stability and long term storage.  As a matter of fact, a couple other studios had incidents of film vaults having an auto-ignite event.  The Walt Disney Studio still has vaults on the lot that were used at one time to storage nitrate film.  We saw slides of film canisters and the film slowly decaying inside them, and were told of the challenges in transferring some of these films to digital.  The recapture to digital is only one part of the process.  After the transfer, these films need to be restored to the quality when first screened.  Actually, because of today’s other digital improvements, these films have to be restored to better than original quality to be marketable.  We got to see some clip from 1941’s Bambi before and after the restoration process.  The difference is really quite remarkable.  We were told that the plan is to eventually digitize and restore Disney’s complete film library, but, that they were restoring in reverse order with the most popular features and short being done first.  I don’t know, because I didn’t think of it at the time, but I would suspect that this preservation process is neither quick nor inexpensive.  If I ever get another chance, I’ll have to ask those questions.

For our next stop, after a short trip out to Glendale, was what turned out to be, at least for me, by itself worth the extra cost of the ticket.  Our bus pulled up outside a nondescript mustard colored building not far from another of Glendale’s more famous Disney operations – WDI (Walt Disney Imagineering).  The building showed no windows from the outside and bore none of what would be considered normal Disney frills.  The building’s parking lot stood behind a chain-link fence with a card key access gate.  At the gate was a plain white sign with red lettering, and there the only external acknowledgement of the building owner or the contents there in – Disney’s Animation Research Library.   At mid-building and set back about 20 feet was the entrance and only glass, color or landscaping of this facility and it wasn’t even visible from the street.  Once inside, we were instructed on the do and don’t while in the facility, and the purpose for the Animation Research library.  The ARL houses 65 million pieces of Disney animation art, from maquettes (small scale models) of characters to cells, matte, and sketches for a myriad of Disney shorts and features.  Unfortunately, many early cells are unavailable, as it was a practice in frugality then to wash and reuse cells as many times as possible.  Laid out for use to view where several cell, background mattes, and sketches, and a couple of vaults were open for us.  In one vault alone could be found, shelf upon shelf behind glass, character maquettes from dozens of Disney films.  In another were several rows of large document storage cabinets, were a couple of cells were on display with an archivist present to answer questions, and I assume protect the art on display.  As I walk out of one of the vaults, the facility manager looked at me and asked if I was okay.  All I could say is that I was in total awe!  All he could say was that he pretty much felt that way every day.  In the back of the building was a design and layout room where archivists and designer work together to build out the various exhibits Disney displays, like the Treasures of Archives currently on display at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, and there was a mock up of the WDFM Special Exhibition with the designs for the upcoming Snow White exhibit.  The last room on the ARL tour was the digital lab, where artists, photographers, and technicians work to digitize and catalog in a database all of the art housed in the facility.  Here we were shown three different high resolution cameras, which if memory serves have a combination cost of nearly a half a million dollars.  Whether it is individual drawings or collections of drawing known as flipbooks, these drawings are being digitized so that current artists at the studio can pull the talents and techniques of their predecessors while still protecting the long term integrity of the original art.  At one station in the lab, a young technician was showing us a digital flipbook that had been recently created on a monitor that any computer geek would relish; it had to be at least a 40 inch screen.  Upon leaving the ARL I was truly in a state of awe and wonder.  What I would give to be able to spend a week, a month, or a year there just exploring.

Upon arriving back at the Studio lot, our last visit of the day was to the Archives, and a visit with Dave Smith – Founder and now Director Emeritus of the Walt Disney Archives.  Dave retired last year, after building the Archive for 41 years, yet he is still a regular fixture on most tours.  This visit made my 4^th to the Archive over the last few years, the most recent visit before this being in June of this year, when I finally got to take my youngest daughter on a Studio Tour.  This visit was a little different as a few of the items Dave normally shows are now on display at the Treasures of the Archive exhibit in Simi Valley.  So, on this occasion, we were treated to the first ticket book from Walt Disney World, along one of the Olympic torches designed by Disney Legend John Hench for the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley.  So I know that Walt got at least two of these torches because one of them is on permanent display at the Walt Disney Family Museum.  Also on the table in front of us were several Mary Blair originals, which I had to fight hard not to try and sneak out of the building.  Not that I would have gotten away with it.  And finally, a print of the Chernabog, the devilish character from Fantasia.  After his presentation, I got to spend a few minutes with Dave and ask him if he was getting tired of seeing my ugly mug around, and his kind response, “of course not.”

After a long day of visiting new places and learning so much more about the animation process, and some of the real treasures of The Walt Disney Company, it was time for a little shopping, and a nice evening reception with D23’s leader Steven Clark, Archives Director Becky Cline, and our tour guides.  Since it was only a short time back that I had been in the Company Store, there wasn’t much in the way of shopping that was needed. As we were waiting for the reception to start I met up with my friends, and shortly thereafter, the caterers had the hors d’oeuvre line set up and we were invited to begin.  As with the lunch earlier in the day, the hors d’oeuvres were very good.  We had a choice of a grilled shrimp on a skewer, a gazpacho shooter, a small salad like spoon, and egg rolls, along with soft drinks.  As good as they were I, of course, had several pieces of all that was served, it was good.  As we all enjoy the snacks and a cool drink – remember, it was a hot day in the burb, Burbank that is – we talked about our experiences of the day.  General consensus, it was pretty damn awesome!!!  Earlier in the weekend, my volunteer friend from the Museum had express some concern as to whether the cost of the Diamond ticket would end up being worth it?  As the weekend moved along she was become less and less concerned.  But, as we talked at the reception, I asked her if the event(s) had met her expectations from the cost perspective.  Expectations met and exceeded, for me as well.  If the Diamond Level experience had been just for the events of Saturday and Sunday, I probably would have forgone the extra expense, but, my anticipation was for Monday, and I was not disappointed.  As the reception came to a finale, Steven made a little speech thanking us for being part the day’s events, and then Becky had us come up by group to receive a copy of the picture taken after lunch, and a Disney Fairytales Art Book.  Then we loaded back onto the buses for the long commute back to the Disneyland Hotel.

Of all the events that D23 has put on, and that I have had the opportunity to attend, this was by far the best.  One of the things I noticed throughout our jaunt around the lot was the number of different service carts and trucks on the streets of the Studio.  It was apparently a very busy production day at the Studio, and we still got on the lot to witness it.  It really was cool!  I’d like to give my sincerest thanks to all the D23 staff and volunteers, and all the other Disney Employees, who made this a positively wonderful day.  And… a SPECIAL THANKS!!! to Laura, for her tireless effort to make this such great event.

I’d also like to thank my companions for both the weekend and Monday, you all help add to the magic of the event.

 

Your comments or questions are always welcome.  If you have a correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com

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Day 3 – Part 1: Destination D: 75 Years of Feature Animation

As great as the Destination D weekend was and as much as I enjoyed sitting up front for all presentations and entertainment, it was the Monday events that prompted me to go for the Diamond level ticket.  Only 100 of these tickets were available and snatched with moments of going on sale.

After the wonderful Alan Menken concert to end the regular Destination D event, it was off to bed to rest up for the very busy next day.  Originally, check-in for Monday’s for Monday’s bus trip from the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim to the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank was scheduled for 7:00 AM with a prompt departure at 7:30.  However, with all that was happening at the Studio, and check-in and departure time was moved up to 6:15 and 7:00 AM.  So, along about 5:30 the ole eyes slammed open, and with a rapt anticipation I jumped out of bed, showered, and dressed and was out the door by a little after 6:00.  No coffee in the room, no news, no email, I wasn’t going to take any chance on missing the bus.  Beside, we’d been promised breakfast items and coffee would be awaiting us downstairs, though I did stop at the coffee shop for my quad shot latte, I did have to make sure I jump started my daily caffeine requirement.  J  First it was a check-in so D23 knew I was present – yeah, like I was going to miss this… and then off to the pastry and coffee table, yup, I needed more caffeine.  Found some seats for my friends, and enjoy a bite to eat and discussion of our mutual anticipation of the day’s activities.

By a little passed 7:00 two buses were on the I-5 heading north to Burbank and the Studio.  When Disneyland was first built, it was about a 2 hour drive from the Studio to the Park, and vice versa.  It is roughly a 40 mile trip, one way.  Fifty seven years later, with all the improvement in roads and vehicles, today it is about a 2 hour drive from the Park to the Studio, longer sometimes depending on how clogged the traffic.  It’s somewhat ironic that as much as things change, they manage to stay the same too.  So, at just about 9:00 we pull into the Studio, not the studio proper but the buildings across Riverside from the main complex, The Roy E. Disney Features Animation building and the ABC TV Headquarters building.  As we disembark the bus, we are each tagged with one of four Disney character stickers, as learned… to signify the tour group we would be assigned.  Again as with the assembly point at the Disneyland Hotel, there was a table with pastries and drinks for us to enjoy.  After about a ½ an hour to eat and use the rest facilities, we were off to begin our touring of the Features Animation building.  First up, we all gathered on the second floor between to Pods, for a quick video welcome and personal greeting from Disney Animator Darrin Butters, then it was time to form up in our groups and head off to explore this amazing place.

First stop down to the basement floor and a visit to one of the animation rigging labs were they build wire frames.  You probably already know this, but, much of today’s animation is done on the computer.  Each of those clever characters we see on the theater screen is a computer program called a wire frame rig.  Artists of the electronic world of bits and bytes take painstaking time and effort to build wire frame structure of these characters so that they can move for us on the screen.  This lab has about 2 dozen computers and we were all directed to take a seat in front of one.  On the computer monitor in front us, and on the screen at the front of the room, was one of these wire frame models of Ralph – the title character from the upcoming new movie ‘Wreck-It Ralph.’  After some basic instructions for the gentleman at the front of the room, we were encouraged to create our own little animated sequence which was really cool.  When I got done, I am sure I violated certain anatomical rules and my sequence had Ralph signaling for a touchdown while doing a rather impossible side kick, but, it looked cool!  J  I’m not sure what software we used and I forgot to ask, so I don’t know if it commercially available, or a proprietary custom application, but it was a lot of fun.  Next it was off to the recording studio where we got to participate in some ADR (or Auto Dialog Replacement), at least that what I thought I heard.  A few people from our group got to go into the recording booth and redo some lines from ‘Wreck-It Ralph.’  Then there was a quick trip down the hall to the art studio.  Nothing really exciting, but, they hold regular art classes at the facility, where artist on site can come to learn or practice new techniques.
 

There was a visit to a storyboard room in the story department.  In any other company this would be a conference room with a large table and chairs surrounded by tack boards, white boards, and drawing pads around the rooms.  We got to see some of how a story goes through its development with the use of storyboards, and group discussion and brain storming.  We even participated in a short brainstorming session to continue the development of a story that had been planned for this event… more on this in a bit.  It was then back upstairs and through the Frozen Pod to a Feature Animations Building equivalent of the old sweatbox viewing rooms from across the street in Walt Disney original Animation Building.  Like the old sweatboxes, this is where the artists, animators, directors, and producers come together to review and critique the day’s production.  Today, we got to see some to the early animation of Wreck-It Ralph’s Vanellope von Schweetz, and listen to the young animator, her first animation assignment with the Studio, explained her process and efforts to animate her character, along with an animation supervisor and a director explain the critique and review process.  And now to the pods… 

The center of the second floor of the Roy E. Disney Features Animation building is divided into what our tour guide described as two pods.  I never thought to ask if pod was an acronym, but, I’ll have to remember to ask if I ever get another chance.   Each of the Pods houses the productions and direction staff for one of the two Animated Features currently in production.  Each pod is design and decorated by the staff to reflect the story and feeling of the film being produced.  In the Frozen pod there are renderings and art on the walls that reflects some of the research done by the staff on locals, characters, concepts for the story.  In the middle of the pod is a central meeting area were producers, directors, artists, and animators can come together to discuss the project.  The décor again is representative of that feature’s concept and story.  In the Frozen pod, the walls are in muted colors of winter.  Across the hallway is the Wreck-It Ralph pod, where their central meeting area is designed to look like a video arcade, big surprise there…  As we exit the Wreck-It Ralph pod we are directed to a room at the end of an open meeting area.  There we meeting and attractive young artist with a distinctly Latin accent who explains how the Wreck-It Ralph team researched and developed the color palette some of the building features for the film.  Turns out, like we learned in the Frozen pod, artists and designer are sent on trips to locals that represent the film to draw inspiration.  In the case of Wreck-It Ralph trips to Spain (hence the accent of the young artist giving this talk) to sketch the building that would represent one of the worlds in the movie, and many trips to candy stores to draw insight into the world of Vanellope von Schweetz.  As l look around and notice the room is round, I look up to see that the ceiling ends at a conical point.  We’re in the HAT!!!  If you’ve ever driven by or seen any of the many picture of the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, you’ll know this, but…  When the Feature Animation building was originally constructed, it included a large Sorcerer Mickey’s hat.  Inside the building this was Roy E. Disney’s ceremonial office, while still maintaining a working office in the old Animation building across the street, where he would meet with important dignitaries or special guests.  There will be more on the Hat when I get back to my history posts in the near future.

After a couple of wonderful hours exploring the Roy E. Disney Feature Animation Building, we were, all the tour groups, ushered into the theater.  In each seat was a bag of goodies for us to commemorate our visit, along with a copy of the group photo we’d taken earlier in front of the building.  With Darrin Butter, our MC at the beginning of the tour, leading the way, we talked about what we had seen, and had a nice little question and answer session.  The gentleman who led our story brainstorming session came up and told a raw concept story based on all of the tour groups’ input.  I know I won’t be able to do it justice, but…  It’s the story of a time-traveling young lady who stole a teddy bear from a young man, who with his dog, chased her down the slope of an active volcano flowing with lava, in his fire proof boots.  I don’t expect to see this at a theater near me any time soon, if ever.  J  But, it was a great example of brainstorming.  The schedule had originally called for a shopping opportunity in the Feature Animation Building company store, which didn’t happen.  I believe smarter heads prevailed, when it was realized that funneling 100 people through their store would add hours to an already very busy schedule.  I didn’t see the store in this building, but, I’ve been in the company store – Mickey’s of Glendale – at the Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) facility, so I’d assume they are similar in size, and the store at WDI is not that big.  Yes, it would have been nice to get some of the more specialized merchandise, but, the gift bags were a nice compromise.  

It’s now time to leave this wonderful building and head back to the buses for trip across the street to the main studio lot, and lunch.  But…  I think I’ll make that a part 2 entry, as there was quite a lot that happened there which may take up several more pages.

 

Your comments or questions are always welcome.  If you have a correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com

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Yes – Yet Another Walt Disney Studio Tour

Weekend before last was a busy one.  First, nothing would have it, but we had to see Brave on Friday night’s opening.  Excellent movie, but have we come to expect anything less from PIXAR?  You can see my review posted just before this one, but, it’s a great movie and I’m looking forward to seeing it again… and again… and again…  J

Saturday was a bit less busy than originally planned, as my buddy Libby let me off the hook for a ride to SJO early in the morning, but, the wife and I spent the afternoon at the Walt Disney Family Museum, listening to Author and former manager of the Walt Disney Archives Robert Tieman talk about “Selling Walt: The Business (and Fun) of Movie Promotion.”  We spent the hour and a half talking about what the Studio did to help theater owners promote Disney movies coming to their establishments.  I’ll try to having another piece on this after I get a chance to go over my notes.

Finally the weekend’s main event was on Sunday.  A third trip to the Walt Disney Studio in Burbank for a tour of the Studio, this time with my youngest daughter.  Someone asked me, “don’t you get bored, see the same stuff?”  Simple answer, NO!!!  It kind of the same with the Walt Disney Family Museum; no matter how many times I visit, I always manage to learn something new each time.  This is helped on the Studio tour by the fact that in three visits, We’ve had three different tour guides.  While there is a defined tour guideline for what we get to see, there is no set script.  So, each guide can add their own special stories that they relate to the Studio and Walt. 

More on the tour in a moment, but first, back to beginning…  Since this was a one day trip, departure time set for 5:00 AM.  Tee must have been anxious because we were on the road at 4:58, and the trip progressed nicely until we were about an hour and a half into it.  For some reason I tapped the right front pocket of my jean, and gasped…  DAMN!!!  Actually, I think my word choice might have been and little different, but…  Tee’s eyes slammed open with a WHAT???  I had remembered everything for the trip except one critical component… one of my wallets, the one that has all my credit cards and my D23 membership card in it.  No credit cards, no gas…  No D23 card, no entrance to the Studio tour.  As we turn back north, thinking the trip and event may well be over, Tee calls her Mom to see if she can meet us about have way back with said wallet?  Fortunately, was up to the task, and hopped into the other vehicle with our oldest as navigator, and headed south, as we were headed back north.  We met up in Gilroy, I got my wallet and a quick Mickey D’s breakfast, we exchanged goodbyes and thanks, and were headed back south again…  hoping that I could make up enough time not to miss the tour.  Again, fortunate with Pam bringing me my wallet, we didn’t lose the full hour and a half’s driving time.  I pedaled it a little harder than I normally would have, and the quick breakfast stop in Gilroy, so, just a single gas stop in Buellton (of Anderson’s Split Pea fame), and we made Burbank with a half and hour to spare…  cutting it close, by my travel standards.  A quick stop to let Tee change clothes, a quick tour around the studio lot, and we were driving into the Buena Vista Gate at the Walt Disney Studios at the prescribed no more than 30 minutes before our scheduled tours.  WHEW!!!  J

As we are checking in for the tour - D23 card required – in front of the Hyperion Bungalow, who should come around the corner but Jeffrey Epstein.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Jeff on several occasions, including most recently at the Walt Disney Family Museum’s presentation of the D23 Fanniversary.  Jeff is one of those many truly friendly Disney Cast-members who is just a joy to be around.  Well, guess who turned out to be the guide for our 1:30 tour, none other than Jeffrey.  J  While waiting for our tour to start, Tee and I got a chance to look through the D23 Merchandise Store in one of the rooms of the Hyperion Bungalow, where I pick up a few items, and then a quick troll through the Employee’s store across the walkway.  Jeffrey gathered his tourists together at the prescribed time, and ushered us to shady spot – it was, of course, and normal warm and sunny afternoon in Burbank.   From our nicely shaded location in front of the Employee Store, Jeffrey began to explain some of the sites around us:

·         The Hyperion Bungalow behind us, one of several buildings that were moved from them original Hyperion Avenue studio in the Silver Lake district.  The bungalow now has two rooms, fittingly called the Hyperion and Silver Lake rooms, and is used for meetings, and as the check-in point for the tours.

·         Next to us was the Employee Store, which had been redone since my last visit, and the Employee credit union behind it.

Next, a look across the street was the Mickey Mouse topiary.  The Mickey topiary was a anniversary gift to the Studio from Walt Disney World, and Michael Eisner declared that the Walt Disney Studio should become the West Coast capital for topiaries.  Until…  The plant started to die and the studio landscaping staff had to spend a bundle of cash to develop an internal watering system so this Mickey could flourish.  Today, the Mickey topiary is the singular nod on the Studio lot to what seems so natural in Florida.  A few yards to the right of the topiary stands one of two flagpoles from the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, where Walt Disney was the Chairman of Pageantry and responsible of Opening and Closing ceremonies.  This first flagpole was acquired by Walt after the games, its sister flagpole, a few more yard down, was donated by another company so that the Studio could have the pair.  Behind the topiary and the flagpoles sit the Studio Commissary.  In 1940, when the studio first opened, there weren’t a lot of eatery options in the area, so Walt made sure that his people were taken care of for meals with the commissary.  To this day, the commissary still serves Walt’s favorite meal… Chili.  I couple of years ago, I was fortunate to attend an event at the Studio which included dinner at the commissary.  I had the chili, and it was – while not my Texas Red – a very good bowl of chili.  Actually, if you want the recipe, it’s on the D23 website – Walt’s Own Chili recipe.

Now we move on down the street to the corner of Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive, or have we?  If you have seen “The Reluctant Dragon,” then you know the street sign right next to the old Animation Building.  If not and you are a Disney fan, you’ve probably seen a picture or two of the street sign for Mickey Avenue and Dopey Drive.  This sign was installed as a prop for the 1941 short film “The Reluctant Dragon,” where Robert Benchley (yes, that is Peter Benchley’s… of JAWS fame… father) dashes around the studio in search of Walt Disney to pitch him a story.  As travels the Disney lot, we learn different aspects of the animation process.  An interesting note about the street sign… if you follow the sign to the several department, you’ll find yourself even more lost… as they point the wrong direction.  Right next to the street sign is a fire hydrant with a sign painted on the curb “Pluto’s Corner.”  In the cement next to the hydrant are three distinct paw prints… wonder where that fourth paw is???  J

Standing on the steps of the Animation Building, we look across the walkway to the studio theater.  This theater has been used over the years as a screening theater and a sound mixing studio for putting the finishing touches on films.  A few years ago, the company finished a complete retrofit and remodel to the theater.  Today, it is used to screen new film for employees and to hold special screening for the public.  I had the good fortune to event a couple of those special screenings, and the inside is as beautiful as the outside.  The walkway outside was where they once place the cement encased handprints of recent inducted Disney Legends, much like they do outside of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.  Years ago it was discovered that these cement tributes were slowly degrading with all the foot traffic, so the Archive team preserved them, move them to the Archive and install replicas in the new Legends’ Plaza.  The Plaza was close for this a special “Brave” reception, so we didn’t get to go in.  Moving on, we entered the Animation Building, and tour the first floor main hallway, looking at many examples of the animation and storytelling process.  The Animation Building was specifically built for Walt’s Animators.  It is a three story building running north and south, with eight wings, four on either side east and west.  When Walt was build this new studio after the success of ‘Snow White’, he ask is artists what the needed most… the clear answer was LIGHT!!!  With the eight wings, the Animation Building has lots of light.  On the third floor in the north east corner is where Walt’s offices were located.  In that wing Walt had his formal and working offices, and a reception area.  On second floor, one wing south was where Roy had his offices.  The running joke for Walt was that, “this was so that he could look down on Roy and keep and eye on him, but Roy couldn’t look up and see what he was doing.”  Unfortunately, the D23 Studio tours don’t make a trip to the 2^nd or 3^rd floors, but, if you keep your eyes open, there are a few events that do.  J

Moving on to Disney’s first utilidor… Utilidor, you say…  What the heck is a Utilidor?  Well, it is a utility corridor, and how many of you know that there is a whole subterranean world under Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom?  Well, actually it isn’t subterranean, because of Florida’s high water table; Walt Disney World is really built one story above sea level, with much of the Parks unseen operations conducted in the first floor utilidors.  I’ve been told that there are a couple of small utilidors at Disneyland, but nothing like the complex at Walt Disney World.  Maybe I’ll do an essay on the Magic Kingdom Utilidors and why they came to be, but, the Walt Disney Studios had the first Utilidor.  The Animation Building has a basement that was used primarily for storage, with a utilidor that accesses the Ink and Paint building next door.  While this passage has been used as a prop in several Disney productions (think Alias for one), it had a real function meant for its design.  This was the path that animators’ cells took in route to be painted and finished, before moving on to the Camera department, keep the cells protected from potential weather or dust from being outdoors.

After and quick tour through the Short building, the third and final building (well in reality, its two buildings that were combined into one on the new lot) moved over from the from the Hyperion lot, we made our way through the sound stages.  Not really much to say are or seeing but, the outside of these huge buildings where much of the Disney magic is produced.  During the development of Disneyland, several of these stages were used to build mock-ups.  One interesting note for fans of Mary Poppins, all of the live actions scenes for the movie were done on a sound stage, nothing was done outdoors or on location.  Out of the sound stages as walk by the iconic water tower (built with 6 legs, instead 4 or 5, because it was more esthetically appealing to Walt’s Brother Roy), we emerged onto what was once the studio’s backlot… the Zorro parking structure, over by the Riverside Gate, stands where the sets for the Zorro T.V. show once stood, along with other western sets.  As we walk along the street, we see the only remaining backlot structures at the Studio today, a row of store fronts. Within a short walk we come upon the backside of water (sorry for the Disneyland reference) err… of the Ink & Paint, and Camera Departments.  The most important building here was the machine shop where Roger Broggie took on an interesting apprentice… his boss, Walt Disney.  It was in this machine shop that many of Walt’s innovation were brought to life, and where Walt with Roger’s help created the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, a miniature train which he operated around his Holmby Hills home in the earlier 50s.

Now for one of the special treats of these tours, a trip to the Main Office of the Walt Disney Archive, and some face time with the one and only Dave Smith.  As we were told on a couple of occasions during the tour, Roy O. asked Dave to create the Archive in 1970.  One of Dave’s first tasks was to catalog and document Walt’s offices in the Animation building which had been shuddered since his death in 1966.  An exhibit of Walt’s Office has been on display at One Man's Dream - Walt's Office in Disney Hollywood Studio at Walt Disney World.  Also as I understand it, Walt’s formal office has been recreated for the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archive exhibit which opens July 6 at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley.  Well, we got to spend about a half an hour with Dave, as he showed us some of the artifacts he has discovered over the last forty years.  Items such as, the ticket and parking pass for the Disneyland opening day media event, the first year ticket book for the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and one of Walt Disney many Oscars.  I’ve seen some of the exhibits from the Archive at events like the D23 Expo, but, there is nothing like being in the same room listening to the man who started the Archive.

From the Archive, we moved past the Legends Plaza (no visit there today) to the Rotunda of the Team Disney building that sits on the corner of the lot at Buena Vista Street and Alameda Avenue, and houses Disney’s executive management team.  In the rotunda lobby are two large tiled pictures of the company founders… Walt and Roy.  As we leave the rotunda, we pass by the Roy Oliver Disney Building.  Built the 80s, on our last visit to the Studio, this building was an ivy covered box which looked a little out of place between the new Team Disney and the old Animation Buildings.  On this trip, the building has been completely remodeled and refurbished.  Gone is the ivy, and the old ugly cross beam support structure has been pleasantly disguised by clean concrete, smoked glass windows, and a lattice of natural woods covering the lower half of each floor.  This building now looks like it belong on the lot, and is a much more fitting tribute to the man it is named after.  And a few minutes later, we are back at the Hyperion Bungalow, and with some sadness, an end to our tour.  A hearty thank you to Jeffrey, and a quick trip into the Employees’ Store, and we were on our way home with our trinkets and memories.

As it turns out, the trip home turned out to be as eventful as our travels down.  First, yours truly flubbed again and took the wrong freeway exit and to turn around.  Wound up heading back to the Studio.  After getting my direction squared away, and heading north, we made our way to Camarillo and a stop for fuel, for both auto and human. Finished with dinner, we were again headed north, only to be slowed to a crawl a few miles north of Santa Barbara.  It took us 2 hours to make it three miles, because (as I discovered later) a drunk took out another vehicle and completely blocked both lanes northbound.  After getting passed the accident, Tee and I decided the meal stop was a good decision, had we decided to just drive through, we’d have been at that spot at right about the time the accident happened and could have been involved, instead of gripping about the slow crawl, and arriving home after 12:30 AM

All and all, another great trip with one of my girls, but, stay tuned... I have a run south planned for August and event at Disneyland.  J

Your comments or questions are always welcome.  If you have a correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com

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An Appreciation for Animation

In my youth, I was a fair artist, until that age old dilemma took hold and I was encouraged to pursue activities that would help me earn a living as an adult.  So, with my artistic desires dashed, I moved on to other endeavors.  Oh well, I know others who have experienced the same fate…  That’s Life!!!  J

But, think about the number 130,000…  24 frames a second, and approximately 90 minutes.  So, about 130,000 is the approximate number of pictures that need to be produced to create an animated feature.  That number may well be much higher, when you consider that you may have multiple pictures (of multiple characters and background mattes) composited into a single frame of film.  And then… there are the storyboard drawings, concept art, and inevitable pencil test animation.  I don’t know if anyone actually has an accurate number, but I think it is very much higher, maybe in excess of 500,000.

It is very easy to, as most do; myself included for a long time, sit in a theater for an hour and a half and be entertained by animated fantasy.  I think most do it under the guise of taking our children for such entertainment, but I believe we – ourselves relish the change to escape into the world of fantasy as well.  In recent years, my journey delve deeper into the world of Disney has put me in many audiences where the art of animation is the topic du jour.  With that, my appreciation of what it really takes to produce an animated feature film has grown significantly recently, particular the true effort involved in taking and idea from concept to the screen. 

In Walt Disney’s first animated feature, the hand drawn animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, there was a cast and crew of about 130 people.  In the Walt Disney Animation Studios’ soon to be classic hard drawn animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, that number swells to almost 600.  For some additional numbers:  Snow White began as a concept in 1934, premiering in Los Angeles in December of 1937 at a cost of almost $1.5 million.  Princess and the Frog was introduced as a concept in 2006, premiering again in Los Angeles in November 2009 at a cost of about $105 million. 

As my own personal footnote, there was actually another premier a few days earlier in Burbank.  Members of the D23 Club were invited to attend a premier party and screening at the Walt Disney Studios in the Studio’s theater.  My oldest daughter and I were in attendance at the party and had an incredibly good time.

Interestingly, both almost did not get made for various reasons, and both took about the same amount of time to produce, albeit the latter with about 4 time the people and 10 times the cost.  So, in about 70 years, while the time from concept to screen has remained the same, the personnel requirement and associated costs have gone up dramatically.

I wrote almost two paragraphs here about the intricacies of the animation process, when I realized just how limited and dreary my knowledge.  With today’s technology, instead of making a feeble attempt to describe the process to you, I suggest reading primers like this one on the animation process, or this on traditional animation, to get a superior understanding for the depth of commit needed to bring an animated feature to the screen.  What is important from my viewpoint is what we see on the screen.

I realize that I am a sappy old man, but, I am drawn to the classic Disney animated features, and I include Pixar in that group, because of the true attention to detail.  I find these productions to be an almost perfect blend of the arts… story, animation, voice, and music combined to create a truly magical viewing experience, with each of these components having equal importance the finished product.  And then there is that attention to detail component.  In Snow White, live actors performed most scenes so that the animators could see and therefore draw character movements, adding just enough realism to give the finished product an almost life like quality.  In Bambi, Walt had live animals brought to the studio so that his artists could add life like motions to the story’s animated characters.  First tested in Sleeping Beauty, and then used from start to finish in 101 Dalmatians, Ub Iwerks developed the Xerox process for transferring artists drawing to cels, bringing even more of the artists’ visions of these characters to the finished animations.  All of this effort adding to make these fantasy just a little more believable, after all, isn’t the real joy of watching an animated feature…  The scenes on the screen being just real enough to allow you to momentarily suspend reality.

Then along comes the computer age and CGI – Computer Generated Imagery, and the age of Pixar.  Pixar’s artists took the tried and true methods of Disney’s hand drawn animation, and figured out how to apply this new technology to the process, and WOW!!!  A whole new way of storytelling is born.  My best examples, of the level of detail, which CGI animation affords the artists come from Monster, Inc. and Cars.  There is a scene where Sully is careening down a snow slope, coming to a crashing stop at the bottom of the hill.  As the screen pans onto Sully, you can see the hair on his back bristling in wind.  Or in Cars, where Doc is teaching Lightning the finer art of dirt racing, the intricacies of the dust coming off of his tires.  Give the time and cost constraints of a hand drawn feature, I don’t think that level of detail would be possible.  I could go on…  But, if you watch Disney or Pixar features, try watching with a more discerning eye next time.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

Now a little bit on the different types of animation.  There is of course, hand drawn, CGI, Motion Capture, or Stop Motion animation.  Most of these can be broken down further, but for my purposes, we’ll stick to these.  Much of today’s animation is coming out of the CGI stable, with Motion (or performance) capture becoming a popular medium.  With this year’s Golden Globe for animation going to Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin, a recent comment on a social media board proclaimed that, “Animation is now officially dead!”  Sorry, I don’t think so…  We’ll see what happens at Oscar time, but a GG for Tintin isn’t all that surprising…  Spielberg’s talent for storytelling is well established, Tintin is a relatively popular story internationally, the motion capture’s capacity for interjecting life-like action, and the Golden Globes being a more critique based award, and all lend themselves to this award.  However, I can say, I haven’t seen Tintin yet, and I doubt that I will…  It is not really a story that interests me.  The beauty in art, all art, is in the eye of the beholder, and that eye varies tremendously… hence the variety of art of all kinds available to us.  And over time, history has told us that critical success does not guarantee financial success.  With hand drawn animation, and especially as developed by Walt and his artists (even to this day), there is an amazing warmth and depth of character unparalleled in any other form in my opinion.  The CGI methods can compensates for this challenge in the depth of detail available when applied.  So far, in my experience, the Disney/Pixar artists are the only one’s who routinely take on this challenge, but, bottom line to the success of any animated classic is the combination of story, art, and music, and in this the Disney/Pixar teams are unmatched by any other in the industry.

I watch as any new animated features each year as I can, of course depending on my interest in the story.  But, it is the Disney/Pixar features that I go back to watch again and again and again.  I find most animated feature to be little more than a 90 minute collection of gag shorts interwoven by a common thread.  They are funny, and I do enjoy the hour and half’s escape, but there is nothing really to draw me back for a second look.  On the other hand, I have seen almost all of the Disney and Pixar features more than once and several of them many… many times.  Of late, The Princess and the Frog holds a particular draw for me.  It is a great story, there is the warmth of the hand drawn animations, the characters are timeless, and the music perfectly draws you into the story…  But, with all that, there is one more piece, at least for me…  The Princess and the Frog is amazingly reminiscent of Mary Blair – an artist I hold with much fondness, probably because she is also the artist behind my favorite Disney movie of all time – Peter Pan.  Princess is one of the few movies that I look forward to the credits rolling as much as the movie itself.  I think the real draw for me is being in a comfortable place where I can let my mind running wild, and explore me.  Truth be told, I think even tough guys want to be able to believe in a fairy tale life.

Finally to close this out, I recently got to sit with my daughters and watch the new release of Beauty and the Beast 3D.  The original is T’s all time favorite movie.  Over the last 20 years, she has burned through 2 VHS version that I know of, and at least 3 DVD’s.  And, there was a period from age three to four that I could guarantee waking on Saturday morning to the B&B playing in the VCR.  What the significance of Beauty and the Beast 3D, other than T literally vibrating with anticipation before hand, was the 3D component.  I have not been a really fan of 3D films to this point.  One, I wear glasses, so putting a pair of 3D glasses over my regular pair is somewhat awkward and uncomfortable.  Second, I have found most of the 3D features I’ve seen, add elements to the story to showcase the WOW factor of 3D that don’t necessarily add value to the story.  Nothing could be further from the truth with the 3D version of Beauty and the Beast.  The 3D effects here do nothing to detract or change the original classic, and everything to enhance and give great depth to an already magnificent piece of work.  Don Hahn, the original producer, and his crew did an incredible job with this release, and I think it is an excellent example of what Walt Disney called plussing the experience.  I will gladly see this version again… and again…

So I have a new found respect, admiration, and appreciation of animation, well done.  Each viewing, even repeats, is a new experience, and chance to both escape and explore the human condition.

As always, it is my hope that you draw some value from my ramblings, and I appreciate you spending some time at my blog.  Next time, I continue my developing thoughts on Walt Disney – the Man.

Your comments or questions are always welcome.  If you have a correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com

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The Latest Mouse-troversy

I’ve been away for awhile, working on other endeavors, but, there is a new Mouse-trovery in Mickey’s kingdom and I had to comment.

Seems that when the newest Muppet Movie release the opening credits just showed the Disney Castle with Disney underneath.  No Walt Disney Pictures, just Disney, in that unmistakable Disney script.  Of course, with Kermit and Monster at the bottom of the screen, there wasn’t the usual space available.  That aside…   The controversy seems to revolve around the removal of “Walt” and “Pictures” from the studio vanity card – the term I think I saw used – that flashes up on the screen at the beginning of the film. 

The root definition of fan truly applied to most Disney Fans and most particularly many Walt Disney Fans.  That root is fanatic and many are just that, fanatical.  Upon seeing this new vanity card graphic rumors immediately began circulating that that the clandestine management team at The Walt Disney Company are trying to excise all memory of Walt from the collective memories of both company and public.

Jim Hill has an interesting article over at Jim Hill Media talking about some of the details of this change.  I will only add…  If TWC is shortening the name, on the splash graphics on its movies, so what?  What is the first thing you think of when you see the name Disney?  For me, as I believe most people, it is Walt Disney.  In my opinion, to excise Walt’s memory from the Company, you’d have to remove more than just his first name.  I tend agree with some of the other assessment that this really has more to do with the branding of the content being delivered today’s new media environment.  With the advent of tables and smartphones, more media is being delivered to devices with smaller screen real estate.  You can make the Disney name bigger on the screen in this environment.  Besides, I might argue that just seeing that Castle on screen invokes images and memories of Walt Disney.

But there is something else to consider… We should all remember, it was not Walt’s idea or choice to rename The DisneyBrothers Studio to Walt Disney Productions…  That was Brother Roy’s choice, in recognition for the company’s creative force, his brother Walt, as was the choice to call Walt’s DisneyWorld, Walt Disney World, again in recognition of its creative founder.  Warner Brothers notwithstanding, I don’t think Walt would have cared if Roy decided to call the company Acme.  Boy would that have messed with the coyote’s mind.  J  Walt Disney, like his character – Peter Pan, was always much more interested in the next great adventure, not memories of past journeys.  Which is what I think is at the base, consciously or not, of our draw to him.  

There are people out there who have researched and/or know Walt Disney far better than I, but from everything I have learn about Walt, over the last few of years, he does not come across as a man all the believing in his own self importance.  He did what he did because he enjoyed it, and believed that others would as well.  He was right, and probably far beyond even his own wildest dreams.

It is an amazing testament to the Man – Walt Disney that his fans take such umbrage at trivial changes in the company he founded, however let us honor the Man by remembering him as a real man he was, not the icon and myth he’s become through the company he founded.  We have the Walt Disney Family Museum to continue the legacy of the man – Walt Disney.  And, even if there was the slightest chance that some, at The Walt Disney Company, were covertly planning the excise of Walt’s memory from the collective minds of all, how epic a fail would that be witness? 

Your comments or questions are always welcome.  If you have a correction or something you think I should look at in my research, please feel free to contact me at mr.grumpyguy@gmail.com

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