DVDizzy Forum

enigmawing wrote:I think the villain has sort of a Ward Kimball feel about him.

DisneyAnimation88 wrote:For me, the villain looks a lot like Pete and I agree with enigmawing that there is a Ward Kimball-esque quality to his design. I love the new stills and I'm looking forward to seeing the short a lot more than I thought I would be.

Sotiris wrote:

D23 wrote:04.06.11 - The Ballad of Nessie, which surfaces in theaters with Winnie the Pooh on July 15, shows the heartwarming side of Scotland's Loch Ness Monster.

enigmawing wrote:I think the villain has sort of a Ward Kimball feel about him.

D23 wrote:"We went back and looked at some of the old shorts," Stevie says. "The style of Johnny Appleseed and Sleepy Hollow inspired the look of this piece. The idea is that if someone watches it, they say, 'Did this come out recently?'" The intention was to deliberately make it feel like it fell off the shelf of the Disney's animation library. If you listen closely, you'll even hear a shout out to the animation great, Glen Keane. "But it definitely has a Ward Kimball look to it," adds Kevin. "Animator Dale Baer did most of the character art and we asked him to look back at some of Ward's designs."

D23 wrote:Nessie's got a bit of Elliot, a touch of Figment and a hint of Mushu. But what she has that is unique to all the other Disney dragons is her feminine appeal.

SillySymphony wrote: Mushu? Can't tell from the few images we have.

"The Ballad of Nessie" 's roots can actually be traced to a student film that Stevie did back in 1994 while she was still at CalArts. "It was something that I did in my second year," Wermers-Skelton recalled when we spoke on the phone last month. "And because I really liked this idea, I always kept 'Nessie' tucked away in my back pocket. With the hope that - further on down the line - I might get the chance to revisit this story. Make 'Nessie' into a more fully-realized film."

Now jump ahead to January of 2006, when The Walt Disney Company purchased Pixar Animation Studios. When John Lasseter and Ed Catmull came on board as the new heads of Walt Disney Animation Studios, these two announced that they were looking to revive the Studio's shorts program. What's more, John & Ed then invited WDAS staffers to come pitch them story ideas for some new Disney animated shorts.

"I actually wound up pitching 'Nessie' on the exact same day that I pitched 'How to Hook Up Your Home Theater.' And John and Ed loved both ideas," Stevie laughed. "So we wound up making 'Home Theater' first and then segued into making 'Nessie.' "

"Plus we had a very specific look in mind for 'The Ballad of Nessie,' " Stevie explained. "We wanted this short to look timeless, like it was something that the animation department had produced back in the 1940s & 1950s. Which is why our art director Andy Harkness carefully studied Disney films like 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' & 'Johnny Appleseed' and shorts like 'Pigs is Pigs.' So that he'd be able to replicate that timeless stylization that Disney animation had back then."

So the team at WDAS comes rolling off of working on "How to Hook Your Home Theater" and then immediately begins rough animation on "The Ballad of Nessie." But before they could get too far into working on this new animated short, it was time for the crew at WDAS to start working on "The Princess and The Frog." "Which - I'll admit - was somewhat frustrating. But since I'd been waiting since 1994 to see a fully formed version of 'Nessie,' I was willing to wait another year or two to see this short finally done right," Wermers-Skelton continued. "So it wasn't like we were just sitting around, waiting to work on 'Nessie.' 'Prep' kept us very busy," Wermers-Skelton said. "But the upside was - by waiting 'til work was finally done on 'Frog' - everyone really brought their A game when they began working on 'Nessie' again. Which is why this short turned out so much better than any of us ever expected."

"I just think that it's just a happy coincidence that 'Nessie' wound up being paired with 'Pooh,' " Wermers-Skelton stated. "I mean, it is kind of a natural pairing. But I doubt that the Studio deliberately held this short back while they looked for just the right film to release 'Nessie' with." "I'm just relieved that 'Nessie' turned out as well as it did. It took a really long time. But we were kind of the engine that could. This production just kept chugging along. And finally - after all these years - - the public and our peers get to see the finished product," Wermers-Skelton smiled.

This origin story of the Loch Ness monster is a sweet ode to Disney’s Silly Symphonies shorts of the 1940s and ‘50s. Narrated by Billy Connolly, the tale follows Nessie as she is forced out of her cozy pond by a loud mini-golf course developer named MacFroogle. She heads out with her best friend, the rubber duck MacQuack, to find a new home, but it’s not that easy. The whole incident makes her just want to cry, but she’s Scottish and she is supposed to keep a stiff upper lip.

Directors/writers Stevie Wermers and Kevin Deters ('How to Hook Up Your Home Theater') bring sensitivity to this story. It’s a thin plot but it carries emotional weight. The appealing design of Nessie and her world (loved the plaid mountains), Connolly’s pitch perfect voice over for both the touching and brave face moments and solid character animation attribute to this success.

The hand drawn short seems fitting to play before WINNIE THE POOH, another throwback to a different age of Disney animation. The poetic narration gives it a timeless appeal as well. Wermers originally conceived of the character when she was in college and has finally brought the story of a sensitive monster to the screen. Her love for the subject certainly shines through.

estefan wrote:In that first clip, is it just me or did the narrator say "Glen Keane"? I imagine that's a place in Scotland, but I couldn't help but think of a certain animator.

disneyfella wrote:Is anyone else excited that they say "On Blue Ray and Disney DVD Winter 2011"? Perhaps we can see a whole set of the Disney shorts (a la the Pixar Shorts) to include things like "Lorenzo", "How to Hook Up Your Home Theatre", and "Redux Riding Hood" to name a few

Sotiris wrote:

estefan wrote:In that first clip, is it just me or did the narrator say "Glen Keane"? I imagine that's a place in Scotland, but I couldn't help but think of a certain animator.

I heard "Glen Keane" too. The ironic thing is that Glen didn't even work on this short.