RON CLEMENTS DISNEY EXHIBITION PART 1

PART ONE: A DREAM JOB

One day I got a phone call that triggered a fine animation experience.
The 30th anniversary of Ron Clements' working at Disney was coming up
and it was decided to mark the occasion with a major exhibition of his
work. Having done many exhibitions of original animation art and
artifacts over the years in museums and art centers in Canada, the USA
and Europe, and having worked with Disney on some of these, they
thought Disada would be the right people to do the show to honor the
animator and co-director of features such as THE LITTLE MERMAID,
ALADDIN and others.

Asked what I would suggest as to how to do the exhibition, I thought
about the varied subjects of his feature films and proposed having
original artwork and other items displayed on “sets” from the films.
THE LITTLE MERMAID exhibits would be housed in an undersea grotto, THE
GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE on the streets of London, England, ALADDIN in
the marketplace, HERCULES amid ancient Greek columns and pottery, and
TREASURE PLANET on the deck of a pirate ship. The idea was immediately
accepted and other general details discussed.

I then called Nicholas Mahon and told him the news. He was a student
of mine in animation at the Ottawa School of Art a couple of years
earlier, and had worked at Disada in the two summers since. He was
currently halfway into his final year in design at John Abbott
College. His work there confirmed that I was right in thinking him a
fine talent. “Wow, who's the lucky stiff who'll design that for you?”
he asked. I told him he was my choice. I knew he could do it, would do
a great job, and that this could make his career.

It wasn't that easy to convince the school to let him do it. I thought
he should be given credit for his last semester for doing this job
instead of going to all his classes. It would be totally involving,
challenge him to the max, give him more practical experience than
would class assignments and give him a professional credit no doubt
his teachers would like to have on their own resumes. The school was
afraid this big bad company would have him do the work and not pay him
properly or at all. They couldn't figure out why we would go to an
ungraduated student to do a major show.

Then, in one of those weird coincidences, his main teacher asked which
company was offering him the job. Learning it was Disada she changed
her mind and agreed he should take it. As fate would have it, she had
worked at Disada part time in ink and paint while going to college
some thirty years or so earlier. As she said to Nick, now it made
sense to her, as Peter would be crazy enough to hire new talent for a
major job. She said she had enjoyed her time with us and to say hello.
But I wasn't worried. I had the most talented student I'd ever taught
on board. Now the real work could begin.

HAYLEY MILLS DEDICATES DISADA LIBRARY

About six months after Walt Disney died, Disada dedicated the Walt
Disney Memorial Library and leading Disney actress Hayley Mills
dedicated the library in the British Pavilion at the World's Fair in
Montreal. Accompanied by director Roy Boulting whom she would later
marry, she signed the papers as well as various Disney memorabilia and
lobby cards from her newest film, the non-Disney adult drama THE
FAMILY WAY.

Hayley was, of course, the star of POLLYANNA (for which she received a
special Academy Award), THE PARENT TRAP, THAT DARN CAT and other
Disney classics, and she told us many stories about Walt Disney and
working at the Disney studio. What impressed her most as a very young
girl when she first went to his home with her family in preparation
for POLLYANNA was that in the finished basement he had a full ice
cream and soda fountain installation and would enjoy making dairy
concoctions for his guests. She was bright and intelligent and I
recall that we talked about Marshall McLuhan and his then-new “The
Medium is the Message” theory as we toured the pavillion afterwards.
She has worked constantly in film and television and is currently in
the TV series WILD AT

See the full gallery on Posterous

John Ford

BLOG- JOHN FORD

John Ford was one of the greatest film directors. His dramas and
westerns rank among the best films ever made. In 1967 he was invited
to the international film festival at the World's Fair in Montreal.
Having obtained certification from the festival, I attended his press
conference, held around a huge table in the key hotel for the
festival. He had made the landmark western STAGECOACH (1939) that made
a star of John Wayne so I asked him if he had seen the remake that had
been made the year before. He got visibly angry and asked me if I had
and if so what I thought of it. I had, and answered something I don't
exactly recall but had him and the press crowd laughing. I didn't like
the remake.

After the press conference he asked me if I had some time and would I
like to go up to his hotel room and talk some more. We spoke of his
career of course and of some of my favorite Ford films, especially HOW
GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, one of the best films, period, THE GRAPES OF
WRATH and others. He had won an unprecendented four Academy Awards for
directing. Ingmar Bergman and Frank Capra said he was the best of all
directors.

He spoke of Hollywood, in non-glowing terms. While he didn't know of
my interest in animation, he said Hollywood spawned only two geniuses,
Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin. We seemed to get along well, the
great figure and the university student and he asked me if I would
come again the next day between his appointments. I did with a friend
to take photos and I brought some original 1939 Stagecoach lobby cards
for him to sign which he did very generously.

Ford had a reputation for being difficult and crochety even in his
younger days. He did not suffer fools gladly, shall we say. One of the
best stories has him directing on location and some studio suits show
up to complain that he was overschedule, about four days behind. The
rule of thumb was it usually took a day to shoot one page of script.
Ford listened, called over the script girl, took her copy of the
script, counted out and tore out four pages, announced they were now
back on schedule, and carried on with the scene being shot.
•
• Another story has Ford directing the actress Loretta Young, who
carried with her a small box. Whenever someone would swear on the set
she would collect 25 cents from them and one assumes, gave it to
charity. Feisty John Ford once said two bad words. She came up to him
at the next opportunity to collect 50 cents. He gave her a dollar. She
said she had no change. He said “that's okay, you %#^&! #(*%#! and
got his dollar's worth.

But he was nice to me, when he didn't have to pay me the time of day,
and this leads to another aspect of my meeting John Ford that I have
never told publicly but which I think he wouldn't mind my saying as it
brings balance to his persona and character. On the second visit he
seemed sad and told me that his daughter was very ill. He gave no
details but told me that many years earlier his wife had been
seriously ill. John Ford made a pilgrimage to the Basilica of
Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre and prayed for his wife's recovery, which came
to be. He wanted to return on behalf of his daughter. He had no way to
get there, about 35 miles northeast of Quebec City, nor did he want
his handlers to know about it. He asked if I would take him the
Saturday morning coming up, that being a free day for him.

I made the arrangements but got a call from him late Friday to say
that he could not go. His handlers refused to let him go. Their reason
was that it was unthinkable that John Ford might die in a car crash
with some nobody. He thanked me but it was clear that he was very
disappointed. While I only met with him a few times, he made as deep
an impression on me as do his films to this day.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Filming Whales

The longest production we ever did lasted ten years. Each summer we
would go to various locations and film whales. Whales are as elusive
as they are mesmerizing. As we used to say, `so much ocean, so little
whales.` Seeing our first was truly love at first sight.

We filmed most of the great whales, from finbacks to humpbacks and
even belugas. Sadly, our beluga footage which shows large plentiful
numbers in groups and baby belugas (gray before they turn white) are
rare shots now. We went to the Maritimes to film the rare right
whales, but despite a week on the water and spotter planes, found none
where they were supposed to be.

The project began with a radio documentary on whales that interviewed
Mr. Gerald Iles, head of the Zoological Society of Canada. It sounded
fascinating, and I met with him and that began his close involvement
with the ten year project as well as a good lifetime friendship.

The ultimate goal was, of course, to film a blue whale, the largest
animal that ever lived, even larger than the biggest dinosaur. In the
last days of our final season we were in a small motorboat as opposed
to our usual larger boat when suddenly, right beside us a blue whale
surfaced. It was the first any of us had ever seen. It slowed down to
keep pace with us, on the surface, and then a second fully-grown blue
whale surfaced on the other side of us and did the same. We estimated
they swam beside us for thirteen miles. It was the highlight of the
film`s shooting. A fully-grown blue whale is approximately 80 feet in
length. All I know is that at times the head was way in front of us
while its tail was far behind us. Of course this was the highlight of
the film`s shooting.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Neil Armstrong

The first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong has died. It is hard for
young people today to identify with the impact of this accomplishment
by him, his fellow crewmates, and many thousands of others. CBS and
anchor Walter Cronkite were the “space network” to watch this truly
awesome event. CBS had reporters in various locations: the Goddard
Space Center, Cape Canaveral and Tomorrowland in Disneyland! It wasn't
as frivolous as might first appear. Most people knew of Tomorrowland
and the rocket ride and other space-themed rides and attractions
looking to the future. Only tomorrowland was starting that day,
todayland. We would never look at the TWA rocket and other attractions
the same way again. Heywood Hale Brouin was the Tomorrowland news
reporter and his being there in a fantasy future pointed up how much
more imagination-inspiring the real thing was and how things would
from now on be different.

I was expecting the actual stepping onto the moon would be the great
moment, but it turned out to be a touch anticlimactic. Far more
awesome was the actual landing on the moon, to my surprise. As they
counted out the diminishing number of feet left to landing, time
stopped and our world changed and when it landed (and didn't sink into
the surface of the moon) we sat stunned. Now THAT was truly awesome.
Hours later, Armstrong went down to the surface, a thrilling moment
but less momentous than the landing, the actual first contact between
two worlds.

DID YOU KNOW: What Neil Armstrong really said (as he later confirmed)
as he stepped off the ladder onto the surface was :That's one small
step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” The transmission was
cutting in and out a bit, and the word “a” was not heard. Listen to
the transmission and you'll hear that that the first part of “mankind”
is almost lost in the same way. To leave out “a” makes it meaningless,
and it needs “a man” in relation to “mankind” to give the sentence any
meaning.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Disney Family Museum

Disada has made a special donation to the Walt Disney Family Museum in
San Francisco. It opened in 2009 and was founded by the Disney family
and in particular by Walt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller. On
the death of Walt Disney in 1966, a book of condolence was begun by
his grassroots fans in the United States, and this was sent to us some
months later. People wrote by hand their feelings about Walt Disney
and his works, and it serves as a witness to his positive impact on
them. We thought that the book should go to the Museum and it was sent
to Ms. Miller there recently.

The Ups and Downs of Filming!

Belmont Park in Montreal was the city's amusement park for sixty
years. It had one of the last and best old-type wooden roller
coasters, The Cyclone, and of course it figured prominently in the
live-action television commercial we did for the park. One of the
shots for cameraman Peter Rosenfeld was to sit strapped in the front
seat and film the view as it went up and down the full sized course.
Here is a photo of him and Robert Higden who rode with him to hold him
in on the really big dips! Peter isn't smiling after ride number nine.

See the full gallery on Posterous

My Meeting With Dave Fleischer

After Walt Disney died, a special tribute evening was held and the
pioneers of animation attended. I was able to meet the earliest
pioneers like John Randolph Bray, Otto Messmer and Paul Terry. Ub
Iwerks. Walter Lantz and others of Disney's contemporaries were among
the many others there. The Fleischers were represented by Dave
Fleischer.

The next day I visited him in his hotel room and we talked about Betty
Boop, Popeye, the two Fleischer feature cartoons and other films. He
had invented the rotoscope for silent Koko the Clown cartoons and he
made a drawing of the system and also did some drawings of Popeye and
others as well for me. He was a very pleasant and kind man, it seemed
to me, and he still kept his hand in. He had just finished animating
some special effects for the Julie Andrews musical feature THOROUGHLY
MODERN MILLIE.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Jiminy Cricket! More Cricket Facts!

(1) That “Jiminy Crickets!” was a phrase people used to use in the
days before Walt Disney turned it into a name? In SNOW WHITE AND THE
SEVEN DWARFS, the dwarfs exclaim in unison “Jiminy Crickets!” at one
point.

(2) That Walt Disney was right when he said audiences, especially
women, would be turned off by insects as characters, though many Silly
Symphonies were filled with them and Bucky Bug was a Disney comic
character. Not long after PINOCCHIO was released the Fleischers
released their second animated feature, MR. BUG GOES TO TOWN. It was
not a success and led to the studio's demise. When in the 1950s it was
rereleased to theatres it had its title changed to HOPPITY GOES TO
TOWN so as to not “bug” audiences. Sensibilities are different today I
suppose, with the success of A BUG'S LIFE and ANTZ.

Jay and Silent Bob on the Avengers film!!!

Kevin Smith talks about his views on Avengers! Great way to have a
laugh on a Saturday night!

Animation Makes Good Business!

Animation is strictly controlled! There are few surprises once
production begins since the film is created to exact specifications.
The story, script or narration, the look, design and colour of the
film, the characters and what they do are all laid out ahead of time.
Then approved by the client. Modifications and changes are done at the
pre-production stage. The budget is therefore carefully controlled,
and so just as there are no creative surprises, there is no need for
financial surprises either!

If a film is successful, more may be wanted. If so, your main actors
will be available and won't ask for more money for the sequels. They
are animated characters who don't get sick, die or end up in the
tabloids. They are drawn, and if the original animators leave or are
unavailable new animators can carry on without any changes seen
onscreen!

Peter Adamakos and Warren Beatty at the Bonnie and Clyde film premier!

Salvador Dali Animation Art!

Employees at the Disney studio in its golden period were allowed to
take without cost original animation art cels and sometimes other
types of artwork, posters and so on. Jack Dunham, a former animator
and management employee told me of the time he went to the designated
room and found quite a lot of original drawings and sketches by
Salvador Dali. Dali had been working on a film at the studio at the
personal invitation of Walt Disney soon after World War Two. He did
not personally complete the film and here was a lot of his artwork.
Being an admirer of Dali's talent he took with him all that he could
and kept it in his home for about ten years. One day he was moving to
another house. His possessions were in part piled up outside the house
he was vacating, waiting for the moving van to arrive. The weekly
garbage truck arrived first. Though efforts were made to find and get
back the artwork, they were unsuccessful.

My favorite single-artist museum is the Salvador Dali museum in St.
Petersburg, Florida. On one of my visits there I arranged to go to
their archives to research his Disney film. All that they have are
reproductions of the original art, storyboards by John Hench and the
like that survived in the Disney Archives. The film, DESTINO, was
revived and completed by Hench and others in 2003, winning various
awards and getting an Academy Award nomination.

Fantasia Animation Cell Slip and Slide!

In the golden days of Disney animation, original cartoon cels were
given out to studio visitors, fans, and made available for free to
employees. While the studio kept a representative selection for
itself, and virtually all the drawings, notice would go out that cels
from, say, the latest Donald Duck cartoon would be available in Room
such and such on a given day, and people would help themselves.

One of the times I (Peter Adamakos) visited with Frank Thomas, in my
view the greatest of all the animators, he told me a story that you
may not want to read about if you are one of the many collectors of
original animation artwork. We were in the kitchen of his home and he
looked out the window and pointed out the small hill out back. One day
he came home with an armload of original cels, hundreds and hundreds
of them and as usual, gave them to his son, who always appreciated
getting them, though he appreciated them in a very different way than
most did. Not too long later, looking through this window he saw his
son and his friends spread out all the cels on that hill, and as usual
had a great time sliding down this slick little hill in their best
imitation of skiing (or was it surfing?)

Frank said that the cels he had brought home that day were of Mickey
Mouse as The Sorcerer's Apprentice in FANTASIA. He remembered feeling
relieved when they were done, the cels destroyed and put in the trash.
He said he was afraid that Walt Disney would pop over and see what had
been going on. Walt, he said, wouldn't have minded their being used in
this way, but knew he would have winced over it being done with Mickey
cels. Disney's “loyalty” to his creation was well known and much
demonstrated over the years.

Frank chuckled at how the kids destroyed about a quarter of a million
dollars' worth of cels by 1980s s prices in less than an hour.

More Three Little Pigs!

It seems you all enjoyed watching The Three Little Pigs so here is
some other facts about the 1933 award winner:

1) Three Little Pigs won the Academy Award for Best Cartoon. It was so
popular that theatres kept running it even as they changed the main
feature. (See photo of theatre showing the film that had it so long
the pigs had grown beards.)

2) The demand for more of the pigs resulted in more Disney cartoons
featuring the three little pigs but they were barely noticed, even
though they surpassed the original in quality and storytelling.

3) The film's simple song “Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?” was an
instant unexpected hit. There was no sheet music published at first,
so bands sent people to the theatres to copy down the music they heard
so they could play it. It was used in various live-action feature
films when someone played a piano or harmonica, and it was
piano-played in Disney's MICKEY'S FIRE BRIGADE. (See photo of sheet
music cover.)

4) The song was originally written as “Who's Afraid of the Big Old
Wolf?” but the singers kept saying Big Bad Wolf so it was kept as
such.

5) In the original story it ends with the pigs boiling and eating the
wolf! That would have been a great ending!!!

Aaaaaannnd just for fun here is the Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wold sing along!

Historical Note on Personality Animation

Early cartoons often had groups of mice, cats, rabbits and other
animals all looking the same and acting the same way. Hordes of little
rabbits made easter eggs in an assembly line (Disney's FUNNY LITTLE
BUNNIES, Lantz' THE EGG CRACKER SUITE), a mob of kittens torment
Mickey and Pluto in the Oscar-nominated MICKEY'S ORPHANS.

Animation historians always say that the breakthrough for individual
personality animation came in the landmark cartoon THREE LITTLE PIGS
(1933), because each pig had a different personality. This has been
repeated over and over again, but I (Peter Adamakos) always maintained
that there are two personalities in the three pigs. The first two pigs
are identical (they even speak lines together) with the exception of
their choice of home building materials. The third little pig, often
called Practical Pig, is very different from his brothers. So the
individual identification holds, but no three different personalities.

Chuck Jones often wrote or spoke about the three pigs being the
breakthrough with three distinct personalities and in one of our
meetings I told him my view. He thought a moment and said yes. It
doesn't take away from the achievement, but shows how animation needs
constant evaluation.

What do your think?

Concept sketch

Check out this haunted castle concept sketch! Creativity is our business in animation!
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

Animate In Any Language!

Want your animated product in a different language? No problem! With
some simple changes animated characters can talk in any language! This
makes it easy to market your idea worldwide!

Giant Potato Model Sheet!

I found some awesome concept work from the original Winnie Witch and the Giant Potato!
This is a Model sheet with some drawing notes on Potato.
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

The Business of Animation!

Animation is ideal for handling abstract concepts! It can take you
inside an atom and soar through space. It is perfect for handling
difficult subject matter. Animation will go where live action cameras
can’t. It can also provide the same image as a live action camera at
a lower cost.

Service and insert animation is a great way to show the inner workings
of your idea. Disada Productions has assisted in closing many
investment deals by providing promotional materials to help our
clients sell their product. Maybe it is the assembly process in your
factory, how your medication attacks germ cells or even how your
proposed investment will work? Animation can help!

What’s more is Animation never gets old! With a few simple updates
animation done thirty years ago can be reused over and over again!

Disada’s Orignal Short Cartoon Makes it to the Oscars!

Disada's first theatrical animated cartoon Insomnia or Bust was
completed in 1971. Legendary New York Times film critic Bosley
Crowther gave our film a positive verbal “review” convincing Columbia
Pictures to distribute Insomnia or Bust with a new Barbra Steisand
film.

For the US market we wanted the New York distributor, Lester A.
Schoenfeld. He was the mentor of short filmmakers, and distributed
shorts exclusively, both live-action and animation to theatres. He
started in the late 1950s and the films he took on became both Academy
Award nominees and winners.

We were delighted that he chose ours for 1971 and he began promoting
and booking the film. He entered it in the Academy Awards. We learned
that there were about 75 animated cartoons entered that year.

Every few weeks he'd tell us we were in the final 50, then 25 and
eventually 10 finalists. Disada Productions did not make the final
cut for the top three that would move on to the final award ceremony.

Disada Productions expands its web presence!

Disada Productions is proud to announce our new webpages. We now have
a presence on Linkedin, blogspot, posterous, Word Press and You Tube!
Come Like or Follow us on all of our new sites!

Animate Your Business

Whether you are trying to educate, entertain or engage, Animation stands the test of time. It speaks to all demographics simultaneously and is easily synchronized with any language. We dare you to try to find a human with that much appeal.

 Animation just gets better with age.

Animate Your Business!