Walked into the hat building this morning while a presser (that's "press event" if you live in South Chicken Run, Nevada) was in progress ...
Turned out to be a "show and tell" for the Winnie the Pooh rollout. A staffer who worked on the movie grumbled to me:
"I don't think management is putting much money or effort into promoting hand-drawn features. We're doing these movies for 'little kids,' and Pixar is doing their movies for everybody. If we make hand-drawn cheap, and they outsource a lot of it, maybe they'll make more. And the directors here know they'll have a better chance of getting something greenlit if they pitch a CGI feature ..."
But it's kind of obvious at this point. Corporate thinking at Dis Co. and other entertainment companies is that computer animation rocks, the other kind is fit mostly for television and television-sized budgets. Disney made Winnie the Pooh for the home market, not the big silver screen. I like hand-drawn features a lot, but our fine conglomerates don't care what I like. CGI is where the big bucks are, and that is where they're gonna go.
Disney, News Corp. and the rest are not the Medicis.
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The Winnie the Pooh film is cute, if overlong and very juvenile. The songs are atrocious. And the Nessie short is completely derivative, bland, and unecessary.
Instead of grumbling to the union rep, maybe the staffer should be pitching the next bad ass 2d film. I say the responsibility lies on the artist, or group of artists to resurrect 2d, because you can't rely on an exec to be anything more than an exec.
There's no point in pitching (or making) the next bad ass 2d film because everyone knows that the top brass is going to turn it into a flop.
That's the spirit!
"That's the spirit!"
True, but,in the tug of war between management and the creative side it's always management who wins. In the meantime morale suffers. The artist gets the boot, while managers keep their jobs, warming chairs!
I've seen great ideas being pitched, and then of course the studio will take ownership of that idea, turn it to something else. The artist loses again.
They pulled all the Pooh ads that were hanging at the Edwards Cinema in Valencia when I was there last week. Ugh.
The artist loses again.
I hate pity parties. Keep pitching ideas.
- - "That's the spirit!"
- True, but,in the tug of war between management and the creative side it's always management who wins.
I think that this point cannot be understated.
At Disney, there are maybe 6-10 people (at most) that have the leverage to pitch an original idea, and, importantly, stay attached to see it all the way through creatively to the end.
I can't speak for Adreas Deja, but would he be taking a sabbatical if he could drive home an original 2-D traditional idea and get it into production? (Perhaps he's working on that while on sabbatical, who knows, certainly not me.)
The point being, don't blame the artist sitting in the production seat who knows how high the chips are stacked against them in the poker game of production, and therefore does not offer up their original (heartfelt?) idea just to have it ripped away from them by a team of executives.
The trouble with Disney's new 2D films is this: the crew seems to think that, since it's an old-fashioned technology, the thing to do is marry it to old-fashioned stories, like Princess and the Frog and Pooh.
WRONG! They need to marry it to something bold, visually striking, emotionally engaging and magical.
With that in mind, "The Snow Queen" needs to be put back into preproduction. The first version may have been meh, but it doesn't have to stay that way. The artists need to take a good look at the Russian version made years ago. That thing may need restoration bigtime, but there's enough magic, darkness, light and love to still make it amazing. And a project like the Snow Queen is just the sort of thing that could remind audiences how amazing 2D can be, even moreso than CGI. Just take a look at the Frost Fairy segment of Fantasia - still stunningly beautiful in a way that CGI could never be. I wish Lasseter would start living up to his rep as a second Disney, and I wish the company would stop with the reboots and pushing of non-Disney product (I saw Spiderman stuff at the Magic Kingdom the other day, and I wanted to puke). Disney better move fast or it's going to lose its identity AND its mojo. And then of course, its customers.
- - "That's the spirit!"
- True, but,in the tug of war between management and the creative side it's always management who wins.
Well, you can't possibly win if you don't even try. The above poster will grumble and grumble but contribute nothing. Pretty pathetic.
- I think that this point cannot be understated.
Er, um, I mean OVERstated.
(Where's my coffee?)
The Snow Queen IS in production, FWIW.
-> Well, you can't possibly win if you don't even try. The above poster will grumble and grumble but contribute nothing. Pretty pathetic.
When ILM was looking to make an in-house original production back in the late 90s-early 2000s (think of that ill-fated Frankenstein era), they solicited ideas from the employees.
On the release form which was mandatory if you wanted to submit anything at all, you had to agree that ILM/Lucasfilm may already have in their possession your exact idea, in totality, including any original artwork that, get this part, YOU had independently originated or come up with!
So then, you, little desk-jockey, are at fault for not contributing under that kind of corporate legalese?
You don't get hired at Disney without a similar admission on the hiring forms, and, God forbid, you don't carve out in detail your original ideas that existed prior to your entering those hallowed halls.
Yeah...Snow Queen is such a "bold" step forward. ROFLMFAO!!!
If JL and Disney really wanted to help 2D then they would've made Up a 2D film instead of retreading films that Disney had to stop making years ago because of lack of audience interest.
I love 2D, but it's not going to come back the way Disney and JL are going. If Tangled had been 2D it would have done as poorly as PatF IMO
I blame Bush and the vast Right Wing Conspiracy! Sorry, but it had been 20 posts and no one had brought politics into the mix, thought I'd remedy that...
... the crew seems to think that, since it's an old-fashioned technology, the thing to do is marry it to old-fashioned stories, like Princess and the Frog and Pooh. ...
Actually, no. There are a number of animators who are throwing out great designs and more cutting edge stuff. Animators are doing neat things. But I'm told that upper management hasn't seen much of it, so they can't very well "spark" to the work.
It's not only management. There are artists there who have been there a long time, are deeply wedded to old styles and ways, and put up fights and barriers when new ideas bubble up.
It's human nature.
The answer is easy, make a traditionally animated Pixar movie in 3D, directed by Brad Bird.
Where's Roy when you need him?
I guess I just feel people shouldnt be so attached to their ideas. If Disney or ILM or whoever employs you, and you pitch an idea, it becomes their right to first refusal. If they like it, it becomes their property, rightfully. And that might actually be a good thing. Changing it up might actually be a good thing. Collaboration can be a good thing.
But if your idea is perfect and you cant bear the thought of changing it in any way, then by all means leave the company and get it funded and make it. Im dead serious.
Otherwise, excuses.
There are artists there who have been there a long time, are deeply wedded to old styles and ways, and put up fights and barriers when new ideas bubble up.
Quoted for agreement
"I guess I just feel people shouldnt be so attached to their ideas."
Yeah, why even have them in the first place?....
Pitch 4 ideas. Stop being so precious.
Pitch 4 ideas. Stop being so precious.
Physician, heal thyself!
rufus
You dont know me.
Also, I've never grumbled to Steve
I agree with the idea that the old style is what is becoming tiresome and bland.
--For instance- Mary Blair copy cats are everywhere. Sure, they are good but Disney himself was an STORY innovator not a style geek. Keep it moving people.
It's soooo great not to be at Disney anymore!
- Pitch 4 ideas. Stop being so precious.
That is exactly what they said to Brenda Chapman....
"...Mary Blair copy cats are everywhere. Sure, they are good but Disney himself was an STORY innovator not a style geek...."
To this point, look at The Ricky Gervais Show. Very nicely designed, art directed, and animated. Absolutely first rate stuff...for the golden age of Hanna Barbera. It's all new to those who never saw it the first time.
Mary Blair wasn't raised on television or online. That's the imitative training that is pervasive in and reflective of our modern world.
There is no escaping it.
"...imitative training...."
Seven Samurai --> Magnificent Seven --> A Bug's Life
Andy Griffith Show --> Doc Hollywood --> Cars
I am beginning to understand now.
The pitch process of don't-cling-to-your-ideas-don't-be-precious involves taking a pre-existing work and pitching it with a twist.
"It's like Magnificent Seven...but with BUGS!"
"It's like Treasure Island...but in SPACE!"
I could get 4 pitches together pretty easily.
"I blame Bush and the vast Right Wing Conspiracy"
Who doesn't? The bush economic debacle continues....
Anonymous # 12 said...
The Snow Queen IS in production, FWIW.
I ask you: Are you sure about it? I read that The Snow Queen was in development years ago and it was shelved in 2010 after the underperformance of The Princess and tha Frog.
I hope to see Snow Queen. It's a great story and I think Disney could make a great movie about it.
Gotta love the "hope and change". Its almost over, hang in there things will get better in a couple of years.
I like how the rightwing guy who apparently hates politics being inserted into animation talk--was the guy who inserted politics into animation talk.
Yes, Snow Queen IS in production.
Let's face it, Disney has run its course. Everything it used to do Pixar does better. Instead of half-assed attempts at making features I think it's time to take the old dog out back and put it out of its misery. Honestly I think the only reason Disney feature animation hasn't been shut down is because it would look bad to the press.
Actually if you look up it was inserted first by the guy who is obsessed still with bush.
Actually if you look up it was inserted first by the guy who is obsessed still with bush.
Yeah, except that he was mocking the liberals here for NOT blaming Bush. Clearly a rightwinger.
Let's face it, Disney has run its course. Everything it used to do Pixar does better.
Sorry but "Tangled" proved the contrary. The audiences loved the film, and was an undisputed blockbuster.
Let's face it, Disney has run its course.
Except Pixar has never made a film that looks as good as Tangled.
I dunno. Disney has Pixar and WDAS; Dreamworks has PDI and Dreamworks Glendale.
Seems like theres room.
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Woah. JINX!
**"I blame Bush and the vast Right Wing Conspiracy"
Who doesn't? The bush economic debacle continues....**
The above statement proves that the South Park guys were right. The left has no sense of humor.
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And your idiotic trolling proves that conservatives can't help injecting trollish politics into a non-political thread.
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"can't help injecting trollish politics into a non-political thread."
LMAO, yeah right , something that lefties would never , ever do , eh ? ;-) .
C'mon, every group has their trolls , it's not limited to conservatives or liberals. Those types are just two sides of one coin. (and whether you are a troll or not depends on this little test : do you applaud the troll when it spouts your party line , yet you condemn the troll when it is trolling for "the other side" ? Then look in the mirror because you're one of them, bubba. )
This is why I never want to grow up.
Has anybody seen the Genndy animated introduction to Priest? Or the 2D elements in Kung Fu Panda 2? With everyone still looking to push stereo 3D to the moon (at least for the rest of this summer), I'm surprised no one at Disney has pulled an old hand-animated idea out of the mothballs and pitched it as a a stereo 3D feature.
The "viewmaster" look of 2D in a stereo 3D presentation is pretty bold, and with the right subject matter, kinda fun to watch.
They are releasing lion king in 3d. I'm sure it will look great, not sure if people want to pay 3d prices anymore.
-> The pitch process of don't-cling-to-your-ideas-don't-be-precious involves taking a pre-existing work and pitching it with a twist.
-> "It's like Treasure Island...but in SPACE!"
The proof is in the pudding, er, trade papers:
(Variety) Paramount Pictures has bought a sci-fi action script from Snakes on a Plane screenwriter Jon Heffernan and is setting up the project with Mary Parent's Disruption Entertainment.
The trade describes the project as "'Die Hard' on an alien ship."
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