DVDizzy Forum

The 100th-anniversary celebration of Walt Disney Animation Studios is in full effect at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. There was news that 28 restored short films will be added to Disney+, while a brand new short film titled "Once Upon a Studio" debuted on opening night. Still, as incredible as the short is (and believe me, it is pure Disney magic), there was nothing like seeing it play again during a Disney panel, where the short film got an emotional reception and a standing ovation.

Still, that was not the focus of the panel — though audiences did see a couple of behind-the-scene videos showing how directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy brought back Richard Sherman to play "Feed the Birds" at Walt's office for the short, along with a tribute to the late legend Burny Mattinson. No, the main focus of the presentation was Disney's upcoming centennial celebration animated feature, "Wish."

When Wish arrives in theaters on November 22nd, it will be accompanied by the short Once Upon a Studio, which premiered on the opening night of Annecy. Those who missed it got a second screening, with directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham there to introduce it. They were emotional afterward when the crowd gave them a standing ovation worthy of Céline Dion after a night in Vegas. The crowd didn’t want to stop cheering for them, and both directors got misty-eyed as they welcomed legendary animator Eric Goldberg to join them on stage, which yielded yet another standing ovation.

We were treated to two behind-the-scenes videos about the making of Once Upon a Studio. The first was set in Walt Disney’s restored office in Burbank with Disney Legend Richard Sherman sitting at the same piano he used to pitch songs for films like Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book to Walt Disney. On Friday nights, Walt would famously call the Sherman Brothers up to his office and say, “Play it.” By that, he meant “Feed the Birds,” a song that so encapsulated his philosophy on life that he liked to wrap up the work week with it. During a touching moment in the short when Mickey walks past a framed portrait of Walt, the melody can be heard. What you’ll hear in the film is from that day, of Richard Sherman back at the piano, the same one he used to introduce the song to Walt Disney. And, it was recorded on a Friday evening.

The other Once Upon a Studio video was about Burny Mattinson, who appears on screen in the short’s introduction. Having passed away just shy of his 70th anniversary with the studio, Burney worked with more of the characters featured in the short than anybody else (Eric Goldberg says there’s over 500). Trent and Dan recalled how excited Burny was to make his big-screen debut. And Eric Goldberg also confirmed that all of the animation in the short is 100% original, with nothing recycled. And any hand-drawn elements are truly hand-drawn, with a pencil on paper.

Dan Abraham: Yeah. We still, to this day, you'll see Stitch, and you'll see Ariel, and you'll see the Beast and that ...

D23ExpoVisitor25 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 12:26 am More information on which characters have speaking roles in the short: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtrJLQTonr5/.

D23ExpoVisitor25 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 12:26 am More information on which characters have speaking roles in the short: https://www.instagram.com/p/CtrJLQTonr5/.

UmbrellaFish wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:33 am It’s impressive that person could remember so much!

Sotiris wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 1:09 am I hope Disney didn't cheap out and paid the Edgar Burroughs estate to have Tarzan make an appearance in the short.

Alex: Today, Eric Goldberg said there's more than 500 characters in the short. How do you choose who gets to be featured? How do you make the sacrifices of who does and doesn't get to come to this party?

Dan Abraham: Well, we wanted everybody, but that's just not possible. We do have over 500 characters. And every main character from every film is represented, and then a bunch of the shorts. And then we would just come up with gags and ideas and mashups between characters and situations and what would flow into the next thing. And we kept going on and on and on until finally we had a list, like, "You know what? We don't have this movie represented very well yet, where can we get that character?" And we would have a very short list of…

Trent Correy: Yeah, it got shorter and shorter.

Dan Abraham: Yeah. We still, to this day, you'll see Stitch, and you'll see Ariel, and you'll see the Beast and that, but there's somebody out there that loves Johnny Appleseed. And there's somebody that loves Gurgi and Chicken Little, and they don't get to see those guys very much. So we wanted everybody to see their pals because that's what this was. It's a family reunion that hopefully you want to go to.

Farerb wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 3:56 am I read that Snow White and Asha hug or something at the end of the short

Alex: The short ends with a very symbolic handshake. The star of the first animated feature, Snow White, holds hands with Asha, the star of Wish. Can you talk about the profoundness of that moment, and what it means to you to be in the position you’re in as Disney celebrates its 100th anniversary?

Jennifer Lee: Well, we said how far do we go? And the idea of being able to invite Wish into it, and obviously, Snow White was a huge inspiration for Asha. Meaning what it took for Walt to make Snow White, how he had a wish and a dream, and he had to fight through. And there were moments where it wasn't going to happen. The budget was too big. They said no one would come, and he made it, and it made everything possible. A lot of that inspired Asha's journey where she wishes for something, and then she has to try to make it happen. The failures, how far are you willing to go, and what she has to go through. So it was so lovely to be able to put them together. Many of those nods are in our conversations and heads, but hopefully, after people see the film, they will see it more.

PatrickvD wrote: ↑Tue Jun 20, 2023 5:26 pm Holding my breath for this. Either way it has traditional animation so that’s a big plus.

Really curious to see how WDAS handles animating some of these characters that haven’t been animated in 60+ years, such as Snow, Merlin or Pinocchio. Do they really still have the artists/skills in-house to pull that off? Aside from Eric Goldberg obviously.

In one of the articles it says every protagonist from every WDAS film appears in it.

Disney's Divinity wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:59 am I've always loved images and other things that include all the Disney characters together

Prince Kido wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 2:44 am . Prep & Landing
. Nessie

Disney's Divinity wrote: ↑Wed Jun 21, 2023 3:59 am It'll be interesting to see the Tangled characters, Bolt and Mittens, MtR, etc. in hand-drawn form