The (ONCE) Magic Kingdom
온라인 홀덤 사이트 I'm not referring to the famous theme park when I say, Magic Kingdom.
That nifty idea was probably somewhere in Walt's head but it remained a long, long way from being a reality. No matter.
Things were going pretty well for the "Old Maestro" (still a young man) as he ruled over his Burbank Kingdom.
I love this photograph probably taken sometime in the late thirties or early forties.
The boss looks pleased and relaxed.
Walt Disney Productions had finally 온라인홀덤 made the move from Hyperion over in Silverlake to their swanky new digs in the San Fernando Valley.
I would imagine things looked pretty promising to Walt as he made plans for the future.
Of course, as we know from history there would be many things that would negatively impact the fledgling studio.
A world war and a strident labor action would be one of the many challenges Walt Disney Productions would eventually face.
Putting those things aside, let's take a moment to enjoy a peaceful spring afternoon with Walt Disney as he smiles for the camera.
That's the Animation Building in the background and employees often enjoyed lunch on the sprawling studio lawn.
More university campus than grundgy movie studio lot, Walt Disney Productions offered its employees a good deal more than simply a challenging job.
It was the premiere animation house.
The cartoon studio every other studio measured itself by.
Walt Disney Productions was the top of the heap and simply having worked there for a time gave your resumé a considerable boost.
The Magic Kingdom is much larger today.
It's employees number in the hundreds of thousands and I doubt the "Old Man" would even recognize the place if he came back today.
World we see in this photograph is long gone along with many of ideals that once made this company so special.
Of that's the plight of many companies today so we shouldn't be surprised.
Trading your legacy for a buck has pretty much become the American way of life, hasn't it
A Real Puppet Show
I've often joked that animation has become less a drawing medium and more of a "puppet show" in the past decade or so.
Before you freak out consider this an attack on CG animators, let me remind you that I maintain the greatest respect for today's digital animators who continue.
Remarkable work and the results can easily be seen up on the big screen in today's animated feature motion pictures.
I have worked on real puppet shows and the photogaph below was taken on the set of one of those creative and inventive shows.
Still amazed at the creative skills of the puppeteer and how he or she is able to breathe life into an inanimate object.
As animators we're all striving to create a believeable performance.
It has always been a delight to work and speak with these talented individuals and learn more about their craft.
I met one young animator while working at Pixar Animation Studios some years ago.
I wondered what led her to become an animator and her answer surprised me.
She told me she had worked with Jim Henson and the Muppets before coming to Pixar.
After giving her answer some thought I realized it made perfect sense.
When it comes to giving a performance can you think of anything better than a Muppet.
She merely took the next logical step.
After polishing her skills on Muppet characters, she simply moved on to the "cyber puppets" used in digital animation.
Animation is animation, after all.
In this particular show we're talking old school.
There were no CGI assists.
Only talented puppeteers bringing the delightful characters to life.
Help move the shooting along by preparing a series of storyboards for the sequences being shot that day.
The work was fast and furious, and the days were often very long.
In any event I gotta say it was the most fun I've had doing a show in a long, long time.
In a quaint little town, nestled between the hills, there was a small theater famous for its puppet shows.
People from near and far gathered to watch the intricate marionettes dance, sing, and act out stories that stirred their imaginations.
One evening, as the lights dimmed and the curtains parted, something extraordinary happened.
The puppets began to move on their own, without the usual tug from the strings above.
The audience gasped in awe as the wooden figures seemed alive, their movements fluid and graceful.
The puppeteer, an old man named Mr. Alcott, stood backstage, bewildered but amazed.
The show went on, more mesmerizing than ever.
The puppets not only performed the script but also improvised, adding depth and emotion no one had ever seen before.
The hero, a brave knight, spoke with a conviction that touched the hearts of everyone present.
The villain, a cunning sorcerer, delivered lines with such venom that even Mr. Alcott felt a chill run down his spine.
As the performance continued, the audience realized that this was no ordinary puppet show.
The characters were not just acting they seemed to be truly living their roles.
The knight’s sword clanged loudly as it met the sorcerer’s staff in battle, sparks flying in a dramatic duel.
Old School Storyboarding
What's wrong with this picture? Yes, those are storyboards on my desk, but guess what
Not a Cintiq Tablet in sight. Now, don't think I'm anti-Cintiq or anything like that.
I have a Cintiq Tablet and I've done my fair share of storyboarding on the amazing device.
However, we've chosen to storyboard this project on paper. That's correct. Pencil and paper.
Talk about Old School.
I probably wouldn't be wrong to guess that every studio in the animation industry has switched over to using the Cintiq. It's an effective device to be sure and I guess one could give any number of reasons why storyboard artists should be working this way.
Nothing wrong with that, I guess.
However, after doing a number of storyboards on the Cintiq Tablet I couldn't help but be a little curious how it would feel to return to pencil and paper.
I gotta admit it feels pretty darn good.
Ways it felt as though I had been projected back to the nineteen sixties when all storyboards were sketched on paper.
I love the feel of the pencil and the texture of the paper. Yes, that even includes the special "drag" you get when the tip of the graphite hits the surface of the paper.
Yes I know how much faster one can work on the Cintiq.
I know about the advantage of layers, cut and paste, color and all the other bells and whistles.
None of those dandy extras are available when you're working on paper.
You simply sketch the ideas on paper and be sure they work.
In a strange way you're making a committment to the work you're doing.
There's nothing there to save you or to distract the viewer.
The storyboard simply has to do its job. The board has to work.
Of course, there's one other overlooked little extra you gain while working on paper.
That is, the storyboard is an original piece.
It's not a print out or a digital copy it's the real deal.
Work being done today simply exists as one's and zero's in a computer.
Pull the plug or crash the server and all the original work simply vanishes.
they say such a thing could never happen with all the back ups and back up of back ups.
All I know is we still have original art that was created back in the forties and the material looks great.
I can't help wonder what we'll have fifty years from now - or if we'll have anything at all Whatever.
We now live and work in a digital age and that's not gonna change anytime soon.
In the meantime, I'm storyboarding with pencil and paper and for this old animation veteran it doesn't seem half bad.