Suzanne Robertson
05-03-2011, 08:19 PM
Working on Robin Hood was a thrill. I was an “animator.” I knew I was running with the big dogs and I was very motivated to do well.
Lesson #1
Frank Thomas was my animating director. He would hand me scenes and then critique them. I was given the scene of Sheriff John who was to run up the stairs of the castle. I carefully calculated the steps and how long he should stay on each step. I planned each detail and then animated it. I had the scene shot and took it to Frank.
He said, “Mmmm, mmm"
Another animator, Milt Kahl, happened to be in the room. He had a little more to say.
“Well, you have him running up the stairs alright but it’s sure not very entertaining. Can’t you think of a more interesting way for the guy to go up the steps? Is he going so fast his feet can’t negotiate the stairs, does he push himself off the round walls of the spiral steps? What is it about the scene that makes it fun to watch? Just going up the steps is no big deal.”
BIG LESSON, that’s what that was… big lesson, it needs to be entertaining!
I had to figure this out. How could my animation convey humor or drama? Was it mysterious or suspenseful? I needed to put all of the pieces of this animation puzzle together.
I worked very hard on Robin Hood and it was a good picture. I was getting it.
Then I noticed something.
Disney had let all of their inkers go. They were no longer inking the drawings, but Xeroxing them and leaving the lines rough. It was obvious to me on the screen that the lines were not clean. It bothered me. I even asked… "Why have we done this." The answer was simple, “It was cheaper.”
Lesson #2
Woolie came to me and asked me to animate a scene where Robin Hood would dance with Maid Marion. “Wow, this will be really fun” I said. “I get to make up a dance.”
“No” was his answer. “I want you to get into the archives and get the scene where Snow White is dancing with the dwarfs; make Maid Marion do the same dance and then Robin Hood can dance with her.”
There I was laying paper over the old cells and copying exactly what I had watched as a child.
When I finished it Milt Kahl, who was the "KING" of animation at the time, saw it and he was not happy.
“We don’t do that,” he said. “We don’t copy other people’s animation.”
He wasn’t really angry at me, he was angry at Woolie. There’s no end to creativity and no end to new ideas. Lesson number two, Don’t copy.
Lesson #3
After Robin Hood we went immediately to another pictured called The Rescuers. This was a movie full of little mice who had formed a Rescue Aide Society.
Bob Newhart was the voice of the boy and Ava Gabor was the voice for the girl. I sat in, for the first time, on the recording sessions. All of the voices were recorded first and then we animated. That made it so we were able to gage how long the mouth was open for certain vowels and consonants. It was very precise.
The Rescuers was fun. The mice were easy to animate and I was definitely having a good time. Then I noticed something. When the first cells were painted of Bernard, the boy mouse, the white of his eye was painted the same color as his flesh. I asked, “Why aren’t we painting his eye white?”
Woolie responded, “Because it’s too expensive. We can’t do that anymore. It costs too much.”
We were cutting costs. We stopped putting shadows under the characters because that meant more work and more money. Details like reflections in the water were being left out. Once again I felt uneasy. Lesson number three was that stockholders care about their investments. Entertainment isn’t just about magic, it’s about money.
Where was Walt?
Lesson #1
Frank Thomas was my animating director. He would hand me scenes and then critique them. I was given the scene of Sheriff John who was to run up the stairs of the castle. I carefully calculated the steps and how long he should stay on each step. I planned each detail and then animated it. I had the scene shot and took it to Frank.
He said, “Mmmm, mmm"
Another animator, Milt Kahl, happened to be in the room. He had a little more to say.
“Well, you have him running up the stairs alright but it’s sure not very entertaining. Can’t you think of a more interesting way for the guy to go up the steps? Is he going so fast his feet can’t negotiate the stairs, does he push himself off the round walls of the spiral steps? What is it about the scene that makes it fun to watch? Just going up the steps is no big deal.”
BIG LESSON, that’s what that was… big lesson, it needs to be entertaining!
I had to figure this out. How could my animation convey humor or drama? Was it mysterious or suspenseful? I needed to put all of the pieces of this animation puzzle together.
I worked very hard on Robin Hood and it was a good picture. I was getting it.
Then I noticed something.
Disney had let all of their inkers go. They were no longer inking the drawings, but Xeroxing them and leaving the lines rough. It was obvious to me on the screen that the lines were not clean. It bothered me. I even asked… "Why have we done this." The answer was simple, “It was cheaper.”
Lesson #2
Woolie came to me and asked me to animate a scene where Robin Hood would dance with Maid Marion. “Wow, this will be really fun” I said. “I get to make up a dance.”
“No” was his answer. “I want you to get into the archives and get the scene where Snow White is dancing with the dwarfs; make Maid Marion do the same dance and then Robin Hood can dance with her.”
There I was laying paper over the old cells and copying exactly what I had watched as a child.
When I finished it Milt Kahl, who was the "KING" of animation at the time, saw it and he was not happy.
“We don’t do that,” he said. “We don’t copy other people’s animation.”
He wasn’t really angry at me, he was angry at Woolie. There’s no end to creativity and no end to new ideas. Lesson number two, Don’t copy.
Lesson #3
After Robin Hood we went immediately to another pictured called The Rescuers. This was a movie full of little mice who had formed a Rescue Aide Society.
Bob Newhart was the voice of the boy and Ava Gabor was the voice for the girl. I sat in, for the first time, on the recording sessions. All of the voices were recorded first and then we animated. That made it so we were able to gage how long the mouth was open for certain vowels and consonants. It was very precise.
The Rescuers was fun. The mice were easy to animate and I was definitely having a good time. Then I noticed something. When the first cells were painted of Bernard, the boy mouse, the white of his eye was painted the same color as his flesh. I asked, “Why aren’t we painting his eye white?”
Woolie responded, “Because it’s too expensive. We can’t do that anymore. It costs too much.”
We were cutting costs. We stopped putting shadows under the characters because that meant more work and more money. Details like reflections in the water were being left out. Once again I felt uneasy. Lesson number three was that stockholders care about their investments. Entertainment isn’t just about magic, it’s about money.
Where was Walt?