Showing posts with label pixar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pixar. Show all posts

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Brad Bird and his tributes to 'Frank and Ollie'

In two of the films Brad Bird directed he paid tribute to two of Disney's 'Nine Old Men', Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston.

The first was in 'The Iron Giant';

And the second in 'The Incredibles;

Frank and Ollie play an important part in the history of animation, not only are they legendary Disney animators contributing to movies such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Jungle Book etc., but they're also the creators of the '12 Principles of Animation' with their book 'The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation', which has been referred to as 'the Bible of the industry'.
The principles, though originally written for traditional 2D animation, are still used and applied today in all aspects of animating, including 3D.

In their animated appearance in 'The Incredibles', both characters refer to The Incredibles defeat of the robot as 'old school'. I see this as having a kind of second meaning on top of the obvious, and referring their involvement in 'old school' animation.

Frank Thomas animated the INCREDIBLY famous spaghetti scene in Disney's 'Lady and the Tramp' (below)

While Frank animated that particular scene (as well as the character 'Jock') Ollie Johnston was responsible for the animation of Lady throughout the entire movie.
How appropriate for Valentine's Day :)