Japan - Disney, Toy Story Float / Conversation with Chuck Jones

Here the grandeur of the Disney entrance is seen as a backdrop to the float for one of my all-time favorite movies, Toy Story.  What a fantastic movie that was!  We took my son, Andrew, to see it back in 1995 when it first released, and I could tell right away it was written just as much for the adult audience as for the kids.  But it wasn't the excellent satirical writing that captivated me most...it was the jaw-dropping, completely computer-generated animation in 3D, the first of its kind for a full-length feature.  The color, the lighting, the movement, what a great job.

It was for that reason that I made sure we reserved a place at the All Star Movies Resort when we took the kids to Disney World in Florida a few years later, which at the time had a hotel with a Toy Story theme.  During the week we toured the animation studios, where the artists were at the time working on a movie; behind the wrap-around glass wall there were rows of computers with geek-types working fervently on the project.  Something I saw, though, stopped me in my tracks: on top of one of the computers was sitting a toy that was featured in Toy Story - the spiky doll's head that got around on Erector Set legs.  Wow, it was something to imagine that this may have been the actual figure used to model and animate that toy in the movie.  I very much wanted to linger and look some more, but the crowd pressed and I had to move on.

I've always been fascinated with animation in all its forms - flip books, claymation, stop-motion, celluloid, moving sand art...all of it.  Up until my mid-forties I'd never characterized myself as an artist, or otherwise might have pursued animation in college, at least in one or more of its technical aspects - I can't draw, but do have considerable patience with repetitive tasks and am, for better or worse, a perfectionist.  Nevertheless, it's fun to keep up with the latest developments as well as read about its history.

One time I had a brush with one of the great animators of our time - Chuck Jones, of Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny fame.  In 1990 he was doing a book signing at the old Bookstop on Alabama here in Houston, and I decided to go.  I'll never forget looking at his stretch limo parked in front, thinking, "Wow, Bugs Bunny paid for that ride!"

After purchasing the book I waited in line and eventually made it to his table.  As he signed my book (which I still have) I took the opportunity to tell him about a six-week class I taught on animation in the public school of a small town up in East Texas.  (I had the students draw a short of 180 frames on letter-sized typing paper, which were photographed one at a time with a Super 8 movie camera on an animation board I'd constructed.  When the term was over I brought my projector from home and showcased their work to the class.)  Chuck Jones seemed genuinely interested, taking a couple of minutes of his time to listen to the process and express appreciation of my effort to awaken interest in the young.

Back to the parade photo - below is the same picture, with Glowing Edges.  In tomorrow's post you will see something done a little differently with the top half, featuring just the architecture at the first roofline and above.