Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Alameda and Riverside Cartoon Studios

One of the new, longer "Tangled" trailers, out today*.

This week my studio walk throughs have been heavy on Disney facilities. ...

And I had occasion to spend the hour previous to this one at the hat building, where a story artist on the third floor had some upbeat news.

"A year ago there wasn't much going on around here, and I had one foot out the door.

"But then around January development started kicking up, and now they have some really good stuff in work, twice what they had last year, and it's stuff I'd really like to see, that can compete with other animated features and live action. So it's good to be working up here again."

To which I say: Terrific. And overdue, but better late than not at all.

Another story artist thanked me for my kind words about Tangled, and I told her the kind words were heartfelt: I meant what I wrote. I think the movie (based on what I've seen) looks good, clicks right along, and will do well at the box office. I also mentioned that my complaints about the Mouse House (feature division) have centered on the lousy morale I continually encounter because -- surprise, surprise -- people get downhearted when they're let go due to lack of product in the production pipeline.

She said she knew about those things. (Apparently word gets around inside the building.)

I also dropped by Disney TVA at the Frank Wells Building, where Fish Hooks and Phineas and Ferb are deep in work. Work on P & F's feature-length offering is wrapping up, and the third season is getting underway with the crew hopeful of a fourth. "Maybe we'll go as long as "Sponge Bob Square Pants" one crew member speculated.

It's something to be wished. Long-term work is not always easy to find.

* And probably already posted hither and yon, but what the hell ....

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

GO TANGLED!

There hasnt been this much hype over a Disney Animation in ages. Good to see people excited again!! Disney comeback in 3...2...1...

Anonymous said...

"excited?" The reaction to this and the previous trailer has been "feh." No one is going to see this dreamworks ripoff...dw is pretty tiresome to begin with.

Anonymous said...

Ugh. Oh well.

Derrick said...

Great animation, beautiful design.
The trailer is really attracting male audience. Very good.

Anonymous said...

There hasnt been this much hype over a Disney Animation in ages.

(Well, there HAS been this much hype and anticipation recently--But fortunately we don't have any dopey blue aliens to get in the way this year, so the prospects look better, and Yogi Bear and Jack Black are no Christmas-Day chipmunks.)

"excited?" The reaction to this and the previous trailer has been "feh." No one is going to see this dreamworks ripoff...dw is pretty tiresome to begin with.

Actually, the first half of the trailer seems to be a recap of the earlier trailer WITH story-narration--to tell us who's hitting who--as seeing the gags bonked out of context looked too, well....Dreamworks-ish.
The second half gives some impression that there's some actual deeper off-book story that gets both characters involved, and that should whet a few more appetites--Looks like Pixar isn't the only studio who can give the audience too little information in the trailers.

(Still, I hear rumors that it's apparently some musical or other, which the trailer still seems to be embarrassed to admit.)

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I see some echos of certain DreamWorks hand-drawn movies, but few people outside of animation will notice. More importantly, it looks beautiful. This is the kind of film that Disney can knock out of the park, and just might be the winner the studio needs.

Anonymous said...

I've only heard positive comments coming from the people inside the hat building. I was really hoping it was true until this final trailer. Rapunzel is just as annoying as the Flint. She sounds and acts like any girl on the Disney channel. What a disgrace. Lets consider this a lost and move on!

XO
Disappointed

Anonymous said...

"The trailer is really attracting male audience."

HAR! Good one! But I don't think the gay male audience is necessarily the audience they were going for.

Anonymous said...

"echos of certain DreamWorks hand-drawn movies"

Made by artists who all came from Disney...

"No one is going to see this dreamworks ripoff..."

Hmm. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

Well, the animation looks gorgeous. That's more like it, Disney.

And...well, I think Flynn comes off better in this trailer, frankly, and Rapunzel seems appealing too.

So anyway, now I'm looking forward to "Tangled". This trailer did it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, we're working hard over here in the Hat building.

I honestly think Tangled sets the bar. Whether the audience shows up or not is in the hands of fate. But we work hard trying to make a beautiful movie.

Anonymous said...

And I hope your hard work pays of anon 9:28. The trailer makes the movie seem like fun. Tho it should really try to sell that it's a musical. Tough call, but I hope it does well. For Disney's sake.

Anonymous said...

To the poster who doesnt think this film will do well, I've been reading comments on all the non-animation blogs and twitters and youtube, and theres an overwhelming show of interest for this movie. I suspect it'll make a killing, especially since its a Thanksgiving release.

Just my 2 cents

Anonymous said...

"echos of certain DreamWorks hand-drawn movies"

Made by artists who all came from Disney...


God, I'm surprised to read that hoary chestnut again. Hey, genius, look at the crew list for the DreamWorks hand-drawn movies, especially The Road to El Dorado, which is the one that has the most echos in Tangled (the horse in particular). What you'll see is most of the DW crew came from Amblimation (check the crew list on Balto, for example), with a healthy sprinkling coming from Turner, Warner Bros., Chuck Jones, and a couple of other places. The small number of Disney animators who actually made the jump to DreamWorks at that time will be much lower than you think.

Anonymous said...

"...But I don't think the gay male audience is necessarily the audience they were going for. "

It's definitely not the audience Glen was going for.

Anonymous said...

The Road to El Dorado, which is the one that has the most echos in Tangled (the horse in particular).

I thought of the horse in Sleeping Beauty.

Anonymous said...

oh boy... I am rooting for my friends that are still at the disney hat. This film has an enormous amount of pressure given its long history and the way the recent films have played out over the last 6 years.

Wishing the project well. Hope its the beginning of a thankful season.

Anonymous said...

Horses in Disney films are very similar. They seem to all come from the same genetic stock.

Belle's horse Phillippe is really just Samson with a few added pounds, and neither are too far distant from Ichabod Crane's horse. Achilles is almost identical, as is Khan.

Who'd I forget?

Anyway, there's a long line of Disney horses, and they're all mostly the same, with some small distinguishing traits.


http://www.awn.com/articles/reviews/brief-history-animated-horse

Anonymous said...

And yet I think they all look quite different, as different as you can make a horse look and still make it look like, you know, a horse...

Bronnie said...

IMHO...Very pretty and appealing cosmetically.
The animation looks excellent.
Not having seen the entire film, I cannot speak to the quality of the story; but without a doubt, millions of little girls will want the doll..:)
Perhaps it may not be a mega blockbuster, but I think it'll do very well.

Anonymous said...

Breaking Disney news!

Disney has copyrighted a style guide for something called "Here Comes Jack":http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=110&ti=101,110&Search%5FArg=Disney%20Enterprises%2C%20Inc%2E&Search%5FCode=NALL&CNT=25&REC=0&RD=0&RC=0&PID=P45YtqWpzW_AKNsO1_HKiY67BA&SEQ=20100918221532&SID=7

Despite "Here comes Jack!" being a quote from Nightmare Before Christmas, this doesn't appear to be NBC-related handywork at all:http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=1&ti=1,1&Search%5FArg=Tim%20Burton%27s%20The%20Nightmare%20Before%20Christmas&Search%5FCode=TALL&CNT=25&REC=0&RD=0&RC=0&PID=TV323bbx2PUiFwDoPrytJMf5cN&SEQ=20100918221631&SID=1

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