Once Upon a Studio (WDAS Short)

[Disney Duster]

But you can be on-model in hand-drawn animation, not just CGI.

This short was, aside from most of the hand-drawn animation, absolutely perfect. Bambi was on-model even down to his movement. Cinderella had an actual funny line I loved, despite her being very off-model. But she had a silver dress. Yay for the Fairy Godmother, too! And I started to get the feels that could have led to tears were I not dead inside from depression. This short was amazing. Well done Disney, and thank you.

[Sotiris]

D23 Inside Disney Celebrates Once Upon A Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abLFibUmsLs

Once Upon a Studio: Richard Sherman at Home in Walt's Office
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fo2deBkMqQ

Once Upon a Studio: Once Upon a Legend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fePoC4xU4Oc

Interview with Dan Abraham & Trent Correy, Directors of "Once Upon A Studio"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQFyKiYIFDM

Interview with the directors of Once Upon A Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-npIFuKeOW8

"Once Upon A Studio" with Tony Bancroft and Nik Ranieri
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMpiNWxGj4E

[Marce82]

I agree with Duster: you can have on-model 2D animation.

It's fine if the occasional in-between is bad... but when the majority of the drawings are off, it shows when it's in motion. And the issue here is not (just) that the characters don't look like themselves... at times the anatomy and volumes are off to the point that things don't make sense.

And though I agree with Kyle that bad clean-up can destroy good animation... I think there are issues with the animation itself. And again, makes me wonder how much clean-up artists fixed the animator's rough drawings back in the 90s...

[PatrickvD]

In the digital age I think there shouldn’t be a reason for your character to be off-model though.

The process for hand drawn can be done entirely on a digital surface device, and the available software, be it toon boom or one of the many others, allow for a deep level of transparency between frames that make it super easy to correct any off model drawings.

The issue is probably that the animators didn’t sufficiently study the original character design before they got started. Which to me still looks like a human resource problem. They simply don’t have enough skilled 2D animators walking around at WDAS.

All due to the fact that they don’t look to have full body 2D crew ready to be put on a project. They just sort of scrambled them together to draw around 500 characters for a 2 minute short within a 2 year production period.

It’s just very complex. And considering all that I think it looks as good as it probably could have looked.

[Disney Duster]

I agree with Marce82 and PatrickvD in this instance.

Aurora, Phillip and John Henry look horrible as well. Like House of Mouse level of quality The three fairies from Sleeping Beauty don't look great either. If you compare their animation here to the one in Enchanted Tales, this one's considerably worse. If this is the best 2D animation modern Disney can give us then I don't want it.

Too stinking bad. Take it or you get no hand-drawn animation at all. Also, they don't look bad at all. It's really your judgement, attitude, and opinion that's bad, worthless, and invalid.

Thank you.

NEXT.

Wow, D23ExpoVisitor25, after reading this whole thread, I have seen your mean, awful comments to Sotiris, and they are not ok, especially the one I quoted. Sotiris's comments are not worthless or invalid at all. I often disagree with a lot of things Sotiris says, and think he can be overly negative sometimes, but that doesn't mean he deserves what you have said about him. You should apologize.

[PatchofBlue]

So I've seen the short six or seven times over the last week, and I still tear up toward the finale. Like, watching the characters from all across the canon singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" is itself such a moving prospect, but the sequence jumps like straight from Beast to Ariel to Baloo, just knocking out my top three right in a row.

It's basically everything we were promised, even cashing in on the points I'd thought they'd steer away from. I liked, for example, seeing more obscure characters, like those from the 2000s, standing shoulder to shoulder with characters graced with more coverage across the years. I liked that the animators acknowledged Strange World here after all, understanding that even if that movie's landing was less than promising, it is still a part of the Disney family.

Creating a believable space for Disney characters to interact without going full-on multiverse has been something I have really been interested to see, and even the small interactions in this short were really gratifying, even moreso because they were all in character. I think the closest we got to anything subversive was when Charming lost his shoe on the staircase instead of Cinderella, which itself led to another great gag with Max running off with it. (I'm pretty sure Charming telling Eric to control his dog was a shoutout to the fact that Christopher Daniel Barnes has voiced both Charming and Eric.) Other standouts for me include Kristoff telling the dalmatian puppies to leave the TV alone or they'd get nightmares again or that long take with Peter and the Darlings flying across the studio.

I think the only characters I'm surprised didn't get like actual speaking lines were probably The Evil Queen/Old Hag and Maleficent, the latter especially since she is like the definitive Disney villain. I also don't think we saw Triton in the group photo, which off the top of my head is the only glaring omission.

My only real complaint, as others have observed, is how many of the 2D characters looked off-model, even in motion. The short would have landed as 10/10 for me if some of the characters had been animated more gracefully. I'll admit that while the edits of Snow White don't look entirely on model either, they are at least more visually pleasing to look at.

[Almofadinhas]

While the quality of a lot of the 2D characters bothered me, the short really got to me. I loved seeing all these characters interact, and how more obscure movies and even the shorts were acknowledged. Also certain details like Cinderella having her original silver dress I loved! The part with Mickey and Walt and everyone singing 'When You Wish Upon a Star' made me cry.

Overall I think it was a beautiful tribute and it also really, really made me miss House of Mouse.

[carolinakid]

To me, the omission of the Br’er characters from Song of the South was a major disappointment. Would it have killed them to show them for 3 seconds in the background? The film is an Academy Award winner and much loved by Walt.

[D23ExpoVisitor25]

To me, the omission of the Br’er characters from Song of the South was a major disappointment. Would it have killed them to show them for 3 seconds in the background? The film is an Academy Award winner and much loved by Walt.

Mary Poppins was more loved by Walt than Song of the South.

Also, NAACP got it banned in the US.

So, it was never gonna happen either way, even if Disney wanted to put them in there or not.

[carolinakid]

That simply isn’t true.
The NAACP did show its disapproval of the portrayal of black Americans in the film, even when it was being produced.
However, there hasn’t been any official “banning” going on anywhere.
Disney has simply made the film unavailable.
The characters could have been included as part of the short as representative of the company’s legacy if it had chosen to do so.
I was disappointed it chose not to as the film was dear to Walt and won an Oscar for Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and an honorary Oscar for James Baskett.

[Disney Duster]

I think it would have been a great idea, and very nice, to include the animated characters from Song of the South as well.

[carolinakid]

Thanks, Duster.
I have a fairly good copy of the film on a bootleg DVD that I purchased at the Uncle Remus Museum in Eatonton, Georgia.
I’ve loved the film, the score and the characters since I was a young boy.
And I loved seeing Bobby Driscoll knowing he would be the voice of Peter Pan 7 years later.

[Vlad]

I have the UK VHS, and a friend of mine transferred it to a DVD.

[carolinakid]

[Kyle]

Could be a fun idea for some animation student to attempt, ie, putting in some character from the couple of movies that are missing. either hiding somewhere subtlety, or more in your face and obvious, either one would work. if its well done, just to complete the thing.

[Marce82]

Just to address something PatrickvD said:

I am an animator myself. In my experience, the ability to have a character on model has nothing to do with tablets, transparency or software; but it's 100% about the skill of the artist OR whether they want to focus on being on model over focusing on performance and fluidity (many animators didn't/don't bother being on-model much, knowing their clean-up artists would re-do the drawing and correct volumes/features).

I also agree that the amount of time given to an artist affects the overall quality of the animation.

[PatrickvD]

All I’m saying is that today’s technology allows for little excuses to be off-model, since erasing or correcting can be done so much easier now compared to when things were done on paper. I animate as well.

[Disney Duster]

Thanks for the input, Marce82, very interesting information, and also thanks for your input, PatrickvD, quite interesting.

[DisneyFan09]

I finally saw the short yesterday and I must say that I liked it. I was pleased with the animation. Sure, it was second-tier, but it was still superior to the likes of Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers and Disenchanted. Despite how some characters looked off-model (like the characters from Tarzan, The Lion King and Cinderella), the rest was still surprisingly adequate. What`s surprising is how Pocahontas and Quasimodo were allowed to sing their lines of When You Wish Upon a Star (due to the low staple of their movies).
And also how the Gargoyles were with Quasi, due to how universally hated they are. Also how Jim Hawkins was surfing and the parts from The Rescuers Down Under. Despite how it wasn`t surprising that Asha joined Snow White and Mulan. My favorite parts were Aladdin, Genie, Bambi, the part where the dalmatian puppies are watching Fantasia, Mickey talking to Walt and Fix-It-Felix fixing Goofy`s camera. Overall, an enchanting and captivating short who truly honors Disney`s legacy.

[rodrigo_ca]

This one really did a number on me. I started tearing up hearing Feed the Birds but was full on sobbing when Fix it Felix fixed the camera