Page 1:Animation is more then just an art form, at least to me. Animation can be the creation of a character, setting, or an entire world. When animation is at its best is when you can feel the life being breathed into the characters through the hand of artist. For generations the artists at Disney have been doing this, Studio Ghibli have perfected it, Dreamworks has reached on occasion, and thousands of independent and smaller studios have accomplished this rare and wonderful feat since the dawn of the art form itself.
At Comic Con a few of the artists and directors for the upcoming film "Tangled" were on hand to discuss and show some of the hard work and talent that goes into the creation of making characters that are alive rather then just ink or pixels. The original director of the film is now the supervising animator and animation legend Glen Keane. Creator of Ariel, Beast, Aladdin, Tarzan, and Jon Silver among many other characters both in and out of Disney films. I had the rare privilege to get to know Glen growing up throughout my life. Our families attended the same church and same school growing up and during that time I was able to witness firsthand the hand of a master artisan bringing images to life right in front of me on paper. Bryon Howard and Nathan Greno are filling in the directors seat for Glen on the picture but they have plenty of experience in the field and are really bringing a spirited feel to this story. In Tangled, rather then being a simple story of a prince climbing a damsels hair up a tower, we have a story of a girl whose bursting with potential but has been confined inside this tower her whole life. When a thief on the run attempts to take refuge in her tower the course of her life changes forever.
Tangled is a film that has been in development for years, dating back around 9 years right after Treasure Planet wrapped. At the time, Disney CEO Michael Eisner liked Glen's pitch for the film but told him it had to be CG, much to his dismay. Glen used this as an opportunity to try to make CG bend to the will of the pencil. Three years later when John Lasseter took over the animation department, he asked Glen if he would like to make it CG or go hand drawn with it. While Glen had wished this option was available three years ago, he felt that his team had really made significant strides with computer animation and decided not to let it all go to waste and continue on with it being a CG film. Despite this, Much of the actual art shown at the panel was sketches and storyboards done by hand. To be completely and brutally honest, I still wish they had gone hand drawn still. Call me old fashioned, biased, or stuck in the past but my love for hand drawn art still holds its grip on me and I instantly fell in love with the hand drawn images of the characters. I don't want this to sound as if the actual film doesn't look good, in fact it looks fantastic. The artists have really come a long, long way in blending the look and technique of 2D animation into a 3D CGI world. I have no doubt that these two heroes will swiftly work their ways into the hearts of moviegoers when it is finished.
Despite what the marketing team would have you believe, Tangled is not a story about the thief named Flynn Rider. While he is certainly one of the main characters, this is still a movie about Rapunzel first and foremost. What initially attracted Glen Keane to the story of Rapunzel was the image of this girl that is just bursting with potential but she hasn't yet experienced the world around her. She is very smart and educated, but her link to the outside world has been cut off and she has yet to learn all that the world has to offer her. Part of this is depicted in the film by her love of painting. All around the walls of her tower she has spent her life painting each and every detail of them. These paintings are taken directly from Glen's daughter and if you look real close in the final film you may even see the name of his granddaughter in the wall. Early on the decision was made to also give Rapunzel control over her hair. Think Millia Rage from the game series "Guilty Gear" and you will be right on track. Rapunzel can use her hair as rope, a weapon, or anything else she might need. What sets the story off is Rapunzel capturing Flynn as he sneaks into her tower, after their initially hostile first encounter the two will journey together to a kingdom outside the forest, and simply outside for the very first time for Rapunzel.
For Flynn the design process was actually quite humorous. The team decided to get every woman in the studio together and posted pictures of every hot male they could think of and put them on a wall. After that they would take the part of each guys face that they loved the most and piece by piece make the perfect male. There was of course some hesitation that they would be making a "Frankenstein" monster but in the end they came up with Flynn. Who bares a resemblance or two to the directors in fact. The character of Flynn soon became a wire thin balancing act of trying to make a roguish thief that steals from people but not a totally unlikable scoundrel. He needed to have a charm to him and he couldn't be completely evil as the two will inevitably end up together by the end of the movie.
The score for the film will be composed by the legendary Alan Menken. While he is mostly famous for his songwriting, his instrumental music is top notch and the nearly finished scene that was debuted served as perfect proof of this. Listen to his Beauty and the Beast Prologue if you need to be reminded. What is most striking about this film in particular is that it will be the first serious take on a fairy tale done with CG animation. Do not be fooled by the trailers or other promotional material, this is a classic fairy tale told straight and not with any pop cultural references or jokes. The scene we were shown was the first meeting of Flynn and Rapunzel. After being knocked unconscious and tied to a chair by hair, Flynn awakens after being poked and prodded by Rapunzel's pet chameleon. As he comes to, Rapunzel is at first on her guard and questioning Flynn why he has infiltrated her tower and asks who else knows she is there. Flynn asks her to step into the light and we get to see her first reveal and its a great shot accompanied beautifully by Menken's score. Flynn then tries various approaches in negotiating to get out of his unfortunate situation. He also panics a bit when he discovers his satchel is missing and Rapunzel insists it is hidden where he will never find it. Which he quickly does resulting in more abuse. So far the Chemistry and humor between Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi seems to be spot on. I also particularly like how the humor is brought to life through body language and the clashing of character relationships rather than being a constant gag reel. Subtlety can make for far more memorable moments in a movie if done right, rather then running gags.
Tangled is looking to be another classic tale in the caliber of Disney animated feature films. It will be their 50th one when it releases this fall, and just seeing the wonderful collaborative process that goes into the dailies really solidified my hopes in the movie. Dailies is a process in animation where the animator and director will meet in a room, usually a theater type setting and go over a particular scene frame by frame. Unlike most studios, at Disney and Pixar the dailies are attended by much of the animating staff and seeing the process of each specific moment in the film being worked and discussed brings a lot of comfort to someone whose watched this film go through several iterations. It looks to be finally coming together however and if all goes as planned we should hopefully be getting another animated classic this fall.
