Once Upon a Studio (WDAS Short)

[Marce82]

I just realized something. All through the short they stay in the animation "hat" building they built in the mid 90s... they never go to the studio that housed animation between 1940 and the mid-1980s.... which is on the lot. Where Walt's office actually was. Strange, right?

[The Disneynerd]

Also all the older CG characters looked a bit more upgraded I think, like the ones from MeettheRobinsons and Tangled, even Hans!

They were. Disney used Pixar’s RenderMan from Chicken Little to Frozen and since Big Hero 6 they switched to their own rendering software - Hyperion. Therefore, they had to update these characters for the new system. The original Ralph and Frozen characters were already updated for their sequels.

Oh thats really cool! Thanks for clearing this up, Farerb! I loved how especially all the Tangled characters blended in so well with the newer ones like Raya and Co, love the Upgrade!

[Mooky]

I loved the short but this made me laugh:


For reference (pre- and post-redraw):

[Vlad]

Casper as Snow White.

[carolinakid]

Post re-draw she’s beautiful!
Pre re-draw.... disgraceful!!!

[Jules]

Post re-draw she’s beautiful!
Pre re-draw.... disgraceful!!!

To be fair, that looks like an inbetween to me. It may look wonky on purpose.

I actually don't like the redraw. It looks sterile; her eyes are too big. Snow looks like a technical drawing.

Anyway, I am DYING to watch this short, but I can't subscribe to Disney+ just for this. Humph!

[UmbrellaFish]

Oh, she does look like Casper.

Jules, I hope you can see it soon! Honestly I was shocked nobody snuck a cellphone recording into the El Capitan showings a couple weeks ago…

[Kyle]

Wish they would release it on itunes or something. I want a 4k copy. The only way I have to view the 4k version is by connecting my ipad to my pc monitor, not very convenient. (its not possible to view the view the 4k version in a standard browser due to DRM)

Anyway, when it comes to some of the off model stuff, I noticed they tend to make the mouths too large. A theory I have if that it reads better this way since they will need to be seen so small on screen. Thoughts?

[Sotiris]

Andreas Deja will be horrified by what they did to Gaston.

[Patricier21]

Does anyone know what Aladdin tripped over after he flew in? It looks like eggs or something from Dinosaur, but they don’t look like they do in the movie!

[DisneyJedi]

Does anyone know what Aladdin tripped over after he flew in? It looks like eggs or something from Dinosaur, but they don’t look like they do in the movie!

I’ll have to rewatch to be sure, but I think that he tripped on watermelons.

[RyGuy]

Does anyone know what Aladdin tripped over after he flew in? It looks like eggs or something from Dinosaur, but they don’t look like they do in the movie!

I’ll have to rewatch to be sure, but I think that he tripped on watermelons.

I think they were the trolls (as rolling rocks) from Frozen

[DisneyJedi]

I’ll have to rewatch to be sure, but I think that he tripped on watermelons.

I think they were the trolls (as rolling rocks) from Frozen

Yeah, it’s them.

[PatrickvD]

I loved the short but this made me laugh:


For reference (pre- and post-redraw):

The re-draw is hideous as well. Problem with Snow White is that she’s off model in the original film a lot as well. Disney was still figuring out the concept of a character design in this stage.

The way they animated her was just a more modern interpretation. You can see the same with Cinderella.

[DisneyJedi]

Another thing I love about the short is that some of the princesses (namely Aurora, Ariel and Belle) were in their peasant/casual outfits as opposed to their (overly-marketed) princess gowns.

[Mooky]

Another redrawn shot:

[Marce82]

I tried to not point out the negative... but it seems people are noticing anyway...

I don't think it's a "modern interpretation" issue... most of the human characters were off, specially the female ones. There are issues of anatomy and logic... most of them seem to not have enough space for a skull under their hair... or even a forehead at times. Ariel has no chin at times.
Either the animators are rusty... or back in the 90s, the cleanup crew used to REALLY correct the proportions/anatomy of the animator's drawings.

Belle in particular... she looks like a recycled Giselle from Enchanted (watch the "True Love's Kiss" scene)... both her facial features, mannerisms, and the insanely skinny body/arms with slightly manly hands and a huge head.

As much as I love and admire Mark Henn... I think he has a tendency to draw women with impossibly small jawlines and not enough forehead/skull.

[Farerb]

Mark Henn didn't do Belle in this short, it was James Baxter. However, I read that he did do Snow White...

I think it comes to the animators being rusty and not giving them enough time to do their drawings properly.

[Marce82]

Hey Fareb,

Sorry, maybe I didn't make it clear: yes, Baxter definitely animated Belle... and he also animated Giselle in Enchanted, hence the overlap.

And yes... given Tiana, Ariel, Tinkerbell and SW's lack of a skull/forehead, I would agree those are Mark Henn traits.

And... yeah, I would also lay quite a bit of blame on the clean-up artists! Hahaha

[Kyle]

Cleanup can make or break even the best animation, so its not surprising to me if the quality was got was due to them having to do their own clean up, or using less experienced clean up artists.

A lot of the flaws I see though kind of melt away when you're not looking at stills. This is animation, its meant to be seen in motion, in which this short fairs a lot better. And sure, its not perfect, but isnt that part of the appeal of this medium? They could get perfectly on model characters, but that would just give us the 3d stuff we've been getting bored of as of late.