From: Rich_Koster@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Rich Koster)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: CBS Report on Disney Animation
Distribution: world
Date: 3 Sep 92 05:27:33 CST
Organization: The Amiga GateWay BBS * New Orleans, La.

My wife transcribed the following from WWL-TV in New Orleans.  It
apparently ran on "CBS This Morning" sometime, but WWL doesn't carry
"CBS This Morning", only its news reports and features within a long
local newscast in the morning as it suits the station.  Carol (my
wife) says the video matches whatever the subjects and nouns of a
sentence are, so you would see the exterior and lobby of the Animation
Studio at Disney-MGM, excerpts from the past and future Disney
animated films, various animators flipping pages as they work or
working with Aladdin models, tourists watching them from above, etc.
matching the nouns and subjects.  Carol identifies the speakers when
possible.  Paula Zahn is the CBS-TV anchor-correspondent who co-hosts
"CBS This Morning".
 
Local Anchor Lead In:  A lot of excitement in the movies these days is
not about flesh and blood actors, but about box office stars who have
paint and ink running in their veins.  In fact, Walt Disney Pictures
has plans on the drawing boards for as many as 15 feature length
animated films every 10 years.  Paula Zahn has more.
 
Zahn:  This is the Disney-MGM Theme Park in Lake Buena Vista.
 
Guide:  Good afternoon and welcome.  This is the Animation Tour.  Now,
Walt Disney himself received some 32 of these Academy Awards.  That's
more than any other filmmaker in history.
 
Walter Cronkite (from the film shown to orient you how animation is
done):  Lightning, for example.
 
Robin Williams voice:  Owwwwwwww!  Owwww!
 
Zahn:  The Animation Building here is more than a tourist attraction.
It's a real motion picture studio, an extension of the famous Disney
facilities in California.  But 10,000 visitors a day can get close
enough to discover if these artists do whistle while they work.
 
Unidentified man wearing a tie and Disney name tag that can't be read,
but has a slight British accent:  One of the criterias to come work
here is that you've got to be prepared to be looked at while you work.
Very different.  Our colleagues in California are hidden away, but
here I'd certainly say something to any potential first candidate who
would come work in these studios:  If you like working closed away and
hidden and hiding your drawings this is not the place for you.
 
Zahn:  At one time in her life 24-year old assistant animator Chris
Lawrence though she might be a portrait painter.  Then she was
accepted into the highly competitive internship program here.  And
that led to a full-time job.
 
Lawrence:  You just knew there was this big name that was in front of
you:  Disney.  And you were saying to yourself I hope I can fulfill
what Disney means or has meant to everybody else!
 
Audio from scene from "Snow White":  (sung) "...So hum a merry tune/
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm..."
 
Zahn:  Walt Disney and his animators created a world standard and a
new art form.  But a lot of the determination to grow and expand ended
when Walt died in 1966.
 
Barry Cook, Director:  It was completely lost when we first came to
this studio.  We, we really didn't know if animation was going to
survive at all.  We thought it was a dying art form that had, that
would just fizzle out and never amount to anything again.
 
Audio from scene from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", with Bob Hoskins and
Roger Rabbit:  "ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
 
Zahn:  But Disney came back strongly:  Roger Rabbit, The Little
Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast found large new audiences for
animation.  This studio was built in 1989 to produce shorts and
featurettes.  73 people working 7 days a week to create 15 minutes of
animation a year.  Now the studio is being expanded to get ready for
100 more artists and producers.  [Here you see a bunch of empty
animation drawing desks and office chairs in temporary storage.]
 
Cook (in his big office, working on storyboard sketch ideas, wearing a
t-shirt):  ...They say it's a Roger scene, and he's just reacting,
really...
 
Zahn:  33-year old Barry Cook is one of the bright stars here, a
Disney veteran who just directed "Off His Rockers", the short that
precedes "Honey, I Blew Up the Kids".
 
Audio, scene from the short in which the rocking horse dances in front
of the TV while the kid is playing a video game
 
Cook:  The character was sort of inspired by a crude model that one
of my sons had made in pre-school.  He stuck little dowel rods and
pieces of wood together.
 
Zahn:  Cook is now planning the next Roger Rabbit short.
 
Cook:  I'm trying to figure out ways to slam Roger Rabbit's head.
Can't kill the guy, y'know!
 
Zahn:  An idea can come from anywhere.
 
Cook (handles a small wooden mallet):  This is from breaking crab legs
when you eat 'em (laughs).  That's what it's for!  I got it down at
the Crab House in Lake Buena Vista.  I thought maybe I could knock
somebody over the head with it.  In fact, that might be a good idea--
if I have some sort of a big mallet that sort of, eh, goes over the
top of my head.  Now see, here's the mallet idea, you see, how do you
like that?  Crack!  You could be cracking it like nuts.....
 
Zahn:  Outside of Cook's office they're also working on sections of
the next full length feature, "Aladdin".  Some of the magic will be
computer-generated, but artists here are quick to point out that
technology only helps their imaginations.
 
Unidentified animator sitting at a computer terminal, the terminal
shows two windows of line code, then a screen with an animated ball
that looks more like computer aided wire frame design for engineering
purposes, terminal edges are covered with little Post-It notes, can't
tell what kind of computer they're using or what the software is but
it's very sophisticated:  There are some animators that use a paper
and pencil and some animators that use a computer and it's really
using the best tool for the purpose that we need at the time.
 
Zahn:  Sometimes the animators favorite tool is the treadmill and the
exercise room just down the hall, or a tension-relieving mid-afternoon
massage.  [Video showed a massage room.]  But there is little time for
relaxation between now and Thanksgiving.  That's when "Aladdin" is
scheduled for release.
 
End of report.
 
*Massage*!!!???  Great!  Probably for all the close concentrated work
they do, to ease neck and back aches.  The animation work stations
looked ergonomic too.
 
Thought you'd enjoy this!
 
 
 
 

-- Via DLG Pro v0.992

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