Archives for : DreamWorks

Toon-In Talk Episode 29: Interview with Brenda Chapman

Posted by :storysequence On : October 3, 2016
0

Category: EPISODES

Tags:, , , , ,

Hello and welcome to twenty-ninth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  Concluding Whitney’s longer than expected series the Ladies of Animation is an interview with Academy Award winner director Brenda Chapman.  Brenda is best recognized for her work as the writer and director of Pixar‘s Brave and the director of DreamWorks’s The Prince of Egypt.  She also had an extraordinary career at Disney working on Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Lion King.  Brenda Chapman has since embarked on an independent creative career with her husband, director Kevin Lima.

episode-29

  • Brenda Chapman is the director of Brave and Prince of Egypt. She has worked in the animation industry since the early days of the Disney Renaissance and first worked on The Little Mermaid.
  • As many an animator, Brenda grew up watching Looney Toons and through close, personal connections contacted Disney Feature Animation, who sent her a brochure about CalArts.
  • The main influence on Brenda’s work was her mother.
  • Brenda had the privilege to know legendary animator Joe Ranft and he encouraged her to concentrate more on storytelling.
  • Brenda has experience storytelling for the screen and page. The biggest difference for her is that regular prose writing demands more detail that is usually visually communicated.
  • When Brenda was applying for jobs after CalArts, she put together a portfolio consisting of her clean-up work and tossed in a storyboard in the back. Disney loved her storyboard over her clean-up animation.
  • She shared that the only reason why Disney hired her was due to her gender, but once she was in the department Brenda never felt any discrimination.
  • Whitney is curious about the chaotic neutral will o’wisps in Brave and Brenda clears up her confusion.
  • Brenda shares the lowdown on George Lucas’s Strange Magic that delivered an odd story. In short, there wasn’t much of a story to begin with.
  • Brenda shared that getting a greenlight and keeping her job on an animated film are some of the biggest challenges she faced.
  • Brenda is keeping busy with many writing projects and is starting a company with her husband.
  • Brenda’s husband, Kevin Lima, isn’t a stranger to animation. He directed Disney’s Tarzan, Enchanted, and A Goofy Movie.
  • Brenda declares that girls need to get out there and animate.

Links

Twitter

Toon-In Talk Episode 27: Interview with Vicky Jenson

Posted by :storysequence On : July 26, 2016
50

Category: EPISODES

Tags:, , , ,

Hello and welcome to twenty-seventh episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  Continuing with her fabulous Ladies of Animation series, Whitney interviews the one and only Vicky Jenson.  Vicky is one of the top animation directors, in Whitney’s opinion, in Hollywood and she also lends her talents to television animation as well.  She is respected as the director of DreamWorks’s Shrek and Shark Tale.  Vicky’s  resume includes the shows Smurfs, He-Man, JEM, She-Ra and the films The Road to El-Dorado, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, and FernGully.  She discusses her past successes with Whitney and also hints at some exciting projects yet to come.

Episode 27

  • Vicky Jenson is an animation director who worked on many feature films and cartoons.  Whitney’s favorite work of Vicky’s is Shrek.
  • Vicky never did any of the animation on the projects she worked on, but she has dabbled in different parts of the process, including storyboarding.
  • Remember that Old Navy advertising campaign a few years ago with the talking mannequins? That was Vicky Jenson’s work!
  • She became interested in directing when she worked in storyboarding, because she decided the camera angles, action, and loved the interaction with the story.
  • Whitney and Vicky discuss the benefits of drawing in a digital environment vs. the traditional pencil in hand model.
  • Vicky Jenson describes working in animation during the Saturday morning boom in the 1980s.
  • She joined DreamWorks and began work on The Road to El Dorado.
  • Jeffrey Katzenberg noticed Vicky Jenson’s talent for story and encouraged her to be storyboarding and directing.
  • Vicky later worked on Shrek and through her persistance and talent became one of the directors.
  • Vicky and Whitney talk about how storyboarding ins integral to the story process.
  • She left her position at DreamWorks animation in 2015 after being at the studio from the beginning.
  • When DreamWorks restructured in January 2015, the studio decided to end production on several animated film projects, including the one Vicky Jenson was on. It’s disappointing that some of these features will never be seen, especially since many of them were 70% animated.
  • Vicky Jenson is writing and illustrating her own graphic novel, much to Whitney’s excitement.
  • She is also working on a stage musical and is adapting a work. Vicky describes it as something between Cirque du Soiliel and Broadway.
  • Her advice to women interested in pursuing an animation career: get your stuff together and do it. Also seek out opportunities and pursue them when they appear.
  • Vicky shares that she learned the most when she was on the job.
  • She has nothing to declare!

Links

Twitter

Toon-In Talk Episode 25: Interview with Art Brown

Posted by :storysequence On : July 26, 2016
0

Category: EPISODES

Tags:, , ,

Hello and welcome to twenty-fifth episode of Fanboy Nation’s Toon-In-Talk, your rendezvous for animation interviews.  Whitney had to take a short hiatus due to everything hitting the fan at once, but now she’s back with Art Brown, executive produce of DreamWorks’s How To Train Your Dragon: Dragons Race To the Edge.  Dragons Race To the Edge is an exciting Netflix exclusive cartoon series and it continues with its second season.  Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snoutlout, Toothless, Stormfly, and all the other dragons are in for thrilling adventures as the protect the Edge from a duo of villainous brothers and discover more dragon species.  Art Brown chats with Whitney about what to expect in Dragons Race To the Edge  season two and she had a hard time controlling her laughter.
Episode 25

 

  • Art Brown is an executive producer on How To Train Your Dragon: Dragons Race To the Edge.
  • He says the new season will have brand new dragons, new dastardly brother villains named Viggo and Ryker, cool Astrid adventures, and some great comedy.
  • Whitney is a big stiggler for continuity and Art assures her that he is constantly in contact with the franchise as whole to retain continuity with the How To Train Your Dragon Dragons Race To the Edge takes place between the first two movies.

    DRTTE_0118_s27_C386

    Photo: DreamWorks Animation (DreamWorks Dragons: Race To The Edge © 2016 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved)

  • Art loves working on the Dragons Race To the Edge TV series, because he gets to explore routes that the movies can’t get into due to time.
  • Art and Whitney both love Fishlegs and Meatlugs’ relationship, they’re so cute and funny.
  • Does Dragons Race To the Edge delve into why there is only one Nightfury? Art said it’s a “no fly zone.”
  • If Art had his own dragon companion he would want either Hookfang or Meatlug. Mostly because he and Doug are huge animal fans and both have great pets.
  • Doug Sloan is another executive producer on the show.
  • If Art and Doug want to make people laugh on the Dragons Race To the Edge, they always cut to Meatlug and her antics.

    DRTTE_0114_01202918_EPLOG_RGB

    Photo: DreamWorks Animation (DreamWorks Dragons: Race To The Edge © 2016 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved)

  • To create new dragons, the Dragons Race To the Edge creative team look at the amazing creatures in the animal kingdom for inspiration. Whitney and Art both like the honey badger.
  • Art Brown declares that there will be a minimum of eight new dragons in Dragons Race To the Edge.

Link

Twitter