Rose glasses firmly in place, Disney has presented it’s version of life in the Feature Animation Studio over the last few years. In their 2005 Siggraph presentation, “The Legacy of Disney Animation: A Journey to the Past, Present, and Future through the Eyes of Disney Animators, Directors, Designers and Storytellers”, the Disney gloss has been applied to the turbulent events at the heart of their approach to animation.
Seemingly undisturbed by Michael Eisner’s shockingly shortsighted comments that “The 2-D business is coming to and, just like black and white came to an end.”, a panel from Disney Feature Animation (most working on Chicken Little) explained their official version of events over the last few years -
“The computer is just another creative tool like the multiplane camera,” one of the panelists said, and then he and others went on to point out that Disney animation has always been a leader in introducing new technological achievements like the multiplane, so it was only natural for Disney to embrace the use of computers “in order to give animators the tools to do things they couldn’t do before.”
That’s fine, I agree that the computer is a fantastic tool for animation and art. And I think Walt would have thought so too. But Disney’s saccharine story didn’t end there though- a verbal picture of the natural evolution of animation was painted for the audience, in which the transition from pencil to PC was depicted as inevitable, necessary, painless and benficial to all concerned.
“…a seamless transition by WDFA from traditional hand-drawn 2D animation to CG animation as if it were a benign, bloodless, evolutionary process.”
A tale of nothing being lost with the eradication of the traditional hand-drawn artform, and that the films from the new 3D medium would now eclipse what had been achieved with the outdated drawers’ hand and pencil. Hmm, I have a few problems with that view of things.
“Nothing was mentioned about the millions of dollars lost by the Disney Company opening then closing its original CG animation studio, the one that made Dinosaur—the Secret Lab. The Disney special session panelists didn’t say anything about the hundreds of Disney artists and animators who were told that even though they would be given CG training, there still wouldn’t be jobs for all of them, nor did they mention the shuttering of Disney animation facilities in Orlando, Tokyo, Paris, and, just two weeks ago, Australia.
After pitching Rapunzel Unbraided to Disney CEO Michael Eisner and David Stainton, head of WDFA, he [Glen Keane] was given the go-ahead to make the picture with just one caveat. “Michael and David said ‘we want you to do it in CG.’” Keane was widely quoted within the animation community for having said, ‘I’ll kill any man who tries to take my pencil out of my hand.’ Words that came back to haunt him when Disney announced that Keane would direct what will be their fourth CG animated feature, Rapunzel Unbraided.”
After all the fairytales they’ve given us, Disney’s latest story is one that tries to justify the profit-driven decisions of their suits and management as being primarily focused on the evolving artform of animation, and even beneficial to it and its artist creators. I thought a carpet could fly, and that a candlestick could have a French accent, but this is a bit hard to believe.
For more read the entire O-Meon article, Reporter’s Notebook: SIGGRAPH 2005.
Discussion