here he talks about the then in pre production of Disney's The Black Cauldron.
Sunday, December 30, 2018
Milt Kahl's lecture at CAL Arts
here he talks about the then in pre production of Disney's The Black Cauldron.
Thursday, December 20, 2018
The Making of The Small One (1978)
(Note this is one of those posts where I go off topic and go on a different topic that happened at Disney. and this film was being made while The Black Cauldron was in pre production in the late 1970's)
in late November and December there are interesting holiday traditions involving TV and movies.
people sit and with their families and watch their favorite Christmas shows.
(Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus is Comin' To Town, The Grinch, Charlie Brown, etc)
Before TV, the tradition was a little different. people used to listen to the radio for their favorite Christmas themed episode of their favorite show or a radio Christmas special.
the story (religious in nature), Charles Tezwell's The Small One. produced for The Kate Smith Show
from Wikipedia (UGH):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Small_One_(album)
"The Small One," one of the most touching of all Christmas stories, was first produced in 1939 on the Kate Smith radio show by Robert Welch, who later became a Paramount producer.[1] It was featured in Bing Crosby’s Philco Radio Time broadcast of December 25, 1946"
Bing Crosby - The Small One - Dec 24, 1946
"and Decca Records soon arranged to make a new recording of it. This took place on March 20, 1947. The album was released on September 2, 1947[2] and in due course it was ordered by more than 1,500 private schools in the USA.[3]
"Crosby researcher Fred Reynolds outlined the story:
This Christmas story is narrated by Crosby when, in Old Mexico at the hour of siesta, he sees the boy Pablo berating a disreputable looking donkey. He explains that what is mistaken for stubbornness in the breed is, in fact, the pride that was brought by one that fulfilled their destiny. He relates how, many years ago, a boy was sent by his father to take an old donkey (the "Small One") to the tanner and obtain a piece of silver for its hide; of how the boy first tried to save the animal by selling it to a new owner at an auction where he was scoffed at and re-buffed; of how, entering the tanner's gate he is stopped by a stranger asking if he will sell the donkey to him as he has to undertake a long journey and his wife is not well; of how, when the new owner is stopped at the town gate by a soldier and asked his identity, replies that he is Joseph, his wife is Mary and that they are on their way to Bethlehem. There, in a stable, a King was born and the Small One was envied for becoming part of a great miracle.
Bing tells the charming story with conviction and he is well supported by the other actors and the background effects and music provided by Victor Young with a "Silent Night, Holy Night" conclusion. The "hoofbeats" effects (the same notes that the angels sang in their rejoicing) are adroitly interpolated.[4]"
https://archive.org/details/78_the-small-one_bing-crosby-charles-tazewell-victor-young-robert-welch_gbia0020200
"Crosby repeated The Small One on his Philco shows of December 24, 1947 and December 22, 1948.[5]"
in 1947. The Small One was published as a book.
from wikipedia (Again?)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Small_One
"By the early 1970s, several of Disney's senior animators had died or retired, but the continuous success of their animated features convinced studio executives that the animation department was still lucrative but in desperate need for new talent.[1] Veteran animator Eric Larson was selected to head the training program, in which he selected and trained graduates from colleges and art schools across the United States.[2] Eventually, twenty-five new artists were hired from 1970 to 1977.[3]
The idea for The Small One originated from story trainee Pete Young who found the book among optioned properties at the studio library. He developed the initial storyboards at home, and pitched it to Ron Miller who claimed it to be a story with "heart". To help polish the storyboard, Miller brought on veteran Disney storyboard artist Vance Gerry to collaborate with Young.[4][3] Larson had assumed he would be directing the film and brought Burny Mattinson to help re-board the story, as well as veteran animator Cliff Nordberg to help assist on the animation.
According to Mattinson, the team left on Friday for the weekend, and returned on Monday to have their work tossed out because studio management had decided to give the project to Don Bluth to direct.[1] Then-animator Betsy Baytos claimed Larson, in reaction to the news, "just shook his head and knew that he wasn't being appreciated. He felt the old days were gone."
In retrospect, Bluth stated, "Small One was something I directed to get the crew busy until Pete's Dragon...[Larson] might have [been involved] in the storyboard area. [But he] didn't get to direction. I think he elected to [teach]."[3] Given the allotted production budget, Bluth composed two songs himself with a third song composed by assistant director Richard Rich,[4] and recycled animation of Mowgli from The Jungle Book.[5]"
From Don Bluth and Gary Goldman's Blog
dragonslairthemovie.com/working-on-disneys-the-small-one/
There were 127 artists, camera operators and administrators involved in the making of this film, many of whom were not credited.
In those days, as a new animator, you had to have created at least 100 feet of animation in a film (about 68 seconds) in order to receive a credit on the film. If your employed position was below the level of a character animator, a layout artist, background artist, effects animator or a department supervisor, you would not receive a credit on a film. How times have changed.
Eric Larson, a legendary member of Disney’s “Nine Old Men” was a master animator and the mentor to many of us animation trainees. He had nurtured the promising story artist, Pete Young’s idea to bring the Charles Tazewell book, The Small One, to life as an animated short film. Working with veteran storyman, Vance Gerry, and with Eric’s guidance, Pete was able to flesh out the storyboards for the 30 minute short.
Eric ushered the project into production with the intention of producing the little film and having his long-time animation assistant, story artist and animator, Burny Mattinson to direct the animation. However, the studio’s animation producer/director, Woolie Reitherman had begun nurturing Don Bluth to be the next animation feature-film producer/director.
Unbeknownst to Eric, Woolie announced to the crew that Don Bluth would be the Producer/director for The Small One. This caused much concern to Don and to the young turks in the Disney animation training program.
The trainee’s mentor, whom they had expected to produce the film and would have continued to tutor them on the film as well, would not be the producer of the film. There was a bit of anger and an effort to quash this decision by approaching the-then company chairman, Ron Miller. They made a plea to have Mr. Miller approach Woolie to reverse the decision. That did not happen. Don became the new producer/director.
Don, on the other hand, was surprised by Woolie’s decision to cast him in this position so soon after his debut as the Director of animation for Pete’s Dragon (1977). And, worst of all, the announcement was made without notifying Eric. But that was Woolie’s plan, to see if Don could stand the heat and handle the adversity. Don was very aware that Eric was involved with Pete Young’s presentation and that he had been mentoring Pete on this project for months. The challenge would be difficult.
Friday, December 14, 2018
DIsney News Magazine summer 1985
interesting stuff you can find on Internet Archive
this topic I'm bringing up is the Disney News Magazine
https://archive.org/details/DisneyNewsMagazine_Vol20.3_1985.Summer/page/26
Friday, November 30, 2018
Mel Shaw's art for DIsney's The Black Cauldron
Jim Korkis’ Animation Anecdotes #265: When it came to doing The Black Cauldron (1985),
part of the five volumes of Lloyd Alexander’s The Prydain Chronicles, storyman Mel Shaw was given the task to read all the books and condense all the heroes,
villains and storylines into a workable cinematic story.
He made close to 250 colored pastel sketches of key dramatic moments and put them onto 35mm slides and then synchronized the slides to a recording of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana (and some other music).
This resulted in a twenty-minute presentation for Shaw to pitch the story of a young boy’s quest for a sinister cauldron that must be destroyed.
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-265/
images from Heritage Auctions
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Lloyd Alexander
Documentary about Lloyd Alexander produced by Jared Crossley
If you like, you can also check out his blog http://lloydalexanderfilm.blogspot.com/
Excerpt from Wielding the Two-Edged Enchanted Sword Starlog Magazine, #101, 1985-12 pp. 40-41
Alexander had very little creative input into the Disney adaptation of The Black Cauldron “When the Disney Studio began working on the story treatment several years ago, they invited me to work with them,” he says. “I wanted to, but I knew that I didn’t have the skill. So, I wished them the best of luck, told them to have a good time and kept my hands safely off.
"So many authors are eager to sell movie rights, but complain when it doesn’t turn out the way they expected. That’s ridiculous! The Disney writers and animators are every bit the artist that I am. It would be silly for me to get in the way of their creative process.
"I haven’t seen the film yet, so I don’t know how good a job they’ve done. The bits of animation that I have seen are spectacular. The colors and detail are incredible — it’s vin-tage Disney of the 1930s and ‘40s.”
So, Lloyd Alexander waited for the official release of The Black Cauldron to view the first film adaptation of one of his books. “I suppose that if I flew out to California they would have arranged a screening for me. But to be honest, I would rather wait. Otherwise, it’s like peeking at Christmas presents early. I prefer to open them slowly and savor them. Because once you get them open, you have to wait another whole year for next Christmas.”
from Chris Baker’s flickr photo of his 1997 response letter from Lloyd about the petition to get The Black Cauldron on video
"Dear Chris Baker:
Many thanks for your fine letter. It's surly the best compliment that any writer would hope for.
That's a fascinating idea. an online petition for a re-release of Disney's version of The Black Cauldron: or, for that matter,
even a videotape. (I'd buy a few myself) Yes, I'm certainly all for it: however,
I mustn't add my name to the petition: it would be a sort of conflict of interest.
Even so, I was delighted by your comments: and very deeply touched, and send appreciation and all warmest greetings.
Lloyd Alexander"
https://www.flickr.com/photos/c-bake/507315170/
Jim Korkis’ Animation Anecdotes #144:
Author Lloyd Alexander was interviewed by Scholastic Inc. before he passed away in 2007 and one of the questions the students asked was his feeling about Disney’s animated feature “The Black Cauldron” (1985)
based on his books.
Alexander replied: “First, I have to say, there is no resemblance between the movie and the book. Having said that, the movie in itself,
purely as a movie, I found to be very enjoyable. I had fun watching it. What I would hope is that anyone who sees the movie would certainly enjoy it,
but I’d also hope that they’d actually read the book. The book is quite different. It’s a very powerful, very moving story, and I think people would find a lot more depth in the book.
There is a very good possibility of other movies. Disney, again, is interested in an animated movie of ‘Time Cat’. This could happen in the next several years. Time Cat should be a lot of fun as an animated movie
– I just hope I’m around to see it.” Time Cat is about Gareth a talking cat who can visit nine different points of history (his nine lives, basically).
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-144/
Wednesday, October 10, 2018
The Comic Book of the Film
The comic book panals follow a little bit close to that of the storyboards, with some abridged and altered dialogue.
some of the deleted stuff made it in the comic. And a addition to note: the dialogue has been dumbed down for this comic book,
(like the 1985 Theatrical Cut, the violent parts that Jeffery Katzenberg and the Disney employees cut did not make it to the comic book)
here are some glimpses
although the some parts of the panels in this comic resembels the the earlier alternate fairfolk scene from 1983
the rest resemembels the finalized film
what was trimed
Like in the story boards these comic panels prove this scene was a bit longer
you might think it is strange to see deleted and alternate stuff in the comic book.
back then it was common for comic book adaptations of movies to have such things,
Monday, September 24, 2018
30 years later (on October 2015)
an event I never gone to
on October of 2015, The Black Cauldron had a showing at the El Captain Theatre
you can read the article here:
https://www.laughingplace.com/w/articles/2015/10/31/the-black-cauldron-at-the-el-capitan-theatre/
"The Way It Was Meant To Be Seen" on the big screen
the July 1985 Theatrical cut, not the 1984 work in progress cut. please don't be disappointed
Friday, September 21, 2018
Technirama widescreen and The Layout Man's Picture
Excerpt from Animated View's interview with Black Cauldron Producer Joe Hale:
http://animatedviews.com/2010/the-black-cauldron-producer-joe-hale-talks-munchings-and-crunchings/
AV: The film was shot in 70mm. Was that a tricky part of producing the movie?
JH: Actually, that part was not that difficult because we’ve been doing films in CinemaScope. It was a just matter of having a lot more animation and bigger backgrounds. So, it was probably a bigger problem for animation than it was for layout.
AV: Layout is somehow one of the most obscure parts of the animation process. Can you tell me about that not-so-well-known art?
JH: Basically, there were a lot of very talented animators. There were the Nine Old Men, and other animators that were talented as well. So, there was – God, I don’t know – thirty animators working at the time and I figured that I didn’t want to be an animator.
So, I got to my boss, Andy Engman, about getting into Layout. What the Layout man does is: he takes the storyboard and breaks it down into individual scenes. And then you draw, you “lay out” that scene and you make drawings of the characters. You work very closely with the director and you have a lot of input.
On Cauldron, being a Layout man, I was heavy on layout. Cauldron is really a layout man picture. What I wanted to do was show the audience the world that they’re placed in. So, I wanted a lot of long shots.
The way we approached layout in those days, like in the pictures that Walt was involved in, was we approached each scene as if they were a painting that you could frame and hang on a wall. We made each scene very attractive. The layout man is like an art director. He’s certainly like an assistant director combined with art directing.
Somewhere along the line, they started to call it Layout, but most people never knew what layout really meant. The Layout men are the unsung heroes of animation because nobody knows what we do. When you look a scene on the screen after it’s painted, the people say “oh, what a beautiful painting!”. The background men pretty much get the credits for it. But basically, it was all designed by a layout man with just a pencil, a black and white drawing that the animator and the background man could follow.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Special Effects:: computer animation and the APT process
Excerpt from:
Animating "The Black Cauldron"
by Brain Lowery
https://www.dix-project.net/item/3061/starlog-magazine-issue-97-animating-the-black-cauldron
"One of the problems we've had in the last few years," Hale admits, "is that Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and others have moved in and taken over special effects – they do in live action what we used to do only in animation. If we are going to have any kind of an impact and keep this industry going, we must go farther in animation than they have in live action."
Inspired by the CG the Disney animators were doing for "Basil of Baker Street" (later "The Great Mouse Detective"), Joe Hale asked them to do some computer animation for The Black Cauldron.
Excerpt from Computers in the 'Cauldron'
by Patricia Berry
March 1985
https://www.dix-project.net/item/2926/enter-magazine-issue-2-5-computers-in-the-cauldron
This animated fantasy took Disney five years to make. All of the characters and most other moving objects were done by hand by Disney's staff of artists, But computers helped with the animation of solid objects,
and with the filming process itself.
On many scenes, a computerized device, appropriately called the Animators' Helper System, assisted the artistic staff.
The Animators' Helper improved and speeded up the work, according to Cauldron's producer, Joe Hale. "In one scene, we have a boat that Taran and Eilonwy escape in," says Hale.
"First, the boat's just sitting in the water. But when the kids get in, it tips with their weight, and balances again.
"It takes a very long time to make that kind of movement look real by hand-drawing each frame," Hale explains. "If it's not done precisely, you get a kind of rubbery look instead of a fluid movement."
But with the computer, animators simply had to input the dimensions of the boat, its various angles, and the directions in which it was to move. The computer then printed outlines for each position of the boat.
The computer can do some fancy work that hand-drawn animation can't.
But Disney's animators didn't want to use the full power of the computer For example, in the boat scene, the computer drawings could show three dimensions of the boat,
including the inside ribs that you wouldn't normally see. But that would have looked very different than the rest of the animation.
"So we traced only the part you'd see from the front," explains Hate, "for the painters to fill in later"
In the filming process, computers helped Disney artists create depth of field. This is very difficult to achieve in the two-dimensional world of animation.
By using a multiplane camera with precisely timed computer-controlled exposures, the filmmakers were able to get an image that seemed deeper and more lifelike.
Yet while computers have proved very helpful, there are certain aspects of animated filmmaking that are off-limits to these machines. For instance, says Hale,
"we don't use the computer to add color [to the animation]. We do all that by hand. We even grind our own pigments."
Computers also do not play a part in creating the studio's memorable animated characters, Disney animators pride themselves on creating life-like characters — like the Horned King and Taran — out of pen, paper and paint.
"While [the computer] is great for animating solid, geometric objects that have [little or no] human characteristics, I doubt if the computer will ever be used tor animating personality," says Hale,
"The computer can save thousands of hours for us, but it's just a tool," he concludes. "The real work is done by the artists. A computer will never replace them."
Excerpt from Mike Pareza 's "Cauldron of Chaos, Part 3"
"A new process was also developed during Cauldron called APT which was meant to replace Xerography at the studio. Dave Spencer would go on to receive an technical merit Aademy Award for the process however it never did take the place of Xerox as foretold. Computers would eventually provide that little change."
Monday, August 27, 2018
Deleted subplot: Dalben gets Captured by The Horned King
Excerpt from:
"The Black Cauldron: Disney steps back into darkness with a robust Sword & Sorcery tale" - Dan Scapperotti
from "Cinefantastique" Vol. 13 No. 5 pg. 26-27
1983
https://www.dvdizzy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23758
"Joe Hale gives a quick run through of the plot: the cauldron of the title is in the possession of the evil Horned King who immerses his dead enemies in it. Later, they emerge as the invincible, soulless Cauldron Born Warriors. With his army of the dead, the Horned King plans to conquer the peaceful land of Pyrdain. The wicked wizard, however, must perform a human sacrifice before each full moon in order to maintain the life of his army and the cauldron.
The Horned King captures Dallben, a wise and good enchanter, as his next victim, and Taran, the enchanter's assistant, sets out to rescue him. Taran is then seized by the evil King and taken back to his castle. Upon their arrival, however, the Horned King discovers that the cauldron has vanished; Taran realizes that if he can find and destroy the cauldron, he can save Pyrdain. Through the aid of Eilonwy, a young princess and enchantress in her own right, Taran escapes and begins his search for the lost cauldron.
On his mission, Taran meets an array of unusual and offbeat characters: Flewddur Fflam, a king who would prefer traveling the countryside, strumming a tune; Doli, an elfin character, who manages to harness the power of invisibility; and Gurgi, part man, part animal, who desires "crunchings and munchings," but fears "smackings and whackings on my poor tender head."
Another strange creature is Hen Wen, an oracular pig who tells Taran that the cauldron is in the clutches of three witches. Taran searches for and eventually finds the hags, who trade the cauldron for Taran's sword, his most prized possession. The Horned King learns of the cauldron's new location, and taking the captive Dallben along, leads his ghoulish army into attack against Taran and his band.
Alterations had to be made in adapting the large scale epic of the Chronicles to the screen. Much of Disney's BLACK CAULDRON is based on the introductory novel, The Book of Three, but several of the movie's sequences are lifted from the second book. Also, The Horned King becomes the chief villain of the film, although he doesn't even survive the first of five books.
Joe Hale, who previously directed animation special effects on Disney's science fiction epic, THE BLACK HOLE, wants to make THE BLACK CAULDRON something truly spectacular, and began looking into the possibilities of using holography.
"We're talking to designers over at WED, who design rides at Disneyland and Disney World," Hale said. "Now that they're winding up at EPCOT, we're going to have them work on an effect for the next to the last sequence. We want an effect where the Cauldron-Born Warriors float right out over the audience and into the back of the theater. Our engineers already have the capability to use holograms better than anybody around. Right now, they can give us a hologram of a cauldron in the theater lobby with an endless stream of Cauldron Born coming out and going right up to the top of the theater. There is a lot of experimental work being done on this. WED is sending over a creative team to see what they can do for us. We're going to have some kind of spectacular effect, something out of the oridinary.
Voices being used for the characters include Freddie Jones (Dallben), Grant Bardsley (Taran), Susan Sheridan (Eilonwy), Nigel Hawthorne (Flewdur), John Hurt (Horned King), John Byner (Gurgi), Jonathan Winters (King Eidellig) and Phil Fondacar (Creeper, the dwarf). An agent in England sent the studio tapes of dozens of voices from which to select the characters. It turned out that the voice chosen for Taran belonged to a 14 year old and that for Princess Eilonwy came from a 34-year-old actress, yet the two characters in the film are the same age. "
Friday, August 17, 2018
The Walt DIsney Pictures Logo
The Walt Disney Pictures logo
First some examples of the early variations
from the end credits of Disney's Wonderful World
Snapshot from the end credits of: "Illusion of Life" (1981)
and now
The Walt Disney Pictures logo from Return To Oz (1985)
as for Disney Television and Buena Vista Television, their logo has many variants over the years,
Monday, August 13, 2018
'The Illusion of Life" TV special
The "Disney's Wonderful World' episode: 'The Illusion of Life"
aired on April 26, 1981
A Disney animation retrospective documentary that promotes Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston's animation instructional book that bears the same name.
excerpt from Disney Wiki:
Trivia
This episode featured the first announcement of the animated feature film The Black Cauldron (released in 1985),
through the use of conceptual paintings for the film.
While Hayley Mills says that she will provide the voice of Eilonwy, the role ended up going to Susan Sheridan.
it is also available on this vhs video cassette tape if you can find on amazon: (if not or it's too expensive, try ebay.) : https://www.amazon.com/Wonderful-Disney-Adventure-including-Mathmagic/dp/B000BY3X4A/ref=pd_ybh_a_62?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=WEK45BJYSX9GE537PAAD
Sunday, August 12, 2018
The Walt Disney Studio Showcase Backstage at Disney (1983) from DIsney Channel (long before the sitcoms)
on April of 1983 the Disney Channel had an episode of 'The Walt Disney Studio Showcase" called "Backstage at Disney"
(restored by Garrett Gilchrist)
If you know your Disney history and saw the obscure films, "Backstage at Disney" is like the 1941 film "The Reluctant Dragon" (actor Robert Benchley tours around the Disney animation department.)
but here in 1983, animation historian John Culhane "snoops" around not only the animation building, but also the rest of the studio itself.
Films and TV shows that were in production in this documentary:
Zorro and Son (1983),
Early pre- production on Roger Rabbit (before Steven Spielberg, Bob Zemeckis and Richard Williams came on board)
Baby: Secret of The Lost Legend (!985) (released under the Touchstone Pictures label)
The Black Cauldron (1985)
Tim Burton's Hansel and Gretel (1983) (produced for a Halloween episode of 'The Walt Disney Studio Showcase" series
Never Cry Wolf (1983)
and Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Taran's Quest: Disney and Sierra's The Black Cauldron Dos Computer Game
You can also check it out here at the DOS Games Archive
this internet archive link has the booklet for the game (with artwork from the end credits of the film and pictures from the film)
https://archive.org/stream/The_Black_Cauldron_Manual#page/n0/mode/2up
at the DIsney Parks, and the Disneyland ride that never was
plus a short old news on Disney having a special screening of The Black Cauldron for the Hollywood stars and a lawn party at the Disney studios.
Tokyo Disneyland's 1986 Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour
from themeparkart tumblr: Today’s Disney castles tend to feature some kind of place of interest within them, whether it be a lavish restaurant, unique shopping or art exhibits. However, for 20 years, Tokyo Disneyland’s Cinderella Castle featured an expansive, (and dark!) walkthrough beneath it. Set up as a guided tour of the castle that is taken over by the forces of evil, guests traversed past Disney villains, dark dungeons, evil brutes and malicious mirrors, concluding with a showdown with the Horned King from The Black Cauldron. In Disney fashion, the villains are defeated and the mantra of “Good Conquers Evil” is declared. Upon its closure in 2006, the attraction was converted to Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall.
Here is something interesting
Disney historians Jim Hill and Drew Taylor talk about an article in Walt Disney Production's inhouse magazine Imagine from April 1981 about a Black Cauldron ride being planned for Disneyland.
The ride was going to be like Epcot's Horizons attraction (before they were working on Horizons)
the idea for a Black Cauldron ride got shelved.
here is the link to the Podcast Fine Tooning with Drew Taylor:
http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/podcast_transcripts/archive/2018/05/06/fine-tooning-with-drew-taylor-episode-3-cinemacon-and-tribeca.aspx
Edit: a fellow tumblr user told me that some concept art of the shelved Black Cauldron ride for Disneyland was seen at the D23 expo in 2010.
and one of the concept art can be seen in the Progress City blog post Lost Disneylandia
also there was a overview and the ride's map, (progress city does not have on their blog anymore)
the French title and the Spanish title,
from the Spanish dub on the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection 2000 DVD of The Black Cauldron
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