Animation Masterclass from a Disney Legend | Aaron Blaise

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<v Speaker 1>Did it great?
<v Speaker 2>Your favorite firefly?
<v Speaker 1>He des I hold no old knock guy. My name
<v Speaker 1>is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In.
<v Speaker 2>Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned In with
<v Speaker 2>Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, joined as always by the
<v Speaker 2>legend himself, mister Jim Cummings. How are you doing today, sir?
<v Speaker 1>Hello, Hello, yet another day in paradise. And look who
<v Speaker 1>we've got on the show today.
<v Speaker 2>Sure, yes, we have a very special Yes, oh mag
<v Speaker 2>well they know of you. We have a very special
<v Speaker 2>guest for you today. We have none other than Aaron Blaze.
<v Speaker 2>He worked at Disney for twenty one years, worked on
<v Speaker 2>project such as Beauty and the Beast, Lion King Aladdin, Mulan,
<v Speaker 2>and many many more. We're going to have a great
<v Speaker 2>conversation with him today. Thank you so much for being here, sir,
<v Speaker 2>Thank you having me.
<v Speaker 3>I am completely and utterly honored, so thank you for
<v Speaker 3>I was so I went through the roof when I
<v Speaker 3>when we got the email for you guys to ask
<v Speaker 3>me about it.
<v Speaker 4>So I'm super happy to be here.
<v Speaker 1>Well that's great. Well, we appreciate that, really appreciate you
<v Speaker 1>having you here. Thank you. You're a true genius. I mean,
<v Speaker 1>my goodness, there is no question.
<v Speaker 3>I am, I am. I'm basking in the glow for sure,
<v Speaker 3>sitting with you on the other side.
<v Speaker 4>So, yeah, we've.
<v Speaker 3>We were talking a little bit earlier about how it's
<v Speaker 3>interesting to me how we've gone so many years.
<v Speaker 4>Without actually meeting.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, We've worked with so many incredible folks, you know, from.
<v Speaker 4>You know, Tom Schumacher and Pam Coach all the way.
<v Speaker 3>Down run into Gosh, yeah, guys and everybody. And yeah,
<v Speaker 3>so I'm really happy that we finally got to break
<v Speaker 3>the ice.
<v Speaker 1>Same here, same here. Welcome, Welcome, thank you, my gosh.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I'm always curious. One thing I always want
<v Speaker 1>to know. I've said it before. I knew I wanted
<v Speaker 1>to do what I've been doing. When I was five. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>a long long time ago, I saw mel Blanc on
<v Speaker 1>the Jack Benny program and said, okay, I'll do that,
<v Speaker 1>and uh, how about yourself? Did you just were you?
<v Speaker 1>Did you come out of the womb doodling or how
<v Speaker 1>did that work?
<v Speaker 4>Almost?
<v Speaker 3>You know, I was born in nineteen sixty eight and
<v Speaker 3>I started drawing, you know, when I was still sitting
<v Speaker 3>in the heights here. So when people ask me how
<v Speaker 3>long you've been drawing, I always like to tell him
<v Speaker 3>I started drawing when the Beatles were still a band,
<v Speaker 3>Jimmy Hedder still playing guitar.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>And I've always I've always been enamored with nature and
<v Speaker 3>drawing in the natural world, drawing animals, that was always
<v Speaker 3>my go to.
<v Speaker 4>I was born in the Northeast. I was born up
<v Speaker 4>in Burlington, Vermont, oh and Uh.
<v Speaker 3>My parents split up in the early seventies and I
<v Speaker 3>ended up down in Florida in the mid seventies of
<v Speaker 3>joining my mother. My mother came down here and with
<v Speaker 3>my stepfather and I grew up in the Everglades, down.
<v Speaker 4>In the swamps.
<v Speaker 1>Wow.
<v Speaker 3>We lived in a little trailer, and I was always
<v Speaker 3>out chasing animals and drawing. And from that early age,
<v Speaker 3>I always knew I was going to be an artist. Now,
<v Speaker 3>I wasn't always going to be an animator.
<v Speaker 4>I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be
<v Speaker 4>an illustrator.
<v Speaker 1>And I bet you were good at drawing alligators?
<v Speaker 4>Yes, I was, well, I was. I'm such a Florida guy,
<v Speaker 4>a Florida man.
<v Speaker 5>You know.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, as I really did grow up that way. Me
<v Speaker 3>and my buddies would go out, we'd go bass fishing.
<v Speaker 3>Every once in a while we'd catch an alligator, and
<v Speaker 3>we had taints.
<v Speaker 4>And we'd keep our out the alley, heat in the
<v Speaker 4>tints and whoa, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>It was funny. We grew up that way. And so
<v Speaker 3>I did draw alligators, and I was drawing all kinds
<v Speaker 3>of wonderful bird life, and you know, I grew up
<v Speaker 3>on this in the on the ocean as well, and
<v Speaker 3>so I wanted to be a naturalist of a nature
<v Speaker 3>of illustrators for National Geographic. Yeah, I'd go to sleep
<v Speaker 3>at night and I had these stacks of National Geographics
<v Speaker 3>under my bed and I'd read them, and I have
<v Speaker 3>these dreams of going to all these places, and so
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to That's what I wanted to do.
<v Speaker 4>So I went to college to be an illustrator for
<v Speaker 4>National Geographic.
<v Speaker 3>And that door kind of closed because all they did
<v Speaker 3>they only freelance.
<v Speaker 4>They didn't have staff illustrators. And so all of a
<v Speaker 4>sudden I.
<v Speaker 3>Found out about two companies coming to our college to
<v Speaker 3>interview for internships. One was Hallmark Cards and the other
<v Speaker 3>one was Disney.
<v Speaker 1>I've worked for both of them. I can't. That's amazing. Else.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I got in, I got into this internship
<v Speaker 3>and I trained.
<v Speaker 4>Under Glenn Keene.
<v Speaker 1>Oh wow.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So he taught me animation and that was forty
<v Speaker 3>years ago, just about forty years ago.
<v Speaker 4>And wow he never looked back. And so here we are.
<v Speaker 2>That's not a bad person to learn from.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, no kidding.
<v Speaker 3>Is a twenty year old kid that knew nothing about animation.
<v Speaker 3>I didn't know who Glenn Keene wasn't anything about it.
<v Speaker 3>I was this animal nerd that came in that knew
<v Speaker 3>how to draw. And so he took me under his
<v Speaker 3>wing and they were just finishing up Oliver and Company and.
<v Speaker 4>Starting the Hermaid.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yes, yes, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>And so he started talking because he had kind of
<v Speaker 3>a similar background, kind of fell into animation, and he
<v Speaker 3>started talking to me about animation from this artists illustration painter,
<v Speaker 3>classical artist.
<v Speaker 4>Point of view.
<v Speaker 3>And I and if you've ever seen Glenn talk, he's
<v Speaker 3>just so passionate about everything he talks about. And so
<v Speaker 3>I was just ten minutes of sitting down with him,
<v Speaker 3>I knew that's.
<v Speaker 4>What I wanted to do.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, no kidding, Yeah, well, I think the earlier you
<v Speaker 1>decide what you want to do, the better. The better
<v Speaker 1>really just playing all the better.
<v Speaker 3>Absolutely. I mean it's it's you know, from both my
<v Speaker 3>parents are artists. They didn't they weren't artists by trade,
<v Speaker 3>but they are artistically inclined.
<v Speaker 4>My father was a musician as well. He was on
<v Speaker 4>he was on television, he was all kinds of stuff
<v Speaker 4>and wow.
<v Speaker 3>And so we grew up, you know, with a lot
<v Speaker 3>of music in the house, drawing and painting.
<v Speaker 4>Everyone was doing it in our family.
<v Speaker 3>And so when I showed an affinity to it, there
<v Speaker 3>was no doubt, you know, from the age of like
<v Speaker 3>you said, five years old.
<v Speaker 4>Like, you're going to be a commercial artist when you
<v Speaker 4>grow up, and you know that's.
<v Speaker 3>Never had any any other doubts, you know, and so
<v Speaker 3>I was very lucky to have parents that supported that.
<v Speaker 1>Boy, you're not kidding, yeah, I you know, when I
<v Speaker 1>told my dad, I said, well, and it's oddly enough,
<v Speaker 1>I made my living briefly, maybe two and a half years.
<v Speaker 1>I lived in New Orleans and I designed in paint
<v Speaker 1>and Marty Grof floats. But that was, yeah, it was
<v Speaker 1>it was a very different not nothing like your stuff.
<v Speaker 1>I mean I was just like a sort of a
<v Speaker 1>scratch and sniff guy, but nothing like the beautiful works
<v Speaker 1>that you've done. And I mean, my goodness, snow Bear.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, that's it's enchanting, it's intanging.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, snow Bear is an interesting.
<v Speaker 3>Uh, it's an interesting journey that I to making snow Bear.
<v Speaker 1>I can't recommend everybody watching go and get get a
<v Speaker 1>copy by I mean, however, whatever is most profitable for Aaron, do.
<v Speaker 4>That on my YouTube channel so they can just watch
<v Speaker 4>it right there on my YouTube. Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Oh yeah, but a link in the description of this
<v Speaker 2>of this podcast, and they can just click right on over.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Man, yes, yes, Well it's just gorgeous. It's so poignant.
<v Speaker 1>It's it's like watching poetry. It's amazing.
<v Speaker 4>Well I was, like you said earlier, I was with
<v Speaker 4>Disney for twenty one years.
<v Speaker 1>Too bad. You didn't learn anything. You didn't bring anything,
<v Speaker 1>get up, did you. That's a shame.
<v Speaker 4>Well, it's interesting because the first fifteen.
<v Speaker 3>Years we were at this at the you know, Disney
<v Speaker 3>had a studio in Florida.
<v Speaker 4>You're in Orlando, and that's right.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, And so I was there from day one to
<v Speaker 3>the day they closed the doors.
<v Speaker 1>And so really, when yeah, I was.
<v Speaker 3>I was actually the last artist. I was one of
<v Speaker 3>the first artists there and the last artist to walk.
<v Speaker 4>Out the door.
<v Speaker 1>So I was, wow, So you're the one that turned
<v Speaker 1>off all the lights when you left.
<v Speaker 4>Basically, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>So I transferred to California and they laid off everybody
<v Speaker 3>from the studio. They only kept about ten of us,
<v Speaker 3>and so I was one of those lucky ten. I
<v Speaker 3>transferred to California with my wife and my two children,
<v Speaker 3>and I started developing This was right after Brother Bear.
<v Speaker 3>After we made Brother Bear and we started developing another project.
<v Speaker 4>But it was during that time. Kind of it's a
<v Speaker 4>bit of a downer here, but it was during that time.
<v Speaker 6>That my wife was diagnosed of cancer and breast cancer,
<v Speaker 6>and so as we tried to make the.
<v Speaker 4>Film, she got sicker and sicker and just weren't able
<v Speaker 4>to get ahead of it.
<v Speaker 3>And I lost her in two thousand and seven, and
<v Speaker 3>I was really devastated, obviously, and we began up for
<v Speaker 3>twenty years, and I lost that drive to make films,
<v Speaker 3>and I was really struggling at Disney to the point
<v Speaker 3>where I left the company and that's what I decided
<v Speaker 3>to start over, came back to Florida, got this business
<v Speaker 3>going that I'm doing now with my business partner, Nick Birch,
<v Speaker 3>and along the way, you know, that covers everything I
<v Speaker 3>just told you, covers a span of about eighteen years.
<v Speaker 3>It's nineteen years ago now that my wife passed away,
<v Speaker 3>But about eight years ago I met my business partner's
<v Speaker 3>sister in law, his wife's sister, and we fell in
<v Speaker 3>love and got married about three.
<v Speaker 1>Years ago, So congratulations.
<v Speaker 3>I boiled down to this little metaphor about this snow
<v Speaker 3>bear wanting companionship, this lonely polar bear wandering there and
<v Speaker 3>he want a companion, but that it's life is fragile man,
<v Speaker 3>and and he loses his friend, he loses his companion,
<v Speaker 3>she melts away.
<v Speaker 4>Or he melts away, which is you know, it's a whole.
<v Speaker 4>Like I said, it was a metaphor, metaphor for like
<v Speaker 4>twenty years of my life and finding loving in and
<v Speaker 4>all of that. So it's not just it's not just
<v Speaker 4>about polar bear and the.
<v Speaker 1>Snow bear, right right. It certainly isn't a.
<v Speaker 4>Little bit of a journey there, and so it was
<v Speaker 4>very therapeutic. It was it's pretty cool.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, yeah, I was just going to ask you, George,
<v Speaker 2>on something that's that personal. Is that is that tough?
<v Speaker 2>Or is that cathartic?
<v Speaker 4>It's cathartic.
<v Speaker 3>It's yeah, it's it's incredibly.
<v Speaker 4>Joyful times, even the times.
<v Speaker 3>Where I'm sitting there and drawing scenes that represented moments
<v Speaker 3>in my life that maybe cry, I'd be sitting there,
<v Speaker 3>you know, tearing up while I'm drawing, but.
<v Speaker 4>It's almost like a release. You get all out of
<v Speaker 4>you and and it's.
<v Speaker 3>Up there and it represents something for me and I
<v Speaker 3>and I've had a lot of people that know my story,
<v Speaker 3>even people that don't know my story come up to
<v Speaker 3>me afterwards and say, man, there's there's a lot more
<v Speaker 3>to that than the surfaces in there.
<v Speaker 4>I said, yeah, there's a lot more.
<v Speaker 3>John Muskert he came up to me after when he yeah,
<v Speaker 3>when we first screened it at CTN a couple of
<v Speaker 3>years ago, when we first screen we ever did of it,
<v Speaker 3>and John he loved and he came up and he
<v Speaker 3>knows my story. He was there when I was life
<v Speaker 3>and everything, and he says that means a lot more
<v Speaker 3>than just a snowbar and a polar Bear, doesn't it.
<v Speaker 1>I said, yeah, and you gave me a big oh yeah,
<v Speaker 1>well well he would know.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. You and he, I dare say, are cut from
<v Speaker 1>the same.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. He's a good man. He's a good evan.
<v Speaker 1>He sure is mus clements.
<v Speaker 3>Yes, I know that putting to that event there and
<v Speaker 3>they too, So that's gonna be cool.
<v Speaker 1>Oh good?
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and what is that? What is that event? Just
<v Speaker 2>for anybody watching who might be curious.
<v Speaker 3>So on May twenty third and twenty fourth and Los
<v Speaker 3>Angeles at the Wiltshire de Belle Theater, we're doing a
<v Speaker 3>two day seminar on the art of animated filmmaking from
<v Speaker 3>concept all the way to distribution over two days stage.
<v Speaker 3>So we're techne directors, producers, writers, post production, voice talent, effects, animators, animators,
<v Speaker 3>story artists.
<v Speaker 4>All this stuff, everybody, you know, the cop people in
<v Speaker 4>the business.
<v Speaker 3>Trying to bring them together and people are going to
<v Speaker 3>get up and talk and lecture and so from people
<v Speaker 3>that are interested in animated filmmaking. That's we're trying to
<v Speaker 3>provide something specifically for that. You know, you've got light Box,
<v Speaker 3>you've got CTN and they're wonderful events, but they cast
<v Speaker 3>a broader net, trying to cast kind of a more
<v Speaker 3>narrow net towards animation specific.
<v Speaker 1>Mm hmm, well well done. Yeah, well I wish I
<v Speaker 1>could be there.
<v Speaker 4>I wish you too.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I was. I was talking with my wife Margaret,
<v Speaker 1>and I was thinking, is there a possibility that I
<v Speaker 1>could just do a shout out to you on that.
<v Speaker 1>I think there's a recording, I should definitely do that.
<v Speaker 4>So if that's if that's the only way I can
<v Speaker 4>get to you that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Well, I'm I'm kind of stuck. Contracts are signed
<v Speaker 1>and you know.
<v Speaker 4>How that comes with you, I know, I know, yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Have you ever ventured into the world of conventions
<v Speaker 1>comic home.
<v Speaker 4>No, I mean I can.
<v Speaker 3>I've gone the Comic Con once and I uh uh
<v Speaker 3>and I've done you know, obviously light Box and CTN
<v Speaker 3>and things like that aren't really conventions.
<v Speaker 4>But no, I haven't really done it. You know.
<v Speaker 3>I have a feeling probably gonna dipping my toe into
<v Speaker 3>it a little bit more coming up, but no, I
<v Speaker 3>haven't done it.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Well, I think they would love you, right right, Christopher.
<v Speaker 7>I mean, my gosh, I think our following and our
<v Speaker 7>audience is building up enough that I think we can
<v Speaker 7>start going into that now, and and it will be.
<v Speaker 4>Wasted time. But yeah, it'll be time for sure.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, I have to agree. Good for you.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I wanted to go back and ask you. You
<v Speaker 2>talked about how originally you weren't an animator, that you
<v Speaker 2>had to learn animation from sketching or drawing. What does
<v Speaker 2>that look like? What does the learning process of you know,
<v Speaker 2>doing still animations, I mean it's still drawings, excuse me,
<v Speaker 2>into you know, bringing that drawing to life.
<v Speaker 3>That It's a great question because I didn't go to
<v Speaker 3>school for animation. I went to school for illustration. I
<v Speaker 3>went to the Ringling College of Art Design, Sarah Soota, Florida,
<v Speaker 3>which is a wonderful animation school now. But when I went,
<v Speaker 3>they didn't have animation. So and when I interviewed with Disney.
<v Speaker 3>This is in nineteen eighty eight, and so when I
<v Speaker 3>interviewed with Disney, they this is the first time they
<v Speaker 3>had ever gone outside of animation schools. They wanted to
<v Speaker 3>see if they could go out because they were going
<v Speaker 3>to they wanted to staff the studio, and so they
<v Speaker 3>wanted to go to top schools that had really strong
<v Speaker 3>foundational studies.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it used to be all about cal Arts, didn't it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, yeah, exactly, Well they kind of they kind of
<v Speaker 3>tapped out Calories. Yeah, they tapped out Sheridan, which is
<v Speaker 3>the other big school in Toronto, an animation school, and
<v Speaker 3>so they went around to other art schools that didn't
<v Speaker 3>necessarily teach animation but had students that could draw. And
<v Speaker 3>so I put together a portfolio. So I didn't know
<v Speaker 3>if I was going to be a background painter or
<v Speaker 3>a animator or what I was going to do.
<v Speaker 4>But I just thought, oh, Disney, that's interesting. But I
<v Speaker 4>thought about it, so I.
<v Speaker 3>Didn't go to like So once again they reiterated, I
<v Speaker 3>didn't go to art animation school. I went to I
<v Speaker 3>went for illustration. So when I went into this internship,
<v Speaker 3>they didn't know how it was going to go.
<v Speaker 4>So they only had it for six weeks. It was
<v Speaker 4>just six weeks. It was June and July.
<v Speaker 3>So I went out there, got under you know, got
<v Speaker 3>under Glenn, and we just went into this hardcore, you know,
<v Speaker 3>course of learning animation. I learned how to, I learned
<v Speaker 3>all the basics of animation and everything all within six
<v Speaker 3>weeks and then they had it.
<v Speaker 4>They hired us at the end of that.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, well you're a quick study.
<v Speaker 4>That fall.
<v Speaker 3>I hearned enough just so I could start drawing at
<v Speaker 3>the studio when they opened that up.
<v Speaker 4>And then and then it was trial by fire.
<v Speaker 5>You know.
<v Speaker 3>I was surrounded by a lot of other people that
<v Speaker 3>had been in the industry or had been through school
<v Speaker 3>and everything, and so I picked it all up from them.
<v Speaker 2>Would you say that's a difficult transition. I mean for
<v Speaker 2>somebody like me who knows, you know, couldn't tell you, you know,
<v Speaker 2>the next thing about animation or illustration, Is that a
<v Speaker 2>hard jump or does it come pretty naturally?
<v Speaker 4>No, it was. It was incredibly difficult. I was incredibly disheartened.
<v Speaker 4>You know. At the time, I had been at the
<v Speaker 4>top of my class.
<v Speaker 3>I could drop pretty well, and I always felt comfortable
<v Speaker 3>in art doing what I was doing. As soon as
<v Speaker 3>I started doing animation, I could do the drawing, but man,
<v Speaker 3>I had a hard time understanding the action, the animation,
<v Speaker 3>the acting, the emotion, all the stuff that Glenn was
<v Speaker 3>so great at. And it was the first time where
<v Speaker 3>I felt like, I can't do this and it all
<v Speaker 3>comes so easy, you know.
<v Speaker 4>When I was a.
<v Speaker 3>Kid growing up into school and to college and then
<v Speaker 3>all of a sudden, I had been stretched so far
<v Speaker 3>that it was freaking me out.
<v Speaker 1>Because I'm struggling what was going on. I don't know,
<v Speaker 1>I don't know what I'm doing, but that that's almost
<v Speaker 1>hard to believe seeing where you are now, I mean,
<v Speaker 1>my goodness, he gads, you're on like Mount Everest here.
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to quit so badly. Glenn kept coming to
<v Speaker 3>me and going, don't quit. It's gonna it's gonna click.
<v Speaker 3>It's gonna click. Just keep listen to what I'm telling
<v Speaker 3>you and keep doing what I'm telling you.
<v Speaker 2>And he was right.
<v Speaker 3>And after a little while I started to see it
<v Speaker 3>and it started to click, and and I just kept
<v Speaker 3>doing it, and it came, you know, a little, every
<v Speaker 3>day was a little less hard.
<v Speaker 4>It's never easy, but.
<v Speaker 1>Well there's a lesson there for for all of you
<v Speaker 1>listening out there right.
<v Speaker 3>Persistence that's consists lecturing about is you know, all you know,
<v Speaker 3>you're going to go through a lot of things in
<v Speaker 3>your life. You're going to have a lot of things
<v Speaker 3>pop up and that are going to get in your way.
<v Speaker 4>They're gonna be.
<v Speaker 3>Barriers, whether it's emotional stuff, physical things, whatever, But you
<v Speaker 3>got to persist through it man, and yeah, yeah, up,
<v Speaker 3>don't give up.
<v Speaker 1>Slow and steady wins the race, absolutely right, georgious and
<v Speaker 1>the hair.
<v Speaker 2>I've heard you talking other interviews about how hard it
<v Speaker 2>was for you to animate the Beast and beauty the Beast.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Do you think that your love for animals and drawing
<v Speaker 2>animals growing up helped you out with that?
<v Speaker 4>Yes? Yes, absolutely?
<v Speaker 2>And what made him so difficult to animate?
<v Speaker 4>Well too, there is.
<v Speaker 3>Two aspects of it that doesn't There's the visual, the
<v Speaker 3>physical aspect of him. He's incredibly complex character to draw,
<v Speaker 3>and not just to draw, but then to turn in
<v Speaker 3>space right, And there's a lot of complexity in that face.
<v Speaker 4>To get the emotion, which leads me to the second part,
<v Speaker 4>which is the emotion. You know, there's a lot of
<v Speaker 4>depth to that character.
<v Speaker 3>And uh, a lot of subtlety and a lot of
<v Speaker 3>rottenness and a lot of subtext.
<v Speaker 1>And well, I really appreciated the subtleties that you would do,
<v Speaker 1>the little the little side glances, the littles half smirks,
<v Speaker 1>and it was just enough to just get it across
<v Speaker 1>and you and you think I could just about read
<v Speaker 1>this bears mad And that's that's.
<v Speaker 4>Where Glenn would write us.
<v Speaker 3>So hard on is you know, you don't have to
<v Speaker 3>be over the top, and that really you know, I
<v Speaker 3>was a twenty four year old kid at the time,
<v Speaker 3>a twenty two or.
<v Speaker 4>I evolved. I so much in that year and a
<v Speaker 4>half that.
<v Speaker 3>I worked on that film under Glenn. You know, I
<v Speaker 3>had my little six week internship with him, and a
<v Speaker 3>couple of years later, I'm working with him. I'm the Beast,
<v Speaker 3>and that was like my masterclass, and it really.
<v Speaker 4>Glenn, I can't talk.
<v Speaker 3>I can't say enough wonderful things about him as a humans,
<v Speaker 3>as a boss, as an artist.
<v Speaker 4>Everything I am is because of that guy, because he
<v Speaker 4>gave me twenty opportunities.
<v Speaker 3>And one of the things about Glenn is just how
<v Speaker 3>generous he is with the work that he gives out.
<v Speaker 3>You know, he was the supervisor of The Beast. He
<v Speaker 3>could have hoarded every great shot for himself, but there
<v Speaker 3>was five other guys and some of us, like myself,
<v Speaker 3>were evolving and looking for our break, and so he
<v Speaker 3>gave us really wonderful, juicy scenes that we could put
<v Speaker 3>on our reel and.
<v Speaker 4>Would launch us into our career.
<v Speaker 3>And so no sequence in Beauty and the Beast where they're.
<v Speaker 6>Arguing back and forth in front of the fireplace where
<v Speaker 6>she's trying to bandage it was.
<v Speaker 3>It's a short sequence, but it's extremely broad, but it's
<v Speaker 3>also subtle, and there's a lot of really wonderful acting
<v Speaker 3>opportunities in that. And so he gave that to me
<v Speaker 3>and I just launched everything that. To this day, that's
<v Speaker 3>one of my favorite sequences that I ever got.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's wonderful for me.
<v Speaker 7>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Now, how how you know a lot of people still
<v Speaker 1>to this day think that when you're doing a movie,
<v Speaker 1>when you're doing a cartoon. From my angle, I'm sitting
<v Speaker 1>there watching a finished product and mouthing, you know, I'm
<v Speaker 1>following the lips. I'm following the Can you straighten everybody
<v Speaker 1>out on that? How that works between the the between
<v Speaker 1>the actor, the voice actor and the incredible animate I mean,
<v Speaker 1>where what's the sequence there? Let's get.
<v Speaker 4>I'll go all the way back to the active writing.
<v Speaker 4>So when we write a character, we have.
<v Speaker 3>A character in mind, and so we write it. Then
<v Speaker 3>we then we designed the look of that character around.
<v Speaker 3>Then now we've got to find someone that's going to
<v Speaker 3>fit that character that we created as a voice, right, and.
<v Speaker 4>So we go out and uh. And in your case
<v Speaker 4>for Winnie the Poop, let's say it's Winning the Poop.
<v Speaker 3>And so now we will storyboard the you know, we've
<v Speaker 3>got the character and now we storyboard the story.
<v Speaker 4>Now we need somebody to give it some life.
<v Speaker 3>We've got we've got what we've written on page and
<v Speaker 3>now we've got some images up on the screen and
<v Speaker 3>storyboard form. But now we need someone to really bring
<v Speaker 3>it to life through the book.
<v Speaker 1>Well, then you need to animate some money. I promise
<v Speaker 1>you that will help so very much.
<v Speaker 3>And so it's that that's that's the the meat that
<v Speaker 3>you give the animator.
<v Speaker 4>And we sit down and we've got we've.
<v Speaker 3>Got a couple of ideas in our head. But when
<v Speaker 3>you give us something like that, sit down, now, all
<v Speaker 3>of a sudden thing it just comes to life in
<v Speaker 3>your mind and it's just a matter of making it
<v Speaker 3>go from your brain down through your.
<v Speaker 4>Arm andy out of your hand.
<v Speaker 1>Well, really depends on how So that's the circuit. Okay, Wow, so.
<v Speaker 3>Many wonderful talents that have come through, whether it's you
<v Speaker 3>or Robin Williams or whoever it might be. You know,
<v Speaker 3>even you know guys like I remember Frank Welker doing.
<v Speaker 4>Raja the Tiger. When I did stuff like that, it
<v Speaker 4>was really funny.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and Booth.
<v Speaker 4>Doing animal sounds really gave me some meat to work.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. I just bet the weekend with him.
<v Speaker 1>He's a great guy.
<v Speaker 4>Oh yeah, that's great.
<v Speaker 1>My gosh. Now, do you have you ever been tapped
<v Speaker 1>to do some of these comic cons because I would imagine,
<v Speaker 1>you know, different animators like tad Stones, guy who came
<v Speaker 1>up with dark Wing Duck, he does them a lot
<v Speaker 1>and he has a good's you.
<v Speaker 3>Know, I have not, and I'm hoping maybe, you know,
<v Speaker 3>as we as we get a little further down the
<v Speaker 3>road and some of the work that I'm doing now
<v Speaker 3>because you know, for the last fifteen years, i've really
<v Speaker 3>outside of Snowby, I've really focused on education.
<v Speaker 4>That's what I've been doing. Oh okay, so I've been
<v Speaker 4>creating teaching. You know. It's funny.
<v Speaker 3>When I came back to Florida, I was really trying
<v Speaker 3>to figure out what the heck I was going to do,
<v Speaker 3>and I knew I didn't want to work for the studios.
<v Speaker 3>I needed to read define myself. I needed to find myself.
<v Speaker 4>I needed to.
<v Speaker 3>Heal I wanted to do all that stuff. I wanted
<v Speaker 3>to do something that would put some good back into
<v Speaker 3>the world that my wife would would have been proud of,
<v Speaker 3>you know, all of that. And I remember sitting and
<v Speaker 3>sitting down and having a coffee and thinking.
<v Speaker 4>About this, and Glenn, once again, Glenn Keen, hopped in, and.
<v Speaker 3>I was thinking about all the things that he had
<v Speaker 3>given me over the years and taught me, and then
<v Speaker 3>Mark Hennon that had.
<v Speaker 1>Taught me stuff, and oh boys.
<v Speaker 3>And James Baxter and all these wonderful animators that have
<v Speaker 3>kind of.
<v Speaker 4>Imparted wisdom and that I was able to grow from.
<v Speaker 4>And so then I thought, you know, I can I
<v Speaker 4>can pass that on to another generation.
<v Speaker 3>And so that's what started this. You know, I thought, well,
<v Speaker 3>I can do this on the internet. I can YouTube
<v Speaker 3>is a thing I can create so and and I
<v Speaker 3>can price it because the other thing that was, like
<v Speaker 3>he was how incredibly expensive colleges have gone. Yeah, so
<v Speaker 3>I thought I can give student quality and education to
<v Speaker 3>students that maybe can't afford college.
<v Speaker 4>And it just kind of snowballed from there.
<v Speaker 3>So I spent thirteen years or so building that business
<v Speaker 3>up and it became really pretty successful and we've we've
<v Speaker 3>gotten around the world and soil. Then I was able
<v Speaker 3>to step back and go, Okay, we've got enough revenue
<v Speaker 3>coming in from that that we can go off and
<v Speaker 3>we can make Snowbear.
<v Speaker 4>And so that that allowed me to go and make Snowbear.
<v Speaker 1>Speaking of snowballing, Yeah, yes, that's amazing.
<v Speaker 4>But then we wanted to do something else.
<v Speaker 3>We had built up, you know, our own audience for
<v Speaker 3>what we do from the education standpoint. But I'm not
<v Speaker 3>with Disney anymore. I don't have the Disney audience. I've
<v Speaker 3>got my own audience. And I thought, well, what if
<v Speaker 3>I live stream the entire process of making Snowbar three
<v Speaker 3>years every Tuesday and Thursday, no matter where I was
<v Speaker 3>in the process.
<v Speaker 4>I flipped on my cameras, turned everything on, and people
<v Speaker 4>joined me and they watched me in real time.
<v Speaker 2>Wow, that's really cool.
<v Speaker 4>We recorded almost five hundred hours of the making of
<v Speaker 4>that film.
<v Speaker 1>Wow. So that's out there. I suspect people can tap
<v Speaker 1>into that.
<v Speaker 3>Members On our side, we've got the library, and if
<v Speaker 3>you become a member on the site, you tune into
<v Speaker 3>the library.
<v Speaker 4>And you can go through the archives and watch any
<v Speaker 4>aspect of the film.
<v Speaker 1>It's only five hundred hours. I'll do that tomorrow.
<v Speaker 3>Actually, what it was so cool is by the time
<v Speaker 3>we had the film finished, we had an.
<v Speaker 4>Audience ready to go.
<v Speaker 3>We had you know, ambassadors out to spread the word
<v Speaker 3>and it worked really well.
<v Speaker 4>And so we're going to continue making films out there.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's wonderful.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's very creative, that's aspirational.
<v Speaker 1>My gosh, do you now do you find yourself mentoring
<v Speaker 1>some of the students, some of the people, some of
<v Speaker 1>the younger people that you run into. Is that Yeah, that's.
<v Speaker 3>One of the one of the secondary things that's come
<v Speaker 3>from this is you know, especially student age or in
<v Speaker 3>young professional age.
<v Speaker 4>That have come up and kind of used my courses.
<v Speaker 3>There's a lot of them out there now, and so
<v Speaker 3>when we go to things like Anisey, you know in France,
<v Speaker 3>the Animation festival there, we can't get twenty yards down
<v Speaker 3>the beach or down the sidewalk without kids running up
<v Speaker 3>and going, oh, I took your courses, and.
<v Speaker 1>Oh really, yeah, it's really great. I love that must
<v Speaker 1>be wonderful.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 3>The other one too, we get a lot now that
<v Speaker 3>we're just starting to get is hey, I couldn't afford
<v Speaker 3>to go to college, which is why we were doing this.
<v Speaker 4>I couldn't afford to go.
<v Speaker 3>To college, but I took your courses and I just
<v Speaker 3>got my first job.
<v Speaker 1>And the old kid really really wow, that's that's got
<v Speaker 1>to be really rewarding.
<v Speaker 4>It's super rewarding.
<v Speaker 1>It's great and gosh, yeah, so I know we're going
<v Speaker 1>on amazing now.
<v Speaker 2>You also had a stint in directing. You directed Brother Bear,
<v Speaker 2>which was nominated for Best Animation at the Oscars. Congratulations
<v Speaker 2>on that. That's a huge feat. What was that experience like?
<v Speaker 2>And what for the audience and people who don't know
<v Speaker 2>what is an animation director? What is your responsibilities? What
<v Speaker 2>is your job? What does that look like?
<v Speaker 3>An animation director is not much different then a live
<v Speaker 3>action director. It's just that the things we have to
<v Speaker 3>do just fall under different umbrellas. So, but that means obviously,
<v Speaker 3>in an animated film, everything you see and hear has
<v Speaker 3>to be created from scratch, right, Yeah, So it's very
<v Speaker 3>especially with something that's feat your length.
<v Speaker 1>Well that sounds easy, right, undertaking.
<v Speaker 4>Every blade of grass has to be designed, every rock, every.
<v Speaker 3>Character, everything, and so it becomes this big machine. And
<v Speaker 3>so it starts out obviously with the writing. Traditionally why
<v Speaker 3>animation directors are very involved in the writing of the films.
<v Speaker 3>It's not like in live action where a director will
<v Speaker 3>inherit a script. Lot of times it's sometimes it happens, right,
<v Speaker 3>but a lot of times they're involved very deeply with
<v Speaker 3>the writing. And then then from there it goes in
<v Speaker 3>the story.
<v Speaker 6>You're working with the story artists, and then there you
<v Speaker 6>start working with our directors, production designers.
<v Speaker 3>And it just keeps getting, you know, more and more subdivided.
<v Speaker 3>Then you know, we get into casting. So we started
<v Speaker 3>talking with casting, we get into music.
<v Speaker 1>You know, I was going to ask you that, at
<v Speaker 1>what point did do you go to the composer or the.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, well, it's interesting, you know with with Brother Bear,
<v Speaker 3>Brother Bear, the songs were written by Phil Collins and
<v Speaker 3>Mark Mancina scored it. But Phil also wanted to be
<v Speaker 3>involved a little bit with scoring too. He wanted, you know,
<v Speaker 3>because he he was interested in doing that. So Mark
<v Speaker 3>was really great and kind of guiding him through that part.
<v Speaker 3>We picked you know, he picked a couple of sequences
<v Speaker 3>were obviously percussive.
<v Speaker 4>And yeah and so uh, and he scored those.
<v Speaker 3>But but obviously, you know, the songwriting and Disney films
<v Speaker 3>and a lot of musicals. The song, the story doesn't
<v Speaker 3>just stop and then pick up at the end. At
<v Speaker 3>the end of the song, the song should carry some
<v Speaker 3>of the story, some aspect of the story.
<v Speaker 1>Yes. Yes, if you're a fan of everything we do
<v Speaker 1>here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support
<v Speaker 1>the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts as well
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<v Speaker 3>So that being said, you know, Phil and Mark were
<v Speaker 3>involved in the in the story process of the film.
<v Speaker 4>Pretty early on. But on the other hand, when I did.
<v Speaker 3>Snowbar, I didn't you know, I brought Mark in probably
<v Speaker 3>towards the last quarter before, you know, because I was
<v Speaker 3>kind of working it out, but there.
<v Speaker 4>Was no dialogue.
<v Speaker 3>They went along the story changes so you can vary it.
<v Speaker 3>And that was just straight score. So if it's just
<v Speaker 3>a straight story non musically, you can bring them in
<v Speaker 3>towards the end. But if you're writing songs, you want
<v Speaker 3>to come and keep them through. And we had weekly
<v Speaker 3>meetings with Phil because he was part of the story team,
<v Speaker 3>so he'd write and he called me at home and yeah,
<v Speaker 3>it's pretty cool getting phone calls from Phil Colin.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no, killing I was about to ask, did your
<v Speaker 2>conversations ever stray away you know, his musical career or
<v Speaker 2>something like that.
<v Speaker 4>Oh, yeah, especially in the recording sessions.
<v Speaker 3>One of the one of the coolest sessions that I've
<v Speaker 3>ever had my career was we we did the opening
<v Speaker 3>and Phil wrote the opening song to Brother.
<v Speaker 4>Bear, the Great Spirit Song, and but he.
<v Speaker 3>Had just done Tarzan, and so we wanted to do
<v Speaker 3>something a little different because we didn't want to sound
<v Speaker 3>like we're repeating ourselves. So we just we decided then
<v Speaker 3>poor Phil, he wasn't happy about it, but he rolled
<v Speaker 3>with the punches.
<v Speaker 4>But we decided we wanted someone else to sing it.
<v Speaker 3>And so at first we thought Richie Havens was a
<v Speaker 3>great you know.
<v Speaker 7>Which, oh my gosh, but h and he would have
<v Speaker 7>been great, but he wanted.
<v Speaker 4>To change the key. We didn't want to change the key,
<v Speaker 4>so so we had in Turn instead. So that was
<v Speaker 4>pretty cool. So we so one of.
<v Speaker 3>My greatest experiences that I had was I went to
<v Speaker 3>Switzerland to record Tina and.
<v Speaker 4>Phil lives there.
<v Speaker 3>Phil came to the recording session, and you know, and
<v Speaker 3>I grew up in the you know, seventies and eighties,
<v Speaker 3>so Keena Turner, Phil Colin through them.
<v Speaker 4>I went one night, was my promise.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh. Yes, yeah, it's one of my favorite things.
<v Speaker 1>He goes there and yes, I'm going to sing that
<v Speaker 1>bloody song again. I can feel it. Colm In, Okay, Phil,
<v Speaker 1>We'll get it. We get it, we get it. O man.
<v Speaker 3>Sitting there having lunch and I'm and and I'm just
<v Speaker 3>this kid from the swamps of Florida, and I'm sitting here,
<v Speaker 3>Phil sitting here, and Tina sitting there and it's just
<v Speaker 3>the three of us.
<v Speaker 1>Okay, yeah, just another day in the other day at
<v Speaker 1>the office, right, yeah, typically just and I remember.
<v Speaker 3>You know, it was before cell phones and I'm just
<v Speaker 3>going click click, trying to take these people.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. It was amazing.
<v Speaker 1>Oh man, oh man. Yeah, Well that's that's an amazing
<v Speaker 1>You've You've got some memories there, I do.
<v Speaker 4>I do.
<v Speaker 3>I'm going to change it up though, because I want to.
<v Speaker 3>I want to push it back to you a little bit.
<v Speaker 3>And I was thinking about today the differences between recording
<v Speaker 3>with screen actors and then recording with voice actors. And
<v Speaker 3>I wanted to see what you thought about because I
<v Speaker 3>worked with Joaquin who Joaquin Phoenix who.
<v Speaker 4>Was he was?
<v Speaker 3>He turned out, he worked out. He's a wonderful voice
<v Speaker 3>actor for for brother Bear.
<v Speaker 1>Mm hmm. Well he's an amazing actor period.
<v Speaker 4>He's a great actor.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but it was interesting because he's so used to
<v Speaker 3>being contained mm hm exacting, you know when when you
<v Speaker 3>think about what some of the stuff he does, and
<v Speaker 3>he's and he gets a little a little bit nervous
<v Speaker 3>in front of the camera, which was or in front
<v Speaker 3>of the mic.
<v Speaker 4>Which was interesting. Wow, it was really it was.
<v Speaker 3>It was so different for me as as and I
<v Speaker 3>was a new director too, so everything is pulling the
<v Speaker 3>performance out of out of sa Joaquin, who, like I said,
<v Speaker 3>was wonderful, but it was different.
<v Speaker 1>I like the phrase pulling the performance out of that
<v Speaker 1>that that says a little right there, doesn't.
<v Speaker 4>It in lines?
<v Speaker 3>Right, So it's it's pulling that performance out as opposed
<v Speaker 3>to someone.
<v Speaker 4>Like you that this is you know, this is what.
<v Speaker 3>You do and yeah and and uh and it was
<v Speaker 3>and the experiences are completely different, and the choices we
<v Speaker 3>get are.
<v Speaker 4>So completely different, I would imagine.
<v Speaker 3>And I was just wondering if there's not to take it.
<v Speaker 4>Off of me. But I'm just curious that if you
<v Speaker 4>had a theory on those differences and how you broach it.
<v Speaker 1>Well, you know, one thing I've I can remember, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I'll they will remain nameless. I've worked with any number
<v Speaker 1>of face people, and my old joke is that, well,
<v Speaker 1>anybody can be an actor if you get to use
<v Speaker 1>your face. But you know, but you know different people
<v Speaker 1>that I've worked with, and I it would slow down
<v Speaker 1>the whole thing if I just did an impression of them.
<v Speaker 1>But a lot of times you'll be on mike with
<v Speaker 1>someone who is usually on camera and they'll sit there
<v Speaker 1>and they'll go right, and they're just wow, I'm really
<v Speaker 1>acting over here, and oh look see I'm mad, and uh.
<v Speaker 4>You know, and.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, and the voice directors are going, okay, honey,
<v Speaker 1>that's really good. I love that. Now, can I hear it?
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's right. This is a microphone, not a camera. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's a it's a different critter well.
<v Speaker 4>Too, because if you know a face actor, like you say,
<v Speaker 4>a lot of times with Disney.
<v Speaker 3>We're recording it, so to them, it's feeling like a
<v Speaker 3>close up too, And what do you do in a
<v Speaker 3>close up?
<v Speaker 4>You keep it all kind of contained.
<v Speaker 3>And you know you're not being broad and yeah, so
<v Speaker 3>it's hard to kind of get that, pull it out
<v Speaker 3>of him and free them.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>Yes, some of the things that once I got Joaquin.
<v Speaker 4>I remember one sequence in particular, once we got him.
<v Speaker 3>You know, he he loosened up and we were recording
<v Speaker 3>this really emotionally heavy scene where brother bear uh, Keen Eye,
<v Speaker 3>his older brother Sitka, he goes down in this avalanche
<v Speaker 3>of ice and in the water and Keen Eye has
<v Speaker 3>to go down and he's screaming for his brother and
<v Speaker 3>trying to find him, and you know, and all this
<v Speaker 3>rubble and uh.
<v Speaker 4>And so I pitched the whole sequence to Joaquin.
<v Speaker 3>And he kind of preps himself for it, and I'm
<v Speaker 3>horribly I had forgotten because it was it's probably a
<v Speaker 3>year or two, maybe three years after he had lost
<v Speaker 3>his brother River Phoenix. Yeah, and uh, and he really
<v Speaker 3>I think he really channeled that because he really went
<v Speaker 3>deep into that and it was just so emotionally raw
<v Speaker 3>that I just sat there and I just I was
<v Speaker 3>just mesmerized, and a minute or two he's.
<v Speaker 4>Like, are you ever gonna yell? Cut? I was like,
<v Speaker 4>oh my god, I'm sorry cut cut, and uh here
<v Speaker 4>I was. I felt like I was watching a movie,
<v Speaker 4>you know. Yeah, so yeah it was interesting.
<v Speaker 1>Well you were, yeah, I was exactly yeah you were.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Well that's That's one of the hardest things to do,
<v Speaker 1>is cry on Q. Yeah. Ye, a reservoir of pain
<v Speaker 1>that you can call on.
<v Speaker 2>I always say, you know what I think is even
<v Speaker 2>harder than crying on Q is laughing on cue.
<v Speaker 1>That was look.
<v Speaker 2>Laugh like a genuine belly laugh. I think is harder
<v Speaker 2>to really crack yourself up, you know, when you're laughing
<v Speaker 2>so hard that you can't even stop yourself. I think
<v Speaker 2>that's harder than crying personally.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, that's true. Well, that that's a that's the
<v Speaker 1>laughing and crying. It's the too mass hardest thing. Yeah yeah,
<v Speaker 1>that's right. Comedy and tragedy, oh man.
<v Speaker 4>And two guys that were really great with that.
<v Speaker 3>Three guys that I worked with brother that were great
<v Speaker 3>at a living Dave Thomas.
<v Speaker 1>Oh gosh, yeah, oh that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're
<v Speaker 1>good eh, yeah, And so.
<v Speaker 3>It was really interesting how much of what they ad
<v Speaker 3>lived went into the film instead of them.
<v Speaker 4>It was really cool. So I was wondering how much
<v Speaker 4>how much you do too much?
<v Speaker 1>Probably you know, I've been told would it kill you
<v Speaker 1>to say what we wrote? Would it just kill you?
<v Speaker 1>But I you know, I'm my old joke is I
<v Speaker 1>always punish them by doing it exactly as they wrote,
<v Speaker 1>and then then I'll do it the next take will
<v Speaker 1>be what they should have written. And uh, and I'm
<v Speaker 1>not to toot my own horn. But it was always
<v Speaker 1>fun too, cause, well, dark Wing Duck would be a
<v Speaker 1>good one. I am the terror that flaps in the night.
<v Speaker 1>I am the winged skirts and pexatr nightmares, I am
<v Speaker 1>talk Wing Duck. And the middle one would always change.
<v Speaker 1>And I've said this before, so I hope I'm not
<v Speaker 1>boring anybody out there, but I would always say I
<v Speaker 1>am the terror that flaps in the night. And then
<v Speaker 1>about the seventh show in the writer wrote, it doesn't
<v Speaker 1>matter what I write here. You know Jim's going to
<v Speaker 1>say something else anyway, I am Darkwing Duck's uh so
<v Speaker 1>it was you know, it's got its place, It's got
<v Speaker 1>its place. Ad living has its place.
<v Speaker 4>Right, it does.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I mean, and you get great stuff because it starts,
<v Speaker 3>it starts becoming more natural than what's.
<v Speaker 4>Written, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, you know, I think the key is, and
<v Speaker 1>I've discovered this many moons ago, is that if it's
<v Speaker 1>funny for the sake of funny, and all of a sudden,
<v Speaker 1>the story kind of grinds to a halt. And now
<v Speaker 1>we laugh at this over here, and now can we
<v Speaker 1>get now where we're going there? We were robbing a bank.
<v Speaker 1>Can we get back to robbing the bank or something?
<v Speaker 1>You know, as long as it doesn't stop the story, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it's okay.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, you know.
<v Speaker 1>If AD's too good, if it doesn't keep going.
<v Speaker 4>The other the other one that I like is and
<v Speaker 4>I never got to do this except.
<v Speaker 3>With Rick Mirandas and Dave Thomas was bringing our actors
<v Speaker 3>in at the same time, you know, we always recorded.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, those guys were able to bring them.
<v Speaker 3>They were a team and so we're bringing together and
<v Speaker 3>that was gold because they would just feed.
<v Speaker 5>Off of one another, oh no doubt, And once they
<v Speaker 5>got the rhythm and the drive of what the scene
<v Speaker 5>was supposed to be about, just coming up with all
<v Speaker 5>kinds of stuff, and I was I would read against
<v Speaker 5>them in the room and I had to.
<v Speaker 4>I got kicked out because I kept blowing cakes because
<v Speaker 4>I was laughing so hard. Yeah, it was amazing. I
<v Speaker 4>was wondering, do you ever get that opportunity to read
<v Speaker 4>against people?
<v Speaker 1>You know, I cherish it when it's not often. It's
<v Speaker 1>not often, and I really really prefer it. And uh,
<v Speaker 1>and of course years ago when when COVID popped up,
<v Speaker 1>oh my gosh, then it really gave them an excuse
<v Speaker 1>to isolate you. And I've always said that acting a lot.
<v Speaker 1>I couldn't assign a percentage to it. But acting is
<v Speaker 1>also reacting. And if there's nothing happening around you, if
<v Speaker 1>you're sitting in a bubble, well you're reacting to lots
<v Speaker 1>of nothing.
<v Speaker 3>Well to your point that you were saying earlier, to
<v Speaker 3>educate the bubble about you know, when that voice actor
<v Speaker 3>comes in compared to the animation.
<v Speaker 4>The other thing is that.
<v Speaker 3>People don't realize is the actors aren't coming together on
<v Speaker 3>the stage and acting back.
<v Speaker 4>And forth like you see on the screen right right.
<v Speaker 3>You know, everything's recorded separately and you bring it together
<v Speaker 3>and now you've got characters talking to one another on
<v Speaker 3>the screen that weren't.
<v Speaker 4>Recorded together, and it's incredibly difficult to get that to
<v Speaker 4>sound natural, you know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, oh I agree, and I'm a big fan. And
<v Speaker 1>oftentimes to make up for that, they'll isolate you. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>so because you can't, you can't overlap, you know, in
<v Speaker 1>natural conversation, we overlap the cans.
<v Speaker 3>And if you guys are in separate booze and recording
<v Speaker 3>one another, then that's it's really one time.
<v Speaker 4>There's one time.
<v Speaker 3>We brought in book Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Suarez who
<v Speaker 3>played the voice to Duda, and boy, Jeremy was a
<v Speaker 3>little pro.
<v Speaker 4>He's like forty years old now, but he was a
<v Speaker 4>little pro. And man, they just the stuff we got
<v Speaker 4>out of them was great.
<v Speaker 6>There was one point Joaquin messed up his line and
<v Speaker 6>I called one of the other characters by the wrong name, and.
<v Speaker 4>So Jeremy just rolled with it and corrected them. By
<v Speaker 4>the way his.
<v Speaker 1>Name's or whatever I can up with, the line is
<v Speaker 1>right right right.
<v Speaker 4>It's like, oh my god, that's great, and we kept it.
<v Speaker 4>That's went into the movie. We all have gotten that
<v Speaker 4>being there together.
<v Speaker 1>Oh that's wonderful.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Well, I've been notorious ad Libert too, and I'll hope
<v Speaker 1>I'm not repeating this story too much. But Don Han,
<v Speaker 1>when we saw the screening of The Lion King for
<v Speaker 1>the first time, I sang Hakuna Matata and Jess Harnell
<v Speaker 1>for Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella because they weren't singers.
<v Speaker 1>So they well, well, let's just get Jim and just
<v Speaker 1>to sing it and then they can. We can give
<v Speaker 1>them a cassette, they can ride around their car for
<v Speaker 1>a month and then they'll know it like the way
<v Speaker 1>they do Happy Birthday. Well, I I I basically wrote
<v Speaker 1>the fart verse uh and uh when I was you know,
<v Speaker 1>oh you know. And and we were walking down the
<v Speaker 1>the laye there after, and I said to Don Han,
<v Speaker 1>I said, you kept in the fart verse because I
<v Speaker 1>couldn't imagine, you know, Disney alluding you know, to that,
<v Speaker 1>And he goes, it's the funniest thing in the movie,
<v Speaker 1>and I go okay, And I said, well, I don't
<v Speaker 1>see my name in the credits for additional lyrics by
<v Speaker 1>so it wasn't that funny to me. But but I
<v Speaker 1>get to tell people like you that story, so it's
<v Speaker 1>not just email today. Actually, oh yeah, we'll tell him.
<v Speaker 1>I said, hey, and what are you doing? And hire me?
<v Speaker 1>And you too?
<v Speaker 4>You just well, we.
<v Speaker 1>All get a gig. Did you that's wonderful.
<v Speaker 2>When animation started to shift from two D to three D,
<v Speaker 2>what was your personal experience with that? Did you would
<v Speaker 2>start animating in three D? Did you always? Because I
<v Speaker 2>know snow bears in two D? Of course, yeah, no,
<v Speaker 2>I've never.
<v Speaker 4>Learned three D. It was It was crazy. That was
<v Speaker 4>a crazy time.
<v Speaker 3>And you know, I see a lot of young people
<v Speaker 3>freaking out about AI right now, and I try to
<v Speaker 3>settle them down and say, look, we went through.
<v Speaker 4>The transition from two D to three D.
<v Speaker 3>This is very similar, and you know, everything will settle,
<v Speaker 3>the dust will settle, the pendulum will swing. But you know,
<v Speaker 3>it all happened obviously when when Toy Story came out
<v Speaker 3>nineteen ninety five, nineteen ninety five.
<v Speaker 4>And you know, it was an amazing film.
<v Speaker 3>I remember before the film came out, we were watching
<v Speaker 3>dailies and we and that Army Man sequence and we
<v Speaker 3>were just like, we've never seen anything like this, and
<v Speaker 3>it was painting and it was visually unlike anything we'd
<v Speaker 3>ever seen. Yeah, we knew it was going to change
<v Speaker 3>the landscape. We just thought it was going to be
<v Speaker 3>an addition to not replace.
<v Speaker 4>It, and so okay, yeah, and so I was never scared.
<v Speaker 4>I was. I was actually really excited.
<v Speaker 3>All this is going to be super cool, and we'll
<v Speaker 3>be making these films, we'll all be alongside one another.
<v Speaker 4>And and it.
<v Speaker 3>Wasn't until a few years after, you know, and once
<v Speaker 3>we got into two thousand and two, two thousand and three,
<v Speaker 3>about six years, seven years later, that I realized, oh, no,
<v Speaker 3>things are changing.
<v Speaker 4>This is crazy. And so after Brother.
<v Speaker 3>Bear came out in two thousand and three and I
<v Speaker 3>didn't have the opportunity to make another two D film,
<v Speaker 3>I had to make a three D film. I didn't
<v Speaker 3>do three D, but I could direct it, ye, So
<v Speaker 3>and that's that's when I that's when.
<v Speaker 6>I started to learn digital drawing and painting so that
<v Speaker 6>I could get the art that I was trying that
<v Speaker 6>I was.
<v Speaker 4>We were developing a film called The King of the Elves.
<v Speaker 3>It was something I never got made because my wife
<v Speaker 3>passed and the film got shot. But but that's that
<v Speaker 3>that kind of launched my my trajectory into digital drawing
<v Speaker 3>and painting and filmmaking as well, because you know, even
<v Speaker 3>though it's not three D modeled Snowbear. I drew it digitally.
<v Speaker 3>I drew it on I'm talking to you guys on
<v Speaker 3>a big thirty two inch cyntique pen display screen that
<v Speaker 3>you draw on.
<v Speaker 4>And wow, there's no paper that was used for Snowbear,
<v Speaker 4>but it was.
<v Speaker 1>It was really and yeah wow.
<v Speaker 3>But even that, that happened as a result of everything else,
<v Speaker 3>because we went into this digital realm, right right, right,
<v Speaker 3>So you know, I ended up going.
<v Speaker 6>Down paths that I never would have gone down. I
<v Speaker 6>remember Max Howard.
<v Speaker 3>Who was the head of our studio in Florida, and
<v Speaker 3>it was like nineteen ninety one or ninety.
<v Speaker 4>Two, working on Aladdin or something, and he says, you know,
<v Speaker 4>erin and in a few years, we're going to be
<v Speaker 4>drawing on a TV screen. And I went, you're crazy,
<v Speaker 4>what are you talking about? I thought he was not.
<v Speaker 4>I was thinking like a big Cathould Grady tube. It's like,
<v Speaker 4>how the hell are you gonna tra Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 4>Now thinking about what that screen?
<v Speaker 3>What is that?
<v Speaker 4>So it's amazing? Ye.
<v Speaker 1>Do you welcome the new technology or or is it
<v Speaker 1>something you have to wrestle with? Or do you are
<v Speaker 1>you back? Because I I don't.
<v Speaker 3>There's aspects of like saying AI, there's obviously aspects of
<v Speaker 3>AI that can be scary.
<v Speaker 4>There's aspects that I don't agree with as far as
<v Speaker 4>copyright and some of the things that go with that.
<v Speaker 3>I don't like that, and I but I also know
<v Speaker 3>that it's here to stay to me.
<v Speaker 4>It's just become another tool in the toolbox. I don't.
<v Speaker 4>It's like for me when I sit down to use photoshop.
<v Speaker 4>Let's say I'm going to do a drawing and photoshop.
<v Speaker 4>I don't use all those all the other tools.
<v Speaker 6>I have a paintbrush, I have a canvas, and I draw.
<v Speaker 6>And that's why I.
<v Speaker 3>See that I'm going to continue to make films the
<v Speaker 3>way I want to make films. One of the things
<v Speaker 3>I always say is, you know the finished product. As
<v Speaker 3>an artist, that's not always the goal. And you want
<v Speaker 3>to get something.
<v Speaker 4>You do want to get to the finish, but man,
<v Speaker 4>it is a joy getting there.
<v Speaker 3>It's a joy creating. It's a joy writing. It's a
<v Speaker 3>joy painting and drawing and animating. I love that process.
<v Speaker 3>So I want to give it to a machine.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and so it's it's such a beautiful life.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I agree, And there might be a point where
<v Speaker 3>AI can mimic everything that we do by hand, but
<v Speaker 3>I'm still going to do it by hand because I
<v Speaker 3>love making a Yeah, you know, I can take a
<v Speaker 3>photograph of something, or I can sit and i can
<v Speaker 3>paint it, and that's.
<v Speaker 4>The process that I love.
<v Speaker 3>And so when people ask me about that, or when
<v Speaker 3>I post something on social media or on the Internet
<v Speaker 3>of some animation that I've done or something to promote ourselves,
<v Speaker 3>there's always some Yahoo that comes in and goes, hey, hey,
<v Speaker 3>I could do that in about two minutes.
<v Speaker 4>So yeah, you're right, it can, but you're not bod it.
<v Speaker 3>So obviously, notice because I love the process, I love
<v Speaker 3>the act of creation, and it's it's this human and
<v Speaker 3>I actually also I'm know I'm rambling, but I I
<v Speaker 3>I'm seeing this pushback. I'm seeing this hunger from the
<v Speaker 3>audiences out there for human need. Oh yes, that's good
<v Speaker 3>that we've gotten on Snowbear is man, it's so nice
<v Speaker 3>not to see any AI crap, you know, it's yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Yes, well, well for a while, there were kind of
<v Speaker 1>walking down that same road as far as the voice
<v Speaker 1>over too well everything right, oh yeah, well they said, well,
<v Speaker 1>you know, we we we can do your voice, we
<v Speaker 1>can do we've got you on. We can make pooh
<v Speaker 1>or take you know, somebody say whatever the heck we want.
<v Speaker 1>And I was thinking, okay, but I don't know what
<v Speaker 1>kind of what kind of soul is that? Where? Where?
<v Speaker 1>Where's the heart in the heart in that?
<v Speaker 8>There's no human human experience, right, yeah, So whether it's
<v Speaker 8>or visual, yeah, in each human experience behind it for
<v Speaker 8>that authenticity.
<v Speaker 4>My father, who's going to be eighty seven this year,
<v Speaker 4>he still loves music.
<v Speaker 3>He still plays, and he can't see anymore, but he plays.
<v Speaker 3>And he was on Ed Sullivan in nineteen sixty four.
<v Speaker 4>As a matter of fact, I forgot to tell you that.
<v Speaker 1>Wow as what was He was in.
<v Speaker 4>A band called Sandhu Scott in the Scotti's.
<v Speaker 3>He was one of the Scott He's playing playing on
<v Speaker 3>the Christmas Show in nineteen sixty four.
<v Speaker 1>Oh my gosh.
<v Speaker 4>He loves watching like America's Got Talent and things like that.
<v Speaker 4>Oh sure, musical guests.
<v Speaker 3>And he showed me something on TikTok. Somebody had showed
<v Speaker 3>him of this singer on America's Got Talent, And it
<v Speaker 3>was like you were saying, it was it was. It
<v Speaker 3>was a completely fabricated character. It was a AI looking
<v Speaker 3>character and AI voice.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, wow, no idea, how good this guy is? I
<v Speaker 4>was like, oh that, sorry to tell you.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well there was years ago, maybe like ten twelve
<v Speaker 1>years ago, there was h someone in Japan decided to
<v Speaker 1>come up with a AI construct and it was all
<v Speaker 1>on screen, it was all and it was a Japanese
<v Speaker 1>pop star. I cannot for the life of me thinking
<v Speaker 1>the name which is good.
<v Speaker 4>And that tells you right there.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right about that. That's that's a
<v Speaker 1>good point. Actually. But I guess she could sell out
<v Speaker 1>stadiums and then and there would be you know, thousands
<v Speaker 1>of people there in the audience and it would be
<v Speaker 1>just a big ten foot screen on a stage. Yeah,
<v Speaker 1>could be sure.
<v Speaker 2>I know that's a really popular one right now. It's
<v Speaker 2>like literally just a like c G I avatsar pretty much.
<v Speaker 9>And yeah, but I do, I do firmly believe that
<v Speaker 9>there's to be a place will always be relevant.
<v Speaker 3>There's always some relevancy in being able to bring that
<v Speaker 3>human experience.
<v Speaker 1>Oh, it has it has to be yeah, and it
<v Speaker 1>has to be discernible, and there has to be something
<v Speaker 1>that that people are going to appreciate, you know, you know,
<v Speaker 1>I mean, nobody's ever going to sit there in now
<v Speaker 1>or in the future and go, gosh, it's a shame.
<v Speaker 1>We don't go back to just computers doing our thinking
<v Speaker 1>for us and our creating. Darn it. Now we have
<v Speaker 1>to have all this pesky talent dark gun it well.
<v Speaker 2>Sort of sort of related to this subject. I mean,
<v Speaker 2>I think it's also important to remember too that you know,
<v Speaker 2>at the end of the day, this is show business,
<v Speaker 2>and you know, half of the decisions come from the
<v Speaker 2>business side of things, you know, saving money and whatnot.
<v Speaker 2>I wanted to ask you, Aaron, I saw this. I
<v Speaker 2>saw this short on YouTube the other day, and it
<v Speaker 2>was an example side by side of different movies using
<v Speaker 2>the same animations. For example, like Winnie the Pooh would
<v Speaker 2>be walked down you know, the road and then tumble
<v Speaker 2>and then they showed a clip of you know, King
<v Speaker 2>Louis from The Jungle Book and it was the exact
<v Speaker 2>same you know motion. Oh yeah, we used assets, but
<v Speaker 2>just obviously a different character, different background. How common was
<v Speaker 2>that while you were working at Disney, Because to me,
<v Speaker 2>that's a you know, that's a business decision. It's like,
<v Speaker 2>let's reuse some assets, so we saved time.
<v Speaker 3>When they did that, that was before I came in
<v Speaker 3>the business. So when they did that, that was like
<v Speaker 3>in the sixties going into the seventies. And you got
<v Speaker 3>to remember back.
<v Speaker 6>Then, after Wald died, animation was it was sinking to
<v Speaker 6>the point where by the time we got to nineteen
<v Speaker 6>eighty four, when Eisner came in was going to shut
<v Speaker 6>shut animation down, it was sinking shit using money.
<v Speaker 4>It was a mess, you know.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, And so they were looking for any way and
<v Speaker 3>the other thing too, And I'm sure you guys have
<v Speaker 3>experienced this. There's always some young manager or something that
<v Speaker 3>comes in that I'm going to do it better this time,
<v Speaker 3>you know, And so I'm sure there was a little
<v Speaker 3>bit of that when they're you know, they're making whether
<v Speaker 3>it's the Rescues done under or making Robin Hood. Hey,
<v Speaker 3>we got all this other animation that we've done in
<v Speaker 3>the past, let's just recycle them. We'll put new characters
<v Speaker 3>over the top of it, and we'll save us all
<v Speaker 3>kinds of money. And it didn't save them any time.
<v Speaker 3>It didn't save them any money because it all had
<v Speaker 3>to be redrawn anyway, and to cause more problems in
<v Speaker 3>it than it's safe. But but it's interesting because yeah,
<v Speaker 3>they were they were.
<v Speaker 4>Doing these weird things in order to save the sinking ship.
<v Speaker 6>And it wasn't until Eisner came in and then Roy
<v Speaker 6>said no. Roy Disney said no, don't, don't.
<v Speaker 4>Shut it down. We're gonna you know, we're gonna turn
<v Speaker 4>this around. And that's when they brought in Peter Schneider
<v Speaker 4>and Tom Schumacher and Don Yes, yes, but I really
<v Speaker 4>kind of turned it around.
<v Speaker 3>They got some new blood in, they started thinking about
<v Speaker 3>it from a Broadway point of view, and started thinking
<v Speaker 3>about these musicals.
<v Speaker 4>And so by the time.
<v Speaker 3>I came into the picture, the films, you know, it
<v Speaker 3>was off of oliverurn come, I mean, lul Ther made no,
<v Speaker 3>it was all original stuff and they weren't thinking about
<v Speaker 3>going in and saving money by rehashing old animation. But
<v Speaker 3>we all definitely knew the stories and yeah, and it
<v Speaker 3>was really it really was interesting and it is fun
<v Speaker 3>to see, you know, and you see snow White and
<v Speaker 3>you see May Marian from Disney's Robinhood and they're dancing
<v Speaker 3>and it's it's exactly the same animation you know.
<v Speaker 4>Has gone through and AI filter.
<v Speaker 1>Wow, that's amazing.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Well that's the reason I brought that is, Oh sorry, Jim.
<v Speaker 1>No, I was just gonna say, if it worked the
<v Speaker 1>first time, let's pread again.
<v Speaker 4>And well then that's the thinking. That's the thinking, right.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah. The reason I bring that up, though, is because
<v Speaker 2>that must be a tempting, you know, business decision where
<v Speaker 2>you know, oh, we can spend all this money on
<v Speaker 2>VFX artists, or we can you know, have sora, you know,
<v Speaker 2>put some and that.
<v Speaker 3>And that's that's exactly what the threat is to the
<v Speaker 3>industry now.
<v Speaker 4>And so and.
<v Speaker 3>What's even worse of a threat is there's the threat
<v Speaker 3>of wanting to do that.
<v Speaker 6>And and pushing forward with that and stripping down your
<v Speaker 6>crew and thinking you're saving money and then in.
<v Speaker 4>The end you're not getting what you want and blah
<v Speaker 4>blah blah.
<v Speaker 3>But then the other threat too is I think that
<v Speaker 3>you know, maybe not the upper studios, but some of
<v Speaker 3>the mid level studios or what they get out of
<v Speaker 3>that money saving what they get another AR sore or whatever,
<v Speaker 3>and they go.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah, that's good enough and enough they put out there,
<v Speaker 4>rather than.
<v Speaker 2>I think we kind of saw that this year with
<v Speaker 2>the Super Bowl commercials. Yeah, I was watching the super
<v Speaker 2>Bowl this year, I couldn't. It was like every other
<v Speaker 2>commercial was AI it was.
<v Speaker 3>And so to our entertainment industry is is kind of
<v Speaker 3>drowning in a sea of mediocrity, I think.
<v Speaker 4>Is what it is.
<v Speaker 1>Well, that's a good way to put it.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, so you end up with and so then you've
<v Speaker 3>got a new generation coming up and that's their standard now,
<v Speaker 3>and so the standards drop and so I think you're
<v Speaker 3>going to see this little blip, a downward blip in
<v Speaker 3>standards for creating and visual.
<v Speaker 4>Music.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, it's definitely a weird time.
<v Speaker 4>You know.
<v Speaker 3>Obviously a I can do, you know, has the potential
<v Speaker 3>to see yeah, wonderful.
<v Speaker 1>Things, Yeah sure, but it also has the.
<v Speaker 4>Potential to you know, there's a huge adjustment we got.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, it's to condemn us to mediocrity. Yeah, it's I
<v Speaker 1>think that a lot of times mediocrity is raised up
<v Speaker 1>into the realm of excellence and it's just no, it
<v Speaker 1>isn't good enough, isn't isn't superb. It's but everybody just well, now,
<v Speaker 1>that's fine, that's good. If you're a fan of everything
<v Speaker 1>we do here at tuned in with Jim Cummings, you
<v Speaker 1>could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts,
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<v Speaker 3>I can tell you how many students I have, young
<v Speaker 3>people that go, man, I really want to be an animator,
<v Speaker 3>but I don't want to do all those drawings.
<v Speaker 1>Well wait a minute, Well then you don't want to
<v Speaker 1>be an animator. Yeah, well you know, I really want
<v Speaker 1>to be a singer, but I don't feel like doing
<v Speaker 1>all those songs. Wait what it's funny? Yeah, yeah, it's.
<v Speaker 4>Uh, this is my old guy coming on. And I
<v Speaker 4>do when I talk to younger artists.
<v Speaker 3>This is I would preface it by this is my
<v Speaker 3>angry old man side, but it's uh, it's this generation.
<v Speaker 4>Is it's the American Idol generation. It's the instant. Everything's instant.
<v Speaker 4>I need information. I got my iPhone, you know I
<v Speaker 4>got I'm got instant startup. I can't tell you how
<v Speaker 4>many times do you want American Idol?
<v Speaker 3>And there's some eighteen year old kid going, man, this
<v Speaker 3>is this is my last chance.
<v Speaker 4>I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Yeah, Well you're not going to find anybody with
<v Speaker 1>a row of call your encyclopedias anymore. It's like, wait,
<v Speaker 1>what's an encyclopedia. Well, it's a book that you and
<v Speaker 1>then they go, what's a book? Oh yeah, never mind.
<v Speaker 4>This is the Grumpy Old Men Pat podcast.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, I know this is a this is a cliche question,
<v Speaker 2>but I feel remiss if I didn't ask it. Do
<v Speaker 2>you have a favorite project or character that you worked on?
<v Speaker 4>Oh? Yeah, I mean a lot, and it's always changing. Obviously.
<v Speaker 3>For me, snow Bear is one of my favorite projects
<v Speaker 3>I've ever done. It's my own film.
<v Speaker 4>I've never done that. Yeah, sit down and just create
<v Speaker 4>every single visual that you see on the screen.
<v Speaker 2>Believe.
<v Speaker 3>As a result of that, I became very, very emotionally
<v Speaker 3>attached to that character because that character is me.
<v Speaker 4>And so there's that.
<v Speaker 3>But then, you know, throughout my career, every project holds
<v Speaker 3>a different place in my heart, you know, whether it's
<v Speaker 3>The Beast, the Beast, I love the Beast, and yeah
<v Speaker 3>I did for my career, but I love that character.
<v Speaker 4>I know that part of that character is me, part
<v Speaker 4>of it's Glenn, part of it's you know, the other animateurs.
<v Speaker 4>Mm hmm, I love you know.
<v Speaker 3>I created Nalah Young Nallah and the Lion King, and
<v Speaker 3>there's that character is based on you know, at the time.
<v Speaker 4>It was my daughter. So I want to see Nala,
<v Speaker 4>I see my daughter upon the streen.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, so it's.
<v Speaker 4>And my daughter's thirty seven now and she still tells
<v Speaker 4>everybody she's.
<v Speaker 1>Not that's great.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but yeah, it's hard to it's hard to pin
<v Speaker 3>down the absolute favorite project or.
<v Speaker 4>Character, right. You know. Brother Bear was.
<v Speaker 3>The first thing that I ever directed, and it was incredibly,
<v Speaker 3>incredibly difficult, and you know, there were days that I
<v Speaker 3>would just dread getting out of bed.
<v Speaker 1>Was what was the what was the big roadblock for you?
<v Speaker 1>What was the well?
<v Speaker 3>I didn't when I the way that I found out,
<v Speaker 3>I was finishing up on Mulan. I was an animator
<v Speaker 3>on Mulan. I created Yao and the Ancestors and all that.
<v Speaker 3>I was working very closely with Pam Coach.
<v Speaker 1>You know Fam Coach, right, yeah, I think, yeah, yeah.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, So I thought she knew you knew her. I
<v Speaker 3>think she's spoken very heightened me, so I thought maybe
<v Speaker 3>even But so I was working with Pan Coats. I
<v Speaker 3>was working with Tom Schumacher, and Tom and Peter were
<v Speaker 3>talking about some of the things that they had in
<v Speaker 3>development and mentioned this movie called Bears, and I thought, oh,
<v Speaker 3>that sounds really cool. And so I wanted to get
<v Speaker 3>on because I love animals, and so I wanted to
<v Speaker 3>animate on it, or I wanted to create some designs
<v Speaker 3>or something for him.
<v Speaker 4>But they didn't have anybody working on it. It was
<v Speaker 4>just kind of sitting on the shelf.
<v Speaker 3>And so I but I just kept pushing and pushing,
<v Speaker 3>and it was Tom Schumacher that had come.
<v Speaker 4>He came to me.
<v Speaker 3>I came to him because I was a greasy, squeaky
<v Speaker 3>wheel and a greasy wheel have.
<v Speaker 4>Uh?
<v Speaker 3>And he said, well, no one's working on it. Have
<v Speaker 3>you ever thought about directing? And I was completely blown
<v Speaker 3>away and and so I did, Yeah, I'd like to
<v Speaker 3>take this challenge. And I thought, you know, up to
<v Speaker 3>that point, I had worked on six or seven features.
<v Speaker 4>You know, I knew how a movie was made, but
<v Speaker 4>I didn't know is I didn't know how to.
<v Speaker 3>I knew how to, I knew in my heart the
<v Speaker 3>stories I wanted to tell, I just didn't know how
<v Speaker 3>to construct them. I didn't know how to I love
<v Speaker 3>to write, but I never had any proper training, and
<v Speaker 3>I certainly didn't know how to write a screenplay, and
<v Speaker 3>that's the meat of creating a story. And so I
<v Speaker 3>went into it not knowing what I didn't.
<v Speaker 1>Know that could be good.
<v Speaker 4>The thing that I had.
<v Speaker 3>In my favor and for me with my experience was
<v Speaker 3>I had incredibly wonderful executive bosses Pam Coach, Tom Schumacher.
<v Speaker 3>They they allowed me to make my mistakes, They allowed
<v Speaker 3>me to fall down, and they didn't fire me.
<v Speaker 4>Then there are so many times I should have been fired.
<v Speaker 1>Always a good sign.
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, Yeah, they let me make my mistakes and learn
<v Speaker 3>from them, and I grew.
<v Speaker 4>I was able to grow as a filmmaker and as
<v Speaker 4>a director, and I learned what I needed to learn.
<v Speaker 3>I always say that, you know, I was on that
<v Speaker 3>project for six years, and I always say that that
<v Speaker 3>was my six year filmmaking school, because by the time
<v Speaker 3>I finished making Brother Bear, then I was ready to
<v Speaker 3>make a film.
<v Speaker 4>So you know, I'm forever in.
<v Speaker 3>Their debt for giving me the opportunities time after time
<v Speaker 3>after time when they had every right to pull the
<v Speaker 3>right out from under me. Because I screwed up so
<v Speaker 3>many times they saw something in there.
<v Speaker 4>I guess I don't know.
<v Speaker 1>Well, you know, I dare say they themselves experienced that.
<v Speaker 1>Of course, Yeah, they knew that. That was part of
<v Speaker 1>the process anyway. Yeah, so you know, God forbid you
<v Speaker 1>follow in their footsteps.
<v Speaker 3>Well, I remember one screening, you know, the process of
<v Speaker 3>making these films for people out there that don't know.
<v Speaker 4>We storyboard the movie. We cut it all together an editorial.
<v Speaker 3>We put scratch voices in there, and we put you know,
<v Speaker 3>scratch music and sound effects, and.
<v Speaker 4>You basically storyboard it to see what the movie is
<v Speaker 4>going to play like, and you.
<v Speaker 3>Watch it in the theater, and we do that several
<v Speaker 3>times over before we actually start making it so that
<v Speaker 3>we can refine it.
<v Speaker 4>One of the reasons.
<v Speaker 3>Why big budget animated films tend to be pretty good
<v Speaker 3>to great because they go through the process which live
<v Speaker 3>actually didn't get.
<v Speaker 4>To do it very often, but I.
<v Speaker 3>Remember it was our third or fourth screening, and we
<v Speaker 3>tried a whole bunch of new things. Hey, and and
<v Speaker 3>we were sitting with a cold audience with our with
<v Speaker 3>the studio in California.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yeah, and.
<v Speaker 3>I'm just as it's playing, I'm just sinking lower and
<v Speaker 3>lower and lower, cringing the whole time. So the lights
<v Speaker 3>come up at the end of the reading and everyone
<v Speaker 3>files out and Tom stands up and you make sure
<v Speaker 3>the doors closed, and he goes, well, now we don't
<v Speaker 3>we don't want to do it.
<v Speaker 4>And then he said, all rights and start remaking this film.
<v Speaker 3>And yeah, like I said, he had every right to go,
<v Speaker 3>all right, we're getting another director.
<v Speaker 1>Right. Well, it's like Edison, right, I think, wasn't the
<v Speaker 1>light bulb finally result when he finally found the right
<v Speaker 1>filament or what have you? Yeah, right, I think there's
<v Speaker 1>something like a hundred year different tries and yeah, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>it only has to work once exactly. You know.
<v Speaker 4>Well, it's funny.
<v Speaker 3>Even even though we finally got to the end of it,
<v Speaker 3>when Brother Bear finally came out it it didn't do
<v Speaker 3>well with the with the critics. It did okay in
<v Speaker 3>the box it did already, Yeah, but the critics hated it.
<v Speaker 4>And it really really.
<v Speaker 3>Hard because we worked on it so hard. And but
<v Speaker 3>it's interesting. It's the kids that saw that film then
<v Speaker 3>are grown up, having kids of their own now and
<v Speaker 3>all of a sudden getting this big resurgence. I think
<v Speaker 3>it's more popular.
<v Speaker 4>Than it was.
<v Speaker 1>Then, well we're all nostalgic for our childhood.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah yeah, and so it's getting introduced to another.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Well that's wonderful.
<v Speaker 2>That's funny how that works so many different artistic mediums,
<v Speaker 2>you know, Like I think the first person that comes
<v Speaker 2>to mind is like f Scott Fitzgerald, you know, dying
<v Speaker 2>thinking that he's a failure. You know, he's one of
<v Speaker 2>the greatest writers of all time.
<v Speaker 4>Exactly like a Van Go right, mm hmmm.
<v Speaker 2>Sometimes it takes a genius to percolate through the through
<v Speaker 2>the masses.
<v Speaker 4>I wouldn't genius.
<v Speaker 2>We'll just take the compliment, all right, We'll take the compliment.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, go ahead. By all means. Well, it's like Van Go.
<v Speaker 1>I don't think. I don't think he sold a painting
<v Speaker 1>now in his lifetime. No, not one.
<v Speaker 4>It's a sad, sad story.
<v Speaker 1>So we're all doing pretty good out here, no complaints, right, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>So what what what's on the horizon at this point?
<v Speaker 3>Oh man, I've got I've got about seven different projects
<v Speaker 3>that I've I've gotten various stages of development, whether it's
<v Speaker 3>I've got some short animated shorts, I've got some feat
<v Speaker 3>I've got a prequel to snow Bear feature length project,
<v Speaker 3>but I'm gonna I think I'm gonna do it as
<v Speaker 3>a graphic novel first, So I'm gonna sit down and
<v Speaker 3>do that over several months and then and we'll see
<v Speaker 3>where it goes from there. One of the things I'm
<v Speaker 3>super excited about is kind of holding onto my animation
<v Speaker 3>and art background, but also going into my love of
<v Speaker 3>going out into the world and finding animals and chasing animals.
<v Speaker 4>And drawing and all that.
<v Speaker 3>Back in November, I had the opportunity to go to Churchill, Manitoba,
<v Speaker 3>which is way up north northern Canada on Hudson Bay,
<v Speaker 3>where the polar bears come together.
<v Speaker 1>So we're gonna say Bear country for sure, Yes, And.
<v Speaker 4>We saw polar bears.
<v Speaker 3>We went up and documented this trip and documented the
<v Speaker 3>whole thing and spent some time in the talent up there,
<v Speaker 3>and we saw hundreds of polar bears. And and we're
<v Speaker 3>turning it into this little kind of kind of in
<v Speaker 3>the vein of I think, like Anthony Bourdain, but this
<v Speaker 3>travel documentary, but rather than like food and like Anthony
<v Speaker 3>Bordain did, we're coming at it from a conservation artist
<v Speaker 3>standpoint and animation, and we just finished up the first
<v Speaker 3>pilot on that and we're kind of looking at what
<v Speaker 3>we might do with that. So that one I'm super
<v Speaker 3>excited about as well. So we got a lot of
<v Speaker 3>a lot of diversity out there that we're trying some
<v Speaker 3>new stuff along with our teaching and all that.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, well, I'm always fascinated. I remember when they were
<v Speaker 1>doing the Lion King, they sent over to Africa to
<v Speaker 1>h and I remember after seeing Lion King, I ended
<v Speaker 1>up over in Africa for a so and I just
<v Speaker 1>couldn't believe boom but looked exactly right. That's that's how
<v Speaker 1>they run, that's how they go, that's how that's what
<v Speaker 1>meerkats do, and they had it was perfect and I
<v Speaker 1>didn't realize it until I saw him one in real
<v Speaker 1>life and I went, oh my gosh, yeah there there,
<v Speaker 1>where are you going? I was waiting for him to
<v Speaker 1>say something.
<v Speaker 4>There's a beautiful cheetah camp in the Kenya.
<v Speaker 1>Oh yes, there every couple.
<v Speaker 3>Of years, and there's a guy that the guy that
<v Speaker 3>owns the camp, his name is Jorge and he's just
<v Speaker 3>bigger than life. Spanish from Spain, and man, I want
<v Speaker 3>to get him on camera.
<v Speaker 4>Because he's just my friend, welcome. You know, he's just yeah.
<v Speaker 1>Falstaff, what's that like a falstaff kind of Yeah.
<v Speaker 4>He's just great. So yeah, that's a whole other episode
<v Speaker 4>I want to do.
<v Speaker 1>Just Yeah, that's wonderful.
<v Speaker 2>And you mentioned your website earlier. What's your website that
<v Speaker 2>people can find you at.
<v Speaker 3>My website is Creature Art teacher dot com. You know,
<v Speaker 3>any of my social media is Aaron Blazer, so it's
<v Speaker 3>just hashtag Aaron Blazer or.
<v Speaker 1>M fantastic.
<v Speaker 2>I also want to say, for for anybody watching or listening,
<v Speaker 2>you did a great interview with the Corridor Crew, which
<v Speaker 2>is one of my favorite YouTube channels, and I think
<v Speaker 2>those guys are just so talented.
<v Speaker 4>I love their content.
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they're such a talented bunch. And you you had
<v Speaker 2>a great interview and it's really cool, you know, to
<v Speaker 2>watch you in real time, you know, looking at drawings
<v Speaker 2>of yours and critiquing them and everything like that. So
<v Speaker 2>anybody who wants to check that out, that's another great
<v Speaker 2>episode over on the Corridor Cruise YouTube channel.
<v Speaker 4>Yeah. Thanks, Yeah, that was great.
<v Speaker 3>And uh and you'll notice I've lost about eighty pounds since.
<v Speaker 4>That interview too. Literally wow, on my way to dropping
<v Speaker 4>one hundred town, but I dropped eighty wo.
<v Speaker 1>I don't know that you.
<v Speaker 4>Let myself go there during that period.
<v Speaker 1>So well, somebody's got to take care of the pizza.
<v Speaker 4>Mark, Yeah, sandwich out of your mouth.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, my goodness, Aaron, this has been so wonderful.
<v Speaker 4>This has been amazing.
<v Speaker 3>I've been looking forward to this ever since we since
<v Speaker 3>I've been watching your podcast, since you asked me to
<v Speaker 3>be on, and so I just want to thank you
<v Speaker 3>so much for thinking of me, including me, and making
<v Speaker 3>this happen.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you, Thank you. Well, you're highly noticeable.
<v Speaker 4>I'm a very speaky.
<v Speaker 1>Oh I don't know about that, very talented one, that's
<v Speaker 1>for sure. Fantastic.
<v Speaker 4>Thank you so much.
<v Speaker 3>And I and I uh man, I hope we get
<v Speaker 3>to work together.
<v Speaker 1>I hope you get to do so amen. Yeah, we'll
<v Speaker 1>write something and I'll say it there, go animate something
<v Speaker 1>and I'll do whatever it is I could do.
<v Speaker 4>Okay, Well, we might take you up on it.
<v Speaker 3>We've got some ideas that I think you would sit
<v Speaker 3>into as far as courses for sight or maybe doing whatever.
<v Speaker 4>We'll figure out.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, okay, yeah, don't know. Christopher's there too, I'll yeah, okay, yeah,
<v Speaker 1>Well Chris is on the animation path too.
<v Speaker 2>Now he's yeah, he's never voiceover roll in an anime series.
<v Speaker 2>The premiers next month. I'm really excited about.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah.
<v Speaker 2>It's called Hollow Healer. It's kind of a mythical tale
<v Speaker 2>about about a warrior who loses his family and kind
<v Speaker 2>of channels all that energy in a negative way with
<v Speaker 2>all these godlike powers, and it's very intense and very emotional.
<v Speaker 2>It was a fun project and there's gonna be there's
<v Speaker 2>gonna be more iterations in the series. So look out
<v Speaker 2>for that Hollow Healer. It's coming out.
<v Speaker 4>Wow. Yeah, great plug awesome.
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, so stay tuned.
<v Speaker 2>Very exciting stuff coming down pipe.
<v Speaker 1>Yes right, all right, we'll wrap it up, Christopher, are
<v Speaker 1>we there, Yes, indeed, yes, indeed.
<v Speaker 2>Well, without further ado, Thank you guys all for watching.
<v Speaker 2>We really appreciate you. And if you like this content,
<v Speaker 2>be sure to like and subscribe. It helps us, it
<v Speaker 2>helps you find this channel again, and if you like
<v Speaker 2>it so much that you want to see more good news.
<v Speaker 2>We're on Patreon. Tuned in with Jim Cummings is on Patreon.
<v Speaker 2>We have bonus interviews, bonus content that you will not
<v Speaker 2>find anywhere else, so be sure to check that out.
<v Speaker 2>And this year we're also doing a live tour with
<v Speaker 2>Fan Xpo. We got some dates coming up. We recorded.
<v Speaker 2>We just recorded an episode in Orlando with John Reys Davies,
<v Speaker 2>very very talented and hilarious. The next show, the next
<v Speaker 2>show we have coming up is in Calgary at the
<v Speaker 2>Calgary Xpo from April twenty third to twenty sixth, followed
<v Speaker 2>by Philadelphia May twenty ninth to thirty first, Chicago August
<v Speaker 2>fourteenth and sixteenth, Toronto August twenty twenty seven to thirtieth,
<v Speaker 2>Dallas September eleventh to thirteenth, and San Francisco November twenty
<v Speaker 2>seven to twenty nine. Once again, we're doing this podcast
<v Speaker 2>live in front of a live audience. It really creates
<v Speaker 2>a different energy. And of course we record all those
<v Speaker 2>and post them the week after on YouTube, but the
<v Speaker 2>live recording really, you know, you get to see some
<v Speaker 2>things that may not be edited out, and you get
<v Speaker 2>to feel the energy of the crowd.
<v Speaker 4>You know.
<v Speaker 2>It's so it's it's a good time. So if you're
<v Speaker 2>in one of those cities or nearby, come check it out.
<v Speaker 2>Once again, I am producer Chris the Legend himself, mister
<v Speaker 2>Jim Cummings and Aaron Blaze. Thank you so much again
<v Speaker 2>for being here. Really appreciate it.
<v Speaker 1>Thank you guys so much, God speed, thank
<v Speaker 2>You, and we will see you all in the next
<v Speaker 2>one better bum