Wow. How is that for optimism. Was it a bad day Tina? Do you need a hug? I think you need a hug.

But as to your second response, no I have seen no script. I've just read the synopsis and the rumors, and seen the artwork. It is all opinion. But I'm not jazzed and I am saying why. [-(

Have A Good One!
tloolgb

^ yes, it was a bad day but no, I don't need a hug. Maybe I was just in a mood to flame someone and Kevin Federline wasn't available or maybe I could pull a La Lohan and just plead "exhaustion" :-k Anyway, I'm going to WDW tomorrow so all will be right in my world again.

Okay, now that we have all hadd a day or two to calm down, let me add the following.

The Laughingplace.com site has a series by Rhett Wickham going on where he is looking at some of the great animators of the past and present, and it just happens that the current one looks at Glen Keane, the director of Rapunzel. The first part of the article is all about his previous works, particularly Ratigan from the Great Mouse Detective. Then at the end of the interview, Rhett asks Mr. Keane about his first directing job as director of Rapunzel. I include here for your reading that portion of the interview.


RW: Are you the sole writer on Rapunzel?

GK: Yeah. Right now I am. Some of the sequences I"m writing, others we"re figuring out as we board them.

RW: What a refreshing thing to hear. It"s so nice to know that somebody is once again committed to the story process, and has abandoned this notion that you can"t draw anything until you have a script.

GK: Well, I"m finding that really the only way I can discover what the film is, is sometimes just getting in and, for me, writing it and boarding it, really exploring it. If I put that into a writer"s hands..uh, I don"t know, I"ll never quite discover what it was that I really wanted. At some point I may bring in a writer once the whole thing is clearly defined, you know, to sharpen dialogue and all of that, but I"m not sure. We"re still in the early phases, and I"m still figuring out what it means to be a director. I think everybody directs a little differently. I"m finding out what my approach is.

RW: Have you taken any cues from directors with whom you"ve worked previously?

GK: Yeah - Ron and John. They"re very collaborative people. I guess my biggest cues are coming from them, trying to be as collaborative and get people"s ideas. I"m a little reticent to feel like I have to make a choice until I need to…

RW: Okay, now you"re officially a director, Glen.

GK: (laughing) Well, Ron and John were always open to a better idea, and I"m trying to live by that, being open for a better idea to come along.

RW: That"s a very difficult thing to do in animation, because it isn"t as easy to be a year and a half down the road and say “oh wow, that scene that we completed 18 months back – it has to change” that"s tough.

GK: I can"t wait to get back to working some day with Ron and John again. I tell you, I learned so much from those guys. I guess the others are probably…well I"ve been talking to Brad Bird quite a bit about The Incredibles and The Iron Giant. I"m learning from Andrew Stanton, and John Lasseter now, their influence at Pixar has been really good. And Mark Dindal.

RW: I love Mark Dindal.

GK: He had a huge influence on me, watching him at story meetings where people were throwing out thousands of ideas and changing things, and Mark was always open, accepting, willing to take any kind of an idea and try it out, look at it…he was an amazingly flexible director, I thought.

RW: I think he"s a great director, a truly great director. I love all of his films, Cat"s Don"t Dance, Emperor"s New Groove, Chicken Little… I think Mark is a really incredible director.

GK: Yeah. He"s got such a surprise in his timing. There"s always some of his wit throughout the film. Now, I"m not Mark Dindal, but that doesn"t make me not appreciate Mark Dindal"s work.

RW: No, I understand what you"re saying. But I think it"s important what you"ve observed. I think it"s a very difficult thing – particularly in Hollywood – to remain open to authentic collaboration and other people"s ideas, especially when it"s so easy to be shanghaied by someone else"s intent. You can grow overly cautious as a result, so being able to stay open and still keep your personal vision alive is a very difficult balancing act.

RW: Who is your art director and production designer?

GK: Art Director is Lisa Keane (ed. – no relation) and the Production Designer is a guy named Doug Rogers who was the Production Designer for Shrek. He"s perfectly suited for Rapunzel. He has such a European sense of architecture and style, and so I think he really belongs with me right now.

RW: Who is your head of story?

GK: Mark Kennedy, who was Mark Dindal"s co-writer and head of story on Chicken Little. We"ve got some fantastic animators that we"re working with. I don"t know. We"ll see what happens. It"s a very, very ambitious project, Rapunzel is. I"m trying to let hand drawn animation really influence CG.

RW: In what way?

GK: Well, there"s an organic feel to drawing that we have to get into our CG characters. CG makes you think that it is solid, well designed, because it shades everything with credibility. But when you really just look at the silhouette of a shape, often it"s just ugly. So we really have to remember that CG animation is still just a graphic art form, and all the principles of drawing still apply just as much to it. It"s still an outline on a flat screen.

RW: It is a real dilemma to get a rig to give you a clean, readable silhouette.

GK: Yeah. The straights to the curves, the dynamic forces like what Bill Tytla animated with – how do you get that into CG? That"s what we"re really trying to bring back, to bring those tools to animators. It"s interesting, because some animators who don"t draw well find great expression in animating with a computer. And other animators that draw really well find the computer a hindrance. On the other hand, some animators that draw really well just adapt great to the computer, too. You just can"t predict it. I was trying to predict it, seeing who would adapt and who would struggle, but you can"t tell. Everybody"s learning curve, you know, it takes time. At the moment I don"t know how to animate on the computer. I haven"t had time. And I guess at the moment I figure that everybody else is getting so much better at animating on the computer that I"d just as soon probably stick with my pencil once I get back to animating.

RW: And for now, at least, are you happy away from animating? Are you enjoying working on Rapunzel?

GK: It"s actually turning out beautifully. The film is absolutely everything I want it to be. John Lasseter was thrilled with the look of it; he said he can"t remember ever seeing a movie that has such a powerful beginning as Rapunzel does, so we"re on the way.

So, tkae that for what you will. It does sound like they have put together an interesting team, and this may cause some of you more concern, and others more optimism.

^ SWEET!! Thanks, cockerkin. I am holding out hope that this will be the beginning of something...well old-fashioned Disney-like.

Have a great day!

Yes, thank you cockerkin! And don't worry, no more outbursts from me. I am sorry over my little display of temper. :oops:

*hug*
Sounds like you needed it.

Have A Good One!
tloolgb

She scared me, she made me cry and made me drop my ice cream!

And now she's upset the weather!

^ what can I say? I was on a roll. And apparently I conjured up a tropical storm that may turn into a hurricane too.

Yes, Taran was right about me. I am bad. He was onto me this whole time. :mrgreen:

Wow. Cool power Tina... But do ya think you could keep your temper on hold till Hurricane season is over? Ot at least until after our trip to WDW in September? Ya know... since it'll be my Bday and all? Pretty please with sugar on top? :roll:

No fair! MY moment was ruined. That was caramel ice-cream!

Peter, as long as I'm not made angry or upset, you should have a fun-filled hurricane free B-day at WDW.

And Taran, sorry you dropped your caramel ice cream. ( hands Taran some caramel ice cream.)

With sprinkles. Because my parents were away all night because of work and since I can't sleep if there isn't anyone at home, I was up until very late until I fell asleep conforted by company sitcoms on TV and this morning, I had to wake up at five in the morning to watch this Mexican soap-opera I always watch.

^ Seriously...have you tried therapy? (Just kiddin' of course!)

Have a great day!

Sorry for the false post, but I am just testing to see if I can post a reply to an existing message. I am currently unable to start a new topic.

This did come through so I w ill try starting a new topic again.