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Homage's
and Mentoring
One of the great traditions at the early Walt Disney Company was
mentoring. Fred Moore gave advice and mentored both Frank and
Ollie. Later, both Ollie and Frank mentored newer animators,
as well as giving and getting advice from fellow animators.
It was always a case of collaboration and seeking Walt’s approval,
which was always related to others, but never to the person
directly. That was Walt’s way. The best one could
hope for was “Yep... That’ll work” from him.
Over the years, many people benefited from the mentoring and
advice. Both Frank and Ollie had a collection of mentored
animators who admired and respected the pair. Frank was
always the ultimate teacher, and he always brought Ollie along to
explain the "Principles
of Animation."
The pair gave many lectures and always had time for mentoring
anyone who asked. Over the years, many animators made the
trek to Flintridge for advice and to show progress on their project.
They carted equipment to Frank’s or Ollie’s houses to have private
screenings of their latest projects. These screenings were evenings of
fun and camaraderie.
As seen in “Tales from the
Table,” Frank and Ollie would talk with one
voice, one picking up where the other would leave off. Their
voice was an international one. They received letters with questions
from young animators from all over the world.
One
of the first homage's to Frank and Ollie appeared in the 1995 Mickey
Mouse
cartoon "Runaway Brain". There they found themselves the namesake of
the
story’s short-lived mad doctor.
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In their last years at
the Disney Studios, Frank & Ollie mentored
many of today's great animators. One of them was Brad Bird,
who,
as a tribute, included cameos of them in his movie, "The Iron
Giant". He repeated this with "The Incredibles".
Brad would
journey to Flintridge, along with technicians and animators to record
the iconic soundtrack. Frank and Ollie would share the
encounter for days. What they seemed to enjoy most was the
visits
with Brad, who would share his ideas, explaining the movie to
duo, and showing them the character sheets and sketches.
Enjoy Frank and Ollie's performances.
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In retirement, both men wanted to
keep this tradition going, and the result was the publication of
“Disney Animation- the Illusion of Life”.
This book is considered the “Bible” of animation. To assemble
this book Frank and Ollie collected not only their own work, but that
of others who worked at the studio. (All work done at the
studio belonged to the studio, but special arrangements were made to
allow animators to keep private collections of their drawings.)
At the "Drawn Together"
program at the Academy, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the
head of DreamWorks Animation, recounts the effect the "Illusion of
Life" has had on him.
(requires
QuickTime)
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Jeffrey
Katzenberg
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Hosted by
our
friends at
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