Quote from: LearnedHand on February 23, 2013, 08:13:18 AM
Cheetaking, was The Nightmare Before Christmas disney?
Sometimes I can identify with Jack, it's like I feel like I am surrounded by a bunch of crazy people who can't understand what it is I am trying to do.
Yep, you can count "Nightmare Before Christmas" as a Disney film.
[extreme nerdy fangirlism] Tim Burton actually got his start as a Disney animator when he was fresh from graduating from CalArts, around 1982-83 or so. And around that time, he got "Nightmare" into the early stages of development, possibly as a TV special, but the current ownership of the Disney studio at the time (led by Ron Miller,) kind of had this thing going where they always used the phrase "It's what Walt would have wanted" to keep from taking risks, so their films around that time all pretty much just tended to be "safe," and so they pulled the plug on it, deciding that the story was too dark and too "out there" for a Disney animated film. Burton eventually left the studio, but Disney held onto the rights for years afterward, so when the entire ownership of Disney's animation studio was completely switched in the mid-80's to Michael Eisner and Jeffery Katzenberg, they were much more willing to take risks, because they ran the studio like a business rather than the "sweet little animation house that uncle Walt built." So, yeah, The Nightmare Before Christmas was indeed produced under the Disney label, and was directed by another Disney animator, Henry Selick, who also went on to make "James and the Giant Peach" for Disney a few years later, and then went on to make "Coraline" for his own studio a long time later.
(Side note: Pixar's films came into being in much the same way that "Nightmare" did... John Lasseter was an animator at Disney in the early 80's, he started working on an idea for a CGI-animated film, Disney fired him because they didn't think the idea had any merit within their traditional business model, and then years later the studio, now under the ownership of Eisner and Katzenberg, decided that they were finally willing to take the risk, and let him make the film.)
[/extreme nerdy fangirlism]
Quote from: Mosaic dude on February 23, 2013, 09:18:02 AM
Wowzers! You sure know your animation! Are you in the industry?
Nope, just a VERY big fan, and something that I am really passionate about. (Unfortunately, my drawing kind of sucks, so I was never able to even consider going into the field even though I absolutely LOVE it.) I find everything about the entire process so fascinating, especially traditional hand-drawn animation. I LOVE the bonus features on Disney films, as well as watching documentaries like "Waking Sleeping Beauty" and "The Pixar Story" that really go into the nerdy details about the artists behind the films. I love them!
I SO wish that I could draw or paint, because I love visual art so much, but again, I suck at it.
(Side note: if anyone is interested in musicals, and wants to catch a glimpse of the artistic work of one of the true geniuses of the genre, I highly recommend checking out the bonus features on "Waking Sleeping Beauty," which show Howard Ashman coaching Jodi Benson during the recording of "Part of Your World," and doing a lecture on why animation and music were made for each-other. Those short little features really are like pure gold in terms of artistic inspiration.)
