Hand-Drawn Animation Dead at Disney

[RyGuy]

While 2D animation may be dead . . . for now, it is surprising what comes back in Hollywood. A decade or so ago, people would have assumed the Hollywood musical was dead. Then there was a little film known as Moulin Rouge.

Since then we've had Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Mama Mia, The Producers, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages, and that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And they haven't all been great but the number of them, plus those rumored/announced to be in the works, I don't think the genre is going away anytime soon.

Ironically, it's not as if Moulin Rouge was the first movie musical made since the 1960s heyday - in the later 1980s, there was Little Shop of Horrors for example. It was just the first to find mainstream appeal in a long time.

Visionary people will come along from time to time who will make 2D films and probably a lot of them won't do well. But eventually something will hit the right note and become an instant classic, and then studios like Disney will start cranking them out again.

[TsWade2]

While 2D animation may be dead . . . for now, it is surprising what comes back in Hollywood. A decade or so ago, people would have assumed the Hollywood musical was dead. Then there was a little film known as Moulin Rouge.

Since then we've had Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Mama Mia, The Producers, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages, and that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And they haven't all been great but the number of them, plus those rumored/announced to be in the works, I don't think the genre is going away anytime soon.

Ironically, it's not as if Moulin Rouge was the first movie musical made since the 1960s heyday - in the later 1980s, there was Little Shop of Horrors for example. It was just the first to find mainstream appeal in a long time.

Visionary people will come along from time to time who will make 2D films and probably a lot of them won't do well. But eventually something will hit the right note and become an instant classic, and then studios like Disney will start cranking them out again.

Of course. You forgot about Chicago which won an Oscar for Best Picture.

[RyGuy]

While 2D animation may be dead . . . for now, it is surprising what comes back in Hollywood. A decade or so ago, people would have assumed the Hollywood musical was dead. Then there was a little film known as Moulin Rouge.

Since then we've had Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Mama Mia, The Producers, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd, Rock of Ages, and that's just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And they haven't all been great but the number of them, plus those rumored/announced to be in the works, I don't think the genre is going away anytime soon.

Ironically, it's not as if Moulin Rouge was the first movie musical made since the 1960s heyday - in the later 1980s, there was Little Shop of Horrors for example. It was just the first to find mainstream appeal in a long time.

Visionary people will come along from time to time who will make 2D films and probably a lot of them won't do well. But eventually something will hit the right note and become an instant classic, and then studios like Disney will start cranking them out again.

Of course. You forgot about Chicago which won an Oscar for Best Picture.

Oops. And what's even more ironic is that it is the ONLY one I actually saw in the theater. LOL!

[frankf3]

Recently Henry Selick spoke in an interview about how he feels animated movies today feel the same. He doesn't go in full detail, but I think he could be referring to animated movies being monstly CG currently. Even Kirk Wise and Chris Sanders spoke on the situation.

“It’s too homogenous. It’s way too much the same,” said Henry Selick, who directed stop-motion pics “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Coraline.” “The films aren’t really that different one from the other. ‘Despicable Me’ could have been made Pixar, by DreamWorks. It’s not a great time for feature animation if you want to do something even moderately outside the formula.”

Kirk Wise, best known for directing (with Gary Trousdale) “Beauty and the Beast,” also lamented lack of individuality in today’s toons. “I would love to see something come along that was just a little quirky, a little more special, that didn’t feel like the same movie that was released three weeks ago.”

And Chris Sanders, helmer of DreamWorks Animation’s “The Croods,” said while big grosses for animation are great news, he’s worried that today’s animated studio fare is “monumental.”

“That’s one of the things that’s very much on my mind,” he said, “I think we need to create a variety of types of animated films, some that are not going to cost as much as others. Not every story is giant.”

Full link to article- http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/wi ... 200566445/

[Sotiris]

Kirk Wise is working on an independent hand-drawn feature.

Most recently, Wise has worked on several DisneyNature projects, and he's in the early stages of planning to make an independent hand-drawn animated feature. “Ultimately, it’s all about entertaining the audience,” Wise said. “I have a tremendous affection for hand-drawn animation. It’s why I got into the business. But I don't think an artist should put any limitations on the tools they use.”

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind ... ods-590389

[DisneyJedi]

Nice to hear what they have to say. Too bad the guys in charge are too busy keeping their heads up their asses, only caring about being the same as each other instead of... You know. Unique!

Kirk Wise is working on an independent hand-drawn feature.

Most recently, Wise has worked on several DisneyNature projects, and he's in the early stages of planning to make an independent hand-drawn animated feature. “Ultimately, it’s all about entertaining the audience,” Wise said. “I have a tremendous affection for hand-drawn animation. It’s why I got into the business. But I don't think an artist should put any limitations on the tools they use.”

Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind ... ods-590389

Any idea if it'll be released nationwide?

[TsWade2]

I think I'm going to explode for......


HAPPINESS!

[Sotiris]

Disney veterans Aaron Blaise and Chuck Williams are also working on an independent feature called "Art Story". They're using Kickstarter to fund their project.

[Semaj]

Recently Henry Selick spoke in an interview about how he feels animated movies today feel the same. He doesn't go in full detail, but I think he could be referring to animated movies being monstly CG currently. Even Kirk Wise and Chris Sanders spoke on the situation.

“It’s too homogenous. It’s way too much the same,” said Henry Selick, who directed stop-motion pics “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “Coraline.” “The films aren’t really that different one from the other. ‘Despicable Me’ could have been made Pixar, by DreamWorks. It’s not a great time for feature animation if you want to do something even moderately outside the formula.”

Kirk Wise, best known for directing (with Gary Trousdale) “Beauty and the Beast,” also lamented lack of individuality in today’s toons. “I would love to see something come along that was just a little quirky, a little more special, that didn’t feel like the same movie that was released three weeks ago.”

And Chris Sanders, helmer of DreamWorks Animation’s “The Croods,” said while big grosses for animation are great news, he’s worried that today’s animated studio fare is “monumental.”

“That’s one of the things that’s very much on my mind,” he said, “I think we need to create a variety of types of animated films, some that are not going to cost as much as others. Not every story is giant.”

Full link to article- http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/wi ... 200566445/

These guys have explained things far more professionally than say, John Kricfalusi. Mostly because unlike John, these guys have actually WORKED on animated features for much of their careers.

While I'm glad for the continued success of today's animated features, for a medium once left for dead in the 80s, there does appear to be some unspoken conformity among the six(?) different studios out there. As we saw in 2009, there was a much wider variety of styles and stories among animated features, along with the continued advancements in CGI. Having JUST CGI like we're seeing this year might lead to problems down the road.

[estefan]

Nice to see Kirk Wise working on a new animated feature. It seemed like outside of producing the occasional nature documentary, we hadn't seen much of his input since 2002.

Although, to be honest, I have to disagree that all studio animated films feel and look the same now. I've personally noticed each studio has their own style. To use Selick's example of Despicable Me, that same film would definitely not have been made at Pixar or DreamWorks. The look and feel does have a French/European flavour, which is evident in both the sets and the character designs. Even the Minions' style of humour seems to owe a debt to French comedy. Of course, this makes sense when you remember Illumination directs and animates their films in France. To use another example, I don't see Hotel Transylvania being the same at any other studio other than Sony, which is very cartoony in their animation style.

Even in one studio, The Croods is definitely very different in tone and style from Turbo and Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon. This is a large reason why I think we're in a current Golden Age of Animation right now. For all we glamorise the '90s, most non-Disney animated features simply tried to copy Disney. Even Don Bluth, who initially left Disney after he was dissatisfied with what the studio was doing and wanted to do his own thing, just ended up attempting to copy what Disney at the time.

[TsWade2]

Disney veterans Aaron Blaise and Chuck Williams are also working on an independent feature called "Art Story". They're using Kickstarter to fund their project.

That sounds like a promising idea. I hope Disney see this. I'm going to support when I get home from work.

[DancingCrab]

Disney veterans Aaron Blaise and Chuck Williams are also working on an independent feature called "Art Story". They're using Kickstarter to fund their project.

That sounds like a promising idea. I hope Disney see this. I'm going to support when I get home from work.

First thing I thought of with the story premise of a boy and his grandfather going to all these different places was "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

[TsWade2]

Nice to hear what they have to say. Too bad the guys in charge are too busy keeping their heads up their asses, only caring about being the same as each other instead of... You know. Unique!

I know, right? If I were the CEO, I fired those evil financial ingrates, and bring back hand drawn animation where they truly belong. I bet Kirk Wise doing this to teach Disney a lesson.

[frankf3]

Here's the entire presentation from SIGGRAPH 2013 featuring animation greats like Pete Docter, Henry Selick, Chris Sanders, and more. I loved what Eric Goldberg said about the state of animation at the 56:11 mark.

"Never ignore the technology, but don't forget all it took to get it there"

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvTFJafIafM[/youtube]

[Sotiris]

Q: What’s the future of 2-D, hand-drawn animation at Disney?

John Lasseter: We still are doing some … We're still doing a lot of short films. There are no features on the docket for hand-drawn, but we're definitely keeping hand drawn alive at the studio. Hand-drawn is finding it’s way in a very interesting way into the technology. There’s a lot of hand-drawing that goes into the computer animated movies at Walt Disney Animation Studios. There’s a different style to the animation from that studio, too. Even though it’s computer animation in the end the way they do it, and the feeling it has, is more the feeling of hand-drawn animation. And then there’s a little bit of work going on with shorts such as Paperman, John Kahr’s film which won the Academy Award, and has this really interesting very innovative combination of hand-drawn and CG.

Q: But a lot of veteran hand-drawn animators were let go during Disney’s layoffs last spring, and others like Glen Keane and Andreas Deja parted ways on their own. Could this become a lost art?

John Lasseter: No, I don't think so.

Q: Really? Because if you’re a kid entering Cal-Arts today, the school Walt Disney helped found to generate animators, is there any reason to study hand-drawn animation if a someone in your position says we’ve got no films like that in the pipeline?

John Lasseter: No, I mean it doesn't mean we're not doing it, we're still doing a lot of hand-drawn animation. I just don't agree with you. So go ahead.

Source: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/08/08/j ... awn-d23/3/

[Warm Regards]

^John sounds like he's trying to convince himself 2D is still important. Or am I the only one who got that vibe?

[TsWade2]

Bravo, insidemovies.com! You just confront John Lasseter for lacking hand drawn. Applaud everyone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qeH_8AiGvo

[estefan]

Wow, John really tried to side-step that third question.

While it's good to hear some word from Lasseter on the subject, I still would have liked to heard a "why?" there, considering his initial plans for the medium. I wouldn't even mind a PR-written answer.

[TsWade2]

Wow, John really tried to side-step that third question.

While it's good to hear some word from Lasseter on the subject, I still would have liked to heard a "why?" there, considering his initial plans for the medium. I wouldn't even mind a PR-written answer.

As much as I'm glad they're still doing hand drawn animation, but it seems to me he just doesn't want to confess the lack of hand drawn animated movies after The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh, because he's a chickenpoop. But, like I said, Bravo to the reporter for confronting him. I bet John wet himself for embarrassment. HEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEEHEE!

[GreatGreg]

The way I see it, the reporter is trying to push his own personal agenda.

Lasseter has not said that 2D was dead, on the contrary, he said that the animators are doing work using today's tools. Just because they aren't doing any feature films right now doesn't mean that the art is dead. There are still plenty of places where it can thrive. Perhaps the traditional art form is no longer cost effective. In the end, this is a business. I don't know why people don't see that.