SWillie! wrote:But it really is the end of an era (although with Eric Goldberg still there, I suppose that era is holding on by a thread).
There must more old timers there. Mark Henn is still there.
True. I guess I may have jumped the gun. Let's see... Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg, Andreas Deja, Mark Henn, John Musker, Ron Clements, Ruben Aquino, Dale Baer, Tony De Rosa, Randy Haycock, Burny Mattinson, Nik Ranieri
I don't know what most of these guys are doing right now, without any traditional stuff going on that we know of... but as far as we know everyone except Glen and Andreas are still there. I guess I jumped the gun a lot haha
I'm sorry if I'm being a little biased or something. My chief concern, really, is seeing Disney continue hand-drawn because as silly as it may sound, my heart has always been with the company.
qindarka wrote:I know that you are a great fan of hand-drawn animation so I've been wondering if you tried to look outside Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks for hand-drawn films. There are still plenty of them being released though not many are in the public consciousness.
There are none hand-drawn films produced by Hollywood. There are only foreign hand-drawn movies which rarely see the light of day in the U.S.
And that's the problem these days. Hollywood just isn't willing to do that anymore!
Yes, I meant those foreign handdrawn movies. I don't live in the us so I don't know how difficult it is to get access to those movies there.
Despite my continual defense of WDAS, I have to admit that I am not too happy with the lack of handdrawn western animated films myself
To be honest, I don't understand why he decided to resign now. There were reports that he started working on new projects at Disney. What went astray?
Glen chose to stay with Disney but his office was moved from the Hat Building to the main lot, where he got to return to his old office in the old animation building. Now he is working in his old office and is developing two ideas for very personal animated films.
His last project was 2010’s Tangled, on which he is credited as animation supervisor and directing animator for the character of Rapunzel. While he has been developing several ideas, according to one insider, he was not currently attached to any future project at Disney.
My guess is he was working on pitches/pencil tests that the higher ups never greenlit. Now he should be able to try and get those same ideas developed at another studio.
Sotiris wrote:
There must more old timers there. Mark Henn is still there.
True. I guess I may have jumped the gun. Let's see... Glen Keane, Eric Goldberg, Andreas Deja, Mark Henn, John Musker, Ron Clements, Ruben Aquino, Dale Baer, Tony De Rosa, Randy Haycock, Burny Mattinson, Nik Ranieri
I don't know what most of these guys are doing right now, without any traditional stuff going on that we know of... but as far as we know everyone except Glen and Andreas are still there. I guess I jumped the gun a lot haha
What if they all left and got together and founded a studio focused on hand-drawn features? That might be pretty sweet, though I'd be happier if it happened at Disney.
*sigh*, I truly do not fault him for wanting to do more, if that's the case. I do think he loves Tangled, but I'm sure he still wants a chance to make a movie that is his.
Here's what Glen had said almost a year ago when the rumors of him leaving started:
Steve Hulett wrote:I had occasion to be at the Hat Building this morning, and by accident I had a long talk with Glen Keane. (We bumped into each other in the first-floor hallway.) He said the following:
"My contract is up at Disney in May, and I'm doing due diligence, looking around, seeing what's out there. I'm 57 years old and I want to make the rest of my career count.
"I've known Jeffrey Katzenberg for a long time, and like him. And DreamWorks Animation is a dynamic studio. I also like what's happening at Disney. I think Tangled was one of our best features, and I did more drawings on it than I did working on Tarzan. It was great working with the animators on the crew, helping them take the work to the next level ..."
Glen didn't say whether he was moving on to another studio or not. He related that he likes the people he's working with at the Mouse House a lot, but said he's interested in "working without walls," which I took to mean he's going to look at his options and decide what he wants his next project(s) and/or studio(s) to be.
He has his own groundbreaking visions and is capable of creating new things an true beauty.
This does not match with what became the "Disney studio's" nowadays. Where it's all about the money and a greedy attitude. Not about the passion. Not the way Walt and Glen had a passion.
The painterly Rapunzel could have been glorious and groundbreaking. Something new. Instead, it became your typical 3d CGI movie with slapstick jokes and looked very computer-ish.
Basically, it just copied previous Disney Classics and previous CGI films.
Nothing we haven't seen before.
Glen is too original and passionate to work at a company like this. Maybe we have to accept that Disney no longer exists, only in the classics from the past. Because we can all see that trying to copy that (Princess and the frog, Rapunzel) does not really work, and new things just don't come, because the company makes sure to thwart brilliant ideas and visions like Glen's.
And maybe it's better this way, and is it better for everyone if he starts something new.
Last edited by Marky_198 on Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
Are you just using Keane's resignation as an excuse to bash current Disney? Forgive me if I am being uncharitable but there seems to be a lot of this going around today.
Could we all stop glorifying the previous, "painterly" version of Tangled as if it was definitely going to be better. Its animation may well have been better but Tangled has fantastic animation as it is. The strengths of Tangled lie not only in its animation but in its great storytelling and characterization. I fail to see how this would necessarily have been improved on in the "painterly" version.
Anonymous #1 wrote:There’s no indication at all that he’s going to Dreamworks.
John Sanford wrote:Except he gave a talk there over the summer…and has had lunch there a few times…
Anonymous #2 wrote:He’s not going to Dreamworks.
John Sanford wrote:Man, you don’t know.
Anonymous #3 wrote:Glen moved out of the Feature Animation building weeks ago, and now has Ollie Johnston’s old office in the old animation building (which now houses offices of talent and companies with various production deals and associations with the studio – including Don Hahn). While Glen may no longer be an employee of Disney Animation, I don’t think anyone should presume that he has completely severed all relationship with the Disney company.
Glen is definitely one of my favorite animators ever, but, if this is what he wants, there's no reason for us to complain. We can be sad, but that's about it really. I hope he finds something else to do, though, so we can continue seeing his wonderful work.
Kyle wrote:Tangled was not the the Rapunzel he had envisioned. Based on what Ived read, Disney thought he was taking far too long to lock down the look of the movie for one. He was doing some pretty revolutionary 3d stuff that the public has not seen for the most part. The word Painterly got thrown around a lot but the end result didn't really reflect that much. It was going to look different from your typical 3d animated film, more of a mixed media look (I'm talking dry brush, pencil, charcoal you name it really), further bridging the gap between hand drawn and 3d animation. One animation test shown featured outlines around the characters. Not just your typical cel shading either. The lines had a sketchy quality to them. He had several looks he was considering but in the end Disney decided for him more or less and went with the cheaper faster route.
I'd hate to open this can of worms but had Walt been here, I believe he would have wanted to try this out. He was one who took risks with his projects.
qindarka wrote:Are you just using Keane's resignation as an excuse to bash current Disney? Forgive me if I am being uncharitable but there seems to be a lot of this going around today.
Could we all stop glorifying the previous, "painterly" version of Tangled as if it was definitely going to be better. Its animation may well have been better but Tangled has fantastic animation as it is. The strengths of Tangled lie not only in its animation but in its great storytelling and characterization. I fail to see how this would necessarily have been improved on in the "painterly" version.
It's about being a pioneer. His visions and ideas are special.
Disney does not see that, or does not want that anymore.
Sotiris wrote:In the "Art of Tangled", it says that the Fragonard painting-like style Glen wanted was deemed too distracting by the management and so they axed it.
Just like the animation and bright colors in Snowwhite would be too distracting and assuming people wouldn't like to see that?
Luckily Walt went his own way.
