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When I first stepped
into a vocal booth

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to record the voice
of Disney's Mulan,

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I had no idea how
much joy that film

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would continue to
bring audiences

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for all of these years.

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It also changed my life
and led to many other voice

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acting roles, including
returning to the character

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and world of Mulan many times.

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No matter what it takes,
I'm finishing this mission.

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As I gave voice
to these characters,

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I got to see firsthand the
changes in the animation

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industry as it shifted
from the 2D hand-drawn

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animation I loved
growing up, to fully

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computer-generated animation.

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Sometimes your song can't
start until you go some place.

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This is a story
celebrating the unique

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magic of hand-drawn
animation, how

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technology changed everything.

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And most importantly,
the remarkable people

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at the center of it all.

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And who better to
tell this story

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than these visionary artists
themselves and the dreamers

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they continue to inspire.

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Animation is a weird
unnatural art form in a way.

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I mean, you're
bringing something

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that is not alive to life.

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A character comes to life by a
whole bunch of scribbly strokes

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on a piece of paper.

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And I think this is
what grabs most animators

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or guys who eventually
become animators,

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is when they see that drawing
come to life on screen.

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It's like your brain goes,
OK, part of it is alive,

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and it's real, and it's moving.

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And the other part
is like, no, no.

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Look, I can see lines up there.

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I can see things that
were made by people,

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and that's I think
what fascinated me.

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You just run it
over and over and over

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and it's just
mesmerizing like this.

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Wow, I actually did this.

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It's a kind of black
magic, and it's something

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that many people can
go their entire lives

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without ever understanding.

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So is that what animation is?

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It's feeling the energy,
it's animating the forces,

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it's scribbling.

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It's like an explosion
of acting passion

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and physics on the page.

49
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And man, it's making
the impossible possible.

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That was so cool.

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No, it's not real.

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You're looking at a
drawing but it's living.

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How does that work?

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That's the most amazing
thing to me about it.

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When they hear a voice
come out of a drawing,

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out of a character
that they've created,

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it's an illusion but it's
a marvelous illusion.

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And you just can't
wait to do more of it.

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The level of artistry to
achieve this is mind blowing.

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It's unlike any other art form.

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And when you examine
an isolated moment,

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each frame is a masterpiece.

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But yet, when you put all of
them collectively together,

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you have an entirely new
dimension, a new level

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of the illusion of life.

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The people who invented this
art, craft, skill, however you

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want to describe it,
developed it to a point

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where they made you believe in
characters who didn't exist.

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And I can go back to Windsor
McCay and Gertie the dinosaur.

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He had it.

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He got it right away.

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Somehow he breathed life
into this inanimate object.

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As an animator, it's almost
without sounding too pompous,

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but I feel almost godlike.

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It was alive, and I just
like, oh, I can do this.

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It was great.

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I think it speaks to everyone.

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It is a universal art form.

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It comes from a
very unique place.

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Creating out of the ethers
stories, drawing them,

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or whether it's on
computer now or whatever,

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it touches everybody and it
can elevate and bring people

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great joy and great connection.

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Cartoons make people laugh, man.

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Cartoons are a way
into a person's soul

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and to a person's heart.

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But I think that first moment
where the light switch goes on

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in your head, whether
you're a kid or an adult

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and you really start
to understand it,

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once you get it you
really can't go back.

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And it all
starts with one very

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simple thing, a pencil test.

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A pencil test to me is
the purest form of what

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it is that we do of animation.

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For us, the pencil test is the
first reveal of a performance,

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in its rawest form.

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A pencil test is when you
find out how bad you are.

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I've done a lot of
pencil tests actually.

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When I was in college, when I
first started in this business,

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that was probably the first
time I really had a sense

101
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of what the potential was.

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And we were still
working with film.

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So you would shoot, hope
to God you timed it right,

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and wait eight weeks for
the film to come back,

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which now seems crazy.

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As painful as it
might be, it gives you

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a really good
grounding and starts

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to get it into your head
what a 24th of a second

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really feels like.

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It's a blink of an
eye for everybody.

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But for an animator, you have
to know what that period of time

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means in terms of
certain actions.

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You have to know what a
24th of a second feels like.

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It was rough and wild,
but the forms had weight.

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And it was magic.

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And I thought that to get it
work at Disney, to animate,

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you needed to draw a
perfectly like Sleeping Beauty

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and I didn't do that.

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I didn't know it was possible
to animate like that.

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Something pretty
amazing about a pencil

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test that it didn't have color.

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And really the artifice or
the fact that it was drawn

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with a pencil was evident.

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When you just have
stacks of paper,

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you don't really get a
sense of the movement

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and the timing and
the performance

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until you see it playing
through the camera's eye.

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A first peek, it's kind
of birth, if you will,

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for an animated scene.

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So there's a vitality that is
in the very first pencil test

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after you shoot them that is
very exciting, very exciting.

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You're taking something
that only exists here.

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Nobody else in the
universe has it.

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It's only here.

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And it's coming out of your hand
and it's going onto the paper

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or on the screen.

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And those lines
are going to define

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that thing that's in your head.

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But it's not just going
to define it as an image,

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you're using all
four dimensions.

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You're using height,
width, depth, and time.

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And all of those to create
something that lives.

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2D hand-drawn animation
is one of the most incredible

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storytelling illusions
ever performed,

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and the inspiration for
becoming an animator

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usually comes at an early age.

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We all have our
first film that we

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see that drops you
into this medium

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in a sort of a true epiphany.

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And that movie for me
was 101 Dalmatians.

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It just felt so
alive and vibrant.

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And the characters were
like real, even though they

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were completely exaggerated.

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The dogs were real to me.

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Roger was real.

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Anita was real and
their dancing together,

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and this is a real dance.

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And then in steps
Cruella de Vil.

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I mean, everything about
that movie lit up my senses.

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Even seeing in a
newspaper article.

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I remember there was
an article about 101.

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Dalmatians being reissued.

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And there was a series of
drawings of Pongo running.

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Even seeing something like
that just makes my heart race.

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This is something about
a series of drawings

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that connect and projected will
give you the illusion of life.

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That is the ultimate magic trick
to me and it won't let me go.

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I will always do this.

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My mom took me to see Dumbo
when I was a little boy.

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And I saw these moving
images on screen.

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I fell in love with animation.

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I saw Sleeping Beauty in the
theater on its first release

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and it was so powerful to me.

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I was terrified of Maleficent.

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I saw Snow White.

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I saw Bambi, Lady and
the Tramp, Cinderella,

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all of the classics.

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And they made such an
incredible impression on me.

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The film that sealed the deal
for me, it was Jungle Book.

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And I was just mesmerized.

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And I started raining.

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And my family said, "Let's go."

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I said, "No way.

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Not moving from here right now."

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So I sat soaking wet
until the movie was over

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because it was just
something happened that day

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that sealed the deal.

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We definitely had Disney movies

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on at home when I was young.

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My mom said when I was four, I
watched Bambi every single day

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00:10:00,034 --> 00:10:02,234
and that's still one
of my favorite movies.

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The first movie I ever
saw in a movie theater,

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00:10:04,573 --> 00:10:06,839
this is Mexico
City, was Pinocchio.

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00:10:06,841 --> 00:10:11,677
And I became obsessed
with that movie.

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00:10:11,679 --> 00:10:14,046
I dreamt of being
a little wooden boy

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that would be eaten by a whale.

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00:10:16,250 --> 00:10:18,417
I was so excited by all
the adventures he went.

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I mean, it's kind of a
scary movie but I loved it.

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00:10:20,287 --> 00:10:23,288
I saw a special
or a series actually

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00:10:23,290 --> 00:10:25,057
on Nickelodeon called
Lights, Camera, Action that

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00:10:25,059 --> 00:10:27,426
was hosted by Leonard Nimoy.

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00:10:27,428 --> 00:10:30,963
And they profiled a college
kid who had done an animated

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00:10:30,965 --> 00:10:33,098
short called Bandits.

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How long did it take
you to make this seven

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00:10:34,969 --> 00:10:36,802
minutes of film work?

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00:10:36,804 --> 00:10:38,937
It took about two years.

207
00:10:38,939 --> 00:10:40,639
I think it was
about a guy and a cat

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00:10:40,641 --> 00:10:42,441
chasing some bank robbers.

209
00:10:42,443 --> 00:10:46,044
It was pretty simple but
it was cel animation.

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00:10:46,046 --> 00:10:49,414
And this was a kid
who was just like me.

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00:10:49,416 --> 00:10:51,150
He wasn't in the business.
He wasn't in Hollywood.

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00:10:51,152 --> 00:10:53,185
He was hoping to get into it.

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00:10:53,187 --> 00:10:54,486
And it was the first
indication that, wow, this

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00:10:54,488 --> 00:10:56,822
is not this unreachable thing.

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00:10:56,824 --> 00:10:58,690
This is something that
I maybe can access

216
00:10:58,692 --> 00:11:00,058
at some point in my life.

217
00:11:00,060 --> 00:11:03,630
In the '70s, we
didn't have choices.

218
00:11:03,632 --> 00:11:05,164
There was no cable TV.

219
00:11:05,166 --> 00:11:07,065
You had like three
channels for adults

220
00:11:07,067 --> 00:11:08,501
and every once in a
while at Christmas,

221
00:11:08,503 --> 00:11:10,068
they'd run a thing for a kid.

222
00:11:10,070 --> 00:11:12,639
Then you had to
syndicated channels.

223
00:11:12,641 --> 00:11:16,008
And on those channels, they
would run programming for kids

224
00:11:16,010 --> 00:11:17,910
in certain parts of the day.

225
00:11:17,912 --> 00:11:21,146
So naturally, it was cartoons.

226
00:11:21,148 --> 00:11:23,516
So my entire life was cartoons.

227
00:11:23,518 --> 00:11:24,983
I didn't like the real world.

228
00:11:24,985 --> 00:11:26,785
I liked cartoons.

229
00:11:26,787 --> 00:11:29,221
Can you do this for a living?

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00:11:29,223 --> 00:11:31,423
Animators
are often inspired

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00:11:31,425 --> 00:11:33,692
and mentored by the
artists and visionaries

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00:11:33,694 --> 00:11:35,528
who came before them.

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00:11:35,530 --> 00:11:38,096
Most of the people who
produced animated cartoons

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00:11:38,098 --> 00:11:41,099
were in it as a
business, but Walt

235
00:11:41,101 --> 00:11:43,302
saw it almost as a calling.

236
00:11:43,304 --> 00:11:47,139
He had artistic
ambitions for a time.

237
00:11:47,141 --> 00:11:49,942
He put those aside
because he was a leader.

238
00:11:49,944 --> 00:11:52,477
He was a visionary.

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00:11:52,479 --> 00:11:57,916
He saw steps ahead that no
one else seemed to recognize.

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00:11:57,918 --> 00:12:01,420
And he knew that for his
cartoons to get better,

241
00:12:01,422 --> 00:12:04,122
which is always his
mantra, make them better.

242
00:12:04,124 --> 00:12:05,757
Make the gags funnier.

243
00:12:05,759 --> 00:12:08,160
Make the characters
more endearing.

244
00:12:08,162 --> 00:12:11,631
In order to do that, the
artwork had to improve.

245
00:12:11,633 --> 00:12:14,433
His artists had to do better.

246
00:12:14,435 --> 00:12:18,904
And he was the only
cartoon producer

247
00:12:18,906 --> 00:12:20,607
who thought in those
terms and actually

248
00:12:20,609 --> 00:12:23,809
put those thoughts into action.

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00:12:23,811 --> 00:12:27,246
In fact, Walt Disney
started his own art school,

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00:12:27,248 --> 00:12:29,649
which would go on
to train generations

251
00:12:29,651 --> 00:12:32,884
of animators and storytellers.

252
00:12:32,886 --> 00:12:34,419
The first thing I did when I got

253
00:12:34,421 --> 00:12:37,222
a little money to
experiment, I put

254
00:12:37,224 --> 00:12:39,224
all my artists back in school.

255
00:12:39,226 --> 00:12:42,227
Art schools that existed
then didn't quite

256
00:12:42,229 --> 00:12:45,130
have enough for
what we needed so we

257
00:12:45,132 --> 00:12:47,500
set up our own art school.

258
00:12:47,502 --> 00:12:50,135
I can really mention anybody
more than the nine old men

259
00:12:50,137 --> 00:12:55,274
because the nine old men were
Walt Disney's nine chosen best,

260
00:12:55,276 --> 00:12:57,342
if you will.

261
00:12:57,344 --> 00:12:58,977
And this was a term
that Walt gave them.

262
00:12:58,979 --> 00:13:00,713
He borrowed it from
the nine Supreme.

263
00:13:00,715 --> 00:13:03,583
Court justices of the
United States Supreme Court.

264
00:13:03,585 --> 00:13:06,351
And the funny thing
is that Walt called them

265
00:13:06,353 --> 00:13:10,188
the nine old men of
a joke because they

266
00:13:10,190 --> 00:13:12,491
were pretty pretty young at the
time that he named them that.

267
00:13:12,493 --> 00:13:15,927
I think they had like in
their 30s or maybe 40s,

268
00:13:15,929 --> 00:13:18,698
but certainly not really gray
haired old men at that point.

269
00:13:18,700 --> 00:13:22,167
They were Woolie Reitherman,
Marc Davis, Frank Thomas,

270
00:13:22,169 --> 00:13:25,103
Ollie Johnston,
Ward Kimball, John.

271
00:13:25,105 --> 00:13:28,440
Lounsbery, Les Clark, Milt
Kahl, and my first mentor,

272
00:13:28,442 --> 00:13:30,743
Eric Larson.

273
00:13:30,745 --> 00:13:37,382
And these guys were
individualists who found a way

274
00:13:37,384 --> 00:13:41,320
to sacrifice some of
their individuality

275
00:13:41,322 --> 00:13:44,757
for the sake of
the greater good.

276
00:13:44,759 --> 00:13:48,060
If they were all going to
work together on a project,

277
00:13:48,062 --> 00:13:50,663
be it Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs,

278
00:13:50,665 --> 00:13:53,865
or Pinocchio, or even
one of the silly symphony

279
00:13:53,867 --> 00:13:57,737
shorts like The Old Mill,
they had to work in harmony.

280
00:13:57,739 --> 00:14:01,774
They had to work toward a
common goal, which can't

281
00:14:01,776 --> 00:14:04,677
have been easy for artists.

282
00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:06,746
When I came to Disney,
the nine old men were still

283
00:14:06,748 --> 00:14:08,681
very much in the trenches.

284
00:14:08,683 --> 00:14:11,983
They were still cranking
out footage every week.

285
00:14:11,985 --> 00:14:15,555
About the only difference I can
say as far as guys like Ollie

286
00:14:15,557 --> 00:14:18,457
and Frank and Milt and
Ward and all the others

287
00:14:18,459 --> 00:14:21,126
is that they were so
good at what they did.

288
00:14:21,128 --> 00:14:22,861
They just knocked
this footage out.

289
00:14:22,863 --> 00:14:25,565
They made it look effortless.

290
00:14:25,567 --> 00:14:27,734
They were that good.

291
00:14:27,736 --> 00:14:31,571
But they were the guys
that did the main character.

292
00:14:31,573 --> 00:14:36,007
So it was like, Milt
Kahl did Cinderella.

293
00:14:36,009 --> 00:14:38,944
Frank and Ollie, they did like
Baloo the bear, and Mowgli.

294
00:14:38,946 --> 00:14:40,680
And they would always
work on characters

295
00:14:40,682 --> 00:14:41,681
that were closely related.

296
00:14:41,683 --> 00:14:44,049
Captain Hook and Mr. Smee.

297
00:14:44,051 --> 00:14:47,018
So these nine old men and some
of them were better at comedy,

298
00:14:47,020 --> 00:14:48,554
some of them were
better at drama,

299
00:14:48,556 --> 00:14:51,456
and girl characters, and guy
characters, and villains.

300
00:14:51,458 --> 00:14:54,493
But whatever their
skill set is, they

301
00:14:54,495 --> 00:14:57,996
represented the top
stars for Walt Disney

302
00:14:57,998 --> 00:14:59,665
in those early eras.

303
00:14:59,667 --> 00:15:01,900
And they were the
ones that ended up

304
00:15:01,902 --> 00:15:04,771
training the next generation.

305
00:15:04,773 --> 00:15:07,939
They handed down the
legacy of Disney Animation.

306
00:15:07,941 --> 00:15:14,647
Eric Larson was my mentor
and what a wonderful man.

307
00:15:14,649 --> 00:15:21,486
He was kind and
grandfatherly, yet very firm

308
00:15:21,488 --> 00:15:24,557
about how you go
about doing this.

309
00:15:24,559 --> 00:15:28,360
And I was so overwhelmed
with the idea of what it

310
00:15:28,362 --> 00:15:31,798
took to even just flip paper.

311
00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:33,932
I got sick that first
week because it was just,

312
00:15:33,934 --> 00:15:35,434
oh my gosh, what's going on?

313
00:15:35,436 --> 00:15:36,968
Can I do this?

314
00:15:36,970 --> 00:15:39,505
But Eric was very encouraging.

315
00:15:39,507 --> 00:15:42,575
And he stepped me
through the process.

316
00:15:42,577 --> 00:15:45,745
What he would always ask is,
what are you trying to do here?

317
00:15:45,747 --> 00:15:46,846
What are you trying to say?

318
00:15:46,848 --> 00:15:48,848
What is the character thinking?

319
00:15:48,850 --> 00:15:52,819
And then you explain your
plans and your ideas.

320
00:15:52,821 --> 00:15:56,021
And then he said, "Oh OK."

321
00:15:56,023 --> 00:15:57,456
That's what you have in mind.

322
00:15:57,458 --> 00:15:59,826
Then you don't
need this drawing.

323
00:15:59,828 --> 00:16:01,861
You do need this.

324
00:16:01,863 --> 00:16:03,629
"You do need a new drawing."

325
00:16:03,631 --> 00:16:05,832
He would throw in
two or three drawings

326
00:16:05,834 --> 00:16:07,600
that he would sketch out.

327
00:16:07,602 --> 00:16:10,001
And then you would
time this whole thing

328
00:16:10,003 --> 00:16:12,572
and film it and it was magical.

329
00:16:12,574 --> 00:16:14,973
It worked.

330
00:16:14,975 --> 00:16:17,476
We wouldn't even approach
animators that first year we

331
00:16:17,478 --> 00:16:18,611
were at Disney.

332
00:16:18,613 --> 00:16:20,178
We wouldn't even
talk to an animator

333
00:16:20,180 --> 00:16:22,582
because they were
like gods to us.

334
00:16:22,584 --> 00:16:28,721
I worked with Milt Kahl on
his most favorite character,

335
00:16:28,723 --> 00:16:30,723
which was Medusa.

336
00:16:30,725 --> 00:16:33,458
And he had more fun
with that character when

337
00:16:33,460 --> 00:16:35,561
she pulls off her eyelashes.

338
00:16:35,563 --> 00:16:37,730
I don't know.

339
00:16:37,732 --> 00:16:38,664
He just really had fun
with that character

340
00:16:38,666 --> 00:16:41,567
and it was a joy
to work with him.

341
00:16:41,569 --> 00:16:44,135
When I started at Disney, Eric
Larson, one of the nine old men

342
00:16:44,137 --> 00:16:46,371
who had animated on
Snow White and that,

343
00:16:46,373 --> 00:16:47,673
literally would take a piece
of paper and put it over yours

344
00:16:47,675 --> 00:16:49,140
and draw over that.

345
00:16:49,142 --> 00:16:50,643
You had a one on one
experience of somebody

346
00:16:50,645 --> 00:16:53,111
who had spent years
honing his craft.

347
00:16:53,113 --> 00:16:56,181
I do think animation
we learned quickly

348
00:16:56,183 --> 00:16:59,317
was best taught as a sort of a
master apprentice type thing.

349
00:16:59,319 --> 00:17:03,488
I think the big guys,
the veterans, the masters,

350
00:17:03,490 --> 00:17:06,926
I think they suffered as much
as we did because keep in mind,

351
00:17:06,928 --> 00:17:09,427
even though these guys
were experienced animators,

352
00:17:09,429 --> 00:17:11,564
they had their moments too
when things didn't work out

353
00:17:11,566 --> 00:17:13,866
as well as they had expected.

354
00:17:13,868 --> 00:17:16,569
Now, I must say that,
for the most part,

355
00:17:16,571 --> 00:17:18,538
these guys knew they were
good but every now and then,

356
00:17:18,540 --> 00:17:19,972
they would push themselves.

357
00:17:19,974 --> 00:17:21,106
Frank would try something.

358
00:17:21,108 --> 00:17:23,241
Milt would try something.

359
00:17:23,243 --> 00:17:26,144
And if it worked, then
they were just delighted

360
00:17:26,146 --> 00:17:28,614
but they also pushed themselves.

361
00:17:28,616 --> 00:17:30,783
They didn't rest
on their laurels.

362
00:17:30,785 --> 00:17:33,118
They were always trying
to push the boundaries,

363
00:17:33,120 --> 00:17:35,821
trying to be better
than they were.

364
00:17:35,823 --> 00:17:41,961
So working side by side,
that's where we grow.

365
00:17:41,963 --> 00:17:45,163
As iron sharpens iron,
one man sharpens another,

366
00:17:45,165 --> 00:17:48,233
one woman sharpens another.

367
00:17:48,235 --> 00:17:52,972
It's the friction of learning.

368
00:17:52,974 --> 00:17:55,808
Eric Larson, I would
present him problems that

369
00:17:55,810 --> 00:17:59,745
were when only you
would present me with,

370
00:17:59,747 --> 00:18:01,047
and it was as
close as I ever saw

371
00:18:01,049 --> 00:18:04,050
to Eric getting
angry because but he

372
00:18:04,052 --> 00:18:05,317
would sit down with this.

373
00:18:05,319 --> 00:18:06,451
"All right.

374
00:18:06,453 --> 00:18:07,887
I'm going to figure this out."

375
00:18:07,889 --> 00:18:11,256
And there's this
joy to learning.

376
00:18:11,258 --> 00:18:14,560
Walt Disney was a
pioneer in many ways

377
00:18:14,562 --> 00:18:19,599
and recognized what was
possible with this art form.

378
00:18:19,601 --> 00:18:21,399
That there really was
an unlimited ceiling

379
00:18:21,401 --> 00:18:23,803
to what could be done.

380
00:18:23,805 --> 00:18:26,672
But he had to push boundaries
with rather analog approaches.

381
00:18:26,674 --> 00:18:29,609
And indeed, he did
with early, very

382
00:18:29,611 --> 00:18:33,478
basic technological advances.

383
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,749
He even advanced with the
multiplane camera and later

384
00:18:36,751 --> 00:18:38,818
xerography.

385
00:18:38,820 --> 00:18:41,654
There were other studios that
were working in these areas

386
00:18:41,656 --> 00:18:45,290
as well, but he recognized in
order to keep the medium fresh,

387
00:18:45,292 --> 00:18:47,893
there needed to be advances.

388
00:18:47,895 --> 00:18:50,295
The advent of color
and where women's

389
00:18:50,297 --> 00:18:52,932
roles expanded in animation.

390
00:18:52,934 --> 00:18:55,367
I think people would
be surprised to know

391
00:18:55,369 --> 00:19:00,706
how many women there were
at Disney in the 1950s.

392
00:19:00,708 --> 00:19:03,475
So I think that's something
that young women should bear

393
00:19:03,477 --> 00:19:05,678
in mind because there were
a lot of talented women

394
00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,212
who mentored me.

395
00:19:07,214 --> 00:19:10,650
And I'm very grateful for that.

396
00:19:10,652 --> 00:19:13,686
I was putting myself through
school so I needed a job.

397
00:19:13,688 --> 00:19:17,222
And I was fortunate enough
to find out that Disney

398
00:19:17,224 --> 00:19:21,459
was hiring for Sleeping Beauty.

399
00:19:21,461 --> 00:19:24,362
And I went over there
with my meager portfolio.

400
00:19:24,364 --> 00:19:26,999
And they brought me on
as an apprentice working

401
00:19:27,001 --> 00:19:30,435
with six or seven other girls.

402
00:19:30,437 --> 00:19:31,971
And we were in a bullpen
all together, all of us

403
00:19:31,973 --> 00:19:34,472
apprentices.

404
00:19:34,474 --> 00:19:38,410
We had full access to
anybody and a lot of freedom

405
00:19:38,412 --> 00:19:41,881
for a first job in animation.

406
00:19:41,883 --> 00:19:45,651
It was pretty
incredible way to start.

407
00:19:45,653 --> 00:19:47,153
Mary was certainly
a giant at Disney.

408
00:19:47,155 --> 00:19:49,454
Good heavens.

409
00:19:49,456 --> 00:19:52,424
The film she influenced
during her time at Disney,

410
00:19:52,426 --> 00:19:55,460
and she was incredibly prolific.

411
00:19:55,462 --> 00:19:59,031
So Mary Blair, she was
a giant in animation.

412
00:19:59,033 --> 00:20:01,901
She was just incredible.

413
00:20:01,903 --> 00:20:04,904
After dominating the
animation world for decades,

414
00:20:04,906 --> 00:20:08,074
Disney's lack of
innovation and inability

415
00:20:08,076 --> 00:20:10,543
to keep up with the
times opened the door

416
00:20:10,545 --> 00:20:14,279
for some impressive
competition to step right in.

417
00:20:14,281 --> 00:20:17,049
There were young
people who were keenly

418
00:20:17,051 --> 00:20:21,252
interested in taking
on the mantle of Frank,

419
00:20:21,254 --> 00:20:23,288
and Ollie, and
all of those guys.

420
00:20:23,290 --> 00:20:25,725
But there was no
greater intelligence.

421
00:20:25,727 --> 00:20:31,797
There was no Walt to set a goal.

422
00:20:31,799 --> 00:20:33,766
Where do we want
to go with this?

423
00:20:33,768 --> 00:20:35,735
What do we want to try to do?

424
00:20:35,737 --> 00:20:38,938
What kind of stories do
we want to be telling?

425
00:20:38,940 --> 00:20:41,339
And what's happening
to our audience?

426
00:20:41,341 --> 00:20:42,975
Is our audience changing?

427
00:20:42,977 --> 00:20:45,811
Because it was.

428
00:20:45,813 --> 00:20:49,081
We had a cultural, social
revolution in the late '60s,

429
00:20:49,083 --> 00:20:52,218
early '70s that was
reflected everywhere

430
00:20:52,220 --> 00:20:54,285
but perhaps the
Walt Disney studio.

431
00:20:54,287 --> 00:20:57,623
Easy Rider changed
the entire motion

432
00:20:57,625 --> 00:21:01,560
picture industry, except
that the Walt Disney studio.

433
00:21:01,562 --> 00:21:05,631
It's no one's fault. It's
just they were out of step

434
00:21:05,633 --> 00:21:09,434
and there was no one
to put them on a course

435
00:21:09,436 --> 00:21:11,402
that everyone could agree on.

436
00:21:11,404 --> 00:21:13,239
Don Bluth, he's a pretty
amazing success story.

437
00:21:13,241 --> 00:21:15,941
I knew who Don Bluth was.

438
00:21:15,943 --> 00:21:18,778
Most kids didn't, there was
no internet but that was huge.

439
00:21:18,780 --> 00:21:21,547
Because you had a Disney
animator who drew in the Disney

440
00:21:21,549 --> 00:21:24,349
style stepping outside
the system and going like,

441
00:21:24,351 --> 00:21:25,251
"I think I could
do it elsewhere."

442
00:21:25,253 --> 00:21:27,887
I don't need them.

443
00:21:27,889 --> 00:21:30,856
When we left Disney
Studios in '79, it

444
00:21:30,858 --> 00:21:33,458
was a scary
situation and equally

445
00:21:33,460 --> 00:21:35,561
exhilarating and exciting.

446
00:21:35,563 --> 00:21:38,898
Those two elements,
they're just propelled

447
00:21:38,900 --> 00:21:44,069
us into our first feature film
together, The Secret of NIMH.

448
00:21:44,071 --> 00:21:46,337
I must tell you about NIMH.

449
00:21:46,339 --> 00:21:47,340
Look there.

450
00:21:51,279 --> 00:21:53,612
It was a crazy
brave thing to do.

451
00:21:53,614 --> 00:21:56,715
And I know that many of
my younger colleagues

452
00:21:56,717 --> 00:21:58,851
that I've worked
with, that movie

453
00:21:58,853 --> 00:22:01,187
inspired them to
get into animation,

454
00:22:01,189 --> 00:22:05,057
which I really I'm so pleased.

455
00:22:05,059 --> 00:22:08,594
Mavericks, renegades who are
happy to push at the system

456
00:22:08,596 --> 00:22:12,097
and see how far they
can take their own art.

457
00:22:12,099 --> 00:22:15,868
Starting within the system and
taking their art outside of it

458
00:22:15,870 --> 00:22:19,004
for their own benefit as opposed
to just working for somebody

459
00:22:19,006 --> 00:22:22,141
else is in the creative DNA
of every indie filmmaker,

460
00:22:22,143 --> 00:22:24,109
I would say.

461
00:22:24,111 --> 00:22:26,477
Sadly enough, it didn't do
very well at the Box Office.

462
00:22:26,479 --> 00:22:28,814
And that summer, we
were up against ET,

463
00:22:28,816 --> 00:22:31,449
the extra-terrestrial
which everybody saw.

464
00:22:31,451 --> 00:22:34,787
They saw no other
movie except ET.

465
00:22:34,789 --> 00:22:38,624
The irony there is that
one of the greatest

466
00:22:38,626 --> 00:22:42,427
fans for The Secret of
NIMH was Steven Spielberg.

467
00:22:42,429 --> 00:22:44,462
He came and visited
us at our studio

468
00:22:44,464 --> 00:22:47,833
and said, "Guys,
your film is amazing.

469
00:22:47,835 --> 00:22:51,369
I thought that type of
animation storytelling was dead.

470
00:22:51,371 --> 00:22:54,340
I haven't seen anything like
that since Pinocchio or Bambi.

471
00:22:54,342 --> 00:22:55,507
It was phenomenal."

472
00:22:55,509 --> 00:22:57,375
He loved the minutia.

473
00:22:57,377 --> 00:22:59,812
He loved all of
the little details

474
00:22:59,814 --> 00:23:02,380
that we put in with
sparkles, and dewdrops,

475
00:23:02,382 --> 00:23:04,183
and animation effects.

476
00:23:04,185 --> 00:23:07,353
Everything that we poured
our hearts in artistically,

477
00:23:07,355 --> 00:23:10,256
he picked up on and he loved it.

478
00:23:10,258 --> 00:23:11,690
I remember it well.

479
00:23:11,692 --> 00:23:13,325
Somebody had to run
to Jerry's Deli.

480
00:23:13,327 --> 00:23:14,226
What does he like?

481
00:23:14,228 --> 00:23:16,629
What does he want?

482
00:23:16,631 --> 00:23:20,766
But it was just, oh
my goodness, this well

483
00:23:20,768 --> 00:23:22,668
known director is here
looking at our work

484
00:23:22,670 --> 00:23:25,170
and really enjoying it.

485
00:23:25,172 --> 00:23:30,676
But yes, it moved on
with an American tail.

486
00:23:30,678 --> 00:23:33,279
It's about a little
family of Russian mice

487
00:23:33,281 --> 00:23:36,882
that immigrate from Europe to
the United States to New York

488
00:23:36,884 --> 00:23:39,151
just as they're finishing
the Statue of Liberty.

489
00:23:39,153 --> 00:23:40,886
Perfect.

490
00:23:40,888 --> 00:23:43,789
Won't it be nice
to get to America

491
00:23:43,791 --> 00:23:45,591
where we don't have to
worry about cats anymore?

492
00:23:45,593 --> 00:23:48,027
We had landed.

493
00:23:48,029 --> 00:23:49,762
We were on the map making
a movie with that kind

494
00:23:49,764 --> 00:23:56,635
of support and the talent.

495
00:23:56,637 --> 00:23:58,404
James Horner, and Score,
and Linda Ronstadt.

496
00:23:58,406 --> 00:24:01,040
It was wonderful.

497
00:24:01,042 --> 00:24:03,509
It was wonderful
working in collaboration

498
00:24:03,511 --> 00:24:06,111
with Steven Spielberg.

499
00:24:06,113 --> 00:24:08,914
All the studios began thinking
we've got to get into that.

500
00:24:08,916 --> 00:24:11,784
We've got to jump in with
our own animation studio

501
00:24:11,786 --> 00:24:14,119
and compete because
that makes money.

502
00:24:14,121 --> 00:24:16,989
And that changed
the whole complexion

503
00:24:16,991 --> 00:24:21,760
of not just domestic animation,
but worldwide animation.

504
00:24:21,762 --> 00:24:23,862
I think, the lover of animation,

505
00:24:23,864 --> 00:24:25,331
it was the first time
where we were like,

506
00:24:25,333 --> 00:24:28,033
oh, something's happening.

507
00:24:28,035 --> 00:24:31,236
Something magical is
happening over there.

508
00:24:31,238 --> 00:24:34,239
We were embarking
upon the second golden age

509
00:24:34,241 --> 00:24:36,608
of 2D animation.

510
00:24:36,610 --> 00:24:38,877
It was exciting
and groundbreaking,

511
00:24:38,879 --> 00:24:41,513
and connected deeply with
a whole new generation

512
00:24:41,515 --> 00:24:44,316
of both kids and adults.

513
00:24:44,318 --> 00:24:47,553
A resetting and recalibration
of the executive command

514
00:24:47,555 --> 00:24:50,089
at Disney happened.

515
00:24:50,091 --> 00:24:53,859
The old regime was removed
and replaced with Roy Disney.

516
00:24:53,861 --> 00:24:56,228
I don't think it's
an exaggeration

517
00:24:56,230 --> 00:25:00,899
to say that Roy Edward Disney
saved animation, and helped

518
00:25:00,901 --> 00:25:03,635
reinvent and redefine it.

519
00:25:03,637 --> 00:25:07,573
And that's the premise of Don
Juan's wonderful documentary,

520
00:25:07,575 --> 00:25:09,475
Waking Sleeping Beauty.

521
00:25:09,477 --> 00:25:14,747
And here finally was someone
in the person of Howard Ashman,

522
00:25:14,749 --> 00:25:17,850
the brilliant
lyricist and Broadway

523
00:25:17,852 --> 00:25:21,854
trained talent who gave
everyone a direction.

524
00:25:21,856 --> 00:25:24,323
Gave everyone a goal
and a path to follow.

525
00:25:24,325 --> 00:25:27,393
And who would have dreamed that
it was the Broadway Musical,

526
00:25:27,395 --> 00:25:32,998
the form of the Broadway
musical that would redefine

527
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:36,402
what Disney Animation could be.

528
00:25:36,404 --> 00:25:41,807
I remember when we went
to see Little Mermaid.

529
00:25:41,809 --> 00:25:45,044
And it was like,
oh, suddenly they

530
00:25:45,046 --> 00:25:47,713
had this formula where
it's, oh the animation

531
00:25:47,715 --> 00:25:50,449
looks like Disney.

532
00:25:50,451 --> 00:25:50,649
And they're all singing songs
and the songs are singable.

533
00:25:50,651 --> 00:25:52,785
And this is fun.

534
00:25:52,787 --> 00:25:54,521
So those songs are
classics and it's

535
00:25:54,523 --> 00:25:58,090
just the epitome of really
great Broadway songwriting.

536
00:25:58,092 --> 00:26:00,192
And I mean, there
are some people

537
00:26:00,194 --> 00:26:02,394
who say it's the last
great Broadway songwriting.

538
00:26:02,396 --> 00:26:08,100
And that was the rebirth
of the Disney animated epic.

539
00:26:08,102 --> 00:26:12,337
There are chapters
with every studio.

540
00:26:12,339 --> 00:26:18,677
And there has to be a continuum
of energy, and new ideas,

541
00:26:18,679 --> 00:26:20,312
and what have you.

542
00:26:20,314 --> 00:26:23,615
And it was starting
to happen back

543
00:26:23,617 --> 00:26:25,117
at Disney with Little Mermaid.

544
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:28,053
And we knew what was going on.

545
00:26:28,055 --> 00:26:32,157
Little Mermaid, that
was the, it's back.

546
00:26:32,159 --> 00:26:35,160
Whatever the magic that we
lost, it's now fully back.

547
00:26:35,162 --> 00:26:38,430
And you could see
the confidence.

548
00:26:38,432 --> 00:26:42,601
And you could see this artistry
that acknowledged the past

549
00:26:42,603 --> 00:26:44,336
but was creating their own path.

550
00:26:44,338 --> 00:26:47,406
They call the '90s and the 2000

551
00:26:47,408 --> 00:26:49,741
the second golden age or the
new renaissance of animation.

552
00:26:49,743 --> 00:26:51,110
And it really was.

553
00:26:51,112 --> 00:26:55,080
And why I think it
was the nine old men

554
00:26:55,082 --> 00:26:58,383
had passed on what
they learned making

555
00:26:58,385 --> 00:27:00,385
those classic Disney films.

556
00:27:00,387 --> 00:27:04,957
And they'd pass it on to
that second generation.

557
00:27:04,959 --> 00:27:07,392
And that second
generation, right

558
00:27:07,394 --> 00:27:11,396
around the '90s and the
2000s were getting good.

559
00:27:11,398 --> 00:27:13,432
We were all just super
excited at the time to be

560
00:27:13,434 --> 00:27:15,701
working on a series of films.

561
00:27:15,703 --> 00:27:19,104
By that point, people started
to realize that we were working

562
00:27:19,106 --> 00:27:21,974
on a series of films
which were doing well

563
00:27:21,976 --> 00:27:23,576
and people were
really responding to.

564
00:27:23,578 --> 00:27:26,546
Back at the beginning of that
period like Little Mermaid,

565
00:27:26,548 --> 00:27:30,583
everyone was more like, "We just
have to keep this thing going."

566
00:27:30,585 --> 00:27:31,984
We were trying to do a movie
that would please ourselves

567
00:27:31,986 --> 00:27:34,621
and you never know.

568
00:27:34,623 --> 00:27:36,688
It's amazing and I didn't think
you 30 years after we made.

569
00:27:36,690 --> 00:27:39,024
Little Mermaid that there
would be people and little kids

570
00:27:39,026 --> 00:27:41,528
discovering the movie.

571
00:27:41,530 --> 00:27:43,563
But they're doing what I did
with Pinocchio which is great.

572
00:27:43,565 --> 00:27:46,365
I saw Pinocchio and I had
no idea it was from 20 years

573
00:27:46,367 --> 00:27:48,734
before I saw it in a
theater that had been made.

574
00:27:48,736 --> 00:27:52,104
I think at the time, many of us

575
00:27:52,106 --> 00:27:55,174
animators, we had no
idea that we were living

576
00:27:55,176 --> 00:27:56,942
through the second golden age.

577
00:27:56,944 --> 00:27:58,477
That's the kind
of thing you don't

578
00:27:58,479 --> 00:27:59,912
know until you look back on.

579
00:27:59,914 --> 00:28:02,515
Competition breeds excellence.

580
00:28:02,517 --> 00:28:07,486
So I think us leaving,
having a competition out

581
00:28:07,488 --> 00:28:09,922
there is what helped this
animation renaissance

582
00:28:09,924 --> 00:28:12,157
that Disney was experiencing.

583
00:28:12,159 --> 00:28:16,261
So they had the character
design as a given.

584
00:28:16,263 --> 00:28:20,399
But what they did with it
was new, and inventive,

585
00:28:20,401 --> 00:28:23,702
and crowd pleasing.

586
00:28:23,704 --> 00:28:26,071
The stories are relatable,
the characters are relatable.

587
00:28:26,073 --> 00:28:27,739
You can project
yourself into the story.

588
00:28:27,741 --> 00:28:30,342
The conflicts that
are universal.

589
00:28:30,344 --> 00:28:32,344
A kid dealing with an
overprotective parent.

590
00:28:32,346 --> 00:28:33,812
Is that story ever
going to get old?

591
00:28:33,814 --> 00:28:35,515
We didn't invent that story.

592
00:28:35,517 --> 00:28:37,182
That story has been around
for thousands of years.

593
00:28:37,184 --> 00:28:39,284
It's part of the
nature of growing up.

594
00:28:39,286 --> 00:28:41,086
I think the stories in
the '90s that we did,

595
00:28:41,088 --> 00:28:43,690
they tapped into
universal classic ideas

596
00:28:43,692 --> 00:28:45,824
that don't go away.

597
00:28:45,826 --> 00:28:49,161
Well, I got to say the thing
that I love about animation

598
00:28:49,163 --> 00:28:52,464
is animating
characters that believe

599
00:28:52,466 --> 00:28:54,900
the impossible is possible.

600
00:28:54,902 --> 00:28:59,771
Ariel wanting to walk on land.

601
00:28:59,773 --> 00:29:00,508
I want more.

602
00:29:04,878 --> 00:29:06,278
Beast thinking
that somebody could

603
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:13,885
see past the ugly exterior
and see somebody to love.

604
00:29:13,887 --> 00:29:16,522
I thought I saw,
and when we touched

605
00:29:16,524 --> 00:29:19,358
she didn't shudder at my part.

606
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:21,026
I find that fascinating.

607
00:29:21,028 --> 00:29:22,629
It's seeing beyond.

608
00:29:22,631 --> 00:29:24,597
I was a brand new animator.

609
00:29:24,599 --> 00:29:27,499
I wasn't very good, but
I was working hard at it.

610
00:29:27,501 --> 00:29:31,403
And it was time to work
on Beauty and the Beast.

611
00:29:31,405 --> 00:29:34,741
And Glenn was
animating the beast.

612
00:29:34,743 --> 00:29:38,678
Animator by the name of Mark
Henn was animating Belle.

613
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:40,546
And he asked me if I would
be the Florida beast guy.

614
00:29:40,548 --> 00:29:41,913
And so I said, "OK."

615
00:29:41,915 --> 00:29:43,282
But I was really nervous.

616
00:29:43,284 --> 00:29:45,484
The beast is a
complex character.

617
00:29:45,486 --> 00:29:48,887
He's a main character of
the film and I was 21 or 22,

618
00:29:48,889 --> 00:29:52,324
and really not that
good but eager.

619
00:29:52,326 --> 00:29:53,559
And one of the great
things about Glenn

620
00:29:53,561 --> 00:29:56,428
is not only his abilities
and all of that,

621
00:29:56,430 --> 00:29:58,897
but his generosity.

622
00:29:58,899 --> 00:29:59,766
His generosity of giving you
work that can really make you

623
00:29:59,768 --> 00:30:01,900
shine.

624
00:30:01,902 --> 00:30:04,771
And I remember he gave me this
sequence in the film where

625
00:30:04,773 --> 00:30:06,905
beast is being
bandaged by Belle,

626
00:30:06,907 --> 00:30:08,874
but he gave me the
whole sequence.

627
00:30:08,876 --> 00:30:11,877
And I remember looking at
this going, "I can't do this.

628
00:30:11,879 --> 00:30:12,911
I can't do it.

629
00:30:12,913 --> 00:30:14,446
This is not going to happen."

630
00:30:14,448 --> 00:30:16,315
And I was so scared.

631
00:30:16,317 --> 00:30:18,250
And that's the other
thing he always did.

632
00:30:18,252 --> 00:30:22,220
Is he always had faith in all
of us that worked with him.

633
00:30:22,222 --> 00:30:25,824
Over the span of
time, you'd be here

634
00:30:25,826 --> 00:30:27,359
and he'd bring you up to here.

635
00:30:27,361 --> 00:30:29,294
Now, hold still.

636
00:30:29,296 --> 00:30:29,895
This might sting a little.

637
00:30:29,897 --> 00:30:30,862
Hmm?

638
00:30:34,335 --> 00:30:37,304
By the way, thank
you for saving my life.

639
00:30:42,476 --> 00:30:43,975
You're welcome.

640
00:30:43,977 --> 00:30:46,311
We worked on
Beauty and the Beast

641
00:30:46,313 --> 00:30:49,615
and that got an Academy Award
nomination for the first time.

642
00:30:49,617 --> 00:30:51,651
No other animated film
had ever gotten that.

643
00:30:51,653 --> 00:30:55,120
And here are the nominees
for the best picture.

644
00:30:55,122 --> 00:30:56,988
Beauty and the Beast,
Don Hahn producer.

645
00:31:01,995 --> 00:31:04,296
And that was a big
deal at the time.

646
00:31:04,298 --> 00:31:08,369
Well deserved but that sent
a panic through the academy.

647
00:31:12,239 --> 00:31:14,507
And some people thought this was

648
00:31:14,509 --> 00:31:20,145
going to open all sorts of doors
but the academy closed ranks.

649
00:31:20,147 --> 00:31:22,347
We don't want the
animated films to be

650
00:31:22,349 --> 00:31:26,519
competing directly head to
head with live action movies.

651
00:31:26,521 --> 00:31:28,253
They have their place
and we love them,

652
00:31:28,255 --> 00:31:29,689
but they have their place.

653
00:31:29,691 --> 00:31:31,824
We didn't make it.

654
00:31:31,826 --> 00:31:35,026
We lost that, but we got
a Golden Globe that year.

655
00:31:35,028 --> 00:31:37,963
And then Aladdin comes out and
it got really huge acclaim.

656
00:31:37,965 --> 00:31:40,533
Robin Williams, and the
genie, and all of that.

657
00:31:40,535 --> 00:31:43,468
But then we make this
little movie, Lion King.

658
00:31:43,470 --> 00:31:46,204
The Lion King may
have the last roar.

659
00:31:46,206 --> 00:31:48,273
Beauty and the Beast and
Aladdin breathed new life

660
00:31:48,275 --> 00:31:49,542
into the Disney Kingdom.

661
00:31:49,544 --> 00:31:52,812
I remember how
massive that movie was.

662
00:31:52,814 --> 00:31:55,748
And the night that we
went to see Lion King,

663
00:31:55,750 --> 00:31:56,915
we didn't go to a matinee.

664
00:31:56,917 --> 00:31:58,684
We went at night, 7:00 at night.

665
00:31:58,686 --> 00:32:00,853
Sold the out.

666
00:32:00,855 --> 00:32:03,188
That had never happened
before for a cartoon movie.

667
00:32:03,190 --> 00:32:05,892
It really was the
movie that brought

668
00:32:05,894 --> 00:32:07,926
adults into the theaters.

669
00:32:07,928 --> 00:32:09,729
They were coming in droves.

670
00:32:09,731 --> 00:32:11,396
They were happy to come
back over and over again

671
00:32:11,398 --> 00:32:12,931
with their kids.

672
00:32:12,933 --> 00:32:14,867
And so that's why that blew up.

673
00:32:14,869 --> 00:32:16,168
That's why it became
$1 billion film.

674
00:32:16,170 --> 00:32:17,670
Circle of life.

675
00:32:17,672 --> 00:32:20,172
Everybody knew that.

676
00:32:20,174 --> 00:32:23,275
It made us feel OK about
eating animals for a long time.

677
00:32:23,277 --> 00:32:24,443
I'm a vegan now but
when I was a kid,

678
00:32:24,445 --> 00:32:25,977
it was like, wow,
circle of life.

679
00:32:25,979 --> 00:32:28,213
They said it in that movie.

680
00:32:28,215 --> 00:32:30,417
And the Oscar goes to is
Hans Zimmer for the Lion King.

681
00:32:34,689 --> 00:32:38,123
Winner of the Oscar is,

682
00:32:38,125 --> 00:32:39,291
Elton John and Tim Rice.

683
00:32:39,293 --> 00:32:40,528
Can you feel the love tonight?

684
00:32:45,900 --> 00:32:51,671
That officially made animation
this second golden age.

685
00:32:51,673 --> 00:32:53,271
It was official at that
point, when you had

686
00:32:53,273 --> 00:32:56,408
a more than $1 billion film.

687
00:32:56,410 --> 00:32:59,612
It was an animation boom and
it was all because of money.

688
00:32:59,614 --> 00:33:03,315
Animation directors
suddenly had agents.

689
00:33:03,317 --> 00:33:06,485
Everything about the
business changed.

690
00:33:06,487 --> 00:33:13,391
Simultaneously, television
animation enjoyed a rebirth.

691
00:33:13,393 --> 00:33:17,128
Steven Spielberg gave it a
kick in the right direction

692
00:33:17,130 --> 00:33:21,534
with Tiny Toon and Animaniacs,
and demanded a certain level

693
00:33:21,536 --> 00:33:26,271
of quality that no one had seen
in television animation before.

694
00:33:26,273 --> 00:33:31,109
Followed by The Simpsons
where again, it was not just

695
00:33:31,111 --> 00:33:33,245
the quality of the animation.

696
00:33:33,247 --> 00:33:35,681
In fact, barely the
quality of the animation.

697
00:33:35,683 --> 00:33:39,050
The quality of the
timing of the animation

698
00:33:39,052 --> 00:33:42,454
too great script writing.

699
00:33:42,456 --> 00:33:46,091
I will never forget watching
the first Simpsons carton show.

700
00:33:46,093 --> 00:33:50,228
And Marge Simpson going...

701
00:33:50,230 --> 00:33:51,229
Do you hear that?

702
00:33:51,231 --> 00:33:51,964
What dear?

703
00:33:51,966 --> 00:33:53,431
The punching bag.

704
00:33:53,433 --> 00:33:55,133
They're just playing, Homer.

705
00:33:55,135 --> 00:33:57,003
I can't sleep with that racket.

706
00:33:57,005 --> 00:33:58,169
Go tell him to knock it off.

707
00:33:58,171 --> 00:34:00,773
I like the punching bag sound.

708
00:34:00,775 --> 00:34:04,544
I like the punching
bag sound destroyed us.

709
00:34:04,546 --> 00:34:06,879
It was literally the funniest
thing we'd ever heard.

710
00:34:06,881 --> 00:34:09,615
It was like watching
the birth of new comedy.

711
00:34:09,617 --> 00:34:14,654
The Simpsons dominated most
of my free time from 1989

712
00:34:14,656 --> 00:34:17,355
I think when it
debuted all the way up

713
00:34:17,357 --> 00:34:21,426
until I made Clerks and
probably a few years past that.

714
00:34:21,428 --> 00:34:24,764
That was the cultural
stew that fed

715
00:34:24,766 --> 00:34:26,766
and nourished me before
I went and became

716
00:34:26,768 --> 00:34:29,936
a pop culturist myself.

717
00:34:29,938 --> 00:34:32,672
I was well prepared
and armed because I'd

718
00:34:32,674 --> 00:34:36,141
watched a decade of
Simpsons by the time I was

719
00:34:36,143 --> 00:34:39,177
entering the public discourse.

720
00:34:39,179 --> 00:34:41,246
It teaches you to be quick.

721
00:34:41,248 --> 00:34:43,481
It teaches you what
great writing is.

722
00:34:43,483 --> 00:34:46,886
I attribute a lot of Family
Guy's emergence to everybody

723
00:34:46,888 --> 00:34:48,921
wanted animation.

724
00:34:48,923 --> 00:34:49,855
They wanted exactly
this kind of animation.

725
00:34:49,857 --> 00:34:53,224
So I was pitching at
exactly the right time.

726
00:34:53,226 --> 00:34:56,161
Exactly the right tone of show.

727
00:34:56,163 --> 00:34:59,966
They wanted something that
was going to do for them what.

728
00:34:59,968 --> 00:35:01,000
The Simpsons had done
and what King of the Hill

729
00:35:01,002 --> 00:35:03,569
was doing at the time.

730
00:35:03,571 --> 00:35:07,405
Sort of experimenting with
the traditions that we've been

731
00:35:07,407 --> 00:35:10,308
taught, but now taking in
a new generation taking it

732
00:35:10,310 --> 00:35:13,746
a new direction was really
what the '90s and 2000s

733
00:35:13,748 --> 00:35:15,447
were all about.

734
00:35:15,449 --> 00:35:17,650
And just when
animation seemed

735
00:35:17,652 --> 00:35:21,252
to be taking over the
world with no end in sight,

736
00:35:21,254 --> 00:35:23,589
a new technique
was on the horizon,

737
00:35:23,591 --> 00:35:26,993
computer-generated animation.

738
00:35:26,995 --> 00:35:30,261
No one, especially the
animators themselves,

739
00:35:30,263 --> 00:35:33,532
had any idea how this
would change everything

740
00:35:33,534 --> 00:35:36,669
and change it so quickly.

741
00:35:36,671 --> 00:35:40,773
Right after The Fox and the
Hound, John Lasseter, and I

742
00:35:40,775 --> 00:35:43,542
had gone across
the little whatever

743
00:35:43,544 --> 00:35:46,012
dopey drive there to the
Disney Animation theater there.

744
00:35:46,014 --> 00:35:49,749
And we saw Tron.

745
00:35:49,751 --> 00:35:54,352
They were just doing some
initial experimental animation,

746
00:35:54,354 --> 00:35:56,756
and Bill Kroyer, Jerry Reese.

747
00:35:56,758 --> 00:35:59,759
Who they were working on some
stuff with these light cycles.

748
00:35:59,761 --> 00:36:06,366
And we came back to my office
and sat there just depressed.

749
00:36:07,367 --> 00:36:11,269
Whoa, there's so much dimension.

750
00:36:11,271 --> 00:36:13,673
We just did The
Fox and the Hound

751
00:36:13,675 --> 00:36:18,476
and we had one multi-plane
shot we could use in the movie.

752
00:36:18,478 --> 00:36:23,683
And there, every shot is
multi-plane dimensional.

753
00:36:23,685 --> 00:36:27,153
Wouldn't it be cool if we
could design a little story

754
00:36:27,155 --> 00:36:29,021
that could use that.

755
00:36:29,023 --> 00:36:31,023
And so we did this
little Wild Things test

756
00:36:31,025 --> 00:36:34,694
where we designed the
backgrounds to move,

757
00:36:34,696 --> 00:36:37,697
but we knew that we couldn't
do the characters so yet in CG

758
00:36:37,699 --> 00:36:39,632
but we could do the backgrounds.

759
00:36:39,634 --> 00:36:41,667
So John worked with
the backgrounds

760
00:36:41,669 --> 00:36:44,369
and I animated the characters,
moving in dimension,

761
00:36:44,371 --> 00:36:47,305
and that was our
first step into CG.

762
00:36:47,307 --> 00:36:50,910
And it was so wonderful.

763
00:36:50,912 --> 00:36:54,245
We wanted to actually propose to
animating Wild Things to Disney

764
00:36:54,247 --> 00:36:57,382
but we couldn't get
the rights to it.

765
00:36:57,384 --> 00:37:01,520
Eventually, John was
fired from Disney.

766
00:37:01,522 --> 00:37:04,724
I don't know what
happened to the guy.

767
00:37:04,726 --> 00:37:06,559
Did something with
Pixar or whatever.

768
00:37:06,561 --> 00:37:11,731
What became Pixar Animation
Studios was originally

769
00:37:11,733 --> 00:37:14,834
an experimental
division of Lucasfilm

770
00:37:14,836 --> 00:37:18,003
and George Lucas and
his friend Steve Jobs

771
00:37:18,005 --> 00:37:23,374
had equal degree of interest
in the possibilities that this

772
00:37:23,376 --> 00:37:26,311
new approach presented to them.

773
00:37:26,313 --> 00:37:28,914
I don't think they
fully envisioned

774
00:37:28,916 --> 00:37:32,885
what it would become, but they
knew there was something there.

775
00:37:32,887 --> 00:37:37,156
I heard about this incredible
group of computer graphics

776
00:37:37,158 --> 00:37:40,126
specialists that George Lucas
had assembled at Lucasfilm,

777
00:37:40,128 --> 00:37:42,427
that he wanted to sell.

778
00:37:42,429 --> 00:37:44,130
And so I went up there and
saw what they were doing

779
00:37:44,132 --> 00:37:49,235
and I met the the leader of
this group, Dr. Ed Catmull.

780
00:37:49,237 --> 00:37:53,338
In 1972, Ed
Catmull and Fred Parke

781
00:37:53,340 --> 00:37:56,675
created the world's
first 3D rendered

782
00:37:56,677 --> 00:38:01,847
movie, an animated
version of Ed's left hand.

783
00:38:01,849 --> 00:38:04,216
The pioneering
techniques used here

784
00:38:04,218 --> 00:38:07,086
are the basis for
3D rendering we

785
00:38:07,088 --> 00:38:13,058
still do today in video games,
movies, and visual effects.

786
00:38:13,060 --> 00:38:16,461
A film that came out
was Great Mouse Detective.

787
00:38:16,463 --> 00:38:19,064
And there was the
first foray into doing

788
00:38:19,066 --> 00:38:23,636
computer animation in the Big
Ben sequence in that film.

789
00:38:23,638 --> 00:38:28,574
And that was a one
engineer and one animator

790
00:38:28,576 --> 00:38:33,913
in the basement of the
main lot with a computer,

791
00:38:33,915 --> 00:38:37,817
just doing it, not
having any roadmap.

792
00:38:37,819 --> 00:38:39,752
They built the gears
in the computer.

793
00:38:39,754 --> 00:38:44,657
They printed them out
on a sheet feed plotter.

794
00:38:44,659 --> 00:38:48,459
Hand fed the 24 field paper.

795
00:38:48,461 --> 00:38:51,197
And because our
goal at the time was

796
00:38:51,199 --> 00:38:55,835
we are the legacy of a 60-year
history of 2D animated films,

797
00:38:55,837 --> 00:38:58,304
the real design
goal is that this

798
00:38:58,306 --> 00:39:01,841
needs to blend in seamlessly.

799
00:39:01,843 --> 00:39:04,510
You can't tell how this is
done to celebrate the Walt

800
00:39:04,512 --> 00:39:06,779
Disney traditional medium.

801
00:39:06,781 --> 00:39:09,748
So it was printed on
paper, Xerox on cels,

802
00:39:09,750 --> 00:39:12,551
hand-painted, shot
at our camera,

803
00:39:12,553 --> 00:39:15,254
just like every other
element in the film.

804
00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:35,507
Based on the
success of that film,

805
00:39:35,509 --> 00:39:38,777
they went on to
buy one computer.

806
00:39:38,779 --> 00:39:41,379
And they put it in the
animation department.

807
00:39:41,381 --> 00:39:43,082
It wasn't in the
basement somewhere

808
00:39:43,084 --> 00:39:45,684
with wavefront software.

809
00:39:45,686 --> 00:39:48,888
And like a seed, they
just put it there.

810
00:39:48,890 --> 00:39:51,657
And we had an engineer
and some tech people who

811
00:39:51,659 --> 00:39:56,095
knew how these things operated.

812
00:39:56,097 --> 00:40:00,566
And they started to get the
animators interested in it.

813
00:40:00,568 --> 00:40:03,836
It really was the
Wild West of software,

814
00:40:03,838 --> 00:40:08,073
and technology, and materials.

815
00:40:08,075 --> 00:40:13,779
And literally
grappling and pivoting,

816
00:40:13,781 --> 00:40:15,681
and making it up as you went
along through the course

817
00:40:15,683 --> 00:40:16,550
of this time frame.

818
00:40:21,222 --> 00:40:24,690
Technology is always a
tool to serve the art form.

819
00:40:24,692 --> 00:40:28,160
And in many cases
in the trajectory

820
00:40:28,162 --> 00:40:32,497
of animation history, technology
was there to save costs.

821
00:40:32,499 --> 00:40:34,566
In order to keep
the industry alive,

822
00:40:34,568 --> 00:40:37,236
you have that
example in everything

823
00:40:37,238 --> 00:40:43,175
from xerography, where it
helped the cost of having

824
00:40:43,177 --> 00:40:46,045
an entire division
of hundreds of inkers

825
00:40:46,047 --> 00:40:49,415
taking hours and hours to
carefully hand ink cels

826
00:40:49,417 --> 00:40:52,017
which was incredible artistry.

827
00:40:52,019 --> 00:40:54,186
But suddenly when you
have several Xerox cameras

828
00:40:54,188 --> 00:40:56,355
and teams working,
you could accomplish

829
00:40:56,357 --> 00:40:59,758
close to 1,000 cels a day.

830
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,928
A single anchor might
get about 15 or 20 cels

831
00:41:02,930 --> 00:41:05,664
done a day if they were fast.

832
00:41:05,666 --> 00:41:07,633
So it was a tremendous
cost savings.

833
00:41:07,635 --> 00:41:08,901
Ink and paint was
one of the largest

834
00:41:08,903 --> 00:41:11,203
departments in our pipeline.

835
00:41:11,205 --> 00:41:15,040
They had been developing a
digital ink and paint system

836
00:41:15,042 --> 00:41:17,609
called CAPS, computer
animation production system,

837
00:41:17,611 --> 00:41:20,179
to scan, and paint,
and composite.

838
00:41:20,181 --> 00:41:23,382
And we used The Little
Mermaid, the last shot

839
00:41:23,384 --> 00:41:25,551
of the film to test it out.

840
00:41:36,297 --> 00:41:40,566
And from then on, we
integrated it in every film

841
00:41:40,568 --> 00:41:43,202
after that.

842
00:41:43,204 --> 00:41:48,841
When that technology was
offered to the Disney Animation

843
00:41:48,843 --> 00:41:53,278
studio, they were intrigued.

844
00:41:53,280 --> 00:41:57,216
The younger element, the younger
minds there were intrigued

845
00:41:57,218 --> 00:42:03,255
and they adopted it for the
magic carpet in Aladdin.

846
00:42:03,257 --> 00:42:05,124
And being a part of
the process like that,

847
00:42:05,126 --> 00:42:07,993
it really helped tell
the story about our...

848
00:42:07,995 --> 00:42:10,129
Because we did become
part of the problem

849
00:42:10,131 --> 00:42:12,698
solving where they might
come like in Aladdin,

850
00:42:12,700 --> 00:42:14,867
the tiger's head.

851
00:42:14,869 --> 00:42:16,802
It's going to rise
up out of the ground,

852
00:42:16,804 --> 00:42:18,937
and it's going to
be this big thing.

853
00:42:18,939 --> 00:42:22,509
The computer animators
and designers could then

854
00:42:22,511 --> 00:42:25,344
be involved and say, "Well,
you know what you can do,

855
00:42:25,346 --> 00:42:27,279
is we could build
it in the computer,

856
00:42:27,281 --> 00:42:29,548
and we could render
it like sand."

857
00:42:39,627 --> 00:42:43,429
We were the only ones who
were doing this integration

858
00:42:43,431 --> 00:42:46,398
and it was a wonderful design
challenge, like the ballroom

859
00:42:46,400 --> 00:42:47,866
in Beauty and the Beast.

860
00:42:47,868 --> 00:42:50,903
It was an added
story element and it

861
00:42:50,905 --> 00:42:52,604
had to be designed
so that it wouldn't

862
00:42:52,606 --> 00:42:53,972
trigger you out of the story.

863
00:42:53,974 --> 00:42:55,441
It's like, "Oh my God.

864
00:42:55,443 --> 00:42:55,774
What's that?

865
00:42:55,776 --> 00:42:58,444
It's 3D."

866
00:42:58,446 --> 00:43:05,451
This idea of incorporating
technology into this art form

867
00:43:05,453 --> 00:43:08,987
that an entire company had
been built around for decades

868
00:43:08,989 --> 00:43:11,524
was a little intimidating.

869
00:43:11,526 --> 00:43:15,160
And the powers that be made
the careful decision, perhaps

870
00:43:15,162 --> 00:43:18,330
wisely at the time,
to keep this idea

871
00:43:18,332 --> 00:43:20,466
of digital technology quiet.

872
00:43:20,468 --> 00:43:23,302
It was very important
that word did not get out

873
00:43:23,304 --> 00:43:27,106
that Disney, the home of
this great classic library

874
00:43:27,108 --> 00:43:32,077
of animation, was
moving into computers.

875
00:43:32,079 --> 00:43:34,113
But it was the great
success of The Lion King.

876
00:43:34,115 --> 00:43:36,381
They had proved
themselves over many years

877
00:43:36,383 --> 00:43:40,419
and many films as more
and more digital elements

878
00:43:40,421 --> 00:43:44,790
were being integrated that, OK,
audiences are ready to learn

879
00:43:44,792 --> 00:43:47,527
how we made this magic.

880
00:43:47,529 --> 00:43:52,264
Computer animation, to me,
was a way of feeling dimension

881
00:43:52,266 --> 00:43:55,834
and so I've always
embraced it for Tarzan.

882
00:43:55,836 --> 00:44:01,406
I wanted Tarzan to be
surfing on the trees.

883
00:44:01,408 --> 00:44:05,310
With Eric Daniels, we took
a section of a tree, turned

884
00:44:05,312 --> 00:44:09,748
it that way in space so that
I could imagine I'm Tarzan

885
00:44:09,750 --> 00:44:10,682
and he was moving
through the branches.

886
00:44:10,684 --> 00:44:12,084
I said, "OK.

887
00:44:12,086 --> 00:44:14,219
Now, I want to jump over there.

888
00:44:14,221 --> 00:44:15,588
Can you cut that branch
off and put it in space?"

889
00:44:15,590 --> 00:44:19,191
And he did and then I felt like
I could leap over to there.

890
00:44:19,193 --> 00:44:23,195
So we played this whole
action out of Tarzan

891
00:44:23,197 --> 00:44:26,098
and then they printed it
all out and gave it to me

892
00:44:26,100 --> 00:44:29,602
on photostats so I could
be Tarzan in space.

893
00:44:29,604 --> 00:44:33,472
And once again, it was giving
me a freedom to be the way

894
00:44:33,474 --> 00:44:35,642
I was picturing in my head.

895
00:44:35,644 --> 00:44:38,076
When I started working in
the computer animation which we

896
00:44:38,078 --> 00:44:41,480
hadn't really done
much of at school,

897
00:44:41,482 --> 00:44:44,116
I actually told John Lasseter
and everybody up here,

898
00:44:44,118 --> 00:44:45,384
"I don't know anything
about computers."

899
00:44:45,386 --> 00:44:47,019
And they said, "Don't
worry, it's the same thing."

900
00:44:47,021 --> 00:44:49,388
And they were right.

901
00:44:49,390 --> 00:44:53,325
But it's different in
that hand-drawn animation,

902
00:44:53,327 --> 00:44:55,727
like I say, you feel
your way through.

903
00:44:55,729 --> 00:44:58,730
You draw it and
you can feel poses.

904
00:44:58,732 --> 00:45:01,767
And you can move from one frame
to another and you just sense.

905
00:45:01,769 --> 00:45:04,736
And you work by
feeling your way out.

906
00:45:04,738 --> 00:45:07,507
And with computers,
what I had to do

907
00:45:07,509 --> 00:45:10,577
is understand that and then
step back and analyze it,

908
00:45:10,579 --> 00:45:12,978
and break it down into levels.

909
00:45:12,980 --> 00:45:16,715
So it was much less intuitive.

910
00:45:16,717 --> 00:45:18,518
It was a little more like taking
apart a lawnmower or something,

911
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,419
which I'm also excited by.

912
00:45:20,421 --> 00:45:23,155
So it was a fun place
to be and to start

913
00:45:23,157 --> 00:45:24,856
to figure out a lot
of stuff that had

914
00:45:24,858 --> 00:45:26,526
never been done at that point.

915
00:45:26,528 --> 00:45:30,229
I remember the first
time I saw a Pixar movie.

916
00:45:30,231 --> 00:45:32,297
Actually, it wasn't
even the whole movie,

917
00:45:32,299 --> 00:45:34,601
the studio was screening
for all of us staff

918
00:45:34,603 --> 00:45:36,268
that were doing 2D animation.

919
00:45:36,270 --> 00:45:38,237
And we were working
on The Lion King.

920
00:45:38,239 --> 00:45:39,938
We were right in the
middle of The Lion King

921
00:45:39,940 --> 00:45:41,907
and they had a screening
of one sequence that was

922
00:45:41,909 --> 00:45:45,477
done by Pixar from Toy Story.

923
00:45:45,479 --> 00:45:46,912
And it was amazing.

924
00:45:54,623 --> 00:45:56,054
Ha.

925
00:45:56,056 --> 00:45:56,689
Ha, what are you doing?

926
00:45:56,691 --> 00:45:57,657
I'm Tempus from morph.

927
00:45:57,659 --> 00:45:58,757
Yeah.

928
00:45:58,759 --> 00:46:00,392
What's this button?

929
00:46:00,394 --> 00:46:02,461
And I remember walking
out of the theater

930
00:46:02,463 --> 00:46:04,731
and talking to other
animators as we're

931
00:46:04,733 --> 00:46:07,766
walking back to our desks
to go work on The Lion King.

932
00:46:07,768 --> 00:46:12,739
And I remember saying, "That's
the end of 2D animation."

933
00:46:12,741 --> 00:46:17,242
But when I saw Toy Story man,
I had seen Pixar's Tin Toy was

934
00:46:17,244 --> 00:46:19,512
like, "How do they make
that lamp do that?"

935
00:46:19,514 --> 00:46:21,847
I was blown away.

936
00:46:21,849 --> 00:46:24,182
By the time Toy
Story came, it was

937
00:46:24,184 --> 00:46:27,252
incredible being
thrown into a world

938
00:46:27,254 --> 00:46:30,188
where everything
looked like that.

939
00:46:30,190 --> 00:46:33,025
Where it was one
gigantic CG cartoon.

940
00:46:33,027 --> 00:46:35,427
And nowadays, they make
humans that look like humans

941
00:46:35,429 --> 00:46:38,430
but back then, the
toys were easy to nail,

942
00:46:38,432 --> 00:46:41,534
the humans less so
but we didn't notice.

943
00:46:41,536 --> 00:46:43,536
We were all just so
amazed like that's crazy.

944
00:46:43,538 --> 00:46:44,436
Look at the texture on it.

945
00:46:44,438 --> 00:46:45,571
Look at the slinky dog.

946
00:46:45,573 --> 00:46:46,972
Look at Mr. Potato Head.

947
00:46:46,974 --> 00:46:49,041
It all tracks, it all works.

948
00:46:49,043 --> 00:46:50,142
And then you add to
it a wonderful story

949
00:46:50,144 --> 00:46:52,411
and fantastic voices.

950
00:46:52,413 --> 00:46:54,413
And the magic of what they
were able to accomplish

951
00:46:54,415 --> 00:46:57,883
with the animation
is elevated trifold.

952
00:46:57,885 --> 00:46:59,484
Suddenly, you have
an instant classic

953
00:46:59,486 --> 00:47:03,656
that becomes a milestone
in animation history.

954
00:47:03,658 --> 00:47:05,725
Everything changes from
that point forward.

955
00:47:05,727 --> 00:47:09,161
When the movie came
out, it was mind blowing.

956
00:47:09,163 --> 00:47:11,531
I'd never seen anything like it.

957
00:47:11,533 --> 00:47:13,365
It was like seeing Jurassic
Park for the first time.

958
00:47:13,367 --> 00:47:16,703
It was just a whole
new kind of filmmaking,

959
00:47:16,705 --> 00:47:19,639
and it was hugely impressive.

960
00:47:19,641 --> 00:47:24,544
I wouldn't call it sort
of a looming specter of CG.

961
00:47:24,546 --> 00:47:26,845
But there was
definitely this sort

962
00:47:26,847 --> 00:47:30,248
of feeling like, gosh, I wonder
how far this is going to go.

963
00:47:30,250 --> 00:47:33,085
And people were
like, "Yeah, what's

964
00:47:33,087 --> 00:47:34,687
going to be like in 10 years."

965
00:47:34,689 --> 00:47:37,155
There was an awareness,
a definite awareness

966
00:47:37,157 --> 00:47:38,924
of what's this going
to be like in 10 years?

967
00:47:38,926 --> 00:47:41,093
Are we going to be here?

968
00:47:41,095 --> 00:47:42,528
Never in a million
years did I think it

969
00:47:42,530 --> 00:47:45,964
would completely eclipse
and devour the art

970
00:47:45,966 --> 00:47:48,634
of hand-drawn animation.

971
00:47:48,636 --> 00:47:52,938
By the end of that screening,
there were jaws dropped

972
00:47:52,940 --> 00:47:58,977
and realizations of, oh my
God, the power of this thing

973
00:47:58,979 --> 00:48:00,879
is too much.

974
00:48:00,881 --> 00:48:03,750
We have to evolve because
that is where it's going,

975
00:48:03,752 --> 00:48:08,053
and 2D as it is at that point,
especially at that time,

976
00:48:08,055 --> 00:48:10,590
was starting box
office wise to go down.

977
00:48:10,592 --> 00:48:13,191
It was the magic was
starting to fade,

978
00:48:13,193 --> 00:48:16,729
and I think everybody at
that time went CG animation.

979
00:48:16,731 --> 00:48:18,930
Go.

980
00:48:18,932 --> 00:48:20,499
Now, it took five more
years, probably five to seven

981
00:48:20,501 --> 00:48:23,402
more years for it
actually to come true

982
00:48:23,404 --> 00:48:25,772
but that was the
beginning of the end.

983
00:48:25,774 --> 00:48:29,241
Because they could do
things in CG and it

984
00:48:29,243 --> 00:48:32,144
was so new and
revolutionary at the time.

985
00:48:32,146 --> 00:48:34,379
The subtlety of acting
and performance,

986
00:48:34,381 --> 00:48:37,916
the camera that was moving
it had a more cinematic look,

987
00:48:37,918 --> 00:48:41,219
that I thought, are people going
to continue to see the films

988
00:48:41,221 --> 00:48:44,289
that we produce in
hand-drawn animation

989
00:48:44,291 --> 00:48:46,324
when there's this new technology
that's giving a higher level

990
00:48:46,326 --> 00:48:48,427
of sophistication animation?

991
00:48:48,429 --> 00:48:50,095
When the R-Rex
started running down

992
00:48:50,097 --> 00:48:52,899
the street in Jurassic
Park, we were working

993
00:48:52,901 --> 00:48:54,399
on Lion King at the time.

994
00:48:54,401 --> 00:48:56,201
And there really
was a little bit

995
00:48:56,203 --> 00:49:00,740
of a sense of yep, that's over.

996
00:49:00,742 --> 00:49:03,241
There was a little bit,
yeah, we're not going to get

997
00:49:03,243 --> 00:49:05,711
to handle that stuff anymore.

998
00:49:05,713 --> 00:49:07,012
That's done.

999
00:49:07,014 --> 00:49:08,146
They were showing a sequence.

1000
00:49:08,148 --> 00:49:09,582
The army man sequence.

1001
00:49:09,584 --> 00:49:12,618
They showed at
Disney in Burbank.

1002
00:49:12,620 --> 00:49:14,286
They almost didn't know
what to make of it.

1003
00:49:14,288 --> 00:49:15,454
And they're like,
"Is this any good?"

1004
00:49:15,456 --> 00:49:16,455
And we're like,
"Are you kidding?"

1005
00:49:16,457 --> 00:49:17,456
This is a riot.

1006
00:49:17,458 --> 00:49:19,559
This is a blast.

1007
00:49:19,561 --> 00:49:21,794
We thought it was very cool that
we thought it was entertaining.

1008
00:49:21,796 --> 00:49:23,462
We thought it was entertaining
to the next level.

1009
00:49:23,464 --> 00:49:26,766
We thought it worked
amazingly well.

1010
00:49:26,768 --> 00:49:28,868
We were all super enthused.

1011
00:49:28,870 --> 00:49:31,069
We did not view it as a threat.

1012
00:49:31,071 --> 00:49:34,507
We just saw it as another way
to make a work of art or a film.

1013
00:49:34,509 --> 00:49:37,710
Just like there's painting and
there's sculpture, that they

1014
00:49:37,712 --> 00:49:39,978
could mutually coexist.

1015
00:49:39,980 --> 00:49:41,781
We did not view it as a
threat that would somehow one

1016
00:49:41,783 --> 00:49:43,248
might replace the other.

1017
00:49:43,250 --> 00:49:44,750
Is this going to
replace hand-drawn?

1018
00:49:44,752 --> 00:49:46,451
And we were like, "No way."

1019
00:49:46,453 --> 00:49:48,019
This is a totally
separate medium.

1020
00:49:48,021 --> 00:49:50,489
It's a separate art form.

1021
00:49:50,491 --> 00:49:53,826
I thought it was more
of a split in the road.

1022
00:49:53,828 --> 00:49:57,362
We have now a whole new
way of producing animation.

1023
00:49:57,364 --> 00:49:59,231
Other people with
different skill sets

1024
00:49:59,233 --> 00:50:00,733
can access animation.

1025
00:50:00,735 --> 00:50:01,868
That's great.
The more, the merrier.

1026
00:50:01,870 --> 00:50:03,936
That's awesome, right?

1027
00:50:03,938 --> 00:50:07,640
So I never assumed that
Hollywood would basically

1028
00:50:07,642 --> 00:50:11,978
consider it not a split but an
evolution, where you had to do

1029
00:50:11,980 --> 00:50:13,913
away with the old ways, right?

1030
00:50:13,915 --> 00:50:16,983
So it was around Treasure
Planet where it was

1031
00:50:16,985 --> 00:50:18,985
very clear what was happening.

1032
00:50:18,987 --> 00:50:22,087
And I remember having a
conversation with John Ripa.

1033
00:50:22,089 --> 00:50:24,891
We were both supervising
characters on that film

1034
00:50:24,893 --> 00:50:28,126
and saying, "Well, this
might be the last one we get

1035
00:50:28,128 --> 00:50:30,897
to make so let's make it count.

1036
00:50:30,899 --> 00:50:32,397
Let's go with a bang."

1037
00:50:32,399 --> 00:50:36,201
"And then we went
out with a bomb."

1038
00:50:36,203 --> 00:50:39,404
It covered a few
films, actually.

1039
00:50:39,406 --> 00:50:42,575
A period of DreamWorks and
Jeffrey Katzenberg weaning

1040
00:50:42,577 --> 00:50:45,745
themselves off of hand-drawn.

1041
00:50:45,747 --> 00:50:48,014
And I think just for
like box office reasons,

1042
00:50:48,016 --> 00:50:50,448
you know as much as anything
that was the bottom line.

1043
00:50:50,450 --> 00:50:52,818
The cost of making those films
was going higher and higher.

1044
00:50:52,820 --> 00:50:54,352
At the same time, the
box office revenues

1045
00:50:54,354 --> 00:50:56,421
were not necessarily
keeping pace

1046
00:50:56,423 --> 00:50:58,925
with that so that gap was
putting tremendous strains

1047
00:50:58,927 --> 00:51:01,627
on the films.

1048
00:51:01,629 --> 00:51:04,864
All the reasons they gave us
for why we should shift I never

1049
00:51:04,866 --> 00:51:07,465
bought into them.

1050
00:51:07,467 --> 00:51:11,904
They seemed based on very
flawed selective statistics.

1051
00:51:11,906 --> 00:51:16,207
2Ds not doing well,
3D is doing great so

1052
00:51:16,209 --> 00:51:18,578
that means the audiences
don't want to see 2D.

1053
00:51:18,580 --> 00:51:21,747
I was like, "Well, that's a very
selective way to look at it."

1054
00:51:21,749 --> 00:51:23,081
We would have teachers
come in and say,

1055
00:51:23,083 --> 00:51:24,951
"Guys, you've got to shift.

1056
00:51:24,953 --> 00:51:27,620
The world is changing."

1057
00:51:27,622 --> 00:51:30,556
The medium is being blamed for
these movies not doing well.

1058
00:51:30,558 --> 00:51:32,058
You're not factoring in
the quality of the stories

1059
00:51:32,060 --> 00:51:34,326
or the innovation.

1060
00:51:34,328 --> 00:51:36,629
Has nothing to do with
the medium, by the way.

1061
00:51:36,631 --> 00:51:40,365
It was rushing the stories and
the stories weren't connecting.

1062
00:51:40,367 --> 00:51:43,636
But people at the top,
especially the money people,

1063
00:51:43,638 --> 00:51:47,238
blame the medium and that I
think broke everybody's heart.

1064
00:51:47,240 --> 00:51:49,909
Well there's this myth out there

1065
00:51:49,911 --> 00:51:53,579
that 2D animation is it
takes longer to produce,

1066
00:51:53,581 --> 00:51:55,146
and it's more expensive,
and that's largely

1067
00:51:55,148 --> 00:51:57,182
why we don't do it anymore.

1068
00:51:57,184 --> 00:51:59,652
But that is a myth actually.

1069
00:51:59,654 --> 00:52:04,389
I've directed and 2D animated
feature Mulan at Disney,

1070
00:52:04,391 --> 00:52:07,325
but I've also been an animation
supervisor on a CG film,

1071
00:52:07,327 --> 00:52:10,261
Stuart Little 2 over at Sony.

1072
00:52:10,263 --> 00:52:12,565
So I've seen hands-on
from my perspective

1073
00:52:12,567 --> 00:52:14,767
and they're about the same.

1074
00:52:14,769 --> 00:52:16,636
It's just in 2D
animation, you can

1075
00:52:16,638 --> 00:52:18,169
get one drawing of a
character and start

1076
00:52:18,171 --> 00:52:20,338
animating from day one.

1077
00:52:20,340 --> 00:52:23,809
In CG animation, there's
a lot of crafting

1078
00:52:23,811 --> 00:52:25,978
of creating the
model, and the rig,

1079
00:52:25,980 --> 00:52:27,546
and how it's going to
move, and pre-planning

1080
00:52:27,548 --> 00:52:29,081
that goes into the model.

1081
00:52:29,083 --> 00:52:31,083
And then you can animate faster.

1082
00:52:31,085 --> 00:52:33,251
But when you put
them side to side,

1083
00:52:33,253 --> 00:52:35,253
those schedules
are about the same.

1084
00:52:35,255 --> 00:52:37,222
So the time is the
same and really

1085
00:52:37,224 --> 00:52:39,091
the money is the same too.

1086
00:52:39,093 --> 00:52:40,960
You have the same amount
of animators on a 2D film

1087
00:52:40,962 --> 00:52:43,596
as you do on a CG film.

1088
00:52:43,598 --> 00:52:47,967
There's just a swap of different
job titles and technology.

1089
00:52:47,969 --> 00:52:51,003
When DreamWorks released Shrek,

1090
00:52:51,005 --> 00:52:56,042
it was such an enormous hit that
the rest of the movie industry

1091
00:52:56,044 --> 00:52:59,545
said, "Oh, that's what
we should be doing,

1092
00:52:59,547 --> 00:53:02,048
and we can make
lots of money too.

1093
00:53:02,050 --> 00:53:04,416
And it all ought to be
dimensional animation.

1094
00:53:04,418 --> 00:53:08,988
The heck with this
pencil drawn stuff."

1095
00:53:08,990 --> 00:53:15,628
My contention is that Shrek was
a hit because it was hilarious.

1096
00:53:15,630 --> 00:53:19,932
It was a funny,
funny script enacted

1097
00:53:19,934 --> 00:53:26,105
by really talented people like
Mike Myers and Eddie Murphy.

1098
00:53:26,107 --> 00:53:28,174
And if it had been
animated with matchsticks,

1099
00:53:28,176 --> 00:53:30,042
it would have been a hit.

1100
00:53:30,044 --> 00:53:33,746
It was the content that
made it successful,

1101
00:53:33,748 --> 00:53:38,184
but the money people read
it as it was the look of it

1102
00:53:38,186 --> 00:53:40,686
that people wanted.

1103
00:53:40,688 --> 00:53:45,191
And that old 2D hand-drawn
stuff was out of fashion now.

1104
00:53:45,193 --> 00:53:47,793
Officially, it was over.

1105
00:53:47,795 --> 00:53:49,595
It was over.

1106
00:53:49,597 --> 00:53:55,835
Well, Pixar had been
acquired by Disney in 2005,

1107
00:53:55,837 --> 00:54:01,807
and then slowly they stopped
making the 2D animated films.

1108
00:54:01,809 --> 00:54:03,876
And we were really
sad to see those go.

1109
00:54:03,878 --> 00:54:07,513
I mean, that was a gain for us
to get those people with the 2D

1110
00:54:07,515 --> 00:54:09,582
hand-drawn experience,
and to see how they would

1111
00:54:09,584 --> 00:54:11,517
incorporate that into
their work and we

1112
00:54:11,519 --> 00:54:13,284
can be inspired by that too.

1113
00:54:13,286 --> 00:54:15,121
But it was very
sad to see the way

1114
00:54:15,123 --> 00:54:17,723
that the industry was going.

1115
00:54:17,725 --> 00:54:20,693
The industry was
going away from 2D

1116
00:54:20,695 --> 00:54:26,599
and I felt like that was a
real loss and a mistake too.

1117
00:54:26,601 --> 00:54:29,602
One, what's interesting
is it's a very common belief

1118
00:54:29,604 --> 00:54:32,738
that when computers come
into a new artistic medium,

1119
00:54:32,740 --> 00:54:36,609
there's something is it's
either less expensive,

1120
00:54:36,611 --> 00:54:40,880
takes less time, or it's
going to replace something.

1121
00:54:40,882 --> 00:54:43,916
It reminds me a lot of when
photography was invented.

1122
00:54:43,918 --> 00:54:46,919
Everybody thought that painting
was going to get replaced.

1123
00:54:46,921 --> 00:54:52,124
And what computer animation
does is it has a whole new look,

1124
00:54:52,126 --> 00:54:54,492
but the key word is animation.

1125
00:54:54,494 --> 00:54:56,929
Animation by definition
is making a motion

1126
00:54:56,931 --> 00:54:58,463
picture frame by frame
by frame by frame

1127
00:54:58,465 --> 00:55:00,298
and that doesn't change.

1128
00:55:00,300 --> 00:55:02,268
We labor over
every single frame.

1129
00:55:02,270 --> 00:55:04,503
When we started
on Toy Story, there

1130
00:55:04,505 --> 00:55:05,604
were like four people
in the world who knew

1131
00:55:05,606 --> 00:55:07,438
how to do computer animation.

1132
00:55:07,440 --> 00:55:10,743
And so when we
hired animators, we

1133
00:55:10,745 --> 00:55:13,979
got them largely from hand-drawn
tradition and a number

1134
00:55:13,981 --> 00:55:15,681
of stop motion people.

1135
00:55:15,683 --> 00:55:18,584
And so then we had a
long intensive training

1136
00:55:18,586 --> 00:55:20,753
program where we started.

1137
00:55:20,755 --> 00:55:24,590
And it was not quite as
straightforward as it is now.

1138
00:55:24,592 --> 00:55:27,293
To run the software, you
had to know some command

1139
00:55:27,295 --> 00:55:29,427
line coding and things.

1140
00:55:29,429 --> 00:55:31,496
And so it was a
little complicated

1141
00:55:31,498 --> 00:55:32,998
and it took a
little bit of doing.

1142
00:55:33,000 --> 00:55:35,500
And I remember people
getting really frustrated

1143
00:55:35,502 --> 00:55:36,769
because literally
you would hear people

1144
00:55:36,771 --> 00:55:38,270
going, "If I was
drawing, I could

1145
00:55:38,272 --> 00:55:39,305
do this in a half an hour."

1146
00:55:39,307 --> 00:55:42,074
And it would take days.

1147
00:55:42,076 --> 00:55:44,375
In one sense, it was sudden
but in another sense because I

1148
00:55:44,377 --> 00:55:46,178
was working on other
projects, it was

1149
00:55:46,180 --> 00:55:47,813
this slow thing that happened.

1150
00:55:47,815 --> 00:55:49,548
And the next thing you
know, I just didn't...

1151
00:55:49,550 --> 00:55:51,116
What just happened?

1152
00:55:51,118 --> 00:55:52,918
It happened so gradually.

1153
00:55:52,920 --> 00:55:54,452
Yeah.

1154
00:55:54,454 --> 00:55:56,889
That was a hard time.

1155
00:55:56,891 --> 00:56:00,292
That was when all of us had
to make a decision that we

1156
00:56:00,294 --> 00:56:02,294
never thought we'd have to.

1157
00:56:02,296 --> 00:56:05,130
I went into Disney thinking
it was going to be a career.

1158
00:56:05,132 --> 00:56:07,432
I was in this thought
process of the nine old men

1159
00:56:07,434 --> 00:56:09,535
did it for 40 years.

1160
00:56:09,537 --> 00:56:13,038
And I thought I'd be
there most of my career,

1161
00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:15,440
and I wouldn't have to really
consider going somewhere else

1162
00:56:15,442 --> 00:56:17,509
or figuring out what
else, especially

1163
00:56:17,511 --> 00:56:20,012
to just leave
animation altogether.

1164
00:56:20,014 --> 00:56:23,582
Some people were able to
make that jump from 2D to 3D,

1165
00:56:23,584 --> 00:56:24,750
but a few people weren't.

1166
00:56:24,752 --> 00:56:26,819
They didn't have that ability.

1167
00:56:26,821 --> 00:56:30,923
And I know one guy that
became a forklift operator.

1168
00:56:30,925 --> 00:56:33,458
I know somebody else that went
and took jobs in the parks

1169
00:56:33,460 --> 00:56:37,730
and doing retail.

1170
00:56:37,732 --> 00:56:42,167
It's sad to see that because
they're really talented

1171
00:56:42,169 --> 00:56:46,005
great artists that decided to
just let it go because they had

1172
00:56:46,007 --> 00:56:48,140
this big blow happen
to them and they

1173
00:56:48,142 --> 00:56:50,408
feel that they lost their
livelihood rather than adapt.

1174
00:56:50,410 --> 00:56:52,443
It was sad.

1175
00:56:52,445 --> 00:56:54,880
The change happened at CalArts.

1176
00:56:54,882 --> 00:56:57,716
So when your teacher comes
in and he looks depressed,

1177
00:56:57,718 --> 00:56:59,652
and he goes, "I've been
at Disney for 15 years

1178
00:56:59,654 --> 00:57:01,987
and they just let me go."

1179
00:57:01,989 --> 00:57:06,659
That has a profound effect
on everybody in school.

1180
00:57:06,661 --> 00:57:09,628
And you started seeing
that story happen.

1181
00:57:09,630 --> 00:57:12,463
And as a student you
go, "I love the medium"

1182
00:57:12,465 --> 00:57:16,669
and I love the craft, but the
people who are teaching me,

1183
00:57:16,671 --> 00:57:19,305
who are amazing, who
have been at Disney

1184
00:57:19,307 --> 00:57:23,575
and worked on all these landmark
movies, they're getting let go.

1185
00:57:23,577 --> 00:57:25,644
"What chance do I have?"

1186
00:57:25,646 --> 00:57:28,714
So I love you art form,
I love your craft,

1187
00:57:28,716 --> 00:57:30,349
but we can't be together.

1188
00:57:30,351 --> 00:57:33,118
I get a job.

1189
00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:35,453
For a lot of us, I think
what the question became was,

1190
00:57:35,455 --> 00:57:37,923
all right.

1191
00:57:37,925 --> 00:57:40,693
Did I get into animation
because I love to draw

1192
00:57:40,695 --> 00:57:41,727
or did I get into
animation because I

1193
00:57:41,729 --> 00:57:44,495
love to make things move?

1194
00:57:44,497 --> 00:57:48,734
And it almost became that basic
because if you got into it just

1195
00:57:48,736 --> 00:57:52,137
to make things move and
come alive, well then,

1196
00:57:52,139 --> 00:57:55,140
you could adapt probably and
become a computer animator.

1197
00:57:55,142 --> 00:57:57,543
And go down that road, and get
retrained, and go maybe work

1198
00:57:57,545 --> 00:57:59,578
at Pixar or some other studio.

1199
00:57:59,580 --> 00:58:02,982
But what we did,
this hand-crafted 2D

1200
00:58:02,984 --> 00:58:06,151
animation was now a dinosaur.

1201
00:58:06,153 --> 00:58:09,922
Basically, we were being
told all the skills that we've

1202
00:58:09,924 --> 00:58:14,960
been asking you to develop
and become top tier at,

1203
00:58:14,962 --> 00:58:16,829
we don't need them anymore.

1204
00:58:16,831 --> 00:58:17,698
You need to go away.

1205
00:58:25,840 --> 00:58:27,973
Thankfully, I had
already directed Mulan

1206
00:58:27,975 --> 00:58:31,844
and I had this new
path of, OK, well,

1207
00:58:31,846 --> 00:58:34,747
if I stay away from 2D
animation in general

1208
00:58:34,749 --> 00:58:36,682
but I just direct,
I could direct CG.

1209
00:58:36,684 --> 00:58:39,018
I could direct 2D.

1210
00:58:39,020 --> 00:58:41,820
As a director, it gave me
a lot more flexibility.

1211
00:58:41,822 --> 00:58:44,390
So I just tried to go
the path of creating

1212
00:58:44,392 --> 00:58:46,625
stories, and scripts, and
producing, and directing.

1213
00:58:46,627 --> 00:58:48,694
Eventually, I moved up North.

1214
00:58:48,696 --> 00:58:53,465
I moved up to Pixar and worked
with the team on Toy Story 2,

1215
00:58:53,467 --> 00:58:58,103
and followed that with Monsters
Inc. But since that time,

1216
00:58:58,105 --> 00:59:01,306
animation has been
totally changed.

1217
00:59:01,308 --> 00:59:03,742
Traditional hand-drawn
animation has been regretfully

1218
00:59:03,744 --> 00:59:05,444
pushed to the sidelines.

1219
00:59:05,446 --> 00:59:06,445
It's not gone.

1220
00:59:06,447 --> 00:59:07,913
It's not dead.

1221
00:59:07,915 --> 00:59:10,115
I'm not a pessimist.

1222
00:59:10,117 --> 00:59:12,818
Hand-drawn animation
will always be with us.

1223
00:59:12,820 --> 00:59:15,387
It'll be back one day.

1224
00:59:15,389 --> 00:59:19,091
Audiences will discover it the
same way they discovered CGI,

1225
00:59:19,093 --> 00:59:20,426
and we're going to have
hand-drawn animated films

1226
00:59:20,428 --> 00:59:21,560
again.

1227
00:59:21,562 --> 00:59:22,761
You know why?

1228
00:59:22,763 --> 00:59:24,730
Because animators love it.

1229
00:59:24,732 --> 00:59:27,966
Audiences love it.

1230
00:59:27,968 --> 00:59:32,171
We all love hand-drawn
traditional animation.

1231
00:59:32,173 --> 00:59:35,174
Traditional 2D
animators are continuing

1232
00:59:35,176 --> 00:59:38,343
to find ways to use
their skills to tell

1233
00:59:38,345 --> 00:59:44,183
stories, and even add the human
touch to computer animation.

1234
00:59:44,185 --> 00:59:46,718
Well, now we know now,
historically looking back,

1235
00:59:46,720 --> 00:59:48,821
they had great storytellers.

1236
00:59:48,823 --> 00:59:50,956
They were all trained
in Disney anyway

1237
00:59:50,958 --> 00:59:53,058
but their stories were great.

1238
00:59:53,060 --> 00:59:54,460
They knew how to make
really great stories.

1239
00:59:54,462 --> 00:59:59,498
It just gives me so much
more respect for that medium

1240
00:59:59,500 --> 01:00:03,235
because I'm starting with a
CG character, which is already

1241
01:00:03,237 --> 01:00:06,038
more or less on model
and I'm just kind

1242
01:00:06,040 --> 01:00:08,040
of manipulating it from there.

1243
01:00:08,042 --> 01:00:09,108
They're starting with
a blank piece of paper

1244
01:00:09,110 --> 01:00:10,976
and creating something
that's on model,

1245
01:00:10,978 --> 01:00:12,644
and then turning it,
and then evolving it,

1246
01:00:12,646 --> 01:00:15,247
and then making it expressive.

1247
01:00:15,249 --> 01:00:20,018
And that sort of discipline
just blows my mind.

1248
01:00:20,020 --> 01:00:23,188
And so I find myself
constantly returning

1249
01:00:23,190 --> 01:00:25,090
to drawing because I've
always loved to draw,

1250
01:00:25,092 --> 01:00:27,826
but wanting to go deeper
and wanting to learn

1251
01:00:27,828 --> 01:00:29,695
to keep a character on model.

1252
01:00:29,697 --> 01:00:32,097
And know what are
the rules of appeal?

1253
01:00:32,099 --> 01:00:35,400
I always tell people
Bambi is not a real deer,

1254
01:00:35,402 --> 01:00:38,303
but he's a very believable deer.

1255
01:00:38,305 --> 01:00:42,509
You believe his situation,
you believe his story.

1256
01:00:42,511 --> 01:00:46,178
The idea of believability
versus just duplicating reality,

1257
01:00:46,180 --> 01:00:47,980
and that's a subtle
difference, but there

1258
01:00:47,982 --> 01:00:48,947
is a difference there.

1259
01:00:48,949 --> 01:00:52,552
We hit a glass ceiling.

1260
01:00:52,554 --> 01:00:59,291
When everything is digital
and everything is dimensional,

1261
01:00:59,293 --> 01:01:01,760
how do you make
something look different?

1262
01:01:01,762 --> 01:01:05,731
Go back to the earlier style.

1263
01:01:05,733 --> 01:01:09,101
Everything old is new again.

1264
01:01:09,103 --> 01:01:11,737
That's what Lauren McMullen did
with her very ingenious short,

1265
01:01:11,739 --> 01:01:13,839
get a horse.

1266
01:01:13,841 --> 01:01:18,410
That's what the Disney studio
did with the movie Enchanted.

1267
01:01:18,412 --> 01:01:22,314
And they hired a former
Disney animator, James Baxter,

1268
01:01:22,316 --> 01:01:25,484
to animate the opening
segment of that movie.

1269
01:01:25,486 --> 01:01:29,388
And to do so, he hired
other ex-Disney animators

1270
01:01:29,390 --> 01:01:32,858
and a few guys who were
working freelance on the side

1271
01:01:32,860 --> 01:01:36,028
because they were the only ones
who could produce that quality

1272
01:01:36,030 --> 01:01:38,130
of hand-drawn animation.

1273
01:01:38,132 --> 01:01:43,969
These artisans are
now folk heroes

1274
01:01:43,971 --> 01:01:46,972
to a generation
of young animators

1275
01:01:46,974 --> 01:01:49,808
who never learned
that technique,

1276
01:01:49,810 --> 01:01:52,744
and never acquired those skills.

1277
01:01:52,746 --> 01:01:55,548
And if anything,
I think 2D animation

1278
01:01:55,550 --> 01:01:58,450
has really freed us a lot more.

1279
01:01:58,452 --> 01:02:01,153
It has really pushed
us to the next level.

1280
01:02:01,155 --> 01:02:04,056
We learned this from
Glen Keane on Rapunzel.

1281
01:02:04,058 --> 01:02:07,292
He would sit and
look at the CG work

1282
01:02:07,294 --> 01:02:09,094
being done, and pause
on frames and draw

1283
01:02:09,096 --> 01:02:12,532
over to emphasize poses.

1284
01:02:12,534 --> 01:02:16,735
The elevation for me
at Disney of CG animation

1285
01:02:16,737 --> 01:02:19,171
took a huge jump
for me in Tangled

1286
01:02:19,173 --> 01:02:22,274
when Glen started
taking CG animators

1287
01:02:22,276 --> 01:02:24,910
and really pushing 2D
principles back into it.

1288
01:02:24,912 --> 01:02:27,246
Break it to make it
look, feel right.

1289
01:02:27,248 --> 01:02:28,447
Don't worry about it
being technically right.

1290
01:02:28,449 --> 01:02:30,148
Make it feel right.

1291
01:02:30,150 --> 01:02:32,317
And we picked that
up on Inside Out,

1292
01:02:32,319 --> 01:02:34,319
and we've done it
on every film since.

1293
01:02:34,321 --> 01:02:37,322
I know that Frozen gets
a lot of the accolades

1294
01:02:37,324 --> 01:02:40,826
as far as the rebirth of
Disney feature animation.

1295
01:02:40,828 --> 01:02:44,997
But for me, Tangled was the film
where I was like, oh my God.

1296
01:02:44,999 --> 01:02:47,533
It felt like it really
set the bar higher.

1297
01:02:47,535 --> 01:02:48,867
And we saw that and we're
like, "OK, that's what

1298
01:02:48,869 --> 01:02:50,035
we're aiming towards now.

1299
01:02:50,037 --> 01:02:51,537
That is just beautiful."

1300
01:02:51,539 --> 01:02:53,939
Well, whether you are
doing it with a computer

1301
01:02:53,941 --> 01:02:58,277
or we're doing it with a
pencil, it doesn't matter.

1302
01:02:58,279 --> 01:03:01,980
It's about taking what's inside
and showing it to other people.

1303
01:03:01,982 --> 01:03:06,619
It's the gift that we each
have that God's given us

1304
01:03:06,621 --> 01:03:09,689
that we are trying to
translate, to share, to give it

1305
01:03:09,691 --> 01:03:12,324
to somebody else to appreciate.

1306
01:03:12,326 --> 01:03:16,928
So I thought, all right, I
think I know what drawing is.

1307
01:03:16,930 --> 01:03:19,931
When I draw, I watch
the line I make.

1308
01:03:19,933 --> 01:03:22,000
And I started to do that.

1309
01:03:22,002 --> 01:03:24,570
And I thought, I'm just
going to watch what I do.

1310
01:03:24,572 --> 01:03:27,906
I started making a line
of drawing of a character.

1311
01:03:27,908 --> 01:03:32,377
And as I drew, I realized I
wasn't looking at the line.

1312
01:03:32,379 --> 01:03:35,682
You don't look at the
line you're making.

1313
01:03:35,684 --> 01:03:38,116
So I realized I was
always looking to the left

1314
01:03:38,118 --> 01:03:40,285
or to the right of the line.

1315
01:03:40,287 --> 01:03:43,221
And I realized, the
line you're making

1316
01:03:43,223 --> 01:03:46,626
is you're defining the reality
that's between the lines.

1317
01:03:46,628 --> 01:03:48,994
That's what's real.

1318
01:03:48,996 --> 01:03:51,830
And that CG was
doing the same thing.

1319
01:03:51,832 --> 01:03:56,669
It was shading that character
that's between those lines,

1320
01:03:56,671 --> 01:03:59,672
but it was about the
existence of that character.

1321
01:03:59,674 --> 01:04:02,874
And so I realized there's
really no difference.

1322
01:04:02,876 --> 01:04:05,045
We are all living in the skin of
the characters that we create.

1323
01:04:10,518 --> 01:04:13,852
Now we've come full
circle, with technology

1324
01:04:13,854 --> 01:04:17,824
making it easier than ever to
create hand-drawn animation.

1325
01:04:17,826 --> 01:04:23,195
And this is bringing in a whole
new generation of 2D animators.

1326
01:04:23,197 --> 01:04:26,632
I remember when I was a
freshman, the first teacher I

1327
01:04:26,634 --> 01:04:28,835
ever had, the first
lecture he ever gave us was

1328
01:04:28,837 --> 01:04:31,436
he dimmed the lights ominously.

1329
01:04:31,438 --> 01:04:32,971
And he gathered us
all together and said,

1330
01:04:32,973 --> 01:04:35,307
"2D animation is dying."

1331
01:04:35,309 --> 01:04:37,810
This is a candle
that is dwindling.

1332
01:04:37,812 --> 01:04:40,747
It is in the middle of a
howling storm of commerce,

1333
01:04:40,749 --> 01:04:43,482
and it is up to you to
protect and carry this flame

1334
01:04:43,484 --> 01:04:45,117
to the next generation.

1335
01:04:45,119 --> 01:04:46,619
And if you don't,
animation is dead

1336
01:04:46,621 --> 01:04:48,721
"and you're all going to
be delivering my pizza."

1337
01:04:48,723 --> 01:04:51,591
This is how my education began.

1338
01:04:51,593 --> 01:04:54,594
Now, I in retrospect,
find that metaphor

1339
01:04:54,596 --> 01:04:56,829
to be a bit hyperbolic.

1340
01:04:56,831 --> 01:05:00,399
My personal perspective is
that you can't kill art.

1341
01:05:00,401 --> 01:05:03,902
You can't kill an art form.

1342
01:05:03,904 --> 01:05:08,240
An art form grows and evolves
with the culture it's in.

1343
01:05:08,242 --> 01:05:14,346
So even though Disney,
hand-drawn, feature length

1344
01:05:14,348 --> 01:05:19,619
films, that specific world
is currently non-existent,

1345
01:05:19,621 --> 01:05:23,589
2D animation is not
just Disney hand-drawn

1346
01:05:23,591 --> 01:05:25,056
feature length films.

1347
01:05:25,058 --> 01:05:26,425
I think there's
an irony once again

1348
01:05:26,427 --> 01:05:29,961
because I think
the thing that sent

1349
01:05:29,963 --> 01:05:32,063
animation away is technology.

1350
01:05:32,065 --> 01:05:33,965
The advancement of
technology and the ability

1351
01:05:33,967 --> 01:05:35,500
to do these CG animated films.

1352
01:05:35,502 --> 01:05:36,968
But I think the
thing that's going

1353
01:05:36,970 --> 01:05:39,605
to bring it back is technology.

1354
01:05:39,607 --> 01:05:42,240
Technology advancing
for us to do the ways

1355
01:05:42,242 --> 01:05:44,577
that we distribute content.

1356
01:05:44,579 --> 01:05:48,681
And plus, the ways to create 2D
animated films, the software,

1357
01:05:48,683 --> 01:05:51,717
whether you do it digitally or
if you want to do it on paper.

1358
01:05:51,719 --> 01:05:54,620
It's still shooting it.

1359
01:05:54,622 --> 01:05:59,692
There's ways of creating
it quicker and cheaper.

1360
01:05:59,694 --> 01:06:01,761
So some of the things
that we may have been

1361
01:06:01,763 --> 01:06:03,863
prohibitive in the past from
a cost standpoint really

1362
01:06:03,865 --> 01:06:05,464
don't exist anymore.

1363
01:06:05,466 --> 01:06:07,466
The African saying,
"They buried us

1364
01:06:07,468 --> 01:06:11,470
but they didn't
know we were seeds."

1365
01:06:11,472 --> 01:06:13,706
That's what happened
to 2D animation.

1366
01:06:13,708 --> 01:06:16,943
I think everybody
thought it was done

1367
01:06:16,945 --> 01:06:20,312
and it kept growing in
different parts of the world,

1368
01:06:20,314 --> 01:06:22,515
especially in Europe and Japan.

1369
01:06:22,517 --> 01:06:24,449
It kept growing and
it kept growing.

1370
01:06:24,451 --> 01:06:28,053
And the whole generation of
people who grew up with it

1371
01:06:28,055 --> 01:06:33,626
and loved it willed it back and
it slowly started rising again.

1372
01:06:33,628 --> 01:06:36,929
And now, Netflix is spending
real money on a 2D feature

1373
01:06:36,931 --> 01:06:39,297
with Sergio Pablos.

1374
01:06:39,299 --> 01:06:43,536
Who would have thought
a Spaniard from CalArts

1375
01:06:43,538 --> 01:06:47,305
would potentially save feature
animation with his studio?

1376
01:06:47,307 --> 01:06:50,910
When we had an attempt
at reviving 2D animation,

1377
01:06:50,912 --> 01:06:53,513
we just kept looking back.

1378
01:06:53,515 --> 01:06:56,949
We just kept asking audiences,
"Have you been missing these?"

1379
01:06:56,951 --> 01:06:59,952
And audiences said, "We're
all good on princesses

1380
01:06:59,954 --> 01:07:00,820
and singing animals. Thank you.

1381
01:07:00,822 --> 01:07:02,087
We're fine.

1382
01:07:02,089 --> 01:07:04,289
So we don't need that anymore."

1383
01:07:04,291 --> 01:07:06,258
So instead of saying, "What
else can we give them?"

1384
01:07:06,260 --> 01:07:08,226
Then they just said,
"Oh, I guess they want 3D

1385
01:07:08,228 --> 01:07:10,596
and that's what we... ".

1386
01:07:10,598 --> 01:07:16,769
So we never tried anything else
and I thought someone should.

1387
01:07:16,771 --> 01:07:22,140
And it was many people
resentful at Disney

1388
01:07:22,142 --> 01:07:24,175
because we all felt if someone
should, it should be them.

1389
01:07:24,177 --> 01:07:25,878
They made the medium
what it is today.

1390
01:07:25,880 --> 01:07:28,514
So they should be doing
something about it.

1391
01:07:28,516 --> 01:07:32,284
And then one day I just
looked at myself in the mirror

1392
01:07:32,286 --> 01:07:35,855
and I realized I'm one
of the few people who

1393
01:07:35,857 --> 01:07:39,025
got to work in 2D
animation professionally

1394
01:07:39,027 --> 01:07:41,627
and I had my own studio.

1395
01:07:41,629 --> 01:07:44,030
So how am I any less to blame
than Disney for not doing

1396
01:07:44,032 --> 01:07:46,264
something about it, right?

1397
01:07:46,266 --> 01:07:50,937
So I said, "Well, at least
let's give it a try."

1398
01:07:50,939 --> 01:07:56,576
One of the things that
2D was held back from was

1399
01:07:56,578 --> 01:08:01,747
as the filmmaking advanced, and
you've got real dynamic live

1400
01:08:01,749 --> 01:08:04,550
action filmmakers, those ideas
weren't necessarily translated

1401
01:08:04,552 --> 01:08:06,786
in the hand-drawn medium.

1402
01:08:06,788 --> 01:08:08,588
But now, with the
help of technology,

1403
01:08:08,590 --> 01:08:11,356
now we can get more immersive
in our storytelling.

1404
01:08:11,358 --> 01:08:14,627
Klaus is pretty successful
at that, I think.

1405
01:08:14,629 --> 01:08:19,197
Adding elements that really sort
of sweeten the palate when you

1406
01:08:19,199 --> 01:08:21,601
can actually really play
space, and dimension,

1407
01:08:21,603 --> 01:08:24,503
and add atmosphere,
and shadow techniques,

1408
01:08:24,505 --> 01:08:26,539
and shading and stuff like
that, that actually gives

1409
01:08:26,541 --> 01:08:28,975
2D characters a 3D dimension.

1410
01:08:28,977 --> 01:08:31,142
It had a magical feel to it.

1411
01:08:31,144 --> 01:08:33,679
It was really fun to look at.

1412
01:08:33,681 --> 01:08:38,985
So however we get there, it's
just the organic feeling when

1413
01:08:38,987 --> 01:08:43,889
you animate a scene and
you see just I don't want

1414
01:08:43,891 --> 01:08:45,591
to say imperfections,
but there are

1415
01:08:45,593 --> 01:08:47,927
shifts and changes of realness.

1416
01:08:47,929 --> 01:08:51,631
You look at any movie,
beautiful 2D movie,

1417
01:08:51,633 --> 01:08:56,501
it has a spark in it that's
just a little different.

1418
01:08:56,503 --> 01:09:00,271
We did this two-minute test
proof of concept where we

1419
01:09:00,273 --> 01:09:02,575
basically was meant
to convince investors

1420
01:09:02,577 --> 01:09:04,710
to put money into the film.

1421
01:09:04,712 --> 01:09:06,344
The great thing about
that was because it

1422
01:09:06,346 --> 01:09:08,047
looked like it had
volumetric lighting,

1423
01:09:08,049 --> 01:09:09,815
people assumed it was CGI.

1424
01:09:09,817 --> 01:09:11,182
And I never pitched
it as a 2D film.

1425
01:09:11,184 --> 01:09:13,418
I just said this is a film.

1426
01:09:13,420 --> 01:09:15,855
We made that
conversation go away.

1427
01:09:15,857 --> 01:09:19,892
All the rejection
just disappeared.

1428
01:09:19,894 --> 01:09:23,629
What was surprising as we
were putting the film together

1429
01:09:23,631 --> 01:09:26,398
and hiring talent,
I started calling

1430
01:09:26,400 --> 01:09:29,267
of course, all the old guard.

1431
01:09:29,269 --> 01:09:31,570
Get out of retirement.

1432
01:09:31,572 --> 01:09:33,973
Whatever you're
doing, we need you.

1433
01:09:33,975 --> 01:09:36,742
Some did, some of
course, had moved on.

1434
01:09:36,744 --> 01:09:39,545
And there was a big
question mark about,

1435
01:09:39,547 --> 01:09:41,413
can we actually get enough
people to be able to animate

1436
01:09:41,415 --> 01:09:44,482
at this level on a film today?

1437
01:09:44,484 --> 01:09:48,721
And that's when the new
generation started coming up.

1438
01:09:48,723 --> 01:09:52,158
Kids right out of school, maybe
they only work in one film.

1439
01:09:52,160 --> 01:09:54,927
And they had seen
that piece which

1440
01:09:54,929 --> 01:09:56,294
was not meant for
recruiting, but it

1441
01:09:56,296 --> 01:09:58,698
was a best recruitment tool.

1442
01:09:58,700 --> 01:10:02,367
People would say,
"I will relocate.

1443
01:10:02,369 --> 01:10:04,202
I will move my family
to work on that."

1444
01:10:04,204 --> 01:10:04,872
And they did.

1445
01:10:07,942 --> 01:10:08,576
Hello.

1446
01:10:14,347 --> 01:10:16,148
Yeah.

1447
01:10:16,150 --> 01:10:20,853
It's going to take nothing
short of a miracle.

1448
01:10:20,855 --> 01:10:24,557
Just looking at the crew of
Klaus is really interesting.

1449
01:10:24,559 --> 01:10:28,961
Apart from a couple
of outliers, lunatics

1450
01:10:28,963 --> 01:10:32,932
like Matt Williams and Andrew
Chesworth who are in their 30s.

1451
01:10:32,934 --> 01:10:37,069
It's basically a crew of you're
under 26 or you're over 50.

1452
01:10:37,071 --> 01:10:40,338
And there's this big
gap in the middle where

1453
01:10:40,340 --> 01:10:42,307
everyone went to go do CG.

1454
01:10:42,309 --> 01:10:43,909
But there's all
these kids which are

1455
01:10:43,911 --> 01:10:45,778
under like 26 or
something who are

1456
01:10:45,780 --> 01:10:48,781
just insane about this stuff.

1457
01:10:48,783 --> 01:10:53,719
And like me, like many of us,
they got hooked on this drug

1458
01:10:53,721 --> 01:10:56,889
and it's a powerful drug,
hand-drawn animation.

1459
01:10:56,891 --> 01:10:59,625
And animators out there,
hand-drawn animators that are

1460
01:10:59,627 --> 01:11:01,894
being born now watching that
movie for the first time

1461
01:11:01,896 --> 01:11:03,529
and wanting to jump into
this medium and say,

1462
01:11:03,531 --> 01:11:06,031
"Hey, I saw 101 Dalmatians.

1463
01:11:06,033 --> 01:11:07,733
Wow, blow my mind."

1464
01:11:07,735 --> 01:11:09,869
I think that there's artists
out there that, "Yeah",

1465
01:11:09,871 --> 01:11:12,270
3D is really great, but
this hand-drawn stuff, this

1466
01:11:12,272 --> 01:11:14,240
is not that.

1467
01:11:14,242 --> 01:11:16,175
This is not the 3D stuff.

1468
01:11:16,177 --> 01:11:17,676
Those performances
are really cool

1469
01:11:17,678 --> 01:11:19,344
"and I want to
learn this medium."

1470
01:11:19,346 --> 01:11:22,982
I grew up to work on
Masters of the Universe.

1471
01:11:22,984 --> 01:11:27,318
So all that time I spent as a
kid watching Masters Universe,

1472
01:11:27,320 --> 01:11:28,654
and not always
watching it as a fan.

1473
01:11:28,656 --> 01:11:31,524
Sometimes hate watching
and be like, Orko.

1474
01:11:31,526 --> 01:11:33,826
All the time I spent
watching it and all

1475
01:11:33,828 --> 01:11:35,360
the time my parents
were like, "Why don't

1476
01:11:35,362 --> 01:11:36,494
you go out and do something?

1477
01:11:36,496 --> 01:11:37,630
Stop watching these cartoons.

1478
01:11:37,632 --> 01:11:39,464
This is a waste of your time."

1479
01:11:39,466 --> 01:11:40,065
I love my parents to death.

1480
01:11:40,067 --> 01:11:43,002
They were wrong.

1481
01:11:43,004 --> 01:11:45,237
Thank God I put in the work when
I did because when I grew up,

1482
01:11:45,239 --> 01:11:48,574
somebody was like, "Would you
like to take over Eternia?"

1483
01:11:48,576 --> 01:11:50,209
Would you like to put words
in the mouth of Cringer?

1484
01:11:50,211 --> 01:11:51,243
I was like, "Words and more.

1485
01:11:51,245 --> 01:11:52,678
Let me at it."

1486
01:11:52,680 --> 01:11:55,581
And so that came
from a childhood

1487
01:11:55,583 --> 01:11:57,983
growing up with cartoons.

1488
01:11:57,985 --> 01:12:00,786
I feel like that love of the
medium, that acknowledgment

1489
01:12:00,788 --> 01:12:04,857
of a profound impact it
had on a whole generation

1490
01:12:04,859 --> 01:12:06,625
of not only artists,
but kids who

1491
01:12:06,627 --> 01:12:09,562
grew up loving these movies.

1492
01:12:09,564 --> 01:12:11,362
These movies that
changed people's lives.

1493
01:12:11,364 --> 01:12:13,732
They changed their dreams.

1494
01:12:13,734 --> 01:12:17,570
They literally formed their
view of the world, is now,

1495
01:12:17,572 --> 01:12:19,905
you're seeing the seeds grow.

1496
01:12:19,907 --> 01:12:20,673
And now, you're seeing all
these different trees all over

1497
01:12:20,675 --> 01:12:24,043
the world blossoming with that.

1498
01:12:24,045 --> 01:12:26,812
And I don't even think people
who made those movies back then

1499
01:12:26,814 --> 01:12:31,817
had any idea how endless
these movies were going to be,

1500
01:12:31,819 --> 01:12:35,154
how profound the impact was
going to be on these things.

1501
01:12:35,156 --> 01:12:37,656
It's an amazing time where we're
now looking at these things

1502
01:12:37,658 --> 01:12:40,358
in a whole different way.

1503
01:12:40,360 --> 01:12:44,930
Every university
in a major city now

1504
01:12:44,932 --> 01:12:48,399
has a course on how to do
animation, which is insane.

1505
01:12:48,401 --> 01:12:49,602
When I was getting
into animation,

1506
01:12:49,604 --> 01:12:52,872
there was one in the UK
where you could go learn

1507
01:12:52,874 --> 01:12:54,506
to do animation and a
couple in the United.

1508
01:12:54,508 --> 01:12:55,774
States that was
just like, "That's

1509
01:12:55,776 --> 01:12:57,710
where you go to do animation."

1510
01:12:57,712 --> 01:12:59,444
Every university now
has some little thing

1511
01:12:59,446 --> 01:13:00,646
where you go do animation.

1512
01:13:00,648 --> 01:13:04,016
So many of my
students are coming in

1513
01:13:04,018 --> 01:13:05,351
because they grew up with Lion
King, Beauty and the Beast,

1514
01:13:05,353 --> 01:13:06,919
and Aladdin.

1515
01:13:06,921 --> 01:13:08,419
All these films
that I worked on.

1516
01:13:08,421 --> 01:13:10,656
They are adamant
about wanting to be

1517
01:13:10,658 --> 01:13:13,259
2D animators just like I was.

1518
01:13:13,261 --> 01:13:15,728
And look at the stuff that's
coming out of Europe and Japan,

1519
01:13:15,730 --> 01:13:18,564
and there's still the
great stuff over there.

1520
01:13:18,566 --> 01:13:21,133
But I feel like the
mainstream high end

1521
01:13:21,135 --> 01:13:27,539
you broad appeal feature
animation in traditional needs

1522
01:13:27,541 --> 01:13:28,841
to come back.

1523
01:13:28,843 --> 01:13:30,576
It doesn't need to take over.

1524
01:13:30,578 --> 01:13:31,844
That's not what I'm saying.

1525
01:13:31,846 --> 01:13:35,014
It just needs to have a place.

1526
01:13:35,016 --> 01:13:39,785
It's a way of registering
something inside of me

1527
01:13:39,787 --> 01:13:43,421
that I almost
can't even control.

1528
01:13:43,423 --> 01:13:47,593
That it comes out in the way
I put the line on the paper.

1529
01:13:47,595 --> 01:13:50,663
I think of it as a
seismograph of your soul

1530
01:13:50,665 --> 01:13:53,866
is this energy
that you draw with.

1531
01:13:53,868 --> 01:13:56,302
And I feel like
there is something

1532
01:13:56,304 --> 01:13:58,737
that we are communicating
actually in the way

1533
01:13:58,739 --> 01:14:01,106
you put the line down.

1534
01:14:01,108 --> 01:14:04,843
My son Max, as we were
working on Duet at one

1535
01:14:04,845 --> 01:14:08,213
point, which was hand drawn.

1536
01:14:08,215 --> 01:14:12,785
He said, "Dad, do you
realize every line you make

1537
01:14:12,787 --> 01:14:16,155
is the first time
and the last time

1538
01:14:16,157 --> 01:14:18,991
that that stroke will ever be
made in the history of time.

1539
01:14:18,993 --> 01:14:22,828
There will never be another
line like that line."

1540
01:14:22,830 --> 01:14:25,831
And we learned that because
as we would do that,

1541
01:14:25,833 --> 01:14:29,668
we took a look at a line
and it was like a field

1542
01:14:29,670 --> 01:14:32,171
of graphite Stardust.

1543
01:14:32,173 --> 01:14:35,307
That it was different
every stroke.

1544
01:14:35,309 --> 01:14:40,245
It was a revelation to me of the
importance of line and energy,

1545
01:14:40,247 --> 01:14:46,251
and that little film allowed
me to communicate how I felt

1546
01:14:46,253 --> 01:14:51,256
about little boy, a little girl,
growing up through the drawing.

1547
01:14:51,258 --> 01:14:55,761
And then Kobe saw that and
when he asked me to animate

1548
01:14:55,763 --> 01:14:59,298
his letter to basketball,
Dear Basketball,

1549
01:14:59,300 --> 01:15:01,567
he said, "But it's
got to be hand-drawn.

1550
01:15:01,569 --> 01:15:02,835
There's this soul to it.

1551
01:15:02,837 --> 01:15:05,304
There's this touch."

1552
01:15:05,306 --> 01:15:08,841
And all the things that I
felt, he was saying back to me.

1553
01:15:08,843 --> 01:15:10,442
And was like, "Yeah,
we got to do this."

1554
01:15:10,444 --> 01:15:14,279
We won an Academy Award in
2018, which was an experience

1555
01:15:14,281 --> 01:15:16,815
I'll never forget.

1556
01:15:16,817 --> 01:15:19,718
And the Oscar
goes to Dear Basketball,

1557
01:15:19,720 --> 01:15:20,855
Glen Keane and Kobe.

1558
01:15:24,825 --> 01:15:28,827
Whatever form
your dream may take,

1559
01:15:28,829 --> 01:15:31,997
it's through passion
and perseverance

1560
01:15:31,999 --> 01:15:37,302
that the impossible is possible.

1561
01:15:37,304 --> 01:15:42,307
So what lies ahead in
the future for animation?

1562
01:15:42,309 --> 01:15:44,743
We are in a unique
moment right now,

1563
01:15:44,745 --> 01:15:47,112
I think, in the
history of animation.

1564
01:15:47,114 --> 01:15:51,650
There is a enormous boom
happening right now and coming.

1565
01:15:51,652 --> 01:15:54,653
I would say that there has
literally never been a better

1566
01:15:54,655 --> 01:15:56,789
time in the history of the
world to pitch an animated TV

1567
01:15:56,791 --> 01:15:59,091
show than right now.

1568
01:15:59,093 --> 01:16:01,126
What's interesting to me
about television animation

1569
01:16:01,128 --> 01:16:03,662
is it's the one place
now where 2D animation is

1570
01:16:03,664 --> 01:16:06,198
still very much alive and well.

1571
01:16:06,200 --> 01:16:08,901
And not only alive and
well, but preferred.

1572
01:16:08,903 --> 01:16:11,370
The hunger for
animation is red hot

1573
01:16:11,372 --> 01:16:14,306
and the competition
among studios is red hot.

1574
01:16:14,308 --> 01:16:16,341
And whenever there's a lot
of studios in competition,

1575
01:16:16,343 --> 01:16:18,143
that's an exciting
time for creators.

1576
01:16:18,145 --> 01:16:19,278
It's an exciting
time for artists

1577
01:16:19,280 --> 01:16:21,980
because it means
there's a lot of work

1578
01:16:21,982 --> 01:16:24,016
and it means there's
enormous opportunity.

1579
01:16:24,018 --> 01:16:27,352
An amazing new
world of 2D animation

1580
01:16:27,354 --> 01:16:30,923
is happening right
now and I haven't

1581
01:16:30,925 --> 01:16:32,124
been busier in my
whole life I think,

1582
01:16:32,126 --> 01:16:35,327
than I am right now at age 53.

1583
01:16:35,329 --> 01:16:38,163
I'm really excited about
the future of animation

1584
01:16:38,165 --> 01:16:42,734
as it becomes easier to
find more and more diverse

1585
01:16:42,736 --> 01:16:45,538
influences.

1586
01:16:45,540 --> 01:16:48,173
I feel like I was part of the
first generation to grow up

1587
01:16:48,175 --> 01:16:53,145
with anime really easily
accessible, and web comics

1588
01:16:53,147 --> 01:16:55,347
really accessible, which
definitely influenced

1589
01:16:55,349 --> 01:16:57,983
me and my contemporaries.

1590
01:16:57,985 --> 01:17:00,419
And I think the next
generation has even

1591
01:17:00,421 --> 01:17:02,988
more tools at their disposal.

1592
01:17:02,990 --> 01:17:05,724
There's enough small
commercial houses.

1593
01:17:05,726 --> 01:17:07,826
There's enough video
games that are embracing

1594
01:17:07,828 --> 01:17:09,995
2D animation like
Cuphead and all

1595
01:17:09,997 --> 01:17:12,965
these amazing indie
game studios that

1596
01:17:12,967 --> 01:17:14,366
said, "Is 2D animation dead?

1597
01:17:14,368 --> 01:17:15,834
We don't care. We love it.

1598
01:17:15,836 --> 01:17:17,570
We're going to bring it back."

1599
01:17:17,572 --> 01:17:19,972
I think accessibility is
going to be the big changing

1600
01:17:19,974 --> 01:17:22,040
factor in animation.

1601
01:17:22,042 --> 01:17:22,808
I mean, I think back
to when I was a kid,

1602
01:17:22,810 --> 01:17:26,178
there was no information at all.

1603
01:17:26,180 --> 01:17:28,380
I mean, you could go to
the library and maybe find,

1604
01:17:28,382 --> 01:17:31,150
maybe find a book on
animation but that was it.

1605
01:17:31,152 --> 01:17:33,752
And everything else
was just a mystery.

1606
01:17:33,754 --> 01:17:36,121
And then here comes
YouTube which suddenly,

1607
01:17:36,123 --> 01:17:36,989
it's a little more accessible.

1608
01:17:36,991 --> 01:17:39,091
And now there are apps.

1609
01:17:39,093 --> 01:17:41,093
It will always have
2D animation with us.

1610
01:17:41,095 --> 01:17:44,229
As long as there's a child out
there who watches a cartoon,

1611
01:17:44,231 --> 01:17:46,165
who takes a pencil and a
pen to a piece of paper,

1612
01:17:46,167 --> 01:17:48,333
2D animation will always exist.

1613
01:17:48,335 --> 01:17:52,539
It's now in the domain
of the common man.

1614
01:17:52,541 --> 01:17:54,607
When Disney was popularizing it
throughout the '40s and '50s,

1615
01:17:54,609 --> 01:17:56,375
only gods could do that.

1616
01:17:56,377 --> 01:17:59,612
Now, you got a kid at
home doing it on TikTok.

1617
01:17:59,614 --> 01:18:02,114
You got a kid at home doing
it on Instagram and stuff.

1618
01:18:02,116 --> 01:18:04,783
So 2D animation will
be with us forever.

1619
01:18:04,785 --> 01:18:09,288
But it really comes down to
is that the level of artistry

1620
01:18:09,290 --> 01:18:11,890
was so high that these guys
did under the leadership

1621
01:18:11,892 --> 01:18:14,594
of Walt Disney.

1622
01:18:14,596 --> 01:18:16,161
That when you do something
so good, it's for the ages

1623
01:18:16,163 --> 01:18:19,064
and it will keep
inspiring people to do

1624
01:18:19,066 --> 01:18:21,099
great things in the future.

1625
01:18:21,101 --> 01:18:23,835
The last few years,
we've seen hybrids

1626
01:18:23,837 --> 01:18:28,106
of documentary and animation.

1627
01:18:28,108 --> 01:18:31,743
Just last year, one
film was nominated

1628
01:18:31,745 --> 01:18:36,915
in three separate categories,
Best Animated Feature, Best.

1629
01:18:36,917 --> 01:18:40,687
Documentary, and Best
International Film,

1630
01:18:40,689 --> 01:18:45,592
and that was Flee, which told
a dramatic true life story

1631
01:18:45,594 --> 01:18:48,227
using animation as its medium.

1632
01:18:48,229 --> 01:18:51,863
Animation, as people say over
and over again, is not a genre.

1633
01:18:51,865 --> 01:18:55,033
It's a medium.

1634
01:18:55,035 --> 01:18:58,203
It's a medium in which you
can tell any kind of story.

1635
01:18:58,205 --> 01:19:00,673
We're all communicating
with pictures.

1636
01:19:00,675 --> 01:19:05,811
And the more you abstract
your art direction,

1637
01:19:05,813 --> 01:19:09,181
you're dealing with drawing,
even if you're still modeling,

1638
01:19:09,183 --> 01:19:13,352
and rigging, and
using virtual puppets,

1639
01:19:13,354 --> 01:19:15,754
the more you abstract
things and they start

1640
01:19:15,756 --> 01:19:18,090
to look less and less real
and more and more caricatured

1641
01:19:18,092 --> 01:19:21,059
and stuff, you are
dealing with all

1642
01:19:21,061 --> 01:19:23,762
of these lessons that have
been learned tried and true

1643
01:19:23,764 --> 01:19:25,598
for the last 100 years.

1644
01:19:25,600 --> 01:19:26,932
Of like, "Oh, this works.

1645
01:19:26,934 --> 01:19:27,434
That doesn't."

1646
01:19:31,573 --> 01:19:34,806
Whether it is 2D
hand-drawn animation,

1647
01:19:34,808 --> 01:19:39,044
computer-generated animation, or
techniques we have yet to even

1648
01:19:39,046 --> 01:19:42,582
discover, one thing is certain.

1649
01:19:42,584 --> 01:19:48,521
Animation is by nature an
incredibly human art form.

1650
01:19:48,523 --> 01:19:51,823
These are moving images
that come directly

1651
01:19:51,825 --> 01:19:55,327
from the imagination of some
of the most creative artists

1652
01:19:55,329 --> 01:19:59,331
and storytellers the
world has ever seen.

1653
01:19:59,333 --> 01:20:03,603
Animation lets us communicate
and connect with each other

1654
01:20:03,605 --> 01:20:06,706
in a unique way that is
easy to take for granted.

1655
01:20:06,708 --> 01:20:09,975
But to me, it's pure magic.

1656
01:20:20,454 --> 01:20:23,355
So next time you're
watching an animated film,

1657
01:20:23,357 --> 01:20:26,925
especially if it's hand-drawn,
perhaps you'll take a moment

1658
01:20:26,927 --> 01:20:32,397
to appreciate the heart and soul
that's poured into every frame.

1659
01:20:32,399 --> 01:20:33,465
ready
for you, Ming-Na.

1660
01:20:33,467 --> 01:20:33,901
Want to do a take?

1661
01:20:38,673 --> 01:20:39,306
Ready.

1662
01:20:56,223 --> 01:20:58,390
So what are you
doing there, Tom?

1663
01:20:58,392 --> 01:20:59,792
Oh, hey Ming-Na.

1664
01:20:59,794 --> 01:21:02,461
I'm just animating you jumping.

1665
01:21:02,463 --> 01:21:04,664
I'm using the squash
and stretch technique

1666
01:21:04,666 --> 01:21:06,098
to give you that jump illusion.

1667
01:21:06,100 --> 01:21:08,668
Interesting.

1668
01:21:08,670 --> 01:21:11,103
Well, that frame right
there isn't very flattering.

1669
01:21:11,105 --> 01:21:12,104
Oh no, Ming-Na.

1670
01:21:12,106 --> 01:21:14,005
That's just a blur drawing.

1671
01:21:14,007 --> 01:21:16,007
So you only see
it for one frame.

1672
01:21:16,009 --> 01:21:19,545
But when we put all the drawings
together and we speed them up,

1673
01:21:19,547 --> 01:21:20,847
it'll feel like you're
jumping up and down.

1674
01:21:20,849 --> 01:21:21,814
See.

1675
01:21:21,816 --> 01:21:22,948
Ah.

1676
01:21:22,950 --> 01:21:23,716
Now I see.

1677
01:21:23,718 --> 01:21:24,385
That's pretty cool.

1678
01:21:27,988 --> 01:21:28,788
OK, Ming-Na.

1679
01:21:28,790 --> 01:21:31,189
Rough animation is done.

1680
01:21:31,191 --> 01:21:34,192
Now it's time for clean
up, but I need you

1681
01:21:34,194 --> 01:21:37,730
to stay really, really still.

1682
01:21:37,732 --> 01:21:40,767
Is... is that pencil sharp?

1683
01:21:40,769 --> 01:21:43,101
No it's not too sharp.

1684
01:21:43,103 --> 01:21:44,369
All right.

1685
01:21:44,371 --> 01:21:45,838
So this is clean up line.

1686
01:21:45,840 --> 01:21:48,473
So you have to stay very still.

1687
01:21:48,475 --> 01:21:52,043
We also call this
the final line.

1688
01:21:52,045 --> 01:21:54,881
And that means
it's the one that's

1689
01:21:54,883 --> 01:21:59,685
going to get colored in so
it's got to be just right.

1690
01:21:59,687 --> 01:22:00,421
Doing the best I can.

1691
01:22:03,758 --> 01:22:07,894
Ooh, loving those lashes.

1692
01:22:07,896 --> 01:22:09,428
OK.

1693
01:22:09,430 --> 01:22:12,497
Almost ready.

1694
01:22:12,499 --> 01:22:14,032
Camera looks good.

1695
01:22:14,034 --> 01:22:14,634
All right.

1696
01:22:14,636 --> 01:22:15,934
Say cheese.

1697
01:22:15,936 --> 01:22:17,670
Oh wait, wait, don't say cheese.

1698
01:22:17,672 --> 01:22:18,606
No, no, just stay still.

1699
01:22:22,911 --> 01:22:24,409
There's a lot of being still
in the animation process,

1700
01:22:24,411 --> 01:22:26,779
isn't there?

1701
01:22:26,781 --> 01:22:28,848
I guess this is why they
call it a still shot, ha.

1702
01:22:28,850 --> 01:22:30,683
Ming-Na, don't move.

1703
01:22:30,685 --> 01:22:32,417
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1704
01:22:32,419 --> 01:22:34,319
All right.

1705
01:22:34,321 --> 01:22:38,323
Now, I'm uploading
your image and there.

1706
01:22:38,325 --> 01:22:39,559
Perfect.

1707
01:22:39,561 --> 01:22:41,026
All right.

1708
01:22:41,028 --> 01:22:42,461
Look.

1709
01:22:42,463 --> 01:22:45,030
Looking pretty good,
ready for color.

1710
01:22:45,032 --> 01:22:46,534
Oh, I was made for the screen.

1711
01:22:56,878 --> 01:22:58,443
Hey.

1712
01:22:58,445 --> 01:23:00,245
Whoopsies.

1713
01:23:00,247 --> 01:23:02,615
Didn't your mother teach
you to color in the lines?

1714
01:23:02,617 --> 01:23:03,283
I thought you were
a pro at this.

1715
01:23:06,688 --> 01:23:09,254
Hey, I'm just messing
with you, Tom.

1716
01:23:09,256 --> 01:23:11,189
OK, OK, for real.

1717
01:23:11,191 --> 01:23:12,023
I'll stay still.

1718
01:23:12,025 --> 01:23:14,392
Yeah, that would help.

1719
01:23:14,394 --> 01:23:15,628
- Come on.
- Last time.

1720
01:23:15,630 --> 01:23:16,394
That was it.

1721
01:23:16,396 --> 01:23:17,530
Promise.

1722
01:23:17,532 --> 01:23:18,165
Yeah.

1723
01:23:26,373 --> 01:23:27,640
Wow.

1724
01:23:27,642 --> 01:23:29,274
What a great film.

1725
01:23:29,276 --> 01:23:30,977
Thanks so much for letting
me be a part of it, Tom.

1726
01:23:30,979 --> 01:23:31,844
Oh no.

1727
01:23:31,846 --> 01:23:34,212
Thank you, Ming-Na.

1728
01:23:34,214 --> 01:23:36,081
We were so happy to have
you on this journey with us.

1729
01:23:36,083 --> 01:23:38,584
Me too.

1730
01:23:38,586 --> 01:23:39,086
Hey, nice one.

1731
01:23:44,424 --> 01:23:47,094
By the way, I loved
you in Mandalorian.