Twelve Simple Rules

The illusion of life from cento lodigiani on Vimeo.

Cento Lodigiani:

The 12 basic principles of animation were developed by the 'nine old men' of Walt Disney Studios, amongst them Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, during the 1930s. ... This movie is my personal take on those principles, applied to simple shapes. Like a cube. ...

Wolfgang Reitherman told me that he liked "straight ahead" animation, just plowing on through to the end.

Ward Kimball and Frank T. both said that it was hard to tell what Mr. Reitherman's first pass (his initial pencil test of rough animation) even was, but Woolie would refine the scene and rework the scene until it sang like Pavoratti at the Met.

... Because of the extra drive Woolie had, it reminds me of Pete Rose, the drive Pete had playing baseball. The guy, who is probably older than the others, but he's a student, and wants to be better and consequently he is. Woolie's stuff in "The Rite of Spring" in Fantasia [the battle of the dinosaurs] has a great monumental weight to it, because Woolie in his own way just kept after it.

Woolie was tenacious. He didn't have the quick facility or facile way of working as Fred Moore had (for instance), or the flamboyant, spontaneous timing of Norm Ferguson. And he had to work harder, but he ended up with good stuff. ...

-- Ward Kimball