Now, I have occassionaly heard the bickering anger of the animator off in the corner saying that Glen Keane has ruined Disney and Animation altogether due to his work in Tarzan, where the movie ran approximately fifty million dollars over budget and lost Disney Feature Animation money to the point that they had to cut costs for their next project. I don't know if this is necessarily true, but I have heard the rumors . . .

I also single handedly blame Thomas Edison for ruining darkness.

They need to restructure badly. Sooner or later they will realize that blaming the animators is like a painter blaming his canvas. It's the brains and sinews of the company that need to be addressed. Cutting off the artists is furthering the problem, not solving it.

The only thing I can say for the artists is this:

We gotta stay positive. You can't be defeated. We are the ones who must reach up and show the man on the mountain what's going on and how it can be fixed. We gotta make sure we keep our credibility so our voice will be respected. we gotta stick together at all costs.

"Master animator Glen Keane has always been an inspiration. It's just too bad that he has to fear for his future; 2-D animation is not dying, it's being killed. Disney doesn't seem to be helping to revive it either. Their animation products now come rolling off the assembly line so quickly that their films have stopped being events. I'd settle for one really great piece of animation from Disney versus three subpar ones."

If so, its refreshing to see that possible non-industry people have the same attitude about the importance of the story.

Then again... "Just Married" number one at the box office.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tahsin:
I was in Glen Keane's team on Tarzan, in the Paris studio.

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It's great to see such welcome responses to glen keane's work, being relatively new here, I was in all honesty unsure whether or not people from differing animation backgrounds would dislike Glen Keane, but lo and behold I find somebody here who actually worked under Glen Keane on what I consider one of the best Disney Animated Features. Thank you for your responses to my questions on the popularity of Glen Keane in general.

I went up to him and asked him if he was Glen Keane. He looked surprised that he would be known by a stranger. Talked with him for a little while. Impressed me as a genuine, sincere gentleman.

Saw him also at an animation evening at Hollywood Presbyterian I think. A church auditorium that featured him, the writer of All Dogs Go To Heaven, a few other animation people. Around the Time of Rescuers Down Under.

You know, I don't give a rat's ass about any negative jibe that may be whispered about Mr. Keane, my fellow maniacs. That's monkey propaganda at it's best. Or worst. Same difference.

Glen was very excited about a computer process he was working to develop which would combine 2D and CG animation. The lines would stay, along with all the stretch and squash but the figure would be rendered as if it were a CG figure. Imagine a ballerina pastel by Degas... animated with its light sources consistent. Glen had already animated a test scene and done rotational models of the ballerina so it could be built in CG. I remember a special on Richard Williams who was trying for this sort of effect but he was tediously painting each page, a flowing, moving watercolor of a girl sniffing a flower.

Flash forward. Glen and I are having lunch after TP. After the company has said that it would be the last picture to use expensive computer techniques. Glen said he couldn't find an executive who would consider financing research into a new computer technique. He had hoped to use the process on his picture. It's not like Glen to be down but there was considerable headshaking.