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Book Excerpts
An Animation Legend Looks Back By Don Bluth
O
ne of the most-anticipated animation books of the year is Somewhere Out There: My Animated Life, a wonderful new memoir by beloved American director Don Bluth (The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Anastasia, among others) In this insightful book, the legendary director writes about the beginnings of his career, his early years at Disney and his inspirations, as well as offering charming anecdotes about the movies he made at his own studio. We are very proud to present two exclusive excerpts from this collection:
Meeting the Dragon With so many of the Nine Old Men — namely Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, John Lounsbery, Milt Kahl and Marc Davis — heavily involved in the upcoming feature The Fox and the Hound, I was surprised Woolie [Wolfgang Reitherman] plucked me out of the animators’ ranks to direct again. He sent me to the back lot to direct some live-action study for the Widow Tweed, the lonely old woman in the story who cared for
the fox. I was even more surprised to almost get a nod of approval when the film came back from the lab.
“The footage is great,” said Woolie. “There’s just one thing. You shot a couple of scenes of the actor in profile. You should have done a three-quarter front. That would have been stronger. You’ll get the hang of it.” I thanked him for the advice and headed for the door. He called me back. I resigned myself to more criticism, but Woolie surprised me yet again. “There’s a combination live-and-animation picture coming up — Pete’s Dragon. Don Chaffey will be directing it. Ken Anderson has designed a fabulous fat reptile with a pink wig. Ken feels you’d be perfect to direct the animation on Elliott.” “Who’s Elliott?” “The dragon!” he said impatiently. “Go talk to Ken. This will give you the experience you need behind live-action cameras. You’ll need to be on set because Elliott’s a big dragon. We’ll need a wide shot when we draw his entire body. You’ll need to look through the viewfinder of the camera to be sure Don Chaffey is leaving enough room in the frame for you and your team to draw Elcontinued on page 94
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jun|jul 22
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