Mickey Makeover

Posted on November 6, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Mickey Mouse is my favorite animated character. Part of the reason is historic — he starred in the first movie to feature a synchronized soundtrack, “Steamboat Willie.” And he was the first character and later the emblem for what would become Walt Disney Studios. Walt Disney lost the rights to his successful Oswald Rabbit character and decided to start his own studio with a new idea. As Disney said,

We thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin — a little fellow trying to do the best he could. When people laugh at Mickey Mouse, it’s because he’s so human; and that is the secret of his popularity. I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing — that it was all started by a mouse.

My favorite Mickey appearance is in “Fantasia,” where he plays the sorcerer’s apprentice who gets into trouble when he tries to perform a little magic.

But Mickey has not been much more than a logo for quite a while. What I like best about him, his perpetually cheery outlook, is a challenge for film-makers. It is easier for them to write stories for characters who are frustrated (Donald Duck), clumsy (Goofy), or mischievous (Chip and Dale). As he gets ready to turn 81 on November 18, Mickey is getting more attention — and a bit of a personality change. The New York Times reports that Mickey will star in a new video game and is getting a new look to go with a more aggressive persona. The game is “Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland” battling none other than Oswald Rabbit. Players will be able to decide whether their Mickey character will be helpful or “selfish and destructive.”

I understand that Disney wants to make Mickey Mouse relevant to a new generation. But I hope Disney remembers what makes Mickey so appealing. And I hope Disney pays attention to the lessons of “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” about how much trouble you can get into messing with magic.

Interview: Tinker Bell (Part 2)

Posted on October 29, 2009 at 8:00 am

Part 2 — from an online press briefing with “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure” director Klay Hall and producer Sean Lurie.” And don’t forget to enter the contest for the Tinker Bell DVD and wings!
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the look of this film and what inspired it?
Klay Hall: Certainly the inspiration comes from the original 1953 Peter Pan movie. The colors and the richness of the backgrounds from the original film were embraced. What was great about this time is we were able to give it a fresh look and able to incorporate CG. We were able to enhance the textures and the hues to really give it the richness we felt it deserved.
Q: What is the benefit of Blu-ray for a film such as this?
Sean Lurie: We produced the film in High Definition. Watching it on Blu-ray is, by far, the best way to see this. It’s visually stunning and we don’t want you to miss the incredible visual details.
Q: Mr. Hall, do you coordinate the performances of the voice talents with the visual artists? Or does one come first and the other have to try to match up? Do the voice talents have a good idea of what the look of the scene will be?
Klay Hall: Yes, I do coordinate all the voice talents with the visual artists; however, we do record the voices first, so the animators have an acting track to work from. If I don’t have an actor recorded at the time I am handing out a scene, we do what is called a “scratch track,” where myself or an animator will speak the words and we will record them, so we have something to work from. When I go into final record with acting talent, I bring character design, color art and sometimes a pencil test scene that will help inform the actor of what I’ll be looking for.
Q: Which is the secret to Tinker Bell’s success?
Sean Lurie: I think it’s her charm, curiosity, and that she is not perfect. These things make her relatable. And she can FLY!
Q: Can you tell me about the production of the score? How did you work with Joel McNeely? Can you tell me about the chorus and the choice of Gaelic for the lyrics, as a kind a secret fairy language?
Klay Hall: I worked very closely with Joel McNeely from early on. We talked about how we wanted to capture authenticity of the Celtic world and have it sound organic. Joel is a very accomplished musician on several instruments and he had creative ideas on how to create this new sound. As part of our production process, we were able to travel to Ireland and meet with David Downes, several musicians and singers, including some of the Celtic Women. When we first heard the Celtic choir, it was in the Abbey’s residence, a 400 year old building next to St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Talk about inspiring and moving. It was truly amazing, an incredible experience and we felt like we were really on to something.
Q: How long did the production for the movie overall take?
Sean Lurie: It took about two and a half years.
Q: Is it all computer generated?.
Sean Lurie: Yes. We start with “flat” designs and storyboards drawn with a stylist in the computer (they resemble pencil drawings). We then construct those characters, environments and props as models in a 3d digital environment. Even though the shots are computer generated there are many talented animators animating each shot and character.
Q: What are the differences you can see comparing the new Tinker Bell and the older one, being a co-star of Peter Pan?
Sean Lurie: The biggest difference has to be that she can talk in these movies. Even though she couldn’t talk in the Peter Pan movie she was very expressive. You always new what she was trying to communicate. We tried to keep her very expressive, and maintain her key personality traits. Translating her from 2D drawings to a fully 3 dimensional character is also a visual difference. We tried to be as accurate in her appearance as possible. It was important that people recognize and accept her as the Tink they know and love.
Q: Can you describe Tinker Bell’s new costume and how you arrived at its design?
Klay Hall: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure is set in the Autumn. So it seemed proper to update Tinker Bell’s outfit. In the earlier films, she wears her iconic little green dress. However, it being fall and there being crispness in the air, in addition to this being an adventure movie, her dress just wouldn’t work. So myself, John Lasseter, Ellen Jin, the Art Director, and the costume designers from the parks all weighed in on an approach to a new design. We landed on her wearing leggings, a long-sleeve shirt, a shawl, a hat and high boots with her iconic pom-poms still attached. The costume also had to feel as if a fairy made it, so all the materials, textures and elements are organic and easily found in nature.
Q: What was it like working with John Lasseter?
It was awesome! Working with John was a dream come true. He is so invested in this TInker Bell films and very hands on. John is very much a collaborator and helpful at every level. He was involved practically at all levels….From the original story pitch, costume design and character design to sequence approvals, animation, music and the final sounds effects mix.
Q: To Mr. Hall: Please, would you share some memories of Ward Kimball and Milt Kahl as persons and the way they inspired you in your work?
Klay Hall: It was an honor to meet Ward Kimball, which I had the pleasure on several occasions. I spoke with him while a student at Cal Arts and then was able to correspond with him in the later years about animation and technique. He was a warm, friendly guy who had me out to his house and even invited me to his last steam-up at Grizzly Flats Railroad. Unfortunately, I never met Milt personally, but was also able to correspond with him through the mail. He was very friendly and encouraging in his advice about acting for animation and being sure to do your research before you begin to draw. I still look back and read the letters from these guys, watch the scenes they worked on and I’m truly inspired to this day.
Q: Do you anticipate any of the other Peter Pan characters making appearances in Tinkerbell films?
Klay Hall: You never know! It would be great.
Q: What are the advantages of treating the fairies’ world in CG? And what are the difficulties that implies, too?
Sean Lurie: We felt that CG was a great medium for these films because it allows us to create a truly magical world. The richness, color and depth is fantastic. We also felt that CG would help create an environment that we could easly return to in subsequent films. Our biggest challenge with CG was to create a faithful rendition of Tinker Bell. We spent a lot of time on this because we know that this is a beloved character.
Q: I love the stylized look of the opening sequence. What inspired it?
Klay Hall: I happen to love Autumn. The way the light hits the trees, the colors of fall and the crispness in the air. I wanted to capture the textures and feel of the season.
Q: What is the most important lesson children can learn from Tinkerbell?
Klay Hall: We all can learn so much from Tinker Bell and her adventures. TInk herself learns a valuable lesson in the film -friendship is one of the greatest treasures of all; she learns that it’s okay to make mistakes and to forgive.
Q: What is your favorite scene from the Tinker Bell movie?
Sean Lurie: I love the scene where Terence is helping Tink build the scepter, and over a period of time gets on her nerves. It’s a very relatable scene with lot’s of humor. The acting in this scene is very good and funny. We are also both very fond of the Trolls scene. It’s a great thing when you can take very unappealing (looking) characters and make them some of the most charming characters in the film.
Q: Both of you have two sons like me. With the emphasis on the Terence character, is part of the priority for you to make Tinker Bell more interesting to boys?
Sean Lurie: Our objective was to create a film that had a broad family appeal. We wanted to create a movie that the whole family would enjoy, including our sons.

Interview: Tinker Bell (Part 1)

Posted on October 26, 2009 at 3:59 pm

Continuing this week’s celebration of all things Tinker Bell, I spoke to Ellen Jin Over, Art Director for the new DVD, Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure. I was really lucky that Tinker Bell historian Mindy Johnson was there, too. Don’t forget to enter my contest for the new Tinker Bell DVD and wings!

NM: Tell me what it is like to dress a fairy!

EJO: Dressing Tinker Bell is real exciting because that’s one of the major Disney characters, and to dress her in something else than what she was wearing is very exciting. They are fairies and their dwelling is Pixie Hollow, made of all natural stuff, so we begin with found objects made from nature, influenced by Victorian styles. She wears a green leaf dress. We wanted to continue that color scheme and nature, be inspired by nature, bring different texture of the leafs, different color variations, made out of flowers, leaf, and feather. Of course she is wearing leggings because it is fall, a shawl, boots with pom poms made of cotton ball.

NM: How do you suggest not just her environment but her personality?

EJO: Different fairies have a different personality. Silvermist is a really feminine personality and a water fairy; Irdidessa is really organized and she is also a light fairy, so depending on what their talents are, we give them some costumes that match. Silvermist will always have a long dress. And Tinker Bell, she’s really active, she’s really curious, very adventurous. Because in this movie she travels far out of Pixie Hollow into some other unknown land, we wanted to give her a really active, kind of sportly look. So she has a visor, a shawl for the cold weather, a pair of boots so she can run around and jump and hop and protect her little delicate feet. In this outfit she can do whatever she wants, climb up.

NM: It’s been about a hundred years since Tinker Bell first appeared — and she was just a little spot of light on stage in productions of “Peter Pan.” And then Disney was the first to personify her in the animated version of the story (which was also the first to have the title character played by a boy instead of a woman). How has Tink changed over the years?

Mindy Johnson (author of a forthcoming book about Tinker Bell): She did begin as a flash of light with James M. Barrie. He explored many different avenues on how to portray this character and she took the imagination of many including a very young Walt Disney as a boy, having seen the play as a child. She was always in the back of his mind as he built the animation studios and he had his version in development for 16 years, beginning before WWII, in the late 1930’s. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that it came back into development. The character was designed by a Disney artist named Mark Davis, a legendary animator, something of a ladies man — he worked on Cinderella, Snow White, and Princess Aurora. It was a challenge to portray a realistic, humanistic, character, especially because she was largely portrayed via pantomime. There were quite extensive explorations of her as redhead, brunette, a little powder puff, a whole variety of things which is the crux of this book I am working on about her history. But all of that is part of what left her so implanted in everyone’s mind as the embodiment of magic, and wonderment and fantasy and fun and a little mischief. There have been a number of things since the 1952 debut in the film. She was brought into the early television show to open each program. And now she has her own stories.

NM: How do you introduce her new evolved persona to the audience?

EJO: By giving her an adventure of her own. It was really the director’s choice to send her to a place where she was going to have a really great experience exploring this fantasy world. She was really given a great task, to make a fall scepter. It was such a great task that she wanted to be really good about it. But she made a mistake, the moonstone broke. She got the idea from the story-telling fairy that there is a far away place where you can find the moonstone so she decided to go on a trip. We see that she is not afraid to explore new territory to complete her responsibility. And boys like her, too, because she is not your typical princess, she is a tomboy and not afraid to do things, more of a character that could appeal to both audiences.

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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Posted on October 5, 2009 at 8:00 am

A-

Lowest Recommended Age:	All Ages
MPAA Rating:	G
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Some scary scenes, scary witch
Diversity Issues:	Passive female heroine dreams of being rescued by prince
Date Released to Theaters:	1937
Date Released to DVD:	February 2, 2016
Amazon.com ASIN:	B01711CIF0

Disney’s new Signature Collection release of its first animated feature film on Blu-Ray is gorgeously restored and filled with behind-the-scene extras and a wonderful opportunity to catch up with the one that is still “the fairest of them all.”

Snow White (voice of Adriana Caselotti) is a sweet girl whose step-mother, the Queen (voice of Lucille LaVerne), is vain and cruel. Snow White dreams of a prince to love, and meets the Prince of her dreams when she is fetching water for the castle. Meanwhile, each night, the Queen looks into a magic mirror and asks who is the fairest one of all. The mirror tells her that it is she, and she is satisfied. But one night, the mirror tells her that Snow White has become more fair, and the Queen, consumed with jealousy, tells her huntsman to take Snow White to the forest and kill her.

The tender-hearted huntsman cannot kill her and instead tells her to run away. Racing through the forest terrified, she collapses in tears. But she makes friends with the animals, who live in the woods and they lead her to a small cottage. Once inside, she cleans up the mess, singing “Whistle While You Work.” She thought, when she saw the small beds, that children lived in the house, but it turns out that it is the home of seven dwarfs, who work each day digging jewels from a mine.

When they come home, they are surprised to find her stretched out across their beds, sound asleep. But they soon make friends and are delighted to have her stay and take care of them.

Eventually, the Queen discovers that Snow White is still alive. The Queen makes a poisoned apple and turns herself into an old hag so she can deliver it to her. Snow White at first follows the dwarfs’ advice not to speak to strangers, but finally takes a bite of the apple and collapses. The Queen runs away and falls into a steep ravine.

The dwarfs are heartbroken and create a beautiful crystal bier for her to lie on. The prince discovers her there and gives her a kiss, which awakens her, whereupon he carries her off to live happily ever after.

Children used to today’s Disney stories may be surprised by a more passive heroine and by a score more classical than pop. But in addition to its historical value as the first animated feature, it is still a delight, with memorable songs and characters. It is hard to remember that before Disney the dwarfs in the Snow White story had no names and no individual characters. Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy, Dopey, Doc, Happy, and Bashful are all vivid characters, and their dance number with Snow White is a highlight.

This movie provides a good opportunity to discuss jealousy, and how to handle it. And, of course, it raises issues about women and beauty, about women’s role in the home, and about finding happiness only through dreams of “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Blended families are often sensitive about the traditional fairy tale villain being the “wicked stepmother,” and some children will need reassurance.

Extras in this edition include Disney’s own comments about the film and a feature about the influence of this groundbreaking animated feature, plus never-before-released storyboards of a deleted scene where the prince meets Snow White.

Talk to kids about how characters like Snow White might be different if they were created today, and make sure that they see a range of alternative role models. Note: The movie is very scary when Snow White is running through the forest (though reassuring when the animals turn out to be friendly) and when she bites the apple; the Queen is especially scary when she turns into the old hag. By today’s standards, Dopey might well be considered an insensitive stereotype of a developmentally disabled person.

Families who see this movie should discuss these questions: Why is the Queen jealous of Snow White? Why is being beautiful so important to her? Why did Snow White stay at the castle? Why did the huntsman disobey the Queen’s orders? Why did the dwarfs love Snow White so much?

Families who enjoy this movie should watch some of the other versions of the Snow White story, including the Faerie Tale Theatre production with Elizabeth McGovern.

Interview: Tiffany Thornton

Posted on October 5, 2009 at 8:00 am

Disney star Tiffany Thornton sings the classic “Some Day My Prince Will Come” on the spectacular new release of Disney’s very first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It is a two=DVD set with both Blu-Ray and regular DVDs and a lot of extras, including a sneak peek at the upcoming “Princess and the Frog.” I got a chance to talk to Tiffany about what it feels like to take on a song that is so well-known.

How did you get involved with this project?

I did the song “Let it Go” for “Hatching Pete,” but I was more rapping, and then I did a song for DisneyMania called “If I Ever Knew You,” and I hope I impressed them enough that they were willing to give me the opportunity to do this, and they flew out a producer from Nashville named Mark Hammond who was incredible to work with. I’m blessed to have been given the opportunity. I love this song because it’s not like a techno twist which is what you do a lot of times when you want to amp up a song that was originally a ballad. It has the ballad but also a mid-tempo, almost an up-tempo feel when it kicks in, so I hope people will enjoy that.

This is one of the classic Disney songs. How do you make it yours?

Mark did such a great job reconstructing the song. I’m really going to give him all the credit. He knew how to bring my voice out, get it to sound ethereal and princess-like but also to sound also like myself. I’m from Texas so I have that country thing in my voice going on. And I do all the background vocals, the harmonies and all of that stuff.

What is the most fun thing about singing for you?

The honest of it, really. I love acting and singing so much and could never pick one. With acting it’s fun to pretend to be someone else and that’s awesome, it’s like playing dress-up. But with singing, it’s you, being vulnerable, putting this voice out there, knowing people may criticize you and ridicule you. Because people are like that with music. Music is very expressive for a lot of people. I went through a break-up a few months ago and I was listening to Taylor Swift saying “Were you in the room when we were talking about that? How do you know all those things?” Music is really close to my heart and I just want to make sure people can feel that when I sing.

And who besides Taylor Swift is on your iPod?

Demi ‘s album that just came out, Here We Go Again, is incredible. I listen to her song “Got Dynamite” every time I go to the gym. And “World of Chances” which she wrote with John Mayer is a great song. At my photo shoot yesterday I listened to a lot of Carrie Underwood. And I love James Morrison and The Script, Matt Nathanson. I love those gritty guy voices. And Sara Bareilles I think is amazing.

If you could do any Disney song next, what would it be?

“Once Upon a Dream” from “Sleeping Beauty.”

When did you know you wanted to be a performer?

From day one! We put on performances in my front yard. I was always wanting to be in the spotlight. I made up songs, I wanted to be a cheerleader.

I was super-into really powerful singers. My mom and I jammed out to BeBe & CeCe Winans, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston. I’m not a singer because I’m on a Disney show; I’m a singer because God gave me a gift and I want to share it with the world.

And so what’s next?

I’m going to be singing a duet with Kermit the Frog in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade!

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