Moon Madness

In July, Walt Disney’s 1962 live-action feature Moon Pilot will be screened at 1:00pm and 4:00pm daily except Tuesdays and July 16, 17, and 23. Internationally-respected Disney Historian Jim Korkis has provided the following insight into the making of the out-of-this-world comedy.  

Walt introduces the first TV airing of Moon Pilot, January 16, 1966. © Disney“A funny thing happened to me on my way to the moon…girl (with seven moons all made for love) meets boy (with chimp)…and WOW!”

That was the marketing phrase that appeared on many movie advertisements for the Disney live-action “Technicolor® blast of fun and entertainment” known as Moon Pilot, first released to theaters nearly fifty years ago.

Astronaut Captain Richmond Talbot (played by ruggedly handsome Tom Tryon) accidentally “volunteers” to make the first manned flight around the moon. However, during a visit home to see his mother and brother before the blast-off, he meets a strange young woman named Lyrae (played by petite French actress Dany Saval) who mysteriously knows all about his secret mission, and has some vital information she is desperate to share. Is she a foreign spy? All of the resources of the Federal Security Agency can’t keep these two young people apart while the success of this historic space flight is held in the balance.

In its review of the film on January 15, 1962, the entertainment trade newspaper Daily Variety praised the lighthearted production with statements like “Filmgoers in general will accept this picture as light, gay, infectious diversion. The upshot, at any rate appears to be another moneymaker for Disney…and additional bow to co-producer Bill Anderson and associate (producer) Ron Miller for a job well done.”

However, the American audience was not in the mood for a playful look at outer space. There was a lot of tension because of a very serious “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviets. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin had been the first man to be launched into orbit in April 1961. While American astronaut Alan Shepard would be shot into space in May 1961, he did not orbit the Earth. That honor would go to American astronaut John Glenn in February 1962.

The battle for the supermacy of outer space made it extremely difficult for the Disney designers to get access to necessary information. Walt wanted a sense of reality for his fantasy, so he visited the Vandenberg Air Force Base to see the launching of an Atlas missile for himself and to gather information about the design of the interior of the blockhouse.

The most difficult item to create was the space capsule itself (seen in the opening segment of the film), because all such information was highly classified. The Air Force also furnished a Technical Director, made some stock footage available, furnished air craft for a scene or two, and allowed some limited shooting on the base.

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The Art of Tyrus Wong: Recap

From the Collection of the Walt Disney Family Foundation. ©DisneyThis month, The Walt Disney Family Museum celebrates Walt Disney’s brilliant and timeless 1942 animated feature, Bambi. In this column, Anel Muller and Harvey Newman recap our special event of Saturday, June 11, which focused on the art of Bambi and how it forever shaped animation—and continues to influence many of our favorite films. 

On June 11, 2011, The Walt Disney Family Museum had the great privilege of hosting not only Charles Solomon, noted author and animation historian; Paul Felix, art director at Walt Disney Animation Studios; and Ralph Eggleston, animator, storyboard artist, and production designer at Pixar Animation Studios, but also the incredibly humble and astounding inspirational artist, Tyrus Wong. The lecture unveiled how Tyrus Wong’s vision for Bambi departed from the traditional storybook feel of previous films like Snow White and Pinocchio and how his legacy continues to influence animation artists today.

Tyrus Wong was born in Taishan, Guangdong, China on October 25, 1910. After immigrating to the United States in 1920 with is father, he went on to attend the Otis Art Institute. Tyrus came to the Disney Studio in 1938. He got his start in animation doing the work of an inbetweener, which required him to clean up the rough animation drawings that were done by the lead animator, as well draw the missing images between key poses. Charles Solomon noted that Tyrus had once remarked that his eyes felt like "ping-pong balls on strings" while doing this work. But his work as an inbetweener would be short-lived. As the Studio started to work on Bambi, he saw this as his opportunity to leave the doldrums of inbetweening work. He started creating concept paintings that illustrated his vision for the film. He presented his work to Tom Codrick, and that ultimately led to Tyrus being assigned as a visual designer for Bambi. 

(From L to R): Paul Felix, Tyrus Wong and Ralph Eggleston. Photo by Joseph Driste, courtesy of The Walt Disney Family Museum.Tyrus's art subtly influenced the viewer’s emotions throughout Bambi. The speakers at the lecture referred to his backgrounds as a "caricature of nature." His moody and minimal depictions of the landscape were influenced by his childhood in China, where he would practice calligraphy with his father. When he was out of ink, he would use water on newspaper to improve his brushwork. The classical style of Sung Dynasty landscapes is a direct correlation to Tyrus's depictions of the landscape. For Tyrus and other artists influenced by the Sung Dynasty landscapes, nature is more important than humans, which is why nature is another character in Bambi. He was a master of detail placement and knew how to give the viewer just enough information to subconsciously react to the scene, allowing the backgrounds to enhance the characters and the constant emotional shifts throughout the film. Ralph Eggleston described Bambi as a narrative version of Fantasia.

Tyrus's ability to "perfect the skill of imperfection" has even influenced the digital animation world. Today, most animation is done on a computer and Eggleston spoke of Tyrus's ability to blur and distort the environment in ways that had been overlooked in the beginning of the digital age. He aspired to the talent of Tyrus. During the making of Finding Nemo, he covered his office walls with reproductions of Tyrus's art as inspiration and study for his work. The method, which Tyrus used with the fog and glimmers of light in the forest of Bambi to manipulate the colors and mood, influenced Eggleston stylistic decisions when animating the water in Finding Nemo.

From the Collection of the Walt Disney Family Foundation. ©DisneyPaul Felix also spoke of the Tyrus's influence when he was working on Lilo and Stitch. With Lilo and Stitch, the Disney Studio abandoned the traditional shape-driven look and feel of the films, and returned to the tone set by Wong in Bambi. Once again, the look of the film was softer, subtler, and more heavily focused on abstract shapes and fields of color to help evoke the emotions of the scene. Felix, like Wong, looked at the scenery as a way to enhance emotions and visually persuade the emotion of the story. He spoke to the fact that sharp, crisp backgrounds can distract the viewer and end up competing with the intended focus of the film.

Other recent films, such as The Princess and the Frog and Tangled have used the shape language and compositional influences of Bambi in their designs as well. With the influence of Tyrus and his beautiful depiction of the landscape, animators and artists can use him as a source of inspiration to create and depict emotionally significant works of art.

The lecture concluded with a standing ovation for Tyrus. Although Bambi was the only animated feature on which Tyrus so significantly contributed as a designer, his immense influence in the visual communication of the animated art form continues to reverberate in the industry.

Walt Disney's Bambi is screening every day in June at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except June 25 & 28) in the state-of-the-art digital theatre at The Walt Disney Family Museum. Tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online at www.waltdisney.org.

Live Study Sketch Session on the Museum Front Lawn

© DisneyAs we celebrate Walt's timeless and beautiful feature film Bambi, author and historian J.B. Kaufman will be visiting the Museum on Saturday, June 25 at 3PM to discuss the visual styles and work that went into animating the film, which includes a discussion about the anatomy of an animal and how artists would study live animal models at the studio to get their movements and mannerisms just right.

Prior to this public program, the Museum will be hosting live animal models--think of it like a giant petting zoo on our front lawn--for visitors to study and sketch from 10AM-12PM. Artist Felicia Forte will act as a guest instructor for those who might need help bringing their sketches to life, or guests are welcome to just watch and observe Felicia's method of animating our petting zoo: "In sketching animals you have to patiently observe, watch for the patterns in movement that repeat as the animal goes about his business. Each time I look up from my sketchpad I attempt memorize a small line or rhythm of my busy subject. Sometimes the animal moves too quickly to record much, but that is part of the fun and challenge of trying to create order out of the unselfconscious energy of these lovely creatures. After many attempts you begin to recognize the big shapes and patterns of a given animal, making it easier to draw him more quickly and elegantly."

Hope to see you here!

Animating Animals: Live Models at the Museum

To create the realistic characters of Bambi, Walt Disney brought his artists living animals to study and draw direct from life. In that tradition, we're bringing in  live animal models—goats, sheep, chickens, ducks, rabbits, guinea pigs, pot belly pigs and more—to provide you with the unique opportunity to observe and sketch them, just as the Disney artists do. Don’t miss this special drawing session on Saturday, June 25, from 10AM–12PM (weather permitting), to join an artist on our front lawn, and bring the inspiration of live animal models to your own illustrations!

Afterwards, join us in the Theater at 3PM to hear from noted author and historian, J.B. Kaufman, about the groundbreaking visual style and evolution of the classic Disney film Bambi, where he will discuss the anatomy of an animal and how the film was animated! Tickets can be purchased online at waltdisney.org. Hope to see you here!

What: Live Study Sketch Session // The Anatomy of an Animal with J.B. Kaufman

When: 10am-12pm (Sketch Session) // 3pm (Discussion with J.B.)

The Anatomy of a Motion Picture: Realizing "Bambi"

Walt Disney’s Bambi is screening every day in June at 1:00pm and 4:00pm (except Tuesdays, and June 11 & 25) in the state-of-the-art digital theatre at The Walt Disney Family Museum. Tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online at www.waltdisney.org.

Bambi was a problem child. 

Based on a revered novel, the dignified and philosophical story cried out for a different kind of filmmaking, both in content and visual realization.

“Walt couldn’t get a hold of Bambi,” animator Frank Thomas recalled. “He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with it.”

In addition to challenges with adapting the novel’s naturalistic and thoughtful plot was the fact that all of the characters were animals. “It was a difficult picture because we’d never done any character with anatomy, any animal with anatomy, and Walt wanted the deer to be very believable,” animator Ollie Johnston recalled. “He wanted the deer to have personality, but be believable. Not realistic, but believable.” 

The act of caricature was critical. Thomas adds, “[Walt] said, ‘Gee, if you want it to be real deer, why don’t you photograph some real deer and do it that way. You don’t mess around with drawing.’”

“We were trying to do something that had not been done before,” animator Marc Davis said, “which was to do animals that were caricatures but at the same time moved realistically.”

The difficulties caused delay after delay. “It was the second [animated feature] to do, on his schedule,” Thomas said. “Snow White was first, Bambi was second, and he didn’t know how to make Bambi, didn’t know what to do with the subject matter. So he moved it back on schedule and put Pinocchio ahead. Then he moved Pinocchio back and did Fantasia instead.”

“Well, actually it was a change of pace for us from what we’d been doing,” Walt said. “Snow White, Pinocchio, and the others were more the obvious cartoon-type of characters. But with Bambi there was a need for subtlety in our animation, and a need for more of a life-like type of animation. There was a certain awe and respect we had of this classic of Bambi that I decided that, well, number one, I’d have to put my artists back in school.

“Now you know, animal anatomy is a thing that very few artists ever get anyway. And before I started Bambi we had been doing these little cartoon animals. But Bambi, they had to be a little closer to the real animal—it’s a caricature with a certain little humanized touch, but still believable as deer as animals in the forest. So the background for that was a good study of animal anatomy, and how deer and how these other animals actually moved, reacted.

“So I set up this special training course before I started Bambi, and I selected the artists that were going to work on Bambi, and we put in an intensive series of training on animal anatomy. I brought in the best instructor on animal anatomy, name of Rico Lebrun. Rico was teaching around—he was in Santa Barbara then when I brought him down for a six-week course.”

© DisneyLebrun did not limit training to academics, either. As the study progressed, live models were brought in. Walt said, “I had animals at the studio. I had deer and raccoon. I had everything. You see we had quite a small zoo there. And we had them in class, well that wasn’t good enough because animals in a cage or in captivity don’t respond naturally.

“So I got a couple…freelance cameramen, with 16mm film, and I sent them out. I sent them into the woods and had them photograph deer, and I got quite a bit of natural animal action, and we bought that in to study. The little quick movements of the squirrel. They stop, listen, move fast, everything, same as a deer, you know? The way they wag their tail and everything like that.”

The difficulty of the endeavor and the investment of time, talent, and care to the process led to the creation of a milestone in the art and craft of animation performance. Animator Milt Kahl said, “In appearance, physical appearance, we came as close to as we figured we possibly could to the real deer and still be able to articulate the dialogue and still have a full range of expression.”

In the end, Walt felt that the effort was well rewarded. He said, “Bambi was one that we had a little trouble starting…when we finally got our own little plan for Bambi, why we began to roll; we had a lot of fun with it.”

This month, The Walt Disney Family Museum celebrates Walt Disney’s brilliant and timeless 1942 animated feature, Bambi. On Saturday, June 25 at 3:00pm, author and historian J.B. Kaufman will offer an entertaining insight into the visual style and creative evolution of Bambi in his presentation The Anatomy of an Animal: Animating a Deer.

Join us for a Live Study Sketch Session on Saturday June 25 from 10:00am to 12:00 Noon on the Museum Front Lawn. We're bringing in live animal models, and offering you the opportunity to observe and sketch them, just as the Disney artist do. Don't miss this opportunity to join an artist on our front lawn, and bring the inspiration of live animal models to your own illustrations. (This activity is weather permitting.)