WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:03.759 Hey everybody, Jim Cummings here. Welcome to my podcast, tuned 2 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:07.200 In with Jim Cummings. We have a great guest for 3 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:10.080 you today, but before we get to that, make sure 4 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:14.880 you like and subscribe. Our podcast has partnered with the 5 00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:19.960 largest comic con in North America, fan Expo, the Juggernaut. 6 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.239 We're touring all over North America live, so get your 7 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:27.239 tickets and come be a part of the live audience. 8 00:00:27.320 --> 00:00:31.480 It'll be fun. Go to FANEXPOHQ dot com for the tickets. 9 00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:34.840 We'll see you in a city near you or a 10 00:00:34.840 --> 00:00:37.359 little bit away, but you can drive. And with all 11 00:00:37.439 --> 00:00:41.000 that said and done, sit back and enjoy today's episode 12 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:44.520 and as always, thanks for tuning in to Tuned In 13 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:47.920 with Jim Cummings. If you're a fan of everything we 14 00:00:48.039 --> 00:00:50.799 do here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could 15 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:55.359 support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, as 16 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:59.079 well as early in ad free access to the show itself, 17 00:00:59.320 --> 00:01:03.079 prize draw and more. You'll feel the difference, so go 18 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:06.640 ahead and join the tuned In family today at Patreon 19 00:01:06.760 --> 00:01:12.840 dot com slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now? How 20 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:16.200 you doing out there? It's me Tigger I am Doc 21 00:01:16.280 --> 00:01:20.000 Wayne Duck. It's me Bunker's Deep Bobcat. All right, y'all? 22 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:20.560 Did it great? 23 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.439 Your favorite firefly? 24 00:01:22.920 --> 00:01:25.400 He des I hold no old knock guy. My name 25 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:27.920 is Jim Cummings and welcome to tuned In. 26 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.000 Welcome back, everybody to another episode of Tuned In with 27 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.760 Jim Cummings. I'm producer Chris, joined as always by the 28 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:37.200 legend himself, mister Jim Cummings. How are you doing today, sir? 29 00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:41.040 Hello, Hello, yet another day in paradise. And look who 30 00:01:41.079 --> 00:01:43.359 we've got on the show today. 31 00:01:44.159 --> 00:01:49.840 Sure, yes, we have a very special Yes, oh mag 32 00:01:49.959 --> 00:01:53.239 well they know of you. We have a very special 33 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:56.439 guest for you today. We have none other than Aaron Blaze. 34 00:01:56.439 --> 00:01:59.680 He worked at Disney for twenty one years, worked on 35 00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:02.799 project such as Beauty and the Beast, Lion King Aladdin, Mulan, 36 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:04.760 and many many more. We're going to have a great 37 00:02:04.760 --> 00:02:07.200 conversation with him today. Thank you so much for being here, sir, 38 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:08.719 Thank you having me. 39 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:11.919 I am completely and utterly honored, so thank you for 40 00:02:12.919 --> 00:02:15.240 I was so I went through the roof when I 41 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:17.680 when we got the email for you guys to ask 42 00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:18.240 me about it. 43 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:19.479 So I'm super happy to be here. 44 00:02:19.560 --> 00:02:22.800 Well that's great. Well, we appreciate that, really appreciate you 45 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:26.080 having you here. Thank you. You're a true genius. I mean, 46 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:29.120 my goodness, there is no question. 47 00:02:29.319 --> 00:02:32.319 I am, I am. I'm basking in the glow for sure, 48 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:34.120 sitting with you on the other side. 49 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.400 So, yeah, we've. 50 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:39.120 We were talking a little bit earlier about how it's 51 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:42.360 interesting to me how we've gone so many years. 52 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:43.159 Without actually meeting. 53 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.639 Yeah, We've worked with so many incredible folks, you know, from. 54 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.719 You know, Tom Schumacher and Pam Coach all the way. 55 00:02:50.599 --> 00:02:55.360 Down run into Gosh, yeah, guys and everybody. And yeah, 56 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:57.599 so I'm really happy that we finally got to break 57 00:02:57.639 --> 00:02:58.039 the ice. 58 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:02.120 Same here, same here. Welcome, Welcome, thank you, my gosh. 59 00:03:02.360 --> 00:03:05.560 You know, I'm always curious. One thing I always want 60 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:08.759 to know. I've said it before. I knew I wanted 61 00:03:08.840 --> 00:03:12.599 to do what I've been doing. When I was five. Yeah, 62 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.520 a long long time ago, I saw mel Blanc on 63 00:03:15.560 --> 00:03:17.680 the Jack Benny program and said, okay, I'll do that, 64 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:22.319 and uh, how about yourself? Did you just were you? 65 00:03:22.360 --> 00:03:24.919 Did you come out of the womb doodling or how 66 00:03:24.919 --> 00:03:25.639 did that work? 67 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:26.599 Almost? 68 00:03:26.840 --> 00:03:29.599 You know, I was born in nineteen sixty eight and 69 00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:32.520 I started drawing, you know, when I was still sitting 70 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.280 in the heights here. So when people ask me how 71 00:03:34.319 --> 00:03:36.240 long you've been drawing, I always like to tell him 72 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:38.479 I started drawing when the Beatles were still a band, 73 00:03:39.080 --> 00:03:40.719 Jimmy Hedder still playing guitar. 74 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:41.879 Yeah. 75 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:42.560 Wow. 76 00:03:42.840 --> 00:03:49.039 And I've always I've always been enamored with nature and 77 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.199 drawing in the natural world, drawing animals, that was always 78 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:52.800 my go to. 79 00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:56.479 I was born in the Northeast. I was born up 80 00:03:56.479 --> 00:03:59.840 in Burlington, Vermont, oh and Uh. 81 00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.879 My parents split up in the early seventies and I 82 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:06.400 ended up down in Florida in the mid seventies of 83 00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:09.599 joining my mother. My mother came down here and with 84 00:04:09.599 --> 00:04:14.080 my stepfather and I grew up in the Everglades, down. 85 00:04:13.919 --> 00:04:15.520 In the swamps. 86 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:15.120 Wow. 87 00:04:16.040 --> 00:04:18.879 We lived in a little trailer, and I was always 88 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.399 out chasing animals and drawing. And from that early age, 89 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:26.000 I always knew I was going to be an artist. Now, 90 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:27.959 I wasn't always going to be an animator. 91 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.040 I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be 92 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:30.879 an illustrator. 93 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.279 And I bet you were good at drawing alligators? 94 00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:39.519 Yes, I was, well, I was. I'm such a Florida guy, 95 00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:40.319 a Florida man. 96 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:40.519 You know. 97 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.519 Yeah, as I really did grow up that way. Me 98 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:45.480 and my buddies would go out, we'd go bass fishing. 99 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.079 Every once in a while we'd catch an alligator, and 100 00:04:48.759 --> 00:04:50.199 we had taints. 101 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:51.720 And we'd keep our out the alley, heat in the 102 00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:54.360 tints and whoa, yeah. 103 00:04:54.160 --> 00:04:57.240 It was funny. We grew up that way. And so 104 00:04:57.319 --> 00:04:59.480 I did draw alligators, and I was drawing all kinds 105 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:02.439 of wonderful bird life, and you know, I grew up 106 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:05.040 on this in the on the ocean as well, and 107 00:05:05.160 --> 00:05:09.399 so I wanted to be a naturalist of a nature 108 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:14.399 of illustrators for National Geographic. Yeah, I'd go to sleep 109 00:05:14.439 --> 00:05:17.279 at night and I had these stacks of National Geographics 110 00:05:17.360 --> 00:05:19.319 under my bed and I'd read them, and I have 111 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.879 these dreams of going to all these places, and so 112 00:05:21.920 --> 00:05:23.600 I wanted to That's what I wanted to do. 113 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:25.959 So I went to college to be an illustrator for 114 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.079 National Geographic. 115 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:30.079 And that door kind of closed because all they did 116 00:05:30.120 --> 00:05:31.240 they only freelance. 117 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:33.399 They didn't have staff illustrators. And so all of a 118 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.199 sudden I. 119 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:37.600 Found out about two companies coming to our college to 120 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:43.079 interview for internships. One was Hallmark Cards and the other 121 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:43.920 one was Disney. 122 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:49.079 I've worked for both of them. I can't. That's amazing. Else. 123 00:05:50.240 --> 00:05:53.199 Yeah, and I got in, I got into this internship 124 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:54.199 and I trained. 125 00:05:53.959 --> 00:05:54.920 Under Glenn Keene. 126 00:05:55.879 --> 00:05:56.519 Oh wow. 127 00:05:57.000 --> 00:05:59.920 Yeah, So he taught me animation and that was forty 128 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.959 years ago, just about forty years ago. 129 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.399 And wow he never looked back. And so here we are. 130 00:06:04.759 --> 00:06:06.680 That's not a bad person to learn from. 131 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.360 Yeah, no kidding. 132 00:06:09.639 --> 00:06:12.160 Is a twenty year old kid that knew nothing about animation. 133 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.279 I didn't know who Glenn Keene wasn't anything about it. 134 00:06:15.319 --> 00:06:18.000 I was this animal nerd that came in that knew 135 00:06:18.040 --> 00:06:19.839 how to draw. And so he took me under his 136 00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:23.720 wing and they were just finishing up Oliver and Company and. 137 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:24.959 Starting the Hermaid. 138 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:27.600 Oh yes, yes, yeah. 139 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:31.319 And so he started talking because he had kind of 140 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:34.519 a similar background, kind of fell into animation, and he 141 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:39.560 started talking to me about animation from this artists illustration painter, 142 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:41.680 classical artist. 143 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:42.000 Point of view. 144 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.120 And I and if you've ever seen Glenn talk, he's 145 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:48.399 just so passionate about everything he talks about. And so 146 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.279 I was just ten minutes of sitting down with him, 147 00:06:51.319 --> 00:06:51.920 I knew that's. 148 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:52.519 What I wanted to do. 149 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:56.439 Wow, no kidding, Yeah, well, I think the earlier you 150 00:06:56.920 --> 00:07:01.079 decide what you want to do, the better. The better 151 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:02.759 really just playing all the better. 152 00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:06.319 Absolutely. I mean it's it's you know, from both my 153 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:09.279 parents are artists. They didn't they weren't artists by trade, 154 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:11.560 but they are artistically inclined. 155 00:07:11.639 --> 00:07:13.519 My father was a musician as well. He was on 156 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.240 he was on television, he was all kinds of stuff 157 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:18.639 and wow. 158 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:21.000 And so we grew up, you know, with a lot 159 00:07:21.000 --> 00:07:23.920 of music in the house, drawing and painting. 160 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.720 Everyone was doing it in our family. 161 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:29.279 And so when I showed an affinity to it, there 162 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:31.639 was no doubt, you know, from the age of like 163 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:33.079 you said, five years old. 164 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:35.240 Like, you're going to be a commercial artist when you 165 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:36.920 grow up, and you know that's. 166 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:40.480 Never had any any other doubts, you know, and so 167 00:07:40.600 --> 00:07:42.879 I was very lucky to have parents that supported that. 168 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:46.120 Boy, you're not kidding, yeah, I you know, when I 169 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:48.399 told my dad, I said, well, and it's oddly enough, 170 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:51.720 I made my living briefly, maybe two and a half years. 171 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.120 I lived in New Orleans and I designed in paint 172 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:57.600 and Marty Grof floats. But that was, yeah, it was 173 00:07:57.639 --> 00:08:01.759 it was a very different not nothing like your stuff. 174 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.399 I mean I was just like a sort of a 175 00:08:04.480 --> 00:08:09.720 scratch and sniff guy, but nothing like the beautiful works 176 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:12.360 that you've done. And I mean, my goodness, snow Bear. 177 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:18.360 Oh yeah, that's it's enchanting, it's intanging. 178 00:08:18.639 --> 00:08:20.319 Yes, snow Bear is an interesting. 179 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:26.279 Uh, it's an interesting journey that I to making snow Bear. 180 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:31.680 I can't recommend everybody watching go and get get a 181 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:36.759 copy by I mean, however, whatever is most profitable for Aaron, do. 182 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.519 That on my YouTube channel so they can just watch 183 00:08:40.519 --> 00:08:41.720 it right there on my YouTube. Yeah. 184 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:43.799 Oh yeah, but a link in the description of this 185 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:46.080 of this podcast, and they can just click right on over. 186 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.879 Yeah. Man, yes, yes, Well it's just gorgeous. It's so poignant. 187 00:08:50.879 --> 00:08:55.159 It's it's like watching poetry. It's amazing. 188 00:08:55.600 --> 00:08:57.919 Well I was, like you said earlier, I was with 189 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.360 Disney for twenty one years. 190 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:02.639 Too bad. You didn't learn anything. You didn't bring anything, 191 00:09:02.639 --> 00:09:04.399 get up, did you. That's a shame. 192 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:07.759 Well, it's interesting because the first fifteen. 193 00:09:07.399 --> 00:09:10.240 Years we were at this at the you know, Disney 194 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:11.519 had a studio in Florida. 195 00:09:11.559 --> 00:09:12.960 You're in Orlando, and that's right. 196 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:15.799 Yeah, And so I was there from day one to 197 00:09:15.879 --> 00:09:17.200 the day they closed the doors. 198 00:09:17.240 --> 00:09:19.279 And so really, when yeah, I was. 199 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:21.320 I was actually the last artist. I was one of 200 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.039 the first artists there and the last artist to walk. 201 00:09:23.919 --> 00:09:24.399 Out the door. 202 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.159 So I was, wow, So you're the one that turned 203 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:27.480 off all the lights when you left. 204 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.799 Basically, yeah. 205 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:36.960 So I transferred to California and they laid off everybody 206 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:39.279 from the studio. They only kept about ten of us, 207 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:40.919 and so I was one of those lucky ten. I 208 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:44.120 transferred to California with my wife and my two children, 209 00:09:44.919 --> 00:09:47.519 and I started developing This was right after Brother Bear. 210 00:09:47.600 --> 00:09:52.200 After we made Brother Bear and we started developing another project. 211 00:09:52.279 --> 00:09:55.399 But it was during that time. Kind of it's a 212 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:57.720 bit of a downer here, but it was during that time. 213 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:01.360 That my wife was diagnosed of cancer and breast cancer, 214 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.360 and so as we tried to make the. 215 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:06.960 Film, she got sicker and sicker and just weren't able 216 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:07.600 to get ahead of it. 217 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:11.600 And I lost her in two thousand and seven, and 218 00:10:11.720 --> 00:10:14.799 I was really devastated, obviously, and we began up for 219 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:19.519 twenty years, and I lost that drive to make films, 220 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:22.000 and I was really struggling at Disney to the point 221 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:26.960 where I left the company and that's what I decided 222 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:30.240 to start over, came back to Florida, got this business 223 00:10:30.279 --> 00:10:33.840 going that I'm doing now with my business partner, Nick Birch, 224 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:37.840 and along the way, you know, that covers everything I 225 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:42.440 just told you, covers a span of about eighteen years. 226 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.720 It's nineteen years ago now that my wife passed away, 227 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:52.159 But about eight years ago I met my business partner's 228 00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:55.919 sister in law, his wife's sister, and we fell in 229 00:10:55.919 --> 00:10:58.519 love and got married about three. 230 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:01.639 Years ago, So congratulations. 231 00:11:02.399 --> 00:11:06.639 I boiled down to this little metaphor about this snow 232 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:12.240 bear wanting companionship, this lonely polar bear wandering there and 233 00:11:12.399 --> 00:11:16.200 he want a companion, but that it's life is fragile man, 234 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:20.639 and and he loses his friend, he loses his companion, 235 00:11:21.919 --> 00:11:23.000 she melts away. 236 00:11:23.080 --> 00:11:25.200 Or he melts away, which is you know, it's a whole. 237 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:27.840 Like I said, it was a metaphor, metaphor for like 238 00:11:27.879 --> 00:11:30.279 twenty years of my life and finding loving in and 239 00:11:30.320 --> 00:11:32.799 all of that. So it's not just it's not just 240 00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:33.919 about polar bear and the. 241 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.759 Snow bear, right right. It certainly isn't a. 242 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.360 Little bit of a journey there, and so it was 243 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:45.120 very therapeutic. It was it's pretty cool. 244 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:47.600 Yeah, yeah, I was just going to ask you, George, 245 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:50.320 on something that's that personal. Is that is that tough? 246 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:51.360 Or is that cathartic? 247 00:11:51.960 --> 00:11:52.720 It's cathartic. 248 00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:57.759 It's yeah, it's it's incredibly. 249 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:01.320 Joyful times, even the times. 250 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:04.720 Where I'm sitting there and drawing scenes that represented moments 251 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:06.919 in my life that maybe cry, I'd be sitting there, 252 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:09.399 you know, tearing up while I'm drawing, but. 253 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:13.639 It's almost like a release. You get all out of 254 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:17.919 you and and it's. 255 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:19.000 Up there and it represents something for me and I 256 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:20.799 and I've had a lot of people that know my story, 257 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.399 even people that don't know my story come up to 258 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:25.960 me afterwards and say, man, there's there's a lot more 259 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.559 to that than the surfaces in there. 260 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.240 I said, yeah, there's a lot more. 261 00:12:30.600 --> 00:12:34.000 John Muskert he came up to me after when he yeah, 262 00:12:34.039 --> 00:12:37.879 when we first screened it at CTN a couple of 263 00:12:37.919 --> 00:12:40.279 years ago, when we first screen we ever did of it, 264 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:43.919 and John he loved and he came up and he 265 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:45.919 knows my story. He was there when I was life 266 00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:49.679 and everything, and he says that means a lot more 267 00:12:49.720 --> 00:12:51.799 than just a snowbar and a polar Bear, doesn't it. 268 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:55.159 I said, yeah, and you gave me a big oh yeah, 269 00:12:55.200 --> 00:12:56.200 well well he would know. 270 00:12:56.759 --> 00:12:57.120 Yeah. 271 00:12:57.320 --> 00:12:59.559 Yeah. You and he, I dare say, are cut from 272 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:00.000 the same. 273 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:02.799 Yeah. He's a good man. He's a good evan. 274 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:05.679 He sure is mus clements. 275 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:09.320 Yes, I know that putting to that event there and 276 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.919 they too, So that's gonna be cool. 277 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:11.840 Oh good? 278 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:14.600 Yeah, and what is that? What is that event? Just 279 00:13:14.600 --> 00:13:16.240 for anybody watching who might be curious. 280 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:19.720 So on May twenty third and twenty fourth and Los 281 00:13:19.799 --> 00:13:23.759 Angeles at the Wiltshire de Belle Theater, we're doing a 282 00:13:23.799 --> 00:13:26.879 two day seminar on the art of animated filmmaking from 283 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:30.639 concept all the way to distribution over two days stage. 284 00:13:31.080 --> 00:13:39.399 So we're techne directors, producers, writers, post production, voice talent, effects, animators, animators, 285 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:40.360 story artists. 286 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.200 All this stuff, everybody, you know, the cop people in 287 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:42.679 the business. 288 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:45.000 Trying to bring them together and people are going to 289 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:48.240 get up and talk and lecture and so from people 290 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.440 that are interested in animated filmmaking. That's we're trying to 291 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:55.480 provide something specifically for that. You know, you've got light Box, 292 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:59.159 you've got CTN and they're wonderful events, but they cast 293 00:13:59.159 --> 00:14:01.759 a broader net, trying to cast kind of a more 294 00:14:01.879 --> 00:14:04.480 narrow net towards animation specific. 295 00:14:04.399 --> 00:14:08.080 Mm hmm, well well done. Yeah, well I wish I 296 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:08.679 could be there. 297 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:10.120 I wish you too. 298 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:14.440 Yeah, I was. I was talking with my wife Margaret, 299 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:16.840 and I was thinking, is there a possibility that I 300 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:21.240 could just do a shout out to you on that. 301 00:14:21.279 --> 00:14:23.600 I think there's a recording, I should definitely do that. 302 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.159 So if that's if that's the only way I can 303 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:26.559 get to you that. 304 00:14:27.320 --> 00:14:31.559 Yeah. Well, I'm I'm kind of stuck. Contracts are signed 305 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:32.000 and you know. 306 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.279 How that comes with you, I know, I know, yeah. 307 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:39.440 Yeah. Have you ever ventured into the world of conventions 308 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:40.960 comic home. 309 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:43.720 No, I mean I can. 310 00:14:44.519 --> 00:14:48.279 I've gone the Comic Con once and I uh uh 311 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.559 and I've done you know, obviously light Box and CTN 312 00:14:51.639 --> 00:14:55.879 and things like that aren't really conventions. 313 00:14:54.960 --> 00:14:56.519 But no, I haven't really done it. You know. 314 00:14:56.600 --> 00:15:00.919 I have a feeling probably gonna dipping my toe into 315 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.639 it a little bit more coming up, but no, I 316 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.320 haven't done it. 317 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.639 Yeah. Well, I think they would love you, right right, Christopher. 318 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:11.679 I mean, my gosh, I think our following and our 319 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:14.960 audience is building up enough that I think we can 320 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:18.559 start going into that now, and and it will be. 321 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.559 Wasted time. But yeah, it'll be time for sure. 322 00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:26.279 Oh yeah, I have to agree. Good for you. 323 00:15:26.679 --> 00:15:28.519 Yeah, I wanted to go back and ask you. You 324 00:15:28.600 --> 00:15:31.159 talked about how originally you weren't an animator, that you 325 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.840 had to learn animation from sketching or drawing. What does 326 00:15:35.879 --> 00:15:38.840 that look like? What does the learning process of you know, 327 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:42.399 doing still animations, I mean it's still drawings, excuse me, 328 00:15:42.559 --> 00:15:45.200 into you know, bringing that drawing to life. 329 00:15:46.440 --> 00:15:48.840 That It's a great question because I didn't go to 330 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:51.519 school for animation. I went to school for illustration. I 331 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.519 went to the Ringling College of Art Design, Sarah Soota, Florida, 332 00:15:54.559 --> 00:15:57.480 which is a wonderful animation school now. But when I went, 333 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:02.759 they didn't have animation. So and when I interviewed with Disney. 334 00:16:02.840 --> 00:16:04.960 This is in nineteen eighty eight, and so when I 335 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:08.600 interviewed with Disney, they this is the first time they 336 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:11.320 had ever gone outside of animation schools. They wanted to 337 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:14.000 see if they could go out because they were going 338 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.639 to they wanted to staff the studio, and so they 339 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:20.600 wanted to go to top schools that had really strong 340 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:22.759 foundational studies. 341 00:16:22.960 --> 00:16:25.320 Yeah, it used to be all about cal Arts, didn't it. 342 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:27.919 Yeah, yeah, exactly, Well they kind of they kind of 343 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:31.519 tapped out Calories. Yeah, they tapped out Sheridan, which is 344 00:16:31.559 --> 00:16:34.720 the other big school in Toronto, an animation school, and 345 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:38.080 so they went around to other art schools that didn't 346 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:41.639 necessarily teach animation but had students that could draw. And 347 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:44.759 so I put together a portfolio. So I didn't know 348 00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:46.639 if I was going to be a background painter or 349 00:16:46.679 --> 00:16:49.320 a animator or what I was going to do. 350 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:52.120 But I just thought, oh, Disney, that's interesting. But I 351 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:54.000 thought about it, so I. 352 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:56.279 Didn't go to like So once again they reiterated, I 353 00:16:56.279 --> 00:16:59.480 didn't go to art animation school. I went to I 354 00:16:59.559 --> 00:17:02.360 went for illustration. So when I went into this internship, 355 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.879 they didn't know how it was going to go. 356 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:05.880 So they only had it for six weeks. It was 357 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.000 just six weeks. It was June and July. 358 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.359 So I went out there, got under you know, got 359 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:16.079 under Glenn, and we just went into this hardcore, you know, 360 00:17:17.039 --> 00:17:20.680 course of learning animation. I learned how to, I learned 361 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:23.400 all the basics of animation and everything all within six 362 00:17:23.480 --> 00:17:24.880 weeks and then they had it. 363 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:26.319 They hired us at the end of that. 364 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:27.920 Wow, well you're a quick study. 365 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:28.640 That fall. 366 00:17:29.240 --> 00:17:31.720 I hearned enough just so I could start drawing at 367 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:33.319 the studio when they opened that up. 368 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:36.079 And then and then it was trial by fire. 369 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:36.319 You know. 370 00:17:36.440 --> 00:17:38.319 I was surrounded by a lot of other people that 371 00:17:38.680 --> 00:17:40.640 had been in the industry or had been through school 372 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:42.440 and everything, and so I picked it all up from them. 373 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:44.680 Would you say that's a difficult transition. I mean for 374 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:47.839 somebody like me who knows, you know, couldn't tell you, you know, 375 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.480 the next thing about animation or illustration, Is that a 376 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:53.400 hard jump or does it come pretty naturally? 377 00:17:54.119 --> 00:17:58.640 No, it was. It was incredibly difficult. I was incredibly disheartened. 378 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.480 You know. At the time, I had been at the 379 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:02.319 top of my class. 380 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.720 I could drop pretty well, and I always felt comfortable 381 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:08.440 in art doing what I was doing. As soon as 382 00:18:08.440 --> 00:18:11.559 I started doing animation, I could do the drawing, but man, 383 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:15.960 I had a hard time understanding the action, the animation, 384 00:18:16.119 --> 00:18:18.680 the acting, the emotion, all the stuff that Glenn was 385 00:18:18.720 --> 00:18:21.640 so great at. And it was the first time where 386 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.440 I felt like, I can't do this and it all 387 00:18:24.480 --> 00:18:25.640 comes so easy, you know. 388 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:26.160 When I was a. 389 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:30.079 Kid growing up into school and to college and then 390 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:32.359 all of a sudden, I had been stretched so far 391 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.599 that it was freaking me out. 392 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:38.000 Because I'm struggling what was going on. I don't know, 393 00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:40.279 I don't know what I'm doing, but that that's almost 394 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:42.559 hard to believe seeing where you are now, I mean, 395 00:18:42.599 --> 00:18:46.880 my goodness, he gads, you're on like Mount Everest here. 396 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:50.960 I wanted to quit so badly. Glenn kept coming to 397 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:54.640 me and going, don't quit. It's gonna it's gonna click. 398 00:18:54.720 --> 00:18:57.160 It's gonna click. Just keep listen to what I'm telling 399 00:18:57.200 --> 00:18:58.680 you and keep doing what I'm telling you. 400 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:00.000 And he was right. 401 00:19:00.319 --> 00:19:03.039 And after a little while I started to see it 402 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.519 and it started to click, and and I just kept 403 00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:09.240 doing it, and it came, you know, a little, every 404 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:10.519 day was a little less hard. 405 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:11.599 It's never easy, but. 406 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.480 Well there's a lesson there for for all of you 407 00:19:15.559 --> 00:19:16.640 listening out there right. 408 00:19:17.119 --> 00:19:22.440 Persistence that's consists lecturing about is you know, all you know, 409 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:24.559 you're going to go through a lot of things in 410 00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:26.039 your life. You're going to have a lot of things 411 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.759 pop up and that are going to get in your way. 412 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:29.400 They're gonna be. 413 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:33.559 Barriers, whether it's emotional stuff, physical things, whatever, But you 414 00:19:33.640 --> 00:19:36.839 got to persist through it man, and yeah, yeah, up, 415 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:37.759 don't give up. 416 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:42.240 Slow and steady wins the race, absolutely right, georgious and 417 00:19:42.279 --> 00:19:42.640 the hair. 418 00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:45.559 I've heard you talking other interviews about how hard it 419 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.119 was for you to animate the Beast and beauty the Beast. 420 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:48.920 Yeah. 421 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.880 Do you think that your love for animals and drawing 422 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:55.559 animals growing up helped you out with that? 423 00:19:56.039 --> 00:19:58.160 Yes? Yes, absolutely? 424 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:03.559 And what made him so difficult to animate? 425 00:20:04.039 --> 00:20:05.519 Well too, there is. 426 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:08.880 Two aspects of it that doesn't There's the visual, the 427 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:14.319 physical aspect of him. He's incredibly complex character to draw, 428 00:20:15.079 --> 00:20:17.359 and not just to draw, but then to turn in 429 00:20:17.480 --> 00:20:21.599 space right, And there's a lot of complexity in that face. 430 00:20:21.359 --> 00:20:23.759 To get the emotion, which leads me to the second part, 431 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:26.319 which is the emotion. You know, there's a lot of 432 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:28.240 depth to that character. 433 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.000 And uh, a lot of subtlety and a lot of 434 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:35.680 rottenness and a lot of subtext. 435 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:39.359 And well, I really appreciated the subtleties that you would do, 436 00:20:39.400 --> 00:20:44.119 the little the little side glances, the littles half smirks, 437 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.119 and it was just enough to just get it across 438 00:20:47.400 --> 00:20:49.480 and you and you think I could just about read 439 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:52.799 this bears mad And that's that's. 440 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:54.119 Where Glenn would write us. 441 00:20:53.960 --> 00:20:56.119 So hard on is you know, you don't have to 442 00:20:56.160 --> 00:20:59.759 be over the top, and that really you know, I 443 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:02.000 was a twenty four year old kid at the time, 444 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:02.799 a twenty two or. 445 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:08.640 I evolved. I so much in that year and a 446 00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:09.160 half that. 447 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:11.359 I worked on that film under Glenn. You know, I 448 00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:13.839 had my little six week internship with him, and a 449 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:17.000 couple of years later, I'm working with him. I'm the Beast, 450 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:21.839 and that was like my masterclass, and it really. 451 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.599 Glenn, I can't talk. 452 00:21:25.200 --> 00:21:29.440 I can't say enough wonderful things about him as a humans, 453 00:21:29.880 --> 00:21:33.240 as a boss, as an artist. 454 00:21:33.839 --> 00:21:36.079 Everything I am is because of that guy, because he 455 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:37.480 gave me twenty opportunities. 456 00:21:37.720 --> 00:21:40.160 And one of the things about Glenn is just how 457 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:43.160 generous he is with the work that he gives out. 458 00:21:43.240 --> 00:21:46.039 You know, he was the supervisor of The Beast. He 459 00:21:46.039 --> 00:21:50.240 could have hoarded every great shot for himself, but there 460 00:21:50.319 --> 00:21:53.960 was five other guys and some of us, like myself, 461 00:21:54.000 --> 00:21:58.480 were evolving and looking for our break, and so he 462 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:03.279 gave us really wonderful, juicy scenes that we could put 463 00:22:03.319 --> 00:22:04.480 on our reel and. 464 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:06.279 Would launch us into our career. 465 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:12.079 And so no sequence in Beauty and the Beast where they're. 466 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.240 Arguing back and forth in front of the fireplace where 467 00:22:14.279 --> 00:22:16.319 she's trying to bandage it was. 468 00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:21.119 It's a short sequence, but it's extremely broad, but it's 469 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:24.400 also subtle, and there's a lot of really wonderful acting 470 00:22:24.599 --> 00:22:26.920 opportunities in that. And so he gave that to me 471 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.960 and I just launched everything that. To this day, that's 472 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.079 one of my favorite sequences that I ever got. 473 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:33.759 Oh that's wonderful for me. 474 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:34.720 Yeah. 475 00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:40.920 Now, how how you know a lot of people still 476 00:22:41.000 --> 00:22:43.559 to this day think that when you're doing a movie, 477 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.359 when you're doing a cartoon. From my angle, I'm sitting 478 00:22:46.359 --> 00:22:50.720 there watching a finished product and mouthing, you know, I'm 479 00:22:50.759 --> 00:22:54.119 following the lips. I'm following the Can you straighten everybody 480 00:22:54.119 --> 00:22:56.839 out on that? How that works between the the between 481 00:22:56.839 --> 00:23:00.400 the actor, the voice actor and the incredible animate I mean, 482 00:23:01.079 --> 00:23:03.519 where what's the sequence there? Let's get. 483 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:08.759 I'll go all the way back to the active writing. 484 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:10.799 So when we write a character, we have. 485 00:23:11.279 --> 00:23:13.839 A character in mind, and so we write it. Then 486 00:23:13.880 --> 00:23:16.400 we then we designed the look of that character around. 487 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:19.839 Then now we've got to find someone that's going to 488 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.960 fit that character that we created as a voice, right, and. 489 00:23:23.960 --> 00:23:27.839 So we go out and uh. And in your case 490 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:30.359 for Winnie the Poop, let's say it's Winning the Poop. 491 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:34.880 And so now we will storyboard the you know, we've 492 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:36.799 got the character and now we storyboard the story. 493 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:39.519 Now we need somebody to give it some life. 494 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:42.000 We've got we've got what we've written on page and 495 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:43.799 now we've got some images up on the screen and 496 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.839 storyboard form. But now we need someone to really bring 497 00:23:46.839 --> 00:23:48.000 it to life through the book. 498 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.599 Well, then you need to animate some money. I promise 499 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:55.720 you that will help so very much. 500 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.480 And so it's that that's that's the the meat that 501 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:03.920 you give the animator. 502 00:24:03.960 --> 00:24:06.799 And we sit down and we've got we've. 503 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:08.240 Got a couple of ideas in our head. But when 504 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:11.079 you give us something like that, sit down, now, all 505 00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:13.319 of a sudden thing it just comes to life in 506 00:24:13.359 --> 00:24:15.680 your mind and it's just a matter of making it 507 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:17.000 go from your brain down through your. 508 00:24:17.000 --> 00:24:17.960 Arm andy out of your hand. 509 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:27.839 Well, really depends on how So that's the circuit. Okay, Wow, so. 510 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:31.319 Many wonderful talents that have come through, whether it's you 511 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:33.880 or Robin Williams or whoever it might be. You know, 512 00:24:34.200 --> 00:24:38.119 even you know guys like I remember Frank Welker doing. 513 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:42.519 Raja the Tiger. When I did stuff like that, it 514 00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:43.480 was really funny. 515 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:44.960 Yeah, and Booth. 516 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:47.880 Doing animal sounds really gave me some meat to work. 517 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:50.519 Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah. I just bet the weekend with him. 518 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:51.200 He's a great guy. 519 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:52.559 Oh yeah, that's great. 520 00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:57.680 My gosh. Now, do you have you ever been tapped 521 00:24:57.720 --> 00:25:01.559 to do some of these comic cons because I would imagine, 522 00:25:01.880 --> 00:25:04.599 you know, different animators like tad Stones, guy who came 523 00:25:04.680 --> 00:25:07.160 up with dark Wing Duck, he does them a lot 524 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:08.880 and he has a good's you. 525 00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:14.880 Know, I have not, and I'm hoping maybe, you know, 526 00:25:14.920 --> 00:25:17.440 as we as we get a little further down the 527 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:20.720 road and some of the work that I'm doing now 528 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:24.119 because you know, for the last fifteen years, i've really 529 00:25:24.359 --> 00:25:26.640 outside of Snowby, I've really focused on education. 530 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:29.480 That's what I've been doing. Oh okay, so I've been 531 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:33.599 creating teaching. You know. It's funny. 532 00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:36.519 When I came back to Florida, I was really trying 533 00:25:36.519 --> 00:25:38.440 to figure out what the heck I was going to do, 534 00:25:39.319 --> 00:25:41.519 and I knew I didn't want to work for the studios. 535 00:25:41.559 --> 00:25:44.079 I needed to read define myself. I needed to find myself. 536 00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:44.640 I needed to. 537 00:25:44.640 --> 00:25:46.359 Heal I wanted to do all that stuff. I wanted 538 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.000 to do something that would put some good back into 539 00:25:50.039 --> 00:25:52.000 the world that my wife would would have been proud of, 540 00:25:52.039 --> 00:25:54.680 you know, all of that. And I remember sitting and 541 00:25:54.960 --> 00:25:57.119 sitting down and having a coffee and thinking. 542 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:00.880 About this, and Glenn, once again, Glenn Keen, hopped in, and. 543 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:02.799 I was thinking about all the things that he had 544 00:26:02.799 --> 00:26:06.279 given me over the years and taught me, and then 545 00:26:06.359 --> 00:26:07.440 Mark Hennon that had. 546 00:26:07.319 --> 00:26:09.920 Taught me stuff, and oh boys. 547 00:26:09.400 --> 00:26:12.400 And James Baxter and all these wonderful animators that have 548 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:13.480 kind of. 549 00:26:13.680 --> 00:26:17.599 Imparted wisdom and that I was able to grow from. 550 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.079 And so then I thought, you know, I can I 551 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.880 can pass that on to another generation. 552 00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:27.480 And so that's what started this. You know, I thought, well, 553 00:26:27.519 --> 00:26:29.559 I can do this on the internet. I can YouTube 554 00:26:29.640 --> 00:26:32.960 is a thing I can create so and and I 555 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:34.960 can price it because the other thing that was, like 556 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.880 he was how incredibly expensive colleges have gone. Yeah, so 557 00:26:40.039 --> 00:26:43.440 I thought I can give student quality and education to 558 00:26:43.480 --> 00:26:45.319 students that maybe can't afford college. 559 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:47.200 And it just kind of snowballed from there. 560 00:26:47.279 --> 00:26:51.759 So I spent thirteen years or so building that business 561 00:26:51.839 --> 00:26:55.359 up and it became really pretty successful and we've we've 562 00:26:55.359 --> 00:26:57.400 gotten around the world and soil. Then I was able 563 00:26:57.400 --> 00:27:00.000 to step back and go, Okay, we've got enough revenue 564 00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:02.559 coming in from that that we can go off and 565 00:27:02.599 --> 00:27:04.160 we can make Snowbear. 566 00:27:04.359 --> 00:27:06.880 And so that that allowed me to go and make Snowbear. 567 00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:11.759 Speaking of snowballing, Yeah, yes, that's amazing. 568 00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:15.240 But then we wanted to do something else. 569 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.720 We had built up, you know, our own audience for 570 00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:21.720 what we do from the education standpoint. But I'm not 571 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:24.519 with Disney anymore. I don't have the Disney audience. I've 572 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.480 got my own audience. And I thought, well, what if 573 00:27:27.480 --> 00:27:34.119 I live stream the entire process of making Snowbar three 574 00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:38.640 years every Tuesday and Thursday, no matter where I was 575 00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:39.440 in the process. 576 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:43.559 I flipped on my cameras, turned everything on, and people 577 00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:46.279 joined me and they watched me in real time. 578 00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:47.799 Wow, that's really cool. 579 00:27:48.279 --> 00:27:51.279 We recorded almost five hundred hours of the making of 580 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:51.920 that film. 581 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:57.880 Wow. So that's out there. I suspect people can tap 582 00:27:57.920 --> 00:27:58.240 into that. 583 00:27:59.119 --> 00:28:01.960 Members On our side, we've got the library, and if 584 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:03.680 you become a member on the site, you tune into 585 00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:04.680 the library. 586 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:07.279 And you can go through the archives and watch any 587 00:28:07.319 --> 00:28:08.440 aspect of the film. 588 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:10.559 It's only five hundred hours. I'll do that tomorrow. 589 00:28:11.000 --> 00:28:14.359 Actually, what it was so cool is by the time 590 00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:16.559 we had the film finished, we had an. 591 00:28:16.480 --> 00:28:17.440 Audience ready to go. 592 00:28:17.599 --> 00:28:21.200 We had you know, ambassadors out to spread the word 593 00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:22.680 and it worked really well. 594 00:28:22.720 --> 00:28:24.680 And so we're going to continue making films out there. 595 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:26.200 Oh that's wonderful. 596 00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:29.000 Yeah, that's very creative, that's aspirational. 597 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:33.359 My gosh, do you now do you find yourself mentoring 598 00:28:34.200 --> 00:28:36.279 some of the students, some of the people, some of 599 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:40.599 the younger people that you run into. Is that Yeah, that's. 600 00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:43.039 One of the one of the secondary things that's come 601 00:28:43.079 --> 00:28:48.240 from this is you know, especially student age or in 602 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:50.240 young professional age. 603 00:28:50.119 --> 00:28:52.039 That have come up and kind of used my courses. 604 00:28:52.039 --> 00:28:54.680 There's a lot of them out there now, and so 605 00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:57.799 when we go to things like Anisey, you know in France, 606 00:28:57.880 --> 00:29:03.000 the Animation festival there, we can't get twenty yards down 607 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:06.759 the beach or down the sidewalk without kids running up 608 00:29:06.759 --> 00:29:08.519 and going, oh, I took your courses, and. 609 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:11.880 Oh really, yeah, it's really great. I love that must 610 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:12.680 be wonderful. 611 00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:13.240 Yeah. 612 00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:15.359 The other one too, we get a lot now that 613 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:17.759 we're just starting to get is hey, I couldn't afford 614 00:29:17.799 --> 00:29:20.440 to go to college, which is why we were doing this. 615 00:29:20.880 --> 00:29:21.680 I couldn't afford to go. 616 00:29:21.720 --> 00:29:24.160 To college, but I took your courses and I just 617 00:29:24.200 --> 00:29:25.200 got my first job. 618 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:30.039 And the old kid really really wow, that's that's got 619 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:31.160 to be really rewarding. 620 00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:32.599 It's super rewarding. 621 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.839 It's great and gosh, yeah, so I know we're going 622 00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:38.960 on amazing now. 623 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:41.799 You also had a stint in directing. You directed Brother Bear, 624 00:29:41.839 --> 00:29:45.680 which was nominated for Best Animation at the Oscars. Congratulations 625 00:29:45.720 --> 00:29:49.279 on that. That's a huge feat. What was that experience like? 626 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:52.000 And what for the audience and people who don't know 627 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:55.119 what is an animation director? What is your responsibilities? What 628 00:29:55.240 --> 00:29:56.720 is your job? What does that look like? 629 00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:02.319 An animation director is not much different then a live 630 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:05.440 action director. It's just that the things we have to 631 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:12.400 do just fall under different umbrellas. So, but that means obviously, 632 00:30:12.440 --> 00:30:15.680 in an animated film, everything you see and hear has 633 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:20.160 to be created from scratch, right, Yeah, So it's very 634 00:30:20.440 --> 00:30:22.240 especially with something that's feat your length. 635 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:26.960 Well that sounds easy, right, undertaking. 636 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:31.319 Every blade of grass has to be designed, every rock, every. 637 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:36.319 Character, everything, and so it becomes this big machine. And 638 00:30:36.359 --> 00:30:41.519 so it starts out obviously with the writing. Traditionally why 639 00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:44.839 animation directors are very involved in the writing of the films. 640 00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:47.079 It's not like in live action where a director will 641 00:30:47.119 --> 00:30:50.799 inherit a script. Lot of times it's sometimes it happens, right, 642 00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.680 but a lot of times they're involved very deeply with 643 00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:57.519 the writing. And then then from there it goes in 644 00:30:57.599 --> 00:30:57.920 the story. 645 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:00.720 You're working with the story artists, and then there you 646 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:03.720 start working with our directors, production designers. 647 00:31:03.279 --> 00:31:06.119 And it just keeps getting, you know, more and more subdivided. 648 00:31:06.359 --> 00:31:09.119 Then you know, we get into casting. So we started 649 00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:12.680 talking with casting, we get into music. 650 00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:14.799 You know, I was going to ask you that, at 651 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:17.720 what point did do you go to the composer or the. 652 00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:21.240 Yeah, well, it's interesting, you know with with Brother Bear, 653 00:31:21.559 --> 00:31:24.559 Brother Bear, the songs were written by Phil Collins and 654 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:28.680 Mark Mancina scored it. But Phil also wanted to be 655 00:31:28.759 --> 00:31:31.319 involved a little bit with scoring too. He wanted, you know, 656 00:31:31.319 --> 00:31:33.680 because he he was interested in doing that. So Mark 657 00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:37.640 was really great and kind of guiding him through that part. 658 00:31:38.000 --> 00:31:40.240 We picked you know, he picked a couple of sequences 659 00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:42.440 were obviously percussive. 660 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:46.400 And yeah and so uh, and he scored those. 661 00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:50.799 But but obviously, you know, the songwriting and Disney films 662 00:31:50.839 --> 00:31:53.680 and a lot of musicals. The song, the story doesn't 663 00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.319 just stop and then pick up at the end. At 664 00:31:56.359 --> 00:31:59.519 the end of the song, the song should carry some 665 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:02.359 of the story, some aspect of the story. 666 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:05.680 Yes. Yes, if you're a fan of everything we do 667 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:08.720 here at tuned In with Jim Cummings, you could support 668 00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:13.160 the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts as well 669 00:32:13.200 --> 00:32:16.599 as early in ad free access to the show itself, 670 00:32:16.839 --> 00:32:20.599 prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, so go 671 00:32:20.640 --> 00:32:24.119 ahead and join the tuned In family today at patreon 672 00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:28.400 dot com slash Jim Cummings podcast Do It Now. 673 00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.640 So that being said, you know, Phil and Mark were 674 00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:37.279 involved in the in the story process of the film. 675 00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:42.000 Pretty early on. But on the other hand, when I did. 676 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:47.200 Snowbar, I didn't you know, I brought Mark in probably 677 00:32:47.759 --> 00:32:50.480 towards the last quarter before, you know, because I was 678 00:32:50.559 --> 00:32:52.160 kind of working it out, but there. 679 00:32:52.079 --> 00:32:52.799 Was no dialogue. 680 00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:55.559 They went along the story changes so you can vary it. 681 00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:58.519 And that was just straight score. So if it's just 682 00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:00.640 a straight story non musically, you can bring them in 683 00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:03.400 towards the end. But if you're writing songs, you want 684 00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:06.640 to come and keep them through. And we had weekly 685 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:10.000 meetings with Phil because he was part of the story team, 686 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:15.000 so he'd write and he called me at home and yeah, 687 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:16.960 it's pretty cool getting phone calls from Phil Colin. 688 00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:19.559 Yeah, no, killing I was about to ask, did your 689 00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:24.680 conversations ever stray away you know, his musical career or 690 00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:25.720 something like that. 691 00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:27.880 Oh, yeah, especially in the recording sessions. 692 00:33:27.880 --> 00:33:31.119 One of the one of the coolest sessions that I've 693 00:33:31.160 --> 00:33:37.640 ever had my career was we we did the opening 694 00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:39.920 and Phil wrote the opening song to Brother. 695 00:33:39.720 --> 00:33:43.519 Bear, the Great Spirit Song, and but he. 696 00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.920 Had just done Tarzan, and so we wanted to do 697 00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:49.359 something a little different because we didn't want to sound 698 00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:52.839 like we're repeating ourselves. So we just we decided then 699 00:33:53.079 --> 00:33:55.480 poor Phil, he wasn't happy about it, but he rolled 700 00:33:55.519 --> 00:33:56.079 with the punches. 701 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:58.400 But we decided we wanted someone else to sing it. 702 00:33:59.400 --> 00:34:02.519 And so at first we thought Richie Havens was a 703 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:03.400 great you know. 704 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:07.359 Which, oh my gosh, but h and he would have 705 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:09.280 been great, but he wanted. 706 00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:10.880 To change the key. We didn't want to change the key, 707 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:15.800 so so we had in Turn instead. So that was 708 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:17.679 pretty cool. So we so one of. 709 00:34:17.559 --> 00:34:20.800 My greatest experiences that I had was I went to 710 00:34:20.840 --> 00:34:23.400 Switzerland to record Tina and. 711 00:34:23.320 --> 00:34:24.119 Phil lives there. 712 00:34:24.760 --> 00:34:28.519 Phil came to the recording session, and you know, and 713 00:34:28.599 --> 00:34:30.599 I grew up in the you know, seventies and eighties, 714 00:34:30.599 --> 00:34:32.480 so Keena Turner, Phil Colin through them. 715 00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:35.239 I went one night, was my promise. 716 00:34:35.320 --> 00:34:38.840 Oh my gosh. Yes, yeah, it's one of my favorite things. 717 00:34:38.840 --> 00:34:41.039 He goes there and yes, I'm going to sing that 718 00:34:41.039 --> 00:34:45.840 bloody song again. I can feel it. Colm In, Okay, Phil, 719 00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:48.800 We'll get it. We get it, we get it. O man. 720 00:34:49.400 --> 00:34:52.719 Sitting there having lunch and I'm and and I'm just 721 00:34:52.760 --> 00:34:55.239 this kid from the swamps of Florida, and I'm sitting here, 722 00:34:55.639 --> 00:34:57.920 Phil sitting here, and Tina sitting there and it's just 723 00:34:58.000 --> 00:34:58.599 the three of us. 724 00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:02.760 Okay, yeah, just another day in the other day at 725 00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:06.199 the office, right, yeah, typically just and I remember. 726 00:35:06.119 --> 00:35:07.800 You know, it was before cell phones and I'm just 727 00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:11.440 going click click, trying to take these people. 728 00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:13.480 Yeah. It was amazing. 729 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:18.039 Oh man, oh man. Yeah, Well that's that's an amazing 730 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:20.119 You've You've got some memories there, I do. 731 00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:20.800 I do. 732 00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:23.039 I'm going to change it up though, because I want to. 733 00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:24.760 I want to push it back to you a little bit. 734 00:35:25.320 --> 00:35:31.400 And I was thinking about today the differences between recording 735 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:38.119 with screen actors and then recording with voice actors. And 736 00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:40.039 I wanted to see what you thought about because I 737 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:42.880 worked with Joaquin who Joaquin Phoenix who. 738 00:35:43.159 --> 00:35:44.239 Was he was? 739 00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:47.480 He turned out, he worked out. He's a wonderful voice 740 00:35:47.480 --> 00:35:48.800 actor for for brother Bear. 741 00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:51.840 Mm hmm. Well he's an amazing actor period. 742 00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:52.639 He's a great actor. 743 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:55.960 Yeah, but it was interesting because he's so used to 744 00:35:56.000 --> 00:35:59.719 being contained mm hm exacting, you know when when you 745 00:35:59.719 --> 00:36:02.400 think about what some of the stuff he does, and 746 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:04.840 he's and he gets a little a little bit nervous 747 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:06.480 in front of the camera, which was or in front 748 00:36:06.480 --> 00:36:06.960 of the mic. 749 00:36:06.840 --> 00:36:10.400 Which was interesting. Wow, it was really it was. 750 00:36:10.840 --> 00:36:13.360 It was so different for me as as and I 751 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:17.559 was a new director too, so everything is pulling the 752 00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:22.320 performance out of out of sa Joaquin, who, like I said, 753 00:36:22.440 --> 00:36:23.639 was wonderful, but it was different. 754 00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:27.519 I like the phrase pulling the performance out of that 755 00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:30.079 that that says a little right there, doesn't. 756 00:36:29.840 --> 00:36:32.440 It in lines? 757 00:36:32.519 --> 00:36:36.239 Right, So it's it's pulling that performance out as opposed 758 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:36.880 to someone. 759 00:36:36.679 --> 00:36:38.599 Like you that this is you know, this is what. 760 00:36:38.480 --> 00:36:42.920 You do and yeah and and uh and it was 761 00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:46.440 and the experiences are completely different, and the choices we 762 00:36:46.480 --> 00:36:46.880 get are. 763 00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:50.360 So completely different, I would imagine. 764 00:36:50.360 --> 00:36:55.079 And I was just wondering if there's not to take it. 765 00:36:55.039 --> 00:36:57.639 Off of me. But I'm just curious that if you 766 00:36:57.719 --> 00:37:00.440 had a theory on those differences and how you broach it. 767 00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:06.320 Well, you know, one thing I've I can remember, you know, 768 00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:09.440 I'll they will remain nameless. I've worked with any number 769 00:37:09.480 --> 00:37:13.159 of face people, and my old joke is that, well, 770 00:37:13.199 --> 00:37:15.000 anybody can be an actor if you get to use 771 00:37:15.039 --> 00:37:20.400 your face. But you know, but you know different people 772 00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:23.960 that I've worked with, and I it would slow down 773 00:37:24.000 --> 00:37:25.960 the whole thing if I just did an impression of them. 774 00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:29.800 But a lot of times you'll be on mike with 775 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:33.320 someone who is usually on camera and they'll sit there 776 00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:40.079 and they'll go right, and they're just wow, I'm really 777 00:37:40.119 --> 00:37:44.880 acting over here, and oh look see I'm mad, and uh. 778 00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:46.639 You know, and. 779 00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:52.119 Oh yeah, and the voice directors are going, okay, honey, 780 00:37:52.199 --> 00:37:56.519 that's really good. I love that. Now, can I hear it? 781 00:37:57.480 --> 00:38:01.599 Oh that's right. This is a microphone, not a camera. Yeah, 782 00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:03.760 it's a it's a different critter well. 783 00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:08.000 Too, because if you know a face actor, like you say, 784 00:38:09.079 --> 00:38:10.239 a lot of times with Disney. 785 00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:12.800 We're recording it, so to them, it's feeling like a 786 00:38:12.840 --> 00:38:14.159 close up too, And what do you do in a 787 00:38:14.199 --> 00:38:14.599 close up? 788 00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:16.599 You keep it all kind of contained. 789 00:38:16.079 --> 00:38:19.159 And you know you're not being broad and yeah, so 790 00:38:19.199 --> 00:38:22.320 it's hard to kind of get that, pull it out 791 00:38:22.320 --> 00:38:23.079 of him and free them. 792 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:23.760 Yeah. 793 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.760 Yes, some of the things that once I got Joaquin. 794 00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:32.599 I remember one sequence in particular, once we got him. 795 00:38:32.760 --> 00:38:35.320 You know, he he loosened up and we were recording 796 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:42.039 this really emotionally heavy scene where brother bear uh, Keen Eye, 797 00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:45.639 his older brother Sitka, he goes down in this avalanche 798 00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:48.400 of ice and in the water and Keen Eye has 799 00:38:48.440 --> 00:38:51.199 to go down and he's screaming for his brother and 800 00:38:51.280 --> 00:38:53.480 trying to find him, and you know, and all this 801 00:38:53.599 --> 00:38:55.360 rubble and uh. 802 00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:58.559 And so I pitched the whole sequence to Joaquin. 803 00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:01.280 And he kind of preps himself for it, and I'm 804 00:39:01.760 --> 00:39:06.360 horribly I had forgotten because it was it's probably a 805 00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:09.000 year or two, maybe three years after he had lost 806 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:12.960 his brother River Phoenix. Yeah, and uh, and he really 807 00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:16.239 I think he really channeled that because he really went 808 00:39:16.280 --> 00:39:19.679 deep into that and it was just so emotionally raw 809 00:39:20.760 --> 00:39:25.480 that I just sat there and I just I was 810 00:39:25.519 --> 00:39:28.719 just mesmerized, and a minute or two he's. 811 00:39:28.639 --> 00:39:31.559 Like, are you ever gonna yell? Cut? I was like, 812 00:39:31.559 --> 00:39:37.119 oh my god, I'm sorry cut cut, and uh here 813 00:39:37.199 --> 00:39:38.880 I was. I felt like I was watching a movie, 814 00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:41.960 you know. Yeah, so yeah it was interesting. 815 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:45.280 Well you were, yeah, I was exactly yeah you were. 816 00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:47.199 Oh my gosh. 817 00:39:47.400 --> 00:39:47.639 Yeah. 818 00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:49.639 Well that's That's one of the hardest things to do, 819 00:39:49.760 --> 00:39:54.039 is cry on Q. Yeah. Ye, a reservoir of pain 820 00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:55.119 that you can call on. 821 00:39:55.800 --> 00:39:57.760 I always say, you know what I think is even 822 00:39:57.800 --> 00:40:00.880 harder than crying on Q is laughing on cue. 823 00:40:05.039 --> 00:40:06.000 That was look. 824 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:10.400 Laugh like a genuine belly laugh. I think is harder 825 00:40:10.840 --> 00:40:13.239 to really crack yourself up, you know, when you're laughing 826 00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:15.920 so hard that you can't even stop yourself. I think 827 00:40:15.920 --> 00:40:17.559 that's harder than crying personally. 828 00:40:18.199 --> 00:40:21.679 Yeah, yeah, that's true. Well, that that's a that's the 829 00:40:22.079 --> 00:40:26.960 laughing and crying. It's the too mass hardest thing. Yeah yeah, 830 00:40:26.960 --> 00:40:30.159 that's right. Comedy and tragedy, oh man. 831 00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:36.440 And two guys that were really great with that. 832 00:40:36.920 --> 00:40:39.760 Three guys that I worked with brother that were great 833 00:40:39.760 --> 00:40:43.519 at a living Dave Thomas. 834 00:40:43.079 --> 00:40:48.960 Oh gosh, yeah, oh that's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, they're 835 00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:51.880 good eh, yeah, And so. 836 00:40:51.840 --> 00:40:55.960 It was really interesting how much of what they ad 837 00:40:56.039 --> 00:40:58.199 lived went into the film instead of them. 838 00:40:59.079 --> 00:41:00.679 It was really cool. So I was wondering how much 839 00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:03.840 how much you do too much? 840 00:41:03.960 --> 00:41:07.480 Probably you know, I've been told would it kill you 841 00:41:07.559 --> 00:41:11.559 to say what we wrote? Would it just kill you? 842 00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:15.360 But I you know, I'm my old joke is I 843 00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:18.840 always punish them by doing it exactly as they wrote, 844 00:41:18.920 --> 00:41:21.239 and then then I'll do it the next take will 845 00:41:21.280 --> 00:41:25.280 be what they should have written. And uh, and I'm 846 00:41:25.360 --> 00:41:27.000 not to toot my own horn. But it was always 847 00:41:27.039 --> 00:41:30.559 fun too, cause, well, dark Wing Duck would be a 848 00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:33.159 good one. I am the terror that flaps in the night. 849 00:41:33.320 --> 00:41:36.320 I am the winged skirts and pexatr nightmares, I am 850 00:41:36.360 --> 00:41:39.840 talk Wing Duck. And the middle one would always change. 851 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:42.440 And I've said this before, so I hope I'm not 852 00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:45.719 boring anybody out there, but I would always say I 853 00:41:45.760 --> 00:41:48.039 am the terror that flaps in the night. And then 854 00:41:49.239 --> 00:41:53.039 about the seventh show in the writer wrote, it doesn't 855 00:41:53.039 --> 00:41:54.960 matter what I write here. You know Jim's going to 856 00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:00.840 say something else anyway, I am Darkwing Duck's uh so 857 00:42:01.159 --> 00:42:04.039 it was you know, it's got its place, It's got 858 00:42:04.119 --> 00:42:06.079 its place. Ad living has its place. 859 00:42:05.880 --> 00:42:06.440 Right, it does. 860 00:42:06.800 --> 00:42:10.320 Yeah, I mean, and you get great stuff because it starts, 861 00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:12.559 it starts becoming more natural than what's. 862 00:42:12.400 --> 00:42:13.079 Written, you know. 863 00:42:13.199 --> 00:42:14.920 Yeah, well, you know, I think the key is, and 864 00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:18.360 I've discovered this many moons ago, is that if it's 865 00:42:19.199 --> 00:42:21.920 funny for the sake of funny, and all of a sudden, 866 00:42:22.159 --> 00:42:25.119 the story kind of grinds to a halt. And now 867 00:42:25.159 --> 00:42:26.920 we laugh at this over here, and now can we 868 00:42:26.960 --> 00:42:29.639 get now where we're going there? We were robbing a bank. 869 00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:31.599 Can we get back to robbing the bank or something? 870 00:42:31.639 --> 00:42:35.360 You know, as long as it doesn't stop the story, yeah, 871 00:42:35.440 --> 00:42:36.000 it's okay. 872 00:42:36.320 --> 00:42:37.280 Yeah, you know. 873 00:42:37.239 --> 00:42:40.880 If AD's too good, if it doesn't keep going. 874 00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:43.159 The other the other one that I like is and 875 00:42:43.199 --> 00:42:44.920 I never got to do this except. 876 00:42:44.599 --> 00:42:47.920 With Rick Mirandas and Dave Thomas was bringing our actors 877 00:42:47.960 --> 00:42:50.239 in at the same time, you know, we always recorded. 878 00:42:51.280 --> 00:42:53.239 Yeah, those guys were able to bring them. 879 00:42:53.280 --> 00:42:57.039 They were a team and so we're bringing together and 880 00:42:57.199 --> 00:42:59.719 that was gold because they would just feed. 881 00:42:59.480 --> 00:43:04.119 Off of one another, oh no doubt, And once they 882 00:43:04.159 --> 00:43:07.719 got the rhythm and the drive of what the scene 883 00:43:07.800 --> 00:43:10.679 was supposed to be about, just coming up with all 884 00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:14.000 kinds of stuff, and I was I would read against 885 00:43:14.039 --> 00:43:15.880 them in the room and I had to. 886 00:43:16.000 --> 00:43:18.519 I got kicked out because I kept blowing cakes because 887 00:43:18.519 --> 00:43:22.960 I was laughing so hard. Yeah, it was amazing. I 888 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:24.920 was wondering, do you ever get that opportunity to read 889 00:43:24.920 --> 00:43:25.599 against people? 890 00:43:26.719 --> 00:43:29.320 You know, I cherish it when it's not often. It's 891 00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:33.519 not often, and I really really prefer it. And uh, 892 00:43:33.559 --> 00:43:36.760 and of course years ago when when COVID popped up, 893 00:43:37.039 --> 00:43:39.639 oh my gosh, then it really gave them an excuse 894 00:43:39.679 --> 00:43:43.960 to isolate you. And I've always said that acting a lot. 895 00:43:44.960 --> 00:43:48.320 I couldn't assign a percentage to it. But acting is 896 00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:52.559 also reacting. And if there's nothing happening around you, if 897 00:43:52.599 --> 00:43:56.440 you're sitting in a bubble, well you're reacting to lots 898 00:43:56.480 --> 00:43:56.960 of nothing. 899 00:43:57.159 --> 00:43:59.119 Well to your point that you were saying earlier, to 900 00:43:59.280 --> 00:44:02.199 educate the bubble about you know, when that voice actor 901 00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:03.440 comes in compared to the animation. 902 00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:04.800 The other thing is that. 903 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:07.719 People don't realize is the actors aren't coming together on 904 00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:08.920 the stage and acting back. 905 00:44:08.800 --> 00:44:11.159 And forth like you see on the screen right right. 906 00:44:12.000 --> 00:44:14.400 You know, everything's recorded separately and you bring it together 907 00:44:14.440 --> 00:44:16.800 and now you've got characters talking to one another on 908 00:44:16.840 --> 00:44:17.880 the screen that weren't. 909 00:44:17.639 --> 00:44:20.800 Recorded together, and it's incredibly difficult to get that to 910 00:44:20.880 --> 00:44:22.119 sound natural, you know. 911 00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:25.400 Yeah, oh I agree, and I'm a big fan. And 912 00:44:25.559 --> 00:44:29.679 oftentimes to make up for that, they'll isolate you. Yeah, 913 00:44:29.760 --> 00:44:32.360 so because you can't, you can't overlap, you know, in 914 00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:36.840 natural conversation, we overlap the cans. 915 00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:39.840 And if you guys are in separate booze and recording 916 00:44:40.159 --> 00:44:43.119 one another, then that's it's really one time. 917 00:44:43.199 --> 00:44:43.880 There's one time. 918 00:44:43.880 --> 00:44:47.559 We brought in book Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Suarez who 919 00:44:47.639 --> 00:44:51.079 played the voice to Duda, and boy, Jeremy was a 920 00:44:51.079 --> 00:44:51.559 little pro. 921 00:44:51.599 --> 00:44:53.519 He's like forty years old now, but he was a 922 00:44:53.559 --> 00:44:57.679 little pro. And man, they just the stuff we got 923 00:44:57.679 --> 00:44:58.519 out of them was great. 924 00:44:58.599 --> 00:45:03.960 There was one point Joaquin messed up his line and 925 00:45:04.280 --> 00:45:08.280 I called one of the other characters by the wrong name, and. 926 00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:12.360 So Jeremy just rolled with it and corrected them. By 927 00:45:12.400 --> 00:45:12.840 the way his. 928 00:45:12.880 --> 00:45:15.760 Name's or whatever I can up with, the line is 929 00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:16.440 right right right. 930 00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:18.760 It's like, oh my god, that's great, and we kept it. 931 00:45:18.840 --> 00:45:21.639 That's went into the movie. We all have gotten that 932 00:45:23.320 --> 00:45:24.039 being there together. 933 00:45:24.519 --> 00:45:25.840 Oh that's wonderful. 934 00:45:26.159 --> 00:45:26.800 Yeah. 935 00:45:26.840 --> 00:45:31.400 Well, I've been notorious ad Libert too, and I'll hope 936 00:45:31.400 --> 00:45:34.320 I'm not repeating this story too much. But Don Han, 937 00:45:34.599 --> 00:45:36.880 when we saw the screening of The Lion King for 938 00:45:36.920 --> 00:45:42.000 the first time, I sang Hakuna Matata and Jess Harnell 939 00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.199 for Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella because they weren't singers. 940 00:45:45.199 --> 00:45:46.800 So they well, well, let's just get Jim and just 941 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:48.559 to sing it and then they can. We can give 942 00:45:48.559 --> 00:45:51.320 them a cassette, they can ride around their car for 943 00:45:51.360 --> 00:45:53.079 a month and then they'll know it like the way 944 00:45:53.119 --> 00:45:59.199 they do Happy Birthday. Well, I I I basically wrote 945 00:45:59.199 --> 00:46:05.440 the fart verse uh and uh when I was you know, 946 00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:12.519 oh you know. And and we were walking down the 947 00:46:12.519 --> 00:46:14.719 the laye there after, and I said to Don Han, 948 00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:18.360 I said, you kept in the fart verse because I 949 00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:21.280 couldn't imagine, you know, Disney alluding you know, to that, 950 00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:23.119 And he goes, it's the funniest thing in the movie, 951 00:46:23.159 --> 00:46:26.199 and I go okay, And I said, well, I don't 952 00:46:26.239 --> 00:46:29.599 see my name in the credits for additional lyrics by 953 00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:33.920 so it wasn't that funny to me. But but I 954 00:46:33.960 --> 00:46:36.119 get to tell people like you that story, so it's 955 00:46:36.239 --> 00:46:40.800 not just email today. Actually, oh yeah, we'll tell him. 956 00:46:40.840 --> 00:46:43.480 I said, hey, and what are you doing? And hire me? 957 00:46:45.960 --> 00:46:46.480 And you too? 958 00:46:46.719 --> 00:46:49.360 You just well, we. 959 00:46:49.440 --> 00:46:54.000 All get a gig. Did you that's wonderful. 960 00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:57.039 When animation started to shift from two D to three D, 961 00:46:57.280 --> 00:47:00.239 what was your personal experience with that? Did you would 962 00:47:00.239 --> 00:47:02.599 start animating in three D? Did you always? Because I 963 00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:04.559 know snow bears in two D? Of course, yeah, no, 964 00:47:04.639 --> 00:47:05.119 I've never. 965 00:47:05.039 --> 00:47:07.679 Learned three D. It was It was crazy. That was 966 00:47:07.719 --> 00:47:08.440 a crazy time. 967 00:47:08.559 --> 00:47:11.960 And you know, I see a lot of young people 968 00:47:12.000 --> 00:47:15.599 freaking out about AI right now, and I try to 969 00:47:15.639 --> 00:47:17.559 settle them down and say, look, we went through. 970 00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:19.480 The transition from two D to three D. 971 00:47:20.079 --> 00:47:23.079 This is very similar, and you know, everything will settle, 972 00:47:23.119 --> 00:47:26.639 the dust will settle, the pendulum will swing. But you know, 973 00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:30.199 it all happened obviously when when Toy Story came out 974 00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:33.199 nineteen ninety five, nineteen ninety five. 975 00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:36.760 And you know, it was an amazing film. 976 00:47:36.800 --> 00:47:38.519 I remember before the film came out, we were watching 977 00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:41.400 dailies and we and that Army Man sequence and we 978 00:47:41.400 --> 00:47:43.760 were just like, we've never seen anything like this, and 979 00:47:43.800 --> 00:47:47.440 it was painting and it was visually unlike anything we'd 980 00:47:47.440 --> 00:47:50.199 ever seen. Yeah, we knew it was going to change 981 00:47:50.559 --> 00:47:53.039 the landscape. We just thought it was going to be 982 00:47:53.039 --> 00:47:55.239 an addition to not replace. 983 00:47:54.880 --> 00:47:59.159 It, and so okay, yeah, and so I was never scared. 984 00:47:59.239 --> 00:48:00.960 I was. I was actually really excited. 985 00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:02.800 All this is going to be super cool, and we'll 986 00:48:02.840 --> 00:48:05.480 be making these films, we'll all be alongside one another. 987 00:48:05.559 --> 00:48:06.519 And and it. 988 00:48:06.440 --> 00:48:08.639 Wasn't until a few years after, you know, and once 989 00:48:08.639 --> 00:48:11.239 we got into two thousand and two, two thousand and three, 990 00:48:11.360 --> 00:48:14.559 about six years, seven years later, that I realized, oh, no, 991 00:48:14.719 --> 00:48:15.559 things are changing. 992 00:48:15.760 --> 00:48:19.960 This is crazy. And so after Brother. 993 00:48:19.760 --> 00:48:22.159 Bear came out in two thousand and three and I 994 00:48:22.199 --> 00:48:24.719 didn't have the opportunity to make another two D film, 995 00:48:24.760 --> 00:48:26.800 I had to make a three D film. I didn't 996 00:48:26.800 --> 00:48:29.519 do three D, but I could direct it, ye, So 997 00:48:30.000 --> 00:48:31.800 and that's that's when I that's when. 998 00:48:31.639 --> 00:48:35.079 I started to learn digital drawing and painting so that 999 00:48:35.079 --> 00:48:37.599 I could get the art that I was trying that 1000 00:48:37.679 --> 00:48:37.960 I was. 1001 00:48:38.280 --> 00:48:40.800 We were developing a film called The King of the Elves. 1002 00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:43.039 It was something I never got made because my wife 1003 00:48:43.079 --> 00:48:48.440 passed and the film got shot. But but that's that 1004 00:48:48.440 --> 00:48:54.559 that kind of launched my my trajectory into digital drawing 1005 00:48:54.559 --> 00:48:59.199 and painting and filmmaking as well, because you know, even 1006 00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:05.679 though it's not three D modeled Snowbear. I drew it digitally. 1007 00:49:05.760 --> 00:49:08.159 I drew it on I'm talking to you guys on 1008 00:49:08.199 --> 00:49:11.880 a big thirty two inch cyntique pen display screen that 1009 00:49:11.960 --> 00:49:12.519 you draw on. 1010 00:49:12.960 --> 00:49:16.440 And wow, there's no paper that was used for Snowbear, 1011 00:49:16.519 --> 00:49:17.199 but it was. 1012 00:49:17.440 --> 00:49:20.079 It was really and yeah wow. 1013 00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:24.119 But even that, that happened as a result of everything else, 1014 00:49:24.199 --> 00:49:27.079 because we went into this digital realm, right right, right, 1015 00:49:27.239 --> 00:49:29.239 So you know, I ended up going. 1016 00:49:29.079 --> 00:49:31.000 Down paths that I never would have gone down. I 1017 00:49:31.079 --> 00:49:33.079 remember Max Howard. 1018 00:49:32.719 --> 00:49:36.039 Who was the head of our studio in Florida, and 1019 00:49:36.119 --> 00:49:38.480 it was like nineteen ninety one or ninety. 1020 00:49:38.159 --> 00:49:41.679 Two, working on Aladdin or something, and he says, you know, 1021 00:49:41.880 --> 00:49:43.960 erin and in a few years, we're going to be 1022 00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:47.119 drawing on a TV screen. And I went, you're crazy, 1023 00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:48.920 what are you talking about? I thought he was not. 1024 00:49:49.679 --> 00:49:52.000 I was thinking like a big Cathould Grady tube. It's like, 1025 00:49:52.079 --> 00:49:55.119 how the hell are you gonna tra Yeah? Yeah, yeah, 1026 00:49:55.400 --> 00:49:57.039 Now thinking about what that screen? 1027 00:49:57.079 --> 00:49:57.519 What is that? 1028 00:49:57.840 --> 00:49:59.880 So it's amazing? Ye. 1029 00:50:00.320 --> 00:50:03.599 Do you welcome the new technology or or is it 1030 00:50:03.679 --> 00:50:06.159 something you have to wrestle with? Or do you are 1031 00:50:06.199 --> 00:50:08.519 you back? Because I I don't. 1032 00:50:08.559 --> 00:50:11.719 There's aspects of like saying AI, there's obviously aspects of 1033 00:50:11.760 --> 00:50:13.639 AI that can be scary. 1034 00:50:13.719 --> 00:50:15.800 There's aspects that I don't agree with as far as 1035 00:50:15.880 --> 00:50:18.280 copyright and some of the things that go with that. 1036 00:50:19.159 --> 00:50:21.440 I don't like that, and I but I also know 1037 00:50:21.519 --> 00:50:23.960 that it's here to stay to me. 1038 00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:27.440 It's just become another tool in the toolbox. I don't. 1039 00:50:28.320 --> 00:50:32.199 It's like for me when I sit down to use photoshop. 1040 00:50:32.320 --> 00:50:34.360 Let's say I'm going to do a drawing and photoshop. 1041 00:50:34.440 --> 00:50:36.400 I don't use all those all the other tools. 1042 00:50:36.480 --> 00:50:39.559 I have a paintbrush, I have a canvas, and I draw. 1043 00:50:40.000 --> 00:50:41.000 And that's why I. 1044 00:50:40.920 --> 00:50:43.440 See that I'm going to continue to make films the 1045 00:50:43.480 --> 00:50:45.000 way I want to make films. One of the things 1046 00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:48.440 I always say is, you know the finished product. As 1047 00:50:48.440 --> 00:50:51.199 an artist, that's not always the goal. And you want 1048 00:50:51.199 --> 00:50:51.639 to get something. 1049 00:50:51.760 --> 00:50:53.639 You do want to get to the finish, but man, 1050 00:50:53.679 --> 00:50:55.199 it is a joy getting there. 1051 00:50:55.639 --> 00:50:58.679 It's a joy creating. It's a joy writing. It's a 1052 00:50:58.800 --> 00:51:02.000 joy painting and drawing and animating. I love that process. 1053 00:51:02.440 --> 00:51:04.639 So I want to give it to a machine. 1054 00:51:05.639 --> 00:51:08.679 Yeah, and so it's it's such a beautiful life. 1055 00:51:09.320 --> 00:51:12.199 Yeah, I agree, And there might be a point where 1056 00:51:12.239 --> 00:51:15.159 AI can mimic everything that we do by hand, but 1057 00:51:15.239 --> 00:51:16.880 I'm still going to do it by hand because I 1058 00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:20.360 love making a Yeah, you know, I can take a 1059 00:51:20.360 --> 00:51:22.559 photograph of something, or I can sit and i can 1060 00:51:22.599 --> 00:51:24.559 paint it, and that's. 1061 00:51:24.360 --> 00:51:25.440 The process that I love. 1062 00:51:25.519 --> 00:51:29.760 And so when people ask me about that, or when 1063 00:51:29.760 --> 00:51:32.480 I post something on social media or on the Internet 1064 00:51:32.880 --> 00:51:36.320 of some animation that I've done or something to promote ourselves, 1065 00:51:36.519 --> 00:51:39.199 there's always some Yahoo that comes in and goes, hey, hey, 1066 00:51:39.239 --> 00:51:40.800 I could do that in about two minutes. 1067 00:51:41.159 --> 00:51:44.199 So yeah, you're right, it can, but you're not bod it. 1068 00:51:44.400 --> 00:51:48.559 So obviously, notice because I love the process, I love 1069 00:51:48.679 --> 00:51:52.400 the act of creation, and it's it's this human and 1070 00:51:52.440 --> 00:51:56.280 I actually also I'm know I'm rambling, but I I 1071 00:51:58.119 --> 00:52:02.719 I'm seeing this pushback. I'm seeing this hunger from the 1072 00:52:02.800 --> 00:52:07.239 audiences out there for human need. Oh yes, that's good 1073 00:52:07.960 --> 00:52:11.639 that we've gotten on Snowbear is man, it's so nice 1074 00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:17.719 not to see any AI crap, you know, it's yeah. 1075 00:52:16.599 --> 00:52:21.559 Yes, well, well for a while, there were kind of 1076 00:52:21.840 --> 00:52:23.800 walking down that same road as far as the voice 1077 00:52:23.840 --> 00:52:28.159 over too well everything right, oh yeah, well they said, well, 1078 00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:29.960 you know, we we we can do your voice, we 1079 00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:33.199 can do we've got you on. We can make pooh 1080 00:52:33.280 --> 00:52:37.280 or take you know, somebody say whatever the heck we want. 1081 00:52:37.719 --> 00:52:41.079 And I was thinking, okay, but I don't know what 1082 00:52:41.159 --> 00:52:43.719 kind of what kind of soul is that? Where? Where? 1083 00:52:43.719 --> 00:52:45.800 Where's the heart in the heart in that? 1084 00:52:46.360 --> 00:52:50.119 There's no human human experience, right, yeah, So whether it's 1085 00:52:51.239 --> 00:52:54.960 or visual, yeah, in each human experience behind it for 1086 00:52:55.000 --> 00:52:57.880 that authenticity. 1087 00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:00.400 My father, who's going to be eighty seven this year, 1088 00:53:01.199 --> 00:53:03.719 he still loves music. 1089 00:53:03.719 --> 00:53:06.119 He still plays, and he can't see anymore, but he plays. 1090 00:53:06.880 --> 00:53:10.239 And he was on Ed Sullivan in nineteen sixty four. 1091 00:53:10.239 --> 00:53:11.880 As a matter of fact, I forgot to tell you that. 1092 00:53:11.920 --> 00:53:15.320 Wow as what was He was in. 1093 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:17.719 A band called Sandhu Scott in the Scotti's. 1094 00:53:17.920 --> 00:53:20.360 He was one of the Scott He's playing playing on 1095 00:53:20.400 --> 00:53:22.159 the Christmas Show in nineteen sixty four. 1096 00:53:22.480 --> 00:53:23.960 Oh my gosh. 1097 00:53:24.679 --> 00:53:28.639 He loves watching like America's Got Talent and things like that. 1098 00:53:29.320 --> 00:53:30.920 Oh sure, musical guests. 1099 00:53:31.159 --> 00:53:34.760 And he showed me something on TikTok. Somebody had showed 1100 00:53:34.840 --> 00:53:39.519 him of this singer on America's Got Talent, And it 1101 00:53:39.599 --> 00:53:41.400 was like you were saying, it was it was. It 1102 00:53:41.440 --> 00:53:45.599 was a completely fabricated character. It was a AI looking 1103 00:53:45.719 --> 00:53:47.079 character and AI voice. 1104 00:53:47.519 --> 00:53:51.639 Yeah, wow, no idea, how good this guy is? I 1105 00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:54.280 was like, oh that, sorry to tell you. 1106 00:53:55.159 --> 00:53:58.920 Yeah, well there was years ago, maybe like ten twelve 1107 00:53:59.000 --> 00:54:02.800 years ago, there was h someone in Japan decided to 1108 00:54:02.840 --> 00:54:07.519 come up with a AI construct and it was all 1109 00:54:07.559 --> 00:54:11.000 on screen, it was all and it was a Japanese 1110 00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:13.880 pop star. I cannot for the life of me thinking 1111 00:54:13.920 --> 00:54:14.960 the name which is good. 1112 00:54:16.679 --> 00:54:18.920 And that tells you right there. 1113 00:54:19.000 --> 00:54:22.239 Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right about that. That's that's a 1114 00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:26.079 good point. Actually. But I guess she could sell out 1115 00:54:26.079 --> 00:54:28.920 stadiums and then and there would be you know, thousands 1116 00:54:28.960 --> 00:54:31.559 of people there in the audience and it would be 1117 00:54:31.760 --> 00:54:38.239 just a big ten foot screen on a stage. Yeah, 1118 00:54:39.800 --> 00:54:40.840 could be sure. 1119 00:54:41.039 --> 00:54:43.480 I know that's a really popular one right now. It's 1120 00:54:43.599 --> 00:54:47.559 like literally just a like c G I avatsar pretty much. 1121 00:54:51.920 --> 00:54:59.639 And yeah, but I do, I do firmly believe that 1122 00:54:59.719 --> 00:55:03.360 there's to be a place will always be relevant. 1123 00:55:03.400 --> 00:55:06.000 There's always some relevancy in being able to bring that 1124 00:55:06.119 --> 00:55:07.760 human experience. 1125 00:55:07.960 --> 00:55:10.719 Oh, it has it has to be yeah, and it 1126 00:55:10.719 --> 00:55:12.559 has to be discernible, and there has to be something 1127 00:55:12.599 --> 00:55:16.159 that that people are going to appreciate, you know, you know, 1128 00:55:16.400 --> 00:55:19.159 I mean, nobody's ever going to sit there in now 1129 00:55:19.320 --> 00:55:21.519 or in the future and go, gosh, it's a shame. 1130 00:55:22.360 --> 00:55:25.400 We don't go back to just computers doing our thinking 1131 00:55:25.519 --> 00:55:28.840 for us and our creating. Darn it. Now we have 1132 00:55:28.880 --> 00:55:32.480 to have all this pesky talent dark gun it well. 1133 00:55:32.400 --> 00:55:34.840 Sort of sort of related to this subject. I mean, 1134 00:55:34.880 --> 00:55:38.039 I think it's also important to remember too that you know, 1135 00:55:38.199 --> 00:55:39.920 at the end of the day, this is show business, 1136 00:55:39.960 --> 00:55:41.800 and you know, half of the decisions come from the 1137 00:55:41.840 --> 00:55:44.400 business side of things, you know, saving money and whatnot. 1138 00:55:44.599 --> 00:55:47.440 I wanted to ask you, Aaron, I saw this. I 1139 00:55:47.440 --> 00:55:50.519 saw this short on YouTube the other day, and it 1140 00:55:50.599 --> 00:55:55.199 was an example side by side of different movies using 1141 00:55:55.280 --> 00:55:59.679 the same animations. For example, like Winnie the Pooh would 1142 00:55:59.679 --> 00:56:01.840 be walked down you know, the road and then tumble 1143 00:56:02.159 --> 00:56:05.599 and then they showed a clip of you know, King 1144 00:56:05.679 --> 00:56:07.679 Louis from The Jungle Book and it was the exact 1145 00:56:07.679 --> 00:56:12.320 same you know motion. Oh yeah, we used assets, but 1146 00:56:12.480 --> 00:56:15.800 just obviously a different character, different background. How common was 1147 00:56:15.840 --> 00:56:17.800 that while you were working at Disney, Because to me, 1148 00:56:17.880 --> 00:56:20.079 that's a you know, that's a business decision. It's like, 1149 00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:22.519 let's reuse some assets, so we saved time. 1150 00:56:23.440 --> 00:56:26.280 When they did that, that was before I came in 1151 00:56:26.320 --> 00:56:27.960 the business. So when they did that, that was like 1152 00:56:27.960 --> 00:56:31.360 in the sixties going into the seventies. And you got 1153 00:56:31.360 --> 00:56:32.239 to remember back. 1154 00:56:32.079 --> 00:56:37.360 Then, after Wald died, animation was it was sinking to 1155 00:56:37.440 --> 00:56:39.679 the point where by the time we got to nineteen 1156 00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:43.800 eighty four, when Eisner came in was going to shut 1157 00:56:43.960 --> 00:56:48.159 shut animation down, it was sinking shit using money. 1158 00:56:48.599 --> 00:56:49.800 It was a mess, you know. 1159 00:56:50.639 --> 00:56:55.360 Yeah, And so they were looking for any way and 1160 00:56:56.119 --> 00:56:57.559 the other thing too, And I'm sure you guys have 1161 00:56:57.639 --> 00:57:01.760 experienced this. There's always some young manager or something that 1162 00:57:01.800 --> 00:57:03.920 comes in that I'm going to do it better this time, 1163 00:57:03.960 --> 00:57:06.119 you know, And so I'm sure there was a little 1164 00:57:06.119 --> 00:57:08.360 bit of that when they're you know, they're making whether 1165 00:57:08.360 --> 00:57:11.079 it's the Rescues done under or making Robin Hood. Hey, 1166 00:57:11.079 --> 00:57:13.039 we got all this other animation that we've done in 1167 00:57:13.079 --> 00:57:15.360 the past, let's just recycle them. We'll put new characters 1168 00:57:15.360 --> 00:57:17.039 over the top of it, and we'll save us all 1169 00:57:17.119 --> 00:57:20.199 kinds of money. And it didn't save them any time. 1170 00:57:20.199 --> 00:57:21.800 It didn't save them any money because it all had 1171 00:57:21.840 --> 00:57:24.159 to be redrawn anyway, and to cause more problems in 1172 00:57:24.239 --> 00:57:28.559 it than it's safe. But but it's interesting because yeah, 1173 00:57:28.559 --> 00:57:29.239 they were they were. 1174 00:57:29.079 --> 00:57:33.000 Doing these weird things in order to save the sinking ship. 1175 00:57:33.119 --> 00:57:36.320 And it wasn't until Eisner came in and then Roy 1176 00:57:36.360 --> 00:57:39.559 said no. Roy Disney said no, don't, don't. 1177 00:57:39.400 --> 00:57:41.599 Shut it down. We're gonna you know, we're gonna turn 1178 00:57:41.599 --> 00:57:43.719 this around. And that's when they brought in Peter Schneider 1179 00:57:43.760 --> 00:57:47.800 and Tom Schumacher and Don Yes, yes, but I really 1180 00:57:47.880 --> 00:57:48.639 kind of turned it around. 1181 00:57:48.639 --> 00:57:50.480 They got some new blood in, they started thinking about 1182 00:57:50.519 --> 00:57:52.480 it from a Broadway point of view, and started thinking 1183 00:57:52.480 --> 00:57:53.480 about these musicals. 1184 00:57:53.519 --> 00:57:54.840 And so by the time. 1185 00:57:54.679 --> 00:57:58.880 I came into the picture, the films, you know, it 1186 00:57:59.039 --> 00:58:01.440 was off of oliverurn come, I mean, lul Ther made no, 1187 00:58:01.519 --> 00:58:03.719 it was all original stuff and they weren't thinking about 1188 00:58:03.800 --> 00:58:06.559 going in and saving money by rehashing old animation. But 1189 00:58:06.880 --> 00:58:10.320 we all definitely knew the stories and yeah, and it 1190 00:58:10.400 --> 00:58:12.920 was really it really was interesting and it is fun 1191 00:58:12.920 --> 00:58:15.159 to see, you know, and you see snow White and 1192 00:58:15.199 --> 00:58:18.159 you see May Marian from Disney's Robinhood and they're dancing 1193 00:58:18.199 --> 00:58:20.800 and it's it's exactly the same animation you know. 1194 00:58:22.280 --> 00:58:23.519 Has gone through and AI filter. 1195 00:58:24.599 --> 00:58:26.000 Wow, that's amazing. 1196 00:58:26.199 --> 00:58:26.440 Yeah. 1197 00:58:26.440 --> 00:58:29.159 Well that's the reason I brought that is, Oh sorry, Jim. 1198 00:58:29.360 --> 00:58:31.039 No, I was just gonna say, if it worked the 1199 00:58:31.079 --> 00:58:32.760 first time, let's pread again. 1200 00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:35.760 And well then that's the thinking. That's the thinking, right. 1201 00:58:36.119 --> 00:58:37.840 Yeah. The reason I bring that up, though, is because 1202 00:58:37.920 --> 00:58:40.440 that must be a tempting, you know, business decision where 1203 00:58:40.480 --> 00:58:42.559 you know, oh, we can spend all this money on 1204 00:58:42.639 --> 00:58:45.480 VFX artists, or we can you know, have sora, you know, 1205 00:58:45.800 --> 00:58:46.880 put some and that. 1206 00:58:47.320 --> 00:58:50.000 And that's that's exactly what the threat is to the 1207 00:58:50.039 --> 00:58:50.840 industry now. 1208 00:58:50.960 --> 00:58:52.280 And so and. 1209 00:58:54.159 --> 00:58:57.800 What's even worse of a threat is there's the threat 1210 00:58:57.840 --> 00:58:59.320 of wanting to do that. 1211 00:58:59.599 --> 00:59:03.480 And and pushing forward with that and stripping down your 1212 00:59:03.559 --> 00:59:05.599 crew and thinking you're saving money and then in. 1213 00:59:05.559 --> 00:59:07.639 The end you're not getting what you want and blah 1214 00:59:07.639 --> 00:59:08.360 blah blah. 1215 00:59:08.400 --> 00:59:10.199 But then the other threat too is I think that 1216 00:59:10.360 --> 00:59:13.760 you know, maybe not the upper studios, but some of 1217 00:59:13.800 --> 00:59:16.320 the mid level studios or what they get out of 1218 00:59:16.360 --> 00:59:20.920 that money saving what they get another AR sore or whatever, 1219 00:59:21.199 --> 00:59:21.639 and they go. 1220 00:59:21.719 --> 00:59:24.679 Yeah, that's good enough and enough they put out there, 1221 00:59:25.000 --> 00:59:25.599 rather than. 1222 00:59:26.239 --> 00:59:27.840 I think we kind of saw that this year with 1223 00:59:27.880 --> 00:59:30.559 the Super Bowl commercials. Yeah, I was watching the super 1224 00:59:30.559 --> 00:59:32.280 Bowl this year, I couldn't. It was like every other 1225 00:59:32.320 --> 00:59:33.920 commercial was AI it was. 1226 00:59:34.480 --> 00:59:40.440 And so to our entertainment industry is is kind of 1227 00:59:41.119 --> 00:59:43.440 drowning in a sea of mediocrity, I think. 1228 00:59:43.360 --> 00:59:44.000 Is what it is. 1229 00:59:44.320 --> 00:59:45.400 Well, that's a good way to put it. 1230 00:59:45.760 --> 00:59:49.320 Yeah, so you end up with and so then you've 1231 00:59:49.320 --> 00:59:52.039 got a new generation coming up and that's their standard now, 1232 00:59:52.480 --> 00:59:54.800 and so the standards drop and so I think you're 1233 00:59:54.800 --> 00:59:57.559 going to see this little blip, a downward blip in 1234 00:59:58.960 --> 01:00:01.320 standards for creating and visual. 1235 01:00:02.760 --> 01:00:03.079 Music. 1236 01:00:04.039 --> 01:00:08.519 Yeah, it's definitely a weird time. 1237 01:00:10.000 --> 01:00:10.119 You know. 1238 01:00:10.199 --> 01:00:13.000 Obviously a I can do, you know, has the potential 1239 01:00:13.119 --> 01:00:15.679 to see yeah, wonderful. 1240 01:00:15.320 --> 01:00:18.199 Things, Yeah sure, but it also has the. 1241 01:00:18.119 --> 01:00:21.079 Potential to you know, there's a huge adjustment we got. 1242 01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:27.239 Yeah, it's to condemn us to mediocrity. Yeah, it's I 1243 01:00:27.239 --> 01:00:30.639 think that a lot of times mediocrity is raised up 1244 01:00:30.639 --> 01:00:34.159 into the realm of excellence and it's just no, it 1245 01:00:34.199 --> 01:00:43.440 isn't good enough, isn't isn't superb. It's but everybody just well, now, 1246 01:00:43.519 --> 01:00:46.480 that's fine, that's good. If you're a fan of everything 1247 01:00:46.559 --> 01:00:49.320 we do here at tuned in with Jim Cummings, you 1248 01:00:49.360 --> 01:00:53.639 could support the show on Patreon for bonus exclusive podcasts, 1249 01:00:53.880 --> 01:00:57.079 as well as early in ad free access to the 1250 01:00:57.119 --> 01:01:01.199 show itself, prize drawings, and more. You'll feel the difference, 1251 01:01:01.400 --> 01:01:04.199 so go ahead and join the tuned in family today 1252 01:01:04.559 --> 01:01:09.639 at patreon dot com slash Jim Cummings Podcast. Do it now. 1253 01:01:10.559 --> 01:01:14.719 I can tell you how many students I have, young 1254 01:01:14.760 --> 01:01:17.400 people that go, man, I really want to be an animator, 1255 01:01:17.440 --> 01:01:19.920 but I don't want to do all those drawings. 1256 01:01:21.119 --> 01:01:22.559 Well wait a minute, Well then you don't want to 1257 01:01:22.599 --> 01:01:28.119 be an animator. Yeah, well you know, I really want 1258 01:01:28.159 --> 01:01:29.960 to be a singer, but I don't feel like doing 1259 01:01:30.000 --> 01:01:36.880 all those songs. Wait what it's funny? Yeah, yeah, it's. 1260 01:01:36.719 --> 01:01:39.440 Uh, this is my old guy coming on. And I 1261 01:01:39.480 --> 01:01:41.639 do when I talk to younger artists. 1262 01:01:41.639 --> 01:01:43.800 This is I would preface it by this is my 1263 01:01:44.199 --> 01:01:48.719 angry old man side, but it's uh, it's this generation. 1264 01:01:49.039 --> 01:01:53.679 Is it's the American Idol generation. It's the instant. Everything's instant. 1265 01:01:53.840 --> 01:01:56.920 I need information. I got my iPhone, you know I 1266 01:01:56.920 --> 01:01:59.280 got I'm got instant startup. I can't tell you how 1267 01:01:59.320 --> 01:02:01.800 many times do you want American Idol? 1268 01:02:01.800 --> 01:02:04.039 And there's some eighteen year old kid going, man, this 1269 01:02:04.159 --> 01:02:06.199 is this is my last chance. 1270 01:02:06.239 --> 01:02:06.559 I don't know. 1271 01:02:08.239 --> 01:02:13.760 Yeah. Yeah, Well you're not going to find anybody with 1272 01:02:13.800 --> 01:02:18.239 a row of call your encyclopedias anymore. It's like, wait, 1273 01:02:18.239 --> 01:02:21.320 what's an encyclopedia. Well, it's a book that you and 1274 01:02:21.360 --> 01:02:25.559 then they go, what's a book? Oh yeah, never mind. 1275 01:02:26.880 --> 01:02:28.960 This is the Grumpy Old Men Pat podcast. 1276 01:02:29.639 --> 01:02:29.880 Yeah. 1277 01:02:30.199 --> 01:02:34.280 Yeah, I know this is a this is a cliche question, 1278 01:02:34.519 --> 01:02:36.440 but I feel remiss if I didn't ask it. Do 1279 01:02:36.480 --> 01:02:39.119 you have a favorite project or character that you worked on? 1280 01:02:39.400 --> 01:02:43.360 Oh? Yeah, I mean a lot, and it's always changing. Obviously. 1281 01:02:43.639 --> 01:02:46.880 For me, snow Bear is one of my favorite projects 1282 01:02:46.920 --> 01:02:48.039 I've ever done. It's my own film. 1283 01:02:48.039 --> 01:02:51.280 I've never done that. Yeah, sit down and just create 1284 01:02:51.320 --> 01:02:53.199 every single visual that you see on the screen. 1285 01:02:54.039 --> 01:02:54.320 Believe. 1286 01:02:54.320 --> 01:02:56.760 As a result of that, I became very, very emotionally 1287 01:02:56.760 --> 01:02:58.800 attached to that character because that character is me. 1288 01:02:59.519 --> 01:03:01.159 And so there's that. 1289 01:03:01.199 --> 01:03:04.519 But then, you know, throughout my career, every project holds 1290 01:03:04.519 --> 01:03:06.880 a different place in my heart, you know, whether it's 1291 01:03:06.920 --> 01:03:09.800 The Beast, the Beast, I love the Beast, and yeah 1292 01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:12.119 I did for my career, but I love that character. 1293 01:03:12.480 --> 01:03:15.119 I know that part of that character is me, part 1294 01:03:15.119 --> 01:03:17.280 of it's Glenn, part of it's you know, the other animateurs. 1295 01:03:18.119 --> 01:03:19.800 Mm hmm, I love you know. 1296 01:03:19.800 --> 01:03:22.159 I created Nalah Young Nallah and the Lion King, and 1297 01:03:22.199 --> 01:03:25.320 there's that character is based on you know, at the time. 1298 01:03:25.159 --> 01:03:28.119 It was my daughter. So I want to see Nala, 1299 01:03:28.199 --> 01:03:29.719 I see my daughter upon the streen. 1300 01:03:30.440 --> 01:03:32.679 Oh yeah, so it's. 1301 01:03:32.559 --> 01:03:36.800 And my daughter's thirty seven now and she still tells 1302 01:03:36.800 --> 01:03:37.679 everybody she's. 1303 01:03:37.519 --> 01:03:40.079 Not that's great. 1304 01:03:40.239 --> 01:03:43.639 Yeah, but yeah, it's hard to it's hard to pin 1305 01:03:43.800 --> 01:03:46.519 down the absolute favorite project or. 1306 01:03:46.519 --> 01:03:49.679 Character, right. You know. Brother Bear was. 1307 01:03:49.639 --> 01:03:52.880 The first thing that I ever directed, and it was incredibly, 1308 01:03:53.639 --> 01:03:57.000 incredibly difficult, and you know, there were days that I 1309 01:03:57.000 --> 01:03:58.599 would just dread getting out of bed. 1310 01:04:00.119 --> 01:04:02.159 Was what was the what was the big roadblock for you? 1311 01:04:02.199 --> 01:04:02.880 What was the well? 1312 01:04:02.920 --> 01:04:07.639 I didn't when I the way that I found out, 1313 01:04:07.800 --> 01:04:11.320 I was finishing up on Mulan. I was an animator 1314 01:04:11.320 --> 01:04:14.199 on Mulan. I created Yao and the Ancestors and all that. 1315 01:04:15.280 --> 01:04:17.920 I was working very closely with Pam Coach. 1316 01:04:18.079 --> 01:04:22.440 You know Fam Coach, right, yeah, I think, yeah, yeah. 1317 01:04:22.280 --> 01:04:24.559 Yeah, So I thought she knew you knew her. I 1318 01:04:24.639 --> 01:04:27.039 think she's spoken very heightened me, so I thought maybe 1319 01:04:27.039 --> 01:04:30.559 even But so I was working with Pan Coats. I 1320 01:04:30.599 --> 01:04:34.840 was working with Tom Schumacher, and Tom and Peter were 1321 01:04:34.880 --> 01:04:36.639 talking about some of the things that they had in 1322 01:04:36.719 --> 01:04:40.840 development and mentioned this movie called Bears, and I thought, oh, 1323 01:04:41.000 --> 01:04:43.000 that sounds really cool. And so I wanted to get 1324 01:04:43.000 --> 01:04:45.679 on because I love animals, and so I wanted to 1325 01:04:45.719 --> 01:04:48.760 animate on it, or I wanted to create some designs 1326 01:04:48.880 --> 01:04:49.599 or something for him. 1327 01:04:50.519 --> 01:04:52.119 But they didn't have anybody working on it. It was 1328 01:04:52.119 --> 01:04:53.239 just kind of sitting on the shelf. 1329 01:04:53.280 --> 01:04:55.199 And so I but I just kept pushing and pushing, 1330 01:04:55.639 --> 01:04:57.760 and it was Tom Schumacher that had come. 1331 01:04:57.920 --> 01:04:58.599 He came to me. 1332 01:04:59.199 --> 01:05:02.760 I came to him because I was a greasy, squeaky 1333 01:05:02.800 --> 01:05:05.280 wheel and a greasy wheel have. 1334 01:05:07.480 --> 01:05:08.159 Uh? 1335 01:05:08.280 --> 01:05:10.760 And he said, well, no one's working on it. Have 1336 01:05:10.800 --> 01:05:14.079 you ever thought about directing? And I was completely blown 1337 01:05:14.119 --> 01:05:18.519 away and and so I did, Yeah, I'd like to 1338 01:05:18.519 --> 01:05:21.440 take this challenge. And I thought, you know, up to 1339 01:05:21.480 --> 01:05:23.920 that point, I had worked on six or seven features. 1340 01:05:24.159 --> 01:05:25.960 You know, I knew how a movie was made, but 1341 01:05:26.079 --> 01:05:27.480 I didn't know is I didn't know how to. 1342 01:05:27.719 --> 01:05:29.880 I knew how to, I knew in my heart the 1343 01:05:29.920 --> 01:05:32.079 stories I wanted to tell, I just didn't know how 1344 01:05:32.119 --> 01:05:34.400 to construct them. I didn't know how to I love 1345 01:05:34.480 --> 01:05:37.079 to write, but I never had any proper training, and 1346 01:05:37.159 --> 01:05:40.239 I certainly didn't know how to write a screenplay, and 1347 01:05:40.559 --> 01:05:44.719 that's the meat of creating a story. And so I 1348 01:05:44.760 --> 01:05:46.880 went into it not knowing what I didn't. 1349 01:05:46.639 --> 01:05:49.559 Know that could be good. 1350 01:05:49.960 --> 01:05:51.400 The thing that I had. 1351 01:05:51.840 --> 01:05:57.159 In my favor and for me with my experience was 1352 01:05:57.639 --> 01:06:03.000 I had incredibly wonderful executive bosses Pam Coach, Tom Schumacher. 1353 01:06:04.119 --> 01:06:07.360 They they allowed me to make my mistakes, They allowed 1354 01:06:07.360 --> 01:06:10.000 me to fall down, and they didn't fire me. 1355 01:06:10.559 --> 01:06:12.519 Then there are so many times I should have been fired. 1356 01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:13.960 Always a good sign. 1357 01:06:14.280 --> 01:06:17.440 Yeah, Yeah, they let me make my mistakes and learn 1358 01:06:17.559 --> 01:06:20.000 from them, and I grew. 1359 01:06:20.239 --> 01:06:22.360 I was able to grow as a filmmaker and as 1360 01:06:22.400 --> 01:06:24.440 a director, and I learned what I needed to learn. 1361 01:06:24.480 --> 01:06:26.320 I always say that, you know, I was on that 1362 01:06:26.360 --> 01:06:28.920 project for six years, and I always say that that 1363 01:06:29.000 --> 01:06:31.920 was my six year filmmaking school, because by the time 1364 01:06:31.960 --> 01:06:35.119 I finished making Brother Bear, then I was ready to 1365 01:06:35.119 --> 01:06:35.880 make a film. 1366 01:06:37.840 --> 01:06:39.639 So you know, I'm forever in. 1367 01:06:39.639 --> 01:06:44.559 Their debt for giving me the opportunities time after time 1368 01:06:44.679 --> 01:06:47.480 after time when they had every right to pull the 1369 01:06:47.559 --> 01:06:49.440 right out from under me. Because I screwed up so 1370 01:06:49.480 --> 01:06:52.239 many times they saw something in there. 1371 01:06:52.239 --> 01:06:52.920 I guess I don't know. 1372 01:06:53.039 --> 01:06:56.480 Well, you know, I dare say they themselves experienced that. 1373 01:06:56.880 --> 01:06:59.079 Of course, Yeah, they knew that. That was part of 1374 01:06:59.119 --> 01:07:02.719 the process anyway. Yeah, so you know, God forbid you 1375 01:07:02.840 --> 01:07:04.079 follow in their footsteps. 1376 01:07:04.159 --> 01:07:06.920 Well, I remember one screening, you know, the process of 1377 01:07:06.960 --> 01:07:09.320 making these films for people out there that don't know. 1378 01:07:09.280 --> 01:07:12.480 We storyboard the movie. We cut it all together an editorial. 1379 01:07:12.559 --> 01:07:15.800 We put scratch voices in there, and we put you know, 1380 01:07:15.880 --> 01:07:18.199 scratch music and sound effects, and. 1381 01:07:18.239 --> 01:07:20.559 You basically storyboard it to see what the movie is 1382 01:07:20.559 --> 01:07:21.519 going to play like, and you. 1383 01:07:21.480 --> 01:07:24.199 Watch it in the theater, and we do that several 1384 01:07:24.199 --> 01:07:26.639 times over before we actually start making it so that 1385 01:07:26.679 --> 01:07:27.440 we can refine it. 1386 01:07:27.519 --> 01:07:28.599 One of the reasons. 1387 01:07:28.239 --> 01:07:32.639 Why big budget animated films tend to be pretty good 1388 01:07:32.679 --> 01:07:35.400 to great because they go through the process which live 1389 01:07:35.400 --> 01:07:36.280 actually didn't get. 1390 01:07:36.119 --> 01:07:38.719 To do it very often, but I. 1391 01:07:38.639 --> 01:07:42.559 Remember it was our third or fourth screening, and we 1392 01:07:42.719 --> 01:07:45.920 tried a whole bunch of new things. Hey, and and 1393 01:07:45.960 --> 01:07:47.880 we were sitting with a cold audience with our with 1394 01:07:47.960 --> 01:07:49.280 the studio in California. 1395 01:07:49.320 --> 01:07:50.599 Oh yeah, and. 1396 01:07:50.519 --> 01:07:53.880 I'm just as it's playing, I'm just sinking lower and 1397 01:07:53.920 --> 01:07:58.920 lower and lower, cringing the whole time. So the lights 1398 01:07:58.920 --> 01:08:00.800 come up at the end of the reading and everyone 1399 01:08:00.840 --> 01:08:03.239 files out and Tom stands up and you make sure 1400 01:08:03.280 --> 01:08:06.320 the doors closed, and he goes, well, now we don't 1401 01:08:06.360 --> 01:08:07.280 we don't want to do it. 1402 01:08:07.519 --> 01:08:10.679 And then he said, all rights and start remaking this film. 1403 01:08:11.079 --> 01:08:13.960 And yeah, like I said, he had every right to go, 1404 01:08:14.159 --> 01:08:16.359 all right, we're getting another director. 1405 01:08:17.079 --> 01:08:19.560 Right. Well, it's like Edison, right, I think, wasn't the 1406 01:08:19.640 --> 01:08:23.279 light bulb finally result when he finally found the right 1407 01:08:23.319 --> 01:08:25.399 filament or what have you? Yeah, right, I think there's 1408 01:08:25.439 --> 01:08:29.760 something like a hundred year different tries and yeah, yeah, 1409 01:08:29.800 --> 01:08:33.119 it only has to work once exactly. You know. 1410 01:08:33.920 --> 01:08:34.640 Well, it's funny. 1411 01:08:34.760 --> 01:08:36.640 Even even though we finally got to the end of it, 1412 01:08:36.680 --> 01:08:39.960 when Brother Bear finally came out it it didn't do 1413 01:08:40.039 --> 01:08:41.880 well with the with the critics. It did okay in 1414 01:08:41.920 --> 01:08:45.199 the box it did already, Yeah, but the critics hated it. 1415 01:08:45.239 --> 01:08:46.600 And it really really. 1416 01:08:46.479 --> 01:08:50.000 Hard because we worked on it so hard. And but 1417 01:08:50.079 --> 01:08:54.199 it's interesting. It's the kids that saw that film then 1418 01:08:56.000 --> 01:08:59.079 are grown up, having kids of their own now and 1419 01:08:59.119 --> 01:09:03.600 all of a sudden getting this big resurgence. I think 1420 01:09:03.600 --> 01:09:04.760 it's more popular. 1421 01:09:04.680 --> 01:09:05.119 Than it was. 1422 01:09:05.399 --> 01:09:08.479 Then, well we're all nostalgic for our childhood. 1423 01:09:08.800 --> 01:09:12.239 Yeah yeah, and so it's getting introduced to another. 1424 01:09:13.720 --> 01:09:15.720 Yeah. Well that's wonderful. 1425 01:09:15.800 --> 01:09:20.079 That's funny how that works so many different artistic mediums, 1426 01:09:20.119 --> 01:09:22.399 you know, Like I think the first person that comes 1427 01:09:22.439 --> 01:09:24.840 to mind is like f Scott Fitzgerald, you know, dying 1428 01:09:24.880 --> 01:09:27.720 thinking that he's a failure. You know, he's one of 1429 01:09:27.760 --> 01:09:29.479 the greatest writers of all time. 1430 01:09:29.520 --> 01:09:32.439 Exactly like a Van Go right, mm hmmm. 1431 01:09:33.399 --> 01:09:37.359 Sometimes it takes a genius to percolate through the through 1432 01:09:37.359 --> 01:09:38.000 the masses. 1433 01:09:39.600 --> 01:09:40.800 I wouldn't genius. 1434 01:09:42.159 --> 01:09:45.920 We'll just take the compliment, all right, We'll take the compliment. 1435 01:09:45.800 --> 01:09:49.159 Yeah, go ahead. By all means. Well, it's like Van Go. 1436 01:09:49.319 --> 01:09:52.479 I don't think. I don't think he sold a painting 1437 01:09:52.680 --> 01:09:54.960 now in his lifetime. No, not one. 1438 01:09:55.359 --> 01:09:56.960 It's a sad, sad story. 1439 01:09:57.279 --> 01:10:04.039 So we're all doing pretty good out here, no complaints, right, yeah, 1440 01:10:04.079 --> 01:10:07.319 So what what what's on the horizon at this point? 1441 01:10:07.520 --> 01:10:10.960 Oh man, I've got I've got about seven different projects 1442 01:10:10.960 --> 01:10:14.520 that I've I've gotten various stages of development, whether it's 1443 01:10:14.520 --> 01:10:17.159 I've got some short animated shorts, I've got some feat 1444 01:10:17.199 --> 01:10:23.279 I've got a prequel to snow Bear feature length project, 1445 01:10:24.279 --> 01:10:25.680 but I'm gonna I think I'm gonna do it as 1446 01:10:25.720 --> 01:10:27.880 a graphic novel first, So I'm gonna sit down and 1447 01:10:27.920 --> 01:10:30.760 do that over several months and then and we'll see 1448 01:10:30.760 --> 01:10:33.560 where it goes from there. One of the things I'm 1449 01:10:33.600 --> 01:10:38.439 super excited about is kind of holding onto my animation 1450 01:10:38.520 --> 01:10:41.399 and art background, but also going into my love of 1451 01:10:41.760 --> 01:10:44.840 going out into the world and finding animals and chasing animals. 1452 01:10:44.560 --> 01:10:45.319 And drawing and all that. 1453 01:10:46.800 --> 01:10:52.119 Back in November, I had the opportunity to go to Churchill, Manitoba, 1454 01:10:53.239 --> 01:10:57.479 which is way up north northern Canada on Hudson Bay, 1455 01:10:57.680 --> 01:10:59.079 where the polar bears come together. 1456 01:10:59.319 --> 01:11:01.920 So we're gonna say Bear country for sure, Yes, And. 1457 01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:04.159 We saw polar bears. 1458 01:11:04.159 --> 01:11:07.319 We went up and documented this trip and documented the 1459 01:11:07.359 --> 01:11:09.640 whole thing and spent some time in the talent up there, 1460 01:11:09.680 --> 01:11:13.680 and we saw hundreds of polar bears. And and we're 1461 01:11:13.720 --> 01:11:16.600 turning it into this little kind of kind of in 1462 01:11:16.640 --> 01:11:20.520 the vein of I think, like Anthony Bourdain, but this 1463 01:11:20.880 --> 01:11:24.199 travel documentary, but rather than like food and like Anthony 1464 01:11:24.199 --> 01:11:27.279 Bordain did, we're coming at it from a conservation artist 1465 01:11:27.359 --> 01:11:31.560 standpoint and animation, and we just finished up the first 1466 01:11:31.640 --> 01:11:35.000 pilot on that and we're kind of looking at what 1467 01:11:35.039 --> 01:11:37.319 we might do with that. So that one I'm super 1468 01:11:37.319 --> 01:11:39.159 excited about as well. So we got a lot of 1469 01:11:39.359 --> 01:11:41.760 a lot of diversity out there that we're trying some 1470 01:11:41.840 --> 01:11:44.399 new stuff along with our teaching and all that. 1471 01:11:44.920 --> 01:11:48.359 Yeah, well, I'm always fascinated. I remember when they were 1472 01:11:48.359 --> 01:11:53.439 doing the Lion King, they sent over to Africa to 1473 01:11:53.880 --> 01:11:57.760 h and I remember after seeing Lion King, I ended 1474 01:11:57.840 --> 01:12:02.399 up over in Africa for a so and I just 1475 01:12:02.399 --> 01:12:07.079 couldn't believe boom but looked exactly right. That's that's how 1476 01:12:07.079 --> 01:12:09.760 they run, that's how they go, that's how that's what 1477 01:12:09.840 --> 01:12:16.800 meerkats do, and they had it was perfect and I 1478 01:12:16.840 --> 01:12:18.840 didn't realize it until I saw him one in real 1479 01:12:18.880 --> 01:12:21.600 life and I went, oh my gosh, yeah there there, 1480 01:12:21.720 --> 01:12:24.359 where are you going? I was waiting for him to 1481 01:12:24.399 --> 01:12:24.960 say something. 1482 01:12:25.239 --> 01:12:30.119 There's a beautiful cheetah camp in the Kenya. 1483 01:12:30.920 --> 01:12:32.720 Oh yes, there every couple. 1484 01:12:32.439 --> 01:12:36.079 Of years, and there's a guy that the guy that 1485 01:12:36.119 --> 01:12:38.039 owns the camp, his name is Jorge and he's just 1486 01:12:38.479 --> 01:12:42.199 bigger than life. Spanish from Spain, and man, I want 1487 01:12:42.199 --> 01:12:43.319 to get him on camera. 1488 01:12:43.119 --> 01:12:47.800 Because he's just my friend, welcome. You know, he's just yeah. 1489 01:12:48.920 --> 01:12:53.119 Falstaff, what's that like a falstaff kind of Yeah. 1490 01:12:53.560 --> 01:12:56.720 He's just great. So yeah, that's a whole other episode 1491 01:12:56.720 --> 01:12:57.159 I want to do. 1492 01:12:57.359 --> 01:13:01.520 Just Yeah, that's wonderful. 1493 01:13:01.800 --> 01:13:04.319 And you mentioned your website earlier. What's your website that 1494 01:13:04.359 --> 01:13:05.319 people can find you at. 1495 01:13:05.640 --> 01:13:11.680 My website is Creature Art teacher dot com. You know, 1496 01:13:11.720 --> 01:13:15.520 any of my social media is Aaron Blazer, so it's 1497 01:13:15.560 --> 01:13:17.439 just hashtag Aaron Blazer or. 1498 01:13:18.960 --> 01:13:21.319 M fantastic. 1499 01:13:21.800 --> 01:13:24.520 I also want to say, for for anybody watching or listening, 1500 01:13:25.079 --> 01:13:27.600 you did a great interview with the Corridor Crew, which 1501 01:13:27.680 --> 01:13:30.600 is one of my favorite YouTube channels, and I think 1502 01:13:30.640 --> 01:13:32.119 those guys are just so talented. 1503 01:13:32.159 --> 01:13:33.159 I love their content. 1504 01:13:33.800 --> 01:13:36.079 Yeah, they're such a talented bunch. And you you had 1505 01:13:36.119 --> 01:13:37.960 a great interview and it's really cool, you know, to 1506 01:13:38.119 --> 01:13:41.560 watch you in real time, you know, looking at drawings 1507 01:13:41.600 --> 01:13:43.720 of yours and critiquing them and everything like that. So 1508 01:13:43.760 --> 01:13:45.760 anybody who wants to check that out, that's another great 1509 01:13:45.800 --> 01:13:48.000 episode over on the Corridor Cruise YouTube channel. 1510 01:13:48.439 --> 01:13:50.319 Yeah. Thanks, Yeah, that was great. 1511 01:13:50.800 --> 01:13:55.159 And uh and you'll notice I've lost about eighty pounds since. 1512 01:13:54.960 --> 01:13:59.600 That interview too. Literally wow, on my way to dropping 1513 01:13:59.600 --> 01:14:01.319 one hundred town, but I dropped eighty wo. 1514 01:14:02.760 --> 01:14:03.760 I don't know that you. 1515 01:14:04.159 --> 01:14:06.640 Let myself go there during that period. 1516 01:14:07.680 --> 01:14:12.600 So well, somebody's got to take care of the pizza. 1517 01:14:12.880 --> 01:14:17.600 Mark, Yeah, sandwich out of your mouth. 1518 01:14:18.560 --> 01:14:23.600 Yeah, my goodness, Aaron, this has been so wonderful. 1519 01:14:23.760 --> 01:14:24.720 This has been amazing. 1520 01:14:25.000 --> 01:14:29.079 I've been looking forward to this ever since we since 1521 01:14:29.119 --> 01:14:31.720 I've been watching your podcast, since you asked me to 1522 01:14:31.760 --> 01:14:34.359 be on, and so I just want to thank you 1523 01:14:34.399 --> 01:14:37.880 so much for thinking of me, including me, and making 1524 01:14:37.880 --> 01:14:38.279 this happen. 1525 01:14:38.319 --> 01:14:41.479 Thank you, Thank you. Well, you're highly noticeable. 1526 01:14:45.319 --> 01:14:46.760 I'm a very speaky. 1527 01:14:47.199 --> 01:14:49.800 Oh I don't know about that, very talented one, that's 1528 01:14:49.800 --> 01:14:52.239 for sure. Fantastic. 1529 01:14:52.359 --> 01:14:53.159 Thank you so much. 1530 01:14:53.199 --> 01:14:55.680 And I and I uh man, I hope we get 1531 01:14:55.720 --> 01:14:56.359 to work together. 1532 01:14:56.640 --> 01:14:59.239 I hope you get to do so amen. Yeah, we'll 1533 01:14:59.359 --> 01:15:02.439 write something and I'll say it there, go animate something 1534 01:15:02.479 --> 01:15:04.239 and I'll do whatever it is I could do. 1535 01:15:04.560 --> 01:15:06.399 Okay, Well, we might take you up on it. 1536 01:15:06.399 --> 01:15:08.079 We've got some ideas that I think you would sit 1537 01:15:08.159 --> 01:15:12.479 into as far as courses for sight or maybe doing whatever. 1538 01:15:12.479 --> 01:15:13.079 We'll figure out. 1539 01:15:13.159 --> 01:15:19.920 Yeah, okay, yeah, don't know. Christopher's there too, I'll yeah, okay, yeah, 1540 01:15:19.960 --> 01:15:22.479 Well Chris is on the animation path too. 1541 01:15:22.520 --> 01:15:27.560 Now he's yeah, he's never voiceover roll in an anime series. 1542 01:15:27.600 --> 01:15:30.560 The premiers next month. I'm really excited about. 1543 01:15:32.720 --> 01:15:32.920 Yeah. 1544 01:15:32.960 --> 01:15:36.359 It's called Hollow Healer. It's kind of a mythical tale 1545 01:15:36.479 --> 01:15:41.159 about about a warrior who loses his family and kind 1546 01:15:41.199 --> 01:15:43.800 of channels all that energy in a negative way with 1547 01:15:43.840 --> 01:15:47.640 all these godlike powers, and it's very intense and very emotional. 1548 01:15:47.880 --> 01:15:50.560 It was a fun project and there's gonna be there's 1549 01:15:50.600 --> 01:15:53.600 gonna be more iterations in the series. So look out 1550 01:15:53.600 --> 01:15:55.600 for that Hollow Healer. It's coming out. 1551 01:15:56.359 --> 01:15:58.479 Wow. Yeah, great plug awesome. 1552 01:15:59.079 --> 01:16:00.159 Yeah, so stay tuned. 1553 01:16:00.640 --> 01:16:02.439 Very exciting stuff coming down pipe. 1554 01:16:02.960 --> 01:16:07.399 Yes right, all right, we'll wrap it up, Christopher, are 1555 01:16:07.399 --> 01:16:09.600 we there, Yes, indeed, yes, indeed. 1556 01:16:09.920 --> 01:16:13.079 Well, without further ado, Thank you guys all for watching. 1557 01:16:13.119 --> 01:16:15.399 We really appreciate you. And if you like this content, 1558 01:16:15.479 --> 01:16:17.199 be sure to like and subscribe. It helps us, it 1559 01:16:17.239 --> 01:16:19.960 helps you find this channel again, and if you like 1560 01:16:20.000 --> 01:16:21.840 it so much that you want to see more good news. 1561 01:16:21.840 --> 01:16:25.000 We're on Patreon. Tuned in with Jim Cummings is on Patreon. 1562 01:16:25.039 --> 01:16:27.720 We have bonus interviews, bonus content that you will not 1563 01:16:27.760 --> 01:16:29.960 find anywhere else, so be sure to check that out. 1564 01:16:30.479 --> 01:16:33.439 And this year we're also doing a live tour with 1565 01:16:33.560 --> 01:16:37.560 Fan Xpo. We got some dates coming up. We recorded. 1566 01:16:37.560 --> 01:16:41.680 We just recorded an episode in Orlando with John Reys Davies, 1567 01:16:42.439 --> 01:16:48.039 very very talented and hilarious. The next show, the next 1568 01:16:48.039 --> 01:16:50.079 show we have coming up is in Calgary at the 1569 01:16:50.079 --> 01:16:53.920 Calgary Xpo from April twenty third to twenty sixth, followed 1570 01:16:53.920 --> 01:16:57.640 by Philadelphia May twenty ninth to thirty first, Chicago August 1571 01:16:57.680 --> 01:17:01.119 fourteenth and sixteenth, Toronto August twenty twenty seven to thirtieth, 1572 01:17:01.560 --> 01:17:05.439 Dallas September eleventh to thirteenth, and San Francisco November twenty 1573 01:17:05.439 --> 01:17:07.600 seven to twenty nine. Once again, we're doing this podcast 1574 01:17:07.640 --> 01:17:09.760 live in front of a live audience. It really creates 1575 01:17:09.800 --> 01:17:12.319 a different energy. And of course we record all those 1576 01:17:12.359 --> 01:17:14.319 and post them the week after on YouTube, but the 1577 01:17:14.560 --> 01:17:17.159 live recording really, you know, you get to see some 1578 01:17:17.239 --> 01:17:19.560 things that may not be edited out, and you get 1579 01:17:19.600 --> 01:17:21.039 to feel the energy of the crowd. 1580 01:17:21.119 --> 01:17:21.279 You know. 1581 01:17:21.439 --> 01:17:23.920 It's so it's it's a good time. So if you're 1582 01:17:23.920 --> 01:17:26.279 in one of those cities or nearby, come check it out. 1583 01:17:26.600 --> 01:17:29.600 Once again, I am producer Chris the Legend himself, mister 1584 01:17:29.640 --> 01:17:31.840 Jim Cummings and Aaron Blaze. Thank you so much again 1585 01:17:31.840 --> 01:17:33.199 for being here. Really appreciate it. 1586 01:17:33.239 --> 01:17:36.239 Thank you guys so much, God speed, thank 1587 01:17:36.279 --> 01:17:37.920 You, and we will see you all in the next 1588 01:17:37.960 --> 01:17:42.359 one better bum