WonderCon 2009: Disney's Return to 2D Animation

On the Friday of WonderCon 2009, Marlon West from Disney spoke to a crowded panel room about his job as visual supervisor for Disney's upcoming animated feature "The Princess and the Frog." With computer animation technology getting better after each animated feature--showing off new 3D effects and realism--this new animated feature will showcase Disney's ability to buck the trend and go back to its roots of 2D animation.

I hope people still remember 2D Disney animation. It was animation drawn on hand by artists on individual cels and helped Disney develop its patented magic and fantasy elements. Nowadays computer animation is getting close to a uniform perfect look that it is hard to distinguish one studio's work from another based solely on looks. It is nice to see Disney looking back on its history and even better to go back to its roots. Though the backtracking did have a few extra costs. Marlon mentions how they had to redesign the infrastructure. Disney was already set up for computer animation and removed most of the traditional animation. "We didn't even have desks."

Marlon described his job as a visual effects supervisor. Visual effects animation focuses on the background and objects surrounding the characters on the screen. Things like the moving leaves in the wind or blossoming dust clouds help make the animation feel more alive and realistic. "I did a lot of dust clouds for 'The Lion King,'" comments Marlon.

Observation is key to developing realistic effects. Observing nature like rustling leaves or ripples in water helps to recreate the natural occurrences that most audiences will take for granted but will notice when absent. Sometimes effects animation requires reenacting desired sequences for references. Marlon talked about throwing eggs on the side of a building to study how to animate such a similar effect for the cartoon. "We threw a lot of eggs at buildings... raw, microwaved for 10 seconds, microwaved for 15 seconds. The raw eggs looked best."

After his introduction and background, Marlon treated the audience to rough animated sequences of "The Princess and the Frog." Sketched and animated in black and white, audiences could see the hand drawn animation just like the good old Disney days. While going back to the classic hand drawings, Marlon acknowledged that this project would use the modern computer and paperless techniques of today to produce something that is more than a carbon copy of the classics or the computer animation bombarding today's theaters. A scene where the villain Dr. Facilier does some fancy card shuffling. Using the Harlem Globetrotters as a reference, the individual cards roll in a line around his arms, shoulders, and the air just like a basketball. Dr. Facilier resembles the voodoo figure Baron Samedi, made famous in the James Bond movie "Live and Let Die." Another scene shows off Dr. Facilier's evil magic when he ensnares the prince character Naveen into a chair. The armrests morph into snakes that coil around the hapless prince. Dr. Facilier shows off some particle effects. What impressed the audience was that while a computer could replicate this animation, they are reminded that this sequence was drawn on hand by a human being. Marlon also gave a brief character blurb about the main lead. Tiana is trying to open up a restaurant when the Disney magic ensues and sends her on a journey to rescue the prince and find her courageous self.

While the film is still currently in production and the preview animations were black and white roughs drafts, "The Princess and the Frog" shows lots of promise in bringing back the old school classic animation fans while introducing new animation fans to the dazzling hand drawn visuals. I will reserve my opinions on the story, character portrayals (and the juicy issues pertaining to Disney's first stab at developing an African American female lead character) until after seeing the complete work. But for now, I welcome back the return of 2D animation. Sometimes the old simply becomes new again.