Here's a post that's pretty frivolous, but hardcore Disney fans (and I know you're out there) might dig it.
In August 1963 National Geographic Magazine ran a lengthy article titled "The Magic Worlds of Walt Disney." It's become a true collectors issue among Disneyphiles, and you can checkout the entire article online over on Modern Mechanix if you so wish.
Four pages of the article illustrate how animated films are made with Micky Mouse giving Mr. G.O. Graphic a guided tour of the studio as other Disney characters work on The Sword in the Stone (1963)...
Fourteen years later in November 1977 National Geographic basically dusted off the 1963 illustrations for reuse in their children's World magazine...
... although it's been completely redrawn, and this time Mr. G.O. Graphic is just simply a "human visitor" who gets a peek at the production of The Rescuers (1977)...
I think I prefer the 1963 version of the illustrations, and I thought the name of Mr. G.O. Graphic was pretty clever. I also like how Micky Mouse was dressed in 1963...
There's a lot of differences between the illustrations. Print this next image out, and hand it to a child who you'd like to keep busy for a while...
I wonder if National Geographic ever considered using these illustrations again. I doubt it, but I like to specualate what a 1980's, 1990's or 2000's version would have looked like.
The Orange Bird returned to Walt Disney World last week. The news of this has a number of the Disney fan blogs buzzing. It's nice this little bit of WDW history has returned, but personally it's not something I can get too excited about. The Orange Bird was a Disney designed mascot for the Florida Citrus Growers, and was used in ads for Florida orange juice - like this magazine ad from 1973 that entices you to save 50¢ on your next juice purchase...
... but saving that 50¢ wasn't so straight forward. First here's the 10¢ coupon to use in the store...
... and then to collect the other 40¢ you needed to fill out the 40¢ cash refund form and send in various proofs of purchase. Mail-in refunds aren't done much anymore, and especially not for 40¢.
Although to be fair this is 1973, and according to an Internet inflation calculator 40¢ in 1973 is worth $2.07 in 2012. However collecting the refund is going to cost at least one first class stamp. So using 2012 numbers again, a first class stamp is 45¢, and therefor your net refund is actually $1.62. I don't know if that's really worth the trouble.
Aggh, writing about that Orange Bird has me doing financial calculations. Who would have thunk it.
Let's forget about that Orange Bird because there's another Disney designed advertising mascot (who also happens to be a bird) who I'd truly like to see make a return - it's 7-Up's Fresh Up Freddie...
The ending of that commercial looks like it could have influenced the Pixar movie Up (2009).
Well Halloween is over, and for those interested here's a quick commentary on my animation of the classic The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion.
Back in 2009 when I made the Unused Concept Art from the Haunted Mansion Animated I used the record cover art by Collin Campbell for the open. At the time I
thought it would be cool if the cover art would animate, but the prep work needed
to do this was a monumental chore in its self.
So I basically forgot about it for 2 years, but this summer I thought I should finally do it for this Halloween. Early on I thought I would just animate the cover art, but I soon decided I would animate some (not all) of the "Story and Song" art.
Okay now I'll go through the animation one shot at a time...
The cover art was the biggest chore to animate (and a bigger chore to prep), and there over 30 moving characters and elements. Originally I thought I
might try to make it 3D, but that was way too difficult. The
audio mix was a challenge too. I first thought I might just use the music of the band
members and opera singers, but I quickly learned hearing those opera
singers for any extended period of time is pretty brutal. I decide to
fade the singers out and primarily use the ballroom music which I had
used back in 2009 on the concept art animations. At the end of the open
when the titles appear I brought in a little bit of the title theme from The Haunting (1963).
It's been reported that this movie was influential during the creation
of Disney's Haunted Mansion. I also used the spooky look of The Haunting's opening titles (which look very much like the effect used on the type in the above trailer), and ghostly transitions used during the first few minutes of the film where the history of Hill House is told. If you haven't seen the movie, or don't know what I'm talking about you can check it out here if you wish.
I like animating Haunted Mansion art that hasn't been done in real life. That's what appealed to me about animating unused concept art, and it's this philosophy that guided my choices when I animated the "Story and Song."
The first page
Like the above opening page has almost nothing to do with the Haunted Mansion attraction. Sure there's an executioner in the ride, but he is singing in the graveyard and not opening the front door for you. I thought I could use a 3D camera with a short depth of field to get this shot, but it was impossible to get the framing correct so I cheated the look in 2D. It's not perfect, and it's something I wish I had more time to finesse.
Madam Leota
I know Madam Leota is in the attraction, but I animated this art because Collin Campbell staged the seance scene so differently from how it looks in the attraction. I love how lively the room looks here. In recent years the Disney Imagineers have gotten Madam Leota to float in the air, which is a neat trick, but I'd be truly amazed if they could make all the furniture float like it does here.
A wide shot of The Bride
The bride art is not by Collin Campbell. It's by me. Did I fool you? I hoped it looked like Campbell's work, but the talent gap between me and Collin is pretty huge.
I based the look of the Bride after a couple early versions, but mostly this maquette...
I've borrowed this photo from the encyclopedic Haunted Mansion blog Long-Forgotten. HBG2, who owns the blog, is using a Photoshoped photo of the "corpse bride" I did so I don't think he'll mind too much. I know she doesn't look much like an actual bride, but she is a very early version of sorts. For hardcore Mansion fans there's also a couple of "Easter Eggs" in my Bride scene, like the bust on the sideboard and the hanging portrait.
CU of Bride art before animation
Above is a close-up of the original art. You can see the skull face which is something that I experimented with. I though it might look cool if you saw the skull flicker as her heart beat, but I dropped that idea. One idea I did keep was a faint flicker of the artery and veins that surround the heart, but I don't think it's very noticible in the final animation. Also starting with the Bride I tried to make my shots a little more POV (point of view).
Hatbox Ghost
Here we have the most infamous Mansion resident - the Hatbox Ghost. The history of this character is well known by Mansion fans, and so I had to include him. He's been long absent from the Mansion, but the hope is strong among the faithful he'll return one of these days.
Last Page
Lastly we have the escape thru the crypt ending and that crazy alien-like ghost with the yellow eyes. This is where the POV becomes the most obvious (with mixed results). I which I had more time to finesse this shot a little more. I think if I made the shot 3D the POV would work better, but prepping the art for 3D would have taken time which I didn't have.
Well that's it. Thank you for reading this, and thanks to those of you who have left comments. Thanks to Disney for not getting upset with these fan creations of mine. The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion is available on CD, so if you don't have a copy for yourself go get one now. I think this will be my last animated trip into the world of Disney, but rest assured I have ideas for other fun and stupid animation in the future.
It's October, and that means it's time for a month long celebration of Halloween stuff.
If you know this blog, you know not to expect a new post every day or anything extreme like that. I'll certainly be more active this month than in the past, and I'm hoping to have a few posts each week.
The finale for the this month will be a new Halloween animation. I don't want to state explicitly what I'm doing, but if you remember those Disney Haunted Mansion concept art animations I did in 2009, I made a little comment in a post that might give you an idea of what I'm doing. You can hunt for that post if you like a challenge, or simply look at the picture above.
So when finished will this animation be a trick or a treat? Heck I don't even know yet, but for now you get a tease...
Last time I animated a Western River Expedition saloon singer, and this time I'm animating a horse on the saloon porch roof.
There's two variants of the "Horse on the Roof" art I've seen. Here's one that looks like it's at night and has three saloon girls in the foreground.
Mary Blair's interpretation of Marc Davis's "Horse on the Roof"
This version is reportedly done by Mary Blair who was valued by Walt Disney himself for her expert color styling.
Then there's the "daylight" version by Marc Davis, and instead of the saloon girls there's a drunk cowboy and dog.
Marc Davis's "Horse on the Roof" 1968
This above picture is from Jason Surrell's The Disney Mountains, and that is a book I happen own. This means I was able to get good scan of the art for once, and this makes animation a lot easier.
Now let's look at the animation...
Closing Comments...
It's been reported that the lighting in load area for Western River Expedition would make it appear as is if the sun was just setting, and so therefore the ride would take place at "night." This makes the coloring of Mary Blair's art much more appropriate. Although if it's night, what are the kid, "Ma" and "Grandma" doing still walking around town? Shouldn't they be getting ready for bed? Aren't there cows to be milked at dawn or something? Am I overthinking this?
Western River Expedition at Walt Disney World was planned to be a kind of sequel to the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. The building designed to house WRE was named Thunder Mesa, and themed to look like rocky cliffs and bluffs. Along with WRE, Thunder Mesa was reportedly going to be home to three other attractions - a runaway mine train ride (that idea would eventually become Big Thunder Mountain Railroad), and hiking and pack mule trails winding up the side of cliffs.
Thunder Mesa Art
To ride the Western River Expedition park guests would enter inside Thunder Mesa thru a cave-like passage, and board small boats much like Pirates of the Caribbean at the Disney parks. Part of the journey would take them through a western town called Dry Gulch. It's here the guests would witness all types of rowdy cowboy activity. Like a lively scene from the front porch of a saloon...
"Saloon Singer" by Marc Davis
... so now here's this concept art animated to look like audio-animatronics with simulated show lighting...
Closing Comments...
Long time Disney composer Buddy Baker (he did the music for the Haunted Mansion) was supposedly going to write the music for WRE. To the best of my knowledge no WRE music was ever recorded. So for my animation the saloon singer is Tammy Grimes from a 1963 episode of the TV western The Virginian entitled "The Exiles." Here's Tammy's performance if you wish to check it out...
I learned it's really hard to animate a piano player. If I was in charge of programming an animatronic piano man I'd be asking (more like begging) that we use some sort of motion capture to do the job.
Lastly if you want to learn more about Western River Expedition please visit Widen Your World. This was the first place on the internet to seriously document the history of WRE.
Well if you are reading this, and you enjoyed those Haunted Mansion concept art animations I did a few years ago I've got something else brewing. I'm animating Marc Davis's art from the never built Western River Expedition.
Marc Davis and a model of a Western River Expedition show scene.
For you people not up on Disney theme park history, Western River Expedition was a epic attraction designed by legendary Disney animator and Imagineer Marc Davis that was originally supposed to be built for the opening of Walt Disney World. Due to many factors the project got pushed back, and then back again, and was eventually abandoned.
That's only brief summery, and so if you want to learn more about the history of Western River Expedition check out this Wikipedia entry which also has a few great links to further WRE content from across the vast interweb.
So anyways to spark your interest for the new animations, here's a little tease of of what's coming in August...
Please leave a comment, and let me know how interested you are in this project. Encouragement can only help in getting these animations completed.
The reason I wanted to animate this unused concept art by Marc Davis was because it features witches, and you won't find witches anywhere in the Haunted Mansion.
Marc Davis drew a couple of early concept sketches with witches in them - before it was decided to strictly stick to the ghosts. Also the ghosts in this sketch look nothing like the ghosts in the Haunted Mansion either.
Although it's interesting that the Caretaker and his dog look virtually the same as they do in the final attraction.
OK here's the animation made to move as if it actually was a scene in the Haunted Mansion...
Additional comments...
There's not much more to say really. I originally wanted to use a little of the theme music to Disney's Wonderful World of Color for when the sketch turns from B&W to color, but it didn't work with the other audio.
I'm going to do something a little different this time. For my past Haunted Mansion animations I've tried to remain as faithful as possible to the original artist's intentions, but this time I'm going to do my own armchair Imagineering.
You'll notice the above concept art of a woman trapped in a mirror looks rather aged and old. When I discovered this sketch floating in the boundless realm of the Internets I assumed it was from the 1960's. To my surprise, it's from 1995 and is supposedly part of some proposed HM enhancements (thanks again to GRD999 for this info).
This woman/ghost trapped in the mirror gag was to be placed in the Corridor of Doors. For those who don't know, The Corridor of Doors is one of the scarier places in the Mansion. This is the section of the ride where you travel past a series of doors - each with a seemingly very noisy and angry spirit pounding on the other side.
This gag would work similarly to the mirror gag with the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Although I assume the figure of the woman would be a reasonably sophisticated Audio-Animatronic. My guess is she would look like she's pounding on the glass, move her head, eyes and blink. I also think she'd probably talk or scream. There is an up-light lighting her from below. I assume this would dim up and down to reveal the figure.
Although this gag was never installed in the Haunted Mansion, I think it's a good idea.
Now there's a unwritten rule in the Haunted Mansion that says you cannot see the ghosts until you pass Madame Leota, who through her incantations allow the spirits to materialize. I respect that. Therefore if I was in charge of doing a ghost in the mirror gag for the Haunted Mansion I would do it differently.
Having an actual figure behind the glass, while certainly effective, it's probably much too literal. I think you if you show a ghost in the mirror, it must remain blurry and undefined. Also with the advancements in flat panel HD displays, I would probably dress a monitor to look like a mirror. I also think you could have some sort of mirrored glass on the monitor too that would reflect when the ghost is not visible too (I don't know for sure if this practical. I haven't done any R&D on this so don't hold me to it).
So enough with the set-up, here's my animation...
Additional comments...
This effect isn't perfect, but it's very close to how I would do the effect if I was actually designing this for the Haunted Mansion. It's certainly a very good first draft of the proposed effect.
Just in case there's some rabid HM fan out there reading this who wants to debate why this effect is not appropriate, or some other sort of nonsense. Remember I am not an Imagineer, or work for Disney in anyway. This effect is NOT going in the Haunted Mansion. This is just for fun. This is my sandbox to play in, and so if you're upset you can take your Tonka trucks and go home.
If you're a Haunted Mansion fan maybe you've always wondered where the kitchen is. I remember when I was a child thinking it might be cool to see a haunted kitchen scene. It wasn't until recently when I found the above art on the Internet that I learn there were actual ideas for a haunted kitchen scene.
The art is once again from the talented and very prolific Marc Davis, and the text at the bottom of his drawing reads:
Invisible ghost cooks meal. Footprints move around floor. Handle on teakettle raises up to position, teakettle pours into pot. Steam rises. Spoon stirs pot. Oven opens, lid on roaster raises. Steam comes from roaster. Voice of ghost happily hums and recites recipe.
Well enough of the setup here's the animation...
Additional comments...
One issue with a long show scene like this is it's very possible you could ride the attraction multiple times without seeing it all. Although that would sure encourage repeat rides...
EXT. DISNEYLAND -DAY
Three Haunted Mansion fans discuss their favorite ride.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN#1 The part where the kettle floats up and pours into the pot is pretty cool.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #2 Wait, the kettle floats? I've only seen the oven door open.
HYPOTHETICAL HM FAN #3 What are you guys talking about. The water pump is only thing I've ever seen going on in that scene.
I guess if this scene was actually in the Mansion most of us would have to wait for a YouTube video from some guy who got stuck in front of the kitchen scene and was able to record the entire sequence to eventually see all of it.
A very special thanks to my friend Bob Biestek who did the great job on the 3D kettle for me, and who even made the lid jump up and down.
Also I'd like to thank GRD999 over on MiceChat for helping me identity the artist of the artwork.
Hey all you fans of the Disney Parks Haunted Mansion, I've got something fun to show you I think.
As part of my Halloween celebration, I got the idea to animate some of the unused concept art to see how that scene might look if it was actually installed in the Haunted Mansion.
For Marc Davis' s concept art of the "Tiger Hunter" I animated it two different ways: First, I animated the art only, and made to move like it was an animatronic scene. Secondly, I animated a crude simulated ride through as if you were in your "doombuggies" complete with sound and lighting effects. Check it out...
Some additional thoughts and comments...
I wish I had the time to fully animate the classic "Story and Song" cover art for my opening titles. It would have looked cool, but that would also be a lot of work to prep that art for animation. Maybe next year.
Marc Davis was a genius at staging a scene. Everything reads so clearly. I hope I managed to come close to what he was envisioning. All the tiger heads on the wall are drawn differently, and so I animated them each in different ways.
Audio for my simulated ride through was challenging. If anyone out there reading this has a good sound effect for a laughing tiger I would love to hear it because I couldn't find anything suitable. Although losing the laughing effect was probably for the best since the sound for that scene was getting pretty full. I basically only used the growling, hiccuping and the hunter's ranting (which I turned way, way down). I dumped the bone crunching, panting, and laughing (which wasn't good anyway) because I found it all to be just too much noise.
Just in time for Independence Day I bring you the Walt Disney World Bicentennial Brochure.
The year was 1976, and every day at WDW was like the Fourth of July with their very patriotic and lavish "America On Parade" parade.
I don't know if you noticed, but back in 1976 Disney was still on the ticket system. A 2 day ticket book for one adult cost $15 in 1976. Today just parking your car at Disney costs about this much!
BONUS STUFF: Hey look, it's an official "America On Parade" drinking mug. It still has its price tag, and cost $1.25 back in the day. I wonder how much it would go for on Ebay?
Hey look again, it's the official guide to Walt Disney World from 1976. It's compliments of a company called GAF - whatever that was...
This guide is about 30 pages long. So I'm not planning to scan it for this blog any time soon.
