Once Upon a Studio

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Once Upon a Studio
File:Once Upon a Studio Poster.jpeg
Promotional poster
Directed by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Dan Abraham
  • Trent Correy
Produced by Yvett Merino
Bradford Simonsen
Written by <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • Dan Abraham
  • Trent Correy
Starring Chris Diamantopoulos
Kaitlyn Robrock
Music by Dave Metzger
Cinematography John Hasbrook (layout)
Daniel Rice (lighting)
Edited by Michael Louis Hill
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Release dates
 <templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • June 11, 2023 (2023-06-11) (Annecy)
  • October 15, 2023 (2023-10-15) (ABC)
Running time
 9 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English

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 Disney films featuring animation produced by the studio such as Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon.[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 film will also be shown theatrically with Wish on November 22, 2023.

Plot

At Walt Disney Animation Studios, its employees are leaving the Roy E. Disney Animation building after their usual workday. An intern talks with Burny Mattinson about the studio's 100th anniversary that day, and in response, he muses that he wishes the walls of the studio – on which various pictures and production cels hang – could talk.

Once everyone is gone, Mickey Mouse springs to life from a production cel from Mickey's Birthday Party, and calls Tinker Bell to help him similarly make the other pictures of animated characters come alive. Mickey, assisted by Minnie, then goes around the studio to guide everyone towards the front entrance, where everyone plans to take a group photo. While everyone is getting ready, Mickey looks up at a photograph of Walt Disney and, in a private moment, somberly thanks him.

Everyone soon takes their place outside. However, things backfire when Goofy, who was instructed to set the camera, falls off the ladder he is on, breaking the camera. Everyone starts to leave in disappointment that the picture will not be taken, but just then, Alan-a-Dale plays a rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" on his lute. As other characters start joining in with music and singing, the brooms from Fantasia sweep up Goofy's camera, Fix-It Felix, Jr. fixes the camera, Hercules puts the ladder back in position, and the Fairy Godmother uses her magic to help Goofy up the ladder while setting the camera up for the photo. Soon, spurred by Jiminy Cricket, 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

<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>

Archival recordings

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

<templatestyles src="Div col/styles.css"/>

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.[16] 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[17] 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.[10] Once Upon a Studio combines traditional animation, computer animation, and live-action.[1]

Animation

File:Once Upon a Studio Group Photo.jpg
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.[6] 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.[6] Goldberg recruited CG animators in the studio who also had experience in hand-drawn animation.[6] Hand-drawn apprentices were also hired to provide animation for the short.[6] The characters were animated in a way that replicated their original films' art style.[18]

Almost 80% of the short's animation is hand-drawn.[6] By the directors' insistence, the hand-drawn animation was done with ink and paper, which Goldberg approved of.[6] Goldberg made the scenes entirely hand-drawn, after which Feliciano would create CG animation that would match the hand-drawn characters' movement.[6] 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.[6]

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.[6] 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.[6] 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.[6]

Music

Dave Metzger composed the score for the short,[6] which was composed so that it would feel reminiscent of each character's debut appearance.[12] The scene in which Mickey approaches a Walt Disney photo features the song "Feed the Birds" from Mary Poppins (1964), which was chosen due to being Disney's favorite.[6] 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.[6] Sherman recorded the song in August 22, at Disney's original office and using the same piano the Sherman Brothers used to perform the song for Disney.[6] "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 everyone did an ovation victory dance, and as the BFI main attraction of the BFI London Film Festival celebration on October 14, 2023.[19][20] 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 will also screen in theaters with Wish on November 22, 2023 and hold screenings in Los Angeles to qualify for the Best Animated Short Film shortlist for the 96th Academy Awards.[16][21][22][23]

See also

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

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ The making of the emotional ‘Once Upon a Studio’ Disney short - Attractions Magazine
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 'Once Upon a Studio' Trailer Celebrates 100 Years of Disney Magic|Collider
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 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?"
  14. ↑ Stephen Anderson on X: "Thanks, @JJSmithian! No, they used an old recording of mine so I never stepped into the booth for this one 😊"
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Disney Reunites Iconic Characters for Short Film 'Once Upon a Studio' - CBR
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ BFI London Film Festival 2023 lineup announced
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ ONCE UPON A STUDIO - WALT DISNEY ANIMATION STUDIOS (PDF)
  23. ↑ When Mickey Met Moana — Inside the Making of Disney’s 100th Anniversary Short ‘Once Upon a Studio’ - IndieWire

External links

Script error: The function "top" does not exist.

[{{fullurl:{{{2}}}|offset={{{1}}}&limit=1&action=history}} {{{3}}}]

Script error: The function "bottom" does not exist.

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Once_Upon_a_Studio&oldid=727280401"