Last week Disney Animation had a tour of its animation building here in Burbank. I was pretty excited for this, because Disney has been reclusive when it comes to showing off what goes in inside the building that houses an enormous Fantasia Mickey hat. This tour was to show off Disney's latest animation feature Bolt. We were going to see some scenes in 3-D (The same scenes shown at Comic-Con) and also take a look at the entire animation process from storyboarding to lighting to voiceovers to actual hands on computer time with the 3-D models used in the Maya computer software.
It was a really fascinating tour. It's no secret to readers that I'm a giant Disney animation nut. Most would think a grown man shouldn't have a premium annual pass to the Disney parks, but these are people who have lost their childhood years ago. Plus I have the brain of a small dinosaur, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest what people think. One thing I did notice from Disney's last animated feature film attempts was a lack of soul. I did like Meet the Robinsons, but I was never able to finish Chicken Little. From what I've seen of Bolt, and with John Lasseter taking over the animation department at Disney, I can honestly say that I think they are finally back on track and will give kids and adults the wonderful animated features that fans the world over have come to expect from Disney.
When you first walk in to the building the walls are adorned with art and sculptures featuring their latest cartoon. There was Bolt stuff everywhere. Going deeper into the building, the walls of the studio were filled with artwork that was so jaw dropping, you were looking around wondering how you sneak some of it out of the building without being caught. (I'm already drawing up escape plans for my next break-in visit.) They even had artwork of their future features The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel, images that hadn't released online yet. Of course, we weren't allowed any cameras or cell phones inside, but the Rapunzel images were simply stunning.
It's an amazing process, bringing a cartoon to life. The number of people and man hours involved is just staggering. But everyone working there was a nut for animation. Every office had artwork everywhere, cartoon drawing on scraps of paper, action figures, statues and sketchbooks. They were all working with state of the art computers, monitors, and software and while it seemed like the jobs were tedious, everyone there had a smile on their face doing what they loved to do. And that was continuing the tradition Walt started all those years ago.
The first stop of the tour was seeing a couple of clips of Bolt in 3-D. We saw this footage at Comic-Con, but not in 3-D. It looked great and the 3-D wasn't a distraction at all. We were then treated to a presentation by Stereoscope Supervisor Robert Nueman on the 3-D process and how they placed cameras in the software that allowed them the freedom to get the shots they wanted, all while doing it in 3-D. He talked about the use of virtual windows that allowed them to focus on where the screen is going to appear to the audience and how the objects in that screen will be shown in 3-D. An entire writeup on the stereoscopic process can be found HERE.
But that was just the first stop in a long tour. All this week at Latinoreview, I'm going to be posting interviews with some of the creators, artists and designers of Disney's Bolt explaining some of the steps and processes in bringing an animated film to life. There will be interviews with Adolph Lusinsky on Lighting, Nathan Greno on the storyboard process and Mark Walton who is the voice of Rhino, one of the main characters in Bolt.
So for now, I'll leave you with some fun facts about the film and a brand new image of Bolt given to us by Disney. You can also click the picture to check out the official Disney Animation website. (I really should work in promotions for these guys. I'm such a kiss ass.)
In the story, Mittens, the street-wise alley cat, was originally called Mr. Mittens, because her owners never took the time to figure out if she was a boy or a girl.
Directors did not imagine the character of Penny with a Southern accent. But as Miley Cyrus began laying down tracks where Penny is playing with Bolt, her lovely drawl came through—as Miley imagined herself playing with her own dog, she spoke as she would at home. But when Penny is starring in the Bolt television show, Miley was directed to record without the accent… providing a wonderful distinction between Penny, the actress on the TV show, and Penny, the girl after the director calls cut.
John Travolta brings his natural unbridled enthusiasm and sweetness to the character Bolt, which the directors used to their advantage. John’s warmth and his contagious laugh were put to good use in the scenes where Bolt begins to learn what it is to be a real dog, without television cameras rolling. Travolta’s vocal performance even motivated the animators in their acting choices for Bolt, to exploit John’s vocal talents to the fullest. The result is a classic Travolta performance—reminiscent of such films as “Michael” and “Wild Hogs”—where the character’s tough exterior masks a sweet and vulnerable soul.
The character design for Mittens didn’t happen overnight—in fact, it took character designers and filmmakers approximately eight months to come up with her final “look.” The choice of a black and white coat was not the question—it was how to balance her scruff (from her hardscrabble life on the streets of New York) with patches of smoother fur from all camera angles.
Animator Mark Walton provides the voice of the TV-watching hamster Rhino. Mark’s voice was originally recorded as ‘scratch,’ or temporary. They let him know he’d been officially cast by setting up a mock recording session, with the last line of the script being “…and Mark Walton is the voice of Rhino!”
The production actually has a pet hamster named Doink! who has become a beloved crew member and is observed as reference for the animators.
Rhino, the hamster, was originally supposed to be a rat. During the initial story retreat to develop the idea for the film, Rhino was morphed into a hamster riding in a plastic ball.
To get a feel for the locations where Bolt and his entourage would be traveling, art director Paul Felix, director of lighting and look Adolph Lusinsky and others packed it up and hit the road. After exploring New York City (Bolt’s first inadvertent destination), the group drove to towns, trailer parks and campgrounds in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, scouting for local detail to add believability to Bolt’s cross-country journey. One example: the indigenous wildflower called Queen Anne’s Lace—or Daucus carota—dots the Midwestern roadside…and now, the roadside in “Bolt”! They also paid a visit to Las Vegas to get reference for back alleys and desert landscapes.
- John Powell, the composer for the film, also wrote the scores for the films in the “Bourne” franchise.
Throughout production, each member of the crew working on “Bolt” would pin pictures of their pet in the “Production Pets Gallery,” right across from the “Crew Babies Gallery,” showing pictures of artists’ babies born during production. Over the course of the production, 37 crew members had babies. Director Chris Williams became a first-time father during the making of “Bolt.”
Stay tuned all this week for more features and interviews on Bolt! Comment below or e-mail: george@latinoreview.com
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