|
I listened to some animation podcasts in the recent months, with in-depth interviews with the new wave of animators responsible for the better films. Seems like a changing-of-the-guard thing, with the training programs provided by CalArts as well as the in-studio training programs. There were two factions, those in those training programs, and those that did their first work experience doing features or commercials with a few different European studios. They were brought in one way or another - sometimes Roger Rabbit (a project done by the European artists) and sometimes by chance, sometimes because it was their long-term goal to get into Disney. Once the Old Men retired, the new blood - and their passion and creativity - brought a lot of new ideas to the studios. And, though he fizzled out and made poor choices at the end of his career - Michael Eisner (with Katzenberg) should be commended for pulling all of these people together and letting them run with their ideas, instead of closing down animation like the previous guard had considered.
|