Jump to content

Once Upon a Studio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Leafy02 (talk | contribs) at 17:41, 19 October 2023. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Once Upon a Studio
Promotional poster
Directed by
  • Dan Abraham
  • Trent Correy
Written by
  • Dan Abraham
  • Trent Correy
Produced byYvett Merino
Bradford Simonsen
StarringChris Diamantopoulos
Kaitlyn Robrock
CinematographyJohn Hasbrook (layout)
Daniel Rice (lighting)
Edited byMichael Louis Hill
Music byDave Metzger
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • June 11, 2023 (2023-06-11) (Annecy)
  • October 15, 2023 (2023-10-15) (ABC)
Running time
9 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Once Upon a Studio is a 2023 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy crossover short film written and directed by Dan Abraham and Trent Correy, produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures.[2] In the film, Disney characters come to life from pictures hanging on the walls of the Roy E. Disney Animation Building following the end of a usual work day. Made in honor of the studio's centennial on October 16, 2023, the short film was described as a "love letter" to Walt Disney Animation Studios by Correy and Abraham.[3] The short's art style combines computer graphics, traditional animation and live-action, and features characters from almost all of the studio's works made up to that point, including all sixty-two feature films, numerous short films, and certain live-action Disney films featuring animation produced by the studio such as Mary Poppins (1964) and Pete's Dragon (1977).[4] The film is dedicated to Burny Mattinson, who appeared in the short and died eight months before its release.[5]

Once Upon a Studio premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2023, and had its first public showing on ABC on October 15, 2023, as part of The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration, hosted by Kelly Ripa, along with the television premiere of Encanto. The short film was added to Disney+ and Hulu on October 16, 2023, and also aired that day on Disney Channel, as part of Once Upon A Monday Movie Marathon, FX, FXM and Freeform. The short was also shown theatrically in front of the Moana special engagement Disney100 limited rerelease. It received widespread acclaim from critics, audiences and Disney fans, all of whom praised the animation (particularly those of the traditionally animated characters), ambition, concept and overall sense of nostalgia.[6][7][8][9]

Plot

At the Roy E. Disney Animation building, its employees are leaving as their usual workday is done. A Disney intern talks with Burny Mattinson about the studio turning 100. As they leave, Mattinson says "If these walls could talk."

Inside the studio, Mickey Mouse, as seen in a production cel for Mickey's Birthday Party, comes to life, and calls Tinker Bell from Peter Pan. Mickey asks her if all of the employees are gone, in which she nods. Excited, Mickey, with his girlfriend Minnie, jump out of the cel, and Minnie gets many of the characters from the studio's filmography to all meet in the lobby. While everyone is getting ready, Mickey looks up at a photograph of studio co-founder Walt Disney and, in a private moment, somberly thanks him.

Everyone goes outside to take a group photo with Mickey getting them together. However, Goofy accidentally falls off his ladder, breaking the camera. Everyone prepares to leave in disappointment as the group photo is cancelled. Just then, Alan-a-Dale from Robin Hood plays "When You Wish Upon a Star" on his lute joined in by Scat Cat from The Aristocats on his trumpet and Mirabel Madrigal from Encanto on her accordion as Hathi Jr. from The Jungle Book does a trumpeting sound. As various characters join in singing, the brooms from Fantasia sweep up Goofy's camera, Fix-It Felix, Jr. from Wreck-It Ralph fixes the camera, Hercules puts the ladder back in position, and the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella uses her magic to help Goofy up the ladder while setting the camera up for the photo. Soon, spurred by Snow White, Mulan, Asha from Wish, Winnie the Pooh, and finally Jiminy Cricket from Pinocchio, everyone sings the end of the song. Tinker Bell then uses her wand to cut the scene to the group photo, and the film ends with a tagline "To all who have imagined with us, laughed with us, and dreamed with us, Thank You."

Cast

Voices

Archival recordings

The following in this section are credited for their archive recordings:

Production

Development

Once Upon a Studio was created spontaneously in preparation for The Walt Disney Company's centennial in October 2023;[1] directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham discussed ideas during their free time for approximately eight months.[20] The duo called the film a "love letter" to Walt Disney Animation Studios as well as "a thank you to anyone in the audience that's ever connected with a film over the last hundred years".[1][3]

The short film includes more than 500 characters[21] from the studio's feature and short films, up unto the upcoming film, Wish (2023), and vocals from more than 40 voice actors.[1] This includes the Genie's dialogue which was sourced from previously unused audio recorded by Robin Williams according to Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf, under acceptance from the Williams' estate.[14] Once Upon a Studio combines traditional animation, computer animation, and live-action.[1]

Animation

The group photo that concludes the film, featuring the over 500 Disney characters represented.

Eric Goldberg served as the head of hand-drawn animation, while Andrew Feliciano worked as head of computer animation.[10] Among the hand-drawn animators recruited for the short were current Disney animators Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Alex Kupershmidt, and Bert Klein also provided animation for the short, as did former Disney animators James Baxter, Ruben Aquino, Tony Bancroft, Nik Ranieri, and Will Finn; the animators worked both on characters they have previously animated in addition to other classic characters; Baxter requested the directors to work on characters from Bambi (1942), having been a fan of the film while growing up.[10] Goldberg recruited CG animators in the studio who also had experience in hand-drawn animation.[10] Hand-drawn apprentices were also hired to provide animation for the short.[10] The characters were animated in a way that replicated their original films' art style.[22]

Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn.[10] By the directors' insistence, the hand-drawn animation was done with ink and paper, which Goldberg approved of.[10] Goldberg made the scenes entirely hand-drawn, after which Feliciano would create CG animation that would match the hand-drawn characters' movement.[10] He also personally animated the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, as he was interested in the scene due to its emotional tone, as well as the Genie, which he originally animated in Aladdin (1992), and characters originally drawn by Ward Kimball.[10]

CG animators had to rebuild the character models for CGI characters created prior to Tangled (2010) due to updates made to animation technology made over the years, with rigging and rendering being reworked so that they could be used with modern technology.[10] The CG animators worked closely with the hand-drawn team, with Goldberg and Feliciano, a fan of Aladdin since childhood, inspecting the short to determine whether a scene would be led by a hand-drawn or CG character, after which they would evaluate whether a hand-drawn or CG character should be animated first in the scene.[10] Animators with experience in hand-drawn and CG animation, such as Tyler Pacana and Anthony DeRosa, worked on scenes combining both formats; Pacana used a technique named "2D puppetry" to help rig the final photo shot.[10]

Music

Dave Metzger composed the score for the short,[10] which was composed so that it would feel reminiscent of each character's debut appearance.[16] In the scene where Mickey approaches a photo of Walt Disney, the song "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins (1964) is heard, which was chosen due to being Disney's favorite.[10] As they discussed the idea with executive music producer Matt Walker, he suggested bringing in song co-writer Richard M. Sherman to perform a new rendition of the song.[10] Sherman recorded the song on August 22, 2022 at Disney's original office and using the same piano the Sherman Brothers used to perform the song for Disney.[10] The song "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio (1940), was sung by the cast in the finale.

Release

Once Upon a Studio premiered at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival during the opening day celebration on June 11, 2023.[3] It was also screened for attendees at the Walt Disney Studios panel at Destination D23 on September 10, 2023, where it received a standing ovation, and at the BFI London Film Festival on October 14, 2023.[23][24] It had its first public showing on ABC on October 15, 2023 (as part of The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney's 100th Anniversary Celebration, hosted by Kelly Ripa), before streaming on October 16, 2023 on Disney+ and Hulu, and aired on the exact same date on Disney Channel (as part of Once Upon A Monday Movie Marathon), Disney Junior, FX, FXM, and Freeform. It has also screened in theaters with a Disney100 limited engagement re-release of Moana, and for one week at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, where public screenings were held to qualify it for the Best Animated Short Film shortlist for the 96th Academy Awards. It was originally set to publicly premiere in theaters with Wish on November 22, 2023, before being moved to a TV premiere a month earlier.[20][25][26][27]

See also

  • Once Upon a Mouse, a 1981 animated featurette produced to commemorate Disney's 24th feature-length animated film

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Croll, Ben (June 11, 2023). "Annecy Opens on Note of Artistic Defiance as Disney Premieres Centenary Short Once Upon a Studio". Variety. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023.
  2. ^ The making of the emotional ‘Once Upon a Studio’ Disney short - Attractions Magazine
  3. ^ a b c Goodfellow, Melanie (June 11, 2023). "Annecy Animation Fest Opens On Defiantly Positive Note After Knife Attack; Ceremony Features World Premiere Of Disney 100th Anniversary Short". Deadline. Archived from the original on June 22, 2023.
  4. ^ 'Once Upon a Studio' Trailer Celebrates 100 Years of Disney Magic|Collider
  5. ^ a b Steele, Bruce C. (October 10, 2023). "Meet the Characters of Disney Animation's Once Upon a Studio". D23. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  6. ^ https://variety.com/2023/film/features/walt-disney-animation-studios-once-upon-a-studio-short-1235756734/
  7. ^ https://thehollywoodhandle.co/2023/animated/once-upon-a-studio-review-an-emotional-and-nostalgic-experience/
  8. ^ https://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/hollywood/fans-in-tears-as-disney-celebrates-its-100th-year-with-once-upon-a-studio-short-film-101697418478775.html
  9. ^ https://decider.com/2023/10/16/once-upon-a-studio-disney-100-plus-review/
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Once Upon a Studio: Behind the Scenes" (PDF).
  11. ^ @Attractions (September 10, 2023). "We just saw a new animated short at #DestinationD23 called Once Upon a Studio featuring tons of characters from past Disney Animated films. It was so good, the creators got a one minute standing ovation when it ended" (Tweet). Retrieved September 15, 2023 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g "Trailer: Disney100 Short 'Once Upon a Studio' Will Air on ABC Next Month". www.animationmagazine.net. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  13. ^ Tilly, Chris (October 16, 2023). "Once Upon a Studio cast: All voice actors and characters in Disney 100th anniversary short". Dexerto. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  14. ^ a b c LaBee, Ryan (June 13, 2023). "After Robin Williams Fans Criticized His Genie Being Used In New Disney Short, Josh Gad Provided Clarity". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  15. ^ Carolyn Giardina (September 21, 2023). "Disney Characters Assemble in 'Once Upon a Studio' Trailer". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  16. ^ a b "10 Fun Facts About Disney's Once Upon A Studio Short". September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  17. ^ Justin J. Smith on X: "@stevehatguy Happy to see you credited friend! Have to ask, do you have any cool tidbits reprising your role for this? Record anything that didn’t make the final cut?"
  18. ^ Stephen Anderson on X: "Thanks, @JJSmithian! No, they used an old recording of mine so I never stepped into the booth for this one 😊"
  19. ^ Cameron Bonomolo (September 22, 2023). "Once Upon a Studio: Disney 100th-Anniversary Short Film Features Original Voices". Comicbook.com. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
  20. ^ a b Motamayor, Rafael (June 12, 2023). "Disney's Once Upon A Studio 100th Anniversary Short Brings Back That Classic Magic [Annecy 2023]". /Film. Archived from the original on June 14, 2023. Retrieved June 17, 2023.
  21. ^ Disney Reunites Iconic Characters for Short Film 'Once Upon a Studio' - CBR
  22. ^ Reif, Alex (June 17, 2023). "Interview: "Once Upon a Studio" Directors Trent Correy and Dan Abraham Geek Out Over Disney Animation History". LaughingPlace.com. Retrieved September 24, 2023.
  23. ^ Shaw-Williams, Hannah (September 10, 2023). "Destination D23's Disney Studios Showcase Didn't Have Much To, Er, Showcase". /Film.
  24. ^ BFI London Film Festival 2023 lineup announced
  25. ^ Legacy, Spencer (September 21, 2023). "Once Upon a Studio Trailer Previews Disney's Character-Filled Short Film". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved September 21, 2023.
  26. ^ ONCE UPON A STUDIO - WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS (PDF)
  27. ^ When Mickey Met Moana — Inside the Making of Disney’s 100th Anniversary Short ‘Once Upon a Studio’ - IndieWire
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Once_Upon_a_Studio&oldid=1180921329"