Table Of ContentOn Animation
The Director’s Perspective
V O L U M E 1
On Animation
The Director’s Perspective
V O L U M E 1
Editor
Ron Diamond
Interviewers
Bill Kroyer and Tom Sito
Associate Editors
James Brusuelas and Tom Knott
Associate Editors: James Brusuelas and Tom Knott
Cover design by Alan Bodner (bodnerart.com)
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Names: Sito, Tom, 1956- interviewer. | Kroyer, Bill, interviewer. | Diamond, Ron, editor.
Title: On animation : the director's perspective / Ron Diamond.
Description: Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019-
Identifiers: LCCN 2017014453| ISBN 9781138067073 (v. 1 : hardback : alk.
paper) | ISBN 9781138066533 (v. 1 : pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9781138066564 (v. 2) | ISBN 1138066567 (v. 2)
Subjects: LCSH: Animation (Cinematography) | Animators--Interviews.
Classification: LCC TR897.5 .O5 2019 | DDC 777/.7--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014453
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For Lisa, Sara, and Anna
v
CONTENTS
Foreword by Bonnie Arnold ix 6 Nick Park 161
Acknowledgments xi
7 Tomm Moore 191
Editors xiii
8 Chris Wedge 227
Introduction xv
1 John Musker 1 9 Roger Allers 255
2 Ron Clements 41 10 Chris Buck 293
3 John Lasseter 69 11 Tim Johnson 317
4 Andrew Stanton 93 12 Bill Plympton 347
5 Brenda Chapman 123 Index 371
vii
FOREWORD
My love affair with animation started around 1962 not with a movie in a theater, but with an album on a record player. It was a 78 RPM
of “Cinderella,” with songs and story. I carried it around our house on a small portable turntable and listened to “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo,”
“A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes,” the entire soundtrack really, ad nauseam.
Such is the magic of animated films. The great ones (and there are so many great ones) become so powerfully ingrained in our cul-
ture that a little girl can fall hopelessly in love with animation just by listening to the music.
I’m sure that, on more than one occasion, my parents were tempted to break that scratchy record, but instead they let my love affair
deepen. I am forever grateful they were so tolerant because, improbably enough, 30 years later animation would become my career … and
my passion.
In 1992, I began work as the producer of Toy Story. At the time, I had only worked in live action and had just come off of Dances with
Wolves and The Addams Family. Live action and animation are very different expressions of the film art form (I describe it as the difference
between a sprint and a marathon), but at the center of both is the director.
And now, as I start development on my eighth animated feature, I think about the creative team that will collaborate on that film, and
I am excited to meet the person who will be the director.
The directors featured in this collection of interviews are masters of the art. Each has a different way of working and brings something
entirely unique to the mix. Each has a specialty, whether it is traditional animation, computer animation, or stop-motion. Using imagery,
words, and music, they have taken audiences on imaginative journeys to amazing worlds inhabited by unforgettable characters, and
created some of the most beloved family entertainment of all time. We and our children, and even our children’s children, have watched
and re-watched these outstanding pieces of storytelling.
I consider myself very fortunate to know them all and have worked with most. We’ve been through it all together; the hard work, the
long hours, the good days and bad days, the redo, the notes, and ultimately the anxiety-inducing opening weekend.
ix
