Glen Keane Talks Tangled
GK: It's interesting: I had a lecture with the technical crew. I noticed that they were approaching the hair like it was a technical problem. So I decided to speak with them about how hair actually represents an outward manifestation of the character's problem on every movie that I had done: For Ariel, it's floating, it's a reminder she's in another world, but she wants to be part of this world; for Pocahontas, it's always moving with the wind and it's got this spirit and she has to deal with John Smith coming from England and not getting that; For Tarzan, with these dreadlocks, is he an ape man or Lord Greystoke? For the Beast, it was all this fur. And for Rapunzel, this is a story about a girl with enormous potential -- she has something inside her that has to get out. It's physically exploding out of her and is her life force, so the hair has to be compelling. And I did all kinds of drawings: it has to have rhythm and the way it moves; it has to have volume; it has to have twist; the swoop has to have a definitive shape; and there are a lot of artistic choices for a technical crew that had never been challenged that way before. This wasn't just pushing a button and making sim happen; you've got to also artistically position the hair. It was an amazing team to watch grow. I asked Eric Daniels, who worked with me on Long John Silver doing the mechanical arm, to oversee the hair team to bring artistic qualities into that.
GK: I guess two things: one was how proud I am of every animator and their work. I thought that computer animation was a much colder, removed art form. And I realized as I was watching the movie, that I could recognize who the animator was behind every shot, by the touch of the animation, the timing, the way the face was shaped, everything -- just like in hand-drawn. The other was the idea that you can start something and really believe that it's your own and at a certain point you realize that this was given to you as a great idea, kind of like that drop at the beginning of the movie that came down. And it's a potential that's shared and I watched the directors take this film and never lose anything but just made it better and stronger. And I'm really proud of how it worked out.
Bill Desowitz is senior editor of AWN & VFXWorld.
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I wouldn't expect much if I were you!
No joke.
Those people have years of experience. By now if they cared about the crew they should know how to scheduled thing in a human way.
But they don't give a damn, it's about money and next movie will be just the same asking more with less time. The artist love their work and give their best and as a rewards they get a "thank you soooo much" and here a free pizza for working at night.
I know I lived through it.
Thank you for posting. It's a point of view few people hear. I wish I could know what it's really like to work on a production today. I'm happy to hear that the managers have recognized the sacrifices of the artists and are planning to make changes.
As a spouse of one of the animators I'll tell you, they put in a ton of overtime. So much that after the movie ended the higher ups promised to make the schedules more forgiving in the future so as to not take such a physical and emotional toll on them. They gave it everything they had and then some and never compromised on the high level of quality. The animation really shines on this one.
Good interview.
I'm wondering how they got 60% of the movie animated between "May" and "July".
interesting. but it sounds just like any other interview from any other movie, talking about how everythin is new, how everybody learned, how people cried telling their life stories (i hardly believe that)...
NICE! Always a treat to read through these interviews with those closely tied to the project. It provides another dimension to the project at hand and allows us to sit first-row in the minds of these great artists and creators.
Its always enlightening to hear from this master.
omarrod.blogspot.com
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Great interview and insight. Keep them coming please.
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