Show 002 – Andreas Deja, Part Two

Andreas Deja

The conversation with Andreas Deja continues. In part two Andreas recounts his first years at Disney including working with Tim Burton on The Black Cauldron and Richard Williams on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Get it here: Show 2: Andreas Deja, Part Two
Animation Podcast Show 2 MP3

(11.9MB, 17:16 minutes)

Continue for Show Notes…

Time
Andreas Deja, Part Two Show Notes
Link
0:00
* May 7, 2005
0:05
* Theme song by DJ Sweettooth
0:48
* Welcome
0:58
* Please vote
1:28
* Joe Grant
1:58
wedge The old animation building
2:12
* Frank Thomas & Ollie Johnston working on The Illusion of Life

2:20
* Training Program
3:02
* Eric Larson

Bio
3:47
* Some of Eric’s Trainees
3:56
* Animation Test
4:24
* The Black Cauldron
4:38
wedge Tim Burton
6:25
* Vincent & Frankenweenie
Available on Nightmare Before Christmas DVD
* Peewee’s Big Adventure

6:37
* Lesson from The Black Cauldron
7:15
* Feelings about early work
8:18
* Crawling into a character – Lilo

8:53
* Challenges & learning
9:09
wedge Who Framed Roger Rabbit

* Richard Williams
* 40s style animation
10:53
* Working with Richard Williams
11:42
* 70s commercials
12:08
* Feature – The Thief and the Cobbler
12:30
* Twos and Ones
14:19
wedge Closing
14:23
* Feedback
* Leave a comment on the site
* Email The Animation Podcast
* Leave a voice message
(206) 666-ANM8 (2668)
15:20
* Vote for The Animation Podcast
15:26
* Plug from The Daily Download
16:47
* Music on the show
* Theme Song – DJ Sweettooth a.k.a. Joe Moshier
* Background music – Frank Panucci

25 Comments on “Show 002 – Andreas Deja, Part Two

  1. hey clay,

    thanks a lot for putting this thing up! i just listened to the interview part2 and absolutely enjoyed it. it’s really nice to experience how andreas started his career and what it was like back then. i met him once in germany and talked a little with him, that was shortly before disney closed it’s orlando studio. he told me that he too was starting to learn maya at the time, but i had the feeling he wasn’t so excited about it;) i’m really looking forward to the release of bambi2, where as far as i have seen andreas is doing what he does best – creating wonderful characters and bringing them to life.

    i wonder if this mentor-youngster-training-relationship is still there at disney’s nowadays, especially on this personal basis. i think it’s a wonderful way to learn.

    thank you again for this podcast – i hope there will be many artists to listen to in the near future! it’s really a great time to get started in animation if there are ressources like this…

    thomas

  2. Hey Clay,
    This is a truly great thing you’re doing here. As someone who, in a roundabout way, you’ve been helping learn and get excited about animation( I’ve been reading the Stanchfield notes with your drawing, Joe moshier, Tom Gately,etc for YEARS) its great to see this being done. Keep up the good work.
    j

  3. cool show!
    i was wondering if those richard williams commercials that andreas talked about are available on the web. does anyone know?

  4. Hey J,
    Walt Stanchfield notes are the best! They’d come out once a month and it was so inspiring to see the great drawings from everyone – Joe Moshier, Tom Gately, John Webber, Dave Pimentel. I was just playing catch up to those guys. The cool thing is, all that work payed off because all those guys are still kicking butt.

  5. Clay,

    Thanks so much for this. It means so much to me to have this available. I feel that animation, Disney traditional animation everyday grows closer to being lost forever, if not for efforts like yours. Much appreciated.

    J.

  6. Clay –

    Another classic. It’s like an audio continuation of the old MINDROT and FUNNYWORLD ‘zines from a long time ago. I can’t wait for more. I listened to this one twice already.

    The show continues to sound technically superior to most other podcasts. Recording is clean, dry, and just right.

    …and thanks for slipping some of my music in there.

    FP

  7. Thanks Frank, that’s quite a compliment. I’m tweaking the audio with each show, trying to make it as clean AND audible as possible so it’s good to know it’s working.
    The music was great. Way to take part in the show!

  8. Just listened to the fabulous 2nd podcast, and got an added suprise hearing that the ending music was by Frank Panucci. Frank, I used to “intern” at Destiny Images back when Chad, Gabe, Joe, etc. were all there. Wow, that makes me feel too old.

  9. I just tuned into your Podcast, Clay, and really enjoyed your interview with Andreas Deja- I just have one question about some of the technical talk near the end of part two. You’ll have to excuse my ignorance, but I am self taught- and I just don’t recognize the jargon. “1’s and 2’s”- lost me when you were talking about Dick Williams? What are those?

    Great job you are doing so far!
    Luke

  10. Great podcast, AGAIN, Clay! 2 for 2!

    And to Luke — even though Clay will respond more thoroughly soon, I thought I might try to enlighten you about “ones” and “twos.” These traditional animation terms refer to the amount of frames a particular drawing is exposed to the eye. For instance, most animation is shot on “twos,” where each drawing is exposed for two frames. When there is a “one,” that drawing is exposed for one frame. Having a “one” in a particular action makes the character move quicker, depending on the motion, of course. Richard Williams likes to shoot everything on “ones” because, he says, “real life is on ones.” True, but I feel that real life has a nice mixture of “ones” and “twos,” if you ask me. And thus, most animated features utilize the same combination, for the most part. “Twos” were a way of cost-cutting, as the early guys found out that you could shoot the same drawing twice and it didn’t lose any fluidity in the action.

    The same techniques can be applied to CG animation, but it’s a little different. It’s all a matter of taste, I guess.

  11. Wow I’m so happy to hear that kind of podcast! I’m a student in animation and absorbe everything regarding that domain. It’s quite interesting to hear about the background of this animator.

    Keep up the good work!

  12. Right! Well, thank you Ward and Clay! Those were some very informative answers to a question about a term or two. I have to say, I do know what you are both talking about, now that I have heard it in a more thorough way- still- I don’t think I would have ever come across those terms on this side of the pond 😉

    Thanks again!

  13. I just left a hotline audio message about how wonderful I think this animation podcast is, and will be! These podcasts have been really magical in that I had the same desires and feelings when I was young and wished to be in the animation industry. *Sigh* 🙂

  14. I have all the best commercials that were produced by richard williams animation
    on tape. they were his studio’s showreels. I am sure he doesn’t mind if interested
    artists get a copy of them. for me they are some of the best animation ever done

  15. thanks a lot for doing this Clay, awesome idea!

    By the way, Will you be taking suggestions as to who to feature for the next shows? 🙂

    -Kaveh

  16. Hey Kaveh,
    I’m always open to suggestions but there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to fulfill them. At least from the start, I’ll be talking to people I know.
    -Clay

  17. Thank you very much for your work. I love it. I have been an animation -and particularly a Disney fan since I was 8 years old. The most expensive book I bought in my teenage years was ‘The illusion of Life’.

    I would really enjoy hearing more. I would welcome more about the Nine Old Men. The question I always ask myself is how was it possible to for a group of people during the Golden Era to create work that has not been surpassed to this day. Why is it not possible to achieve this level of quality and art in today’s animated pictures, which although technically more advanced, seem to lack the poetry and imagination of the old days.
    Mr Deja is an extraordinary Disney scholar.

  18. and again, this one ROCKED! Thank you so much for doing this!

  19. Emanuel- You can look forward to a few interviews from some more people who worked directly with th Nine Old Men. I agree, it’s awesome to hear Andreas talk about animation!

    Michael- Glad you liked it.

    -Clay

  20. Hi Clay,

    I wanted to send you my sincerest regargs for your show. I’ve been working on a project in India now for the past two years now (www.vedagames.com) that suddenly isn’t really going anywhere and it’s been a real strike to my confidence. I’d lost my artistic drive for animation which was so important to me. I just stumbled onto your site about a week ago and the first thing I noticed was the Milt Kahl presentation to the Cal-Arts students. Milt Kahl is my all-time favourite animator. His whole thought process itself is such an inspiration. Every time I read through the Illusion of Life I spend extra time studying his thumbnails and his poses and his style of drawing which is so enchanting!! Anyway, I’m straying from my point.

    Thank you again for taking the time to post the incredible interviews. I’m in the process of downloading them all because they help get me fired up every time I listen to them. In fact I’m listening to the Andreas Deja interview as I type this message.

    Christopher Woods.

  21. Christopher – Thanks for writing. Hearing that it’s giving you some inspiration is just fuel for me to make more. You’re always welcome to comment here – and keep your chin up, there will always be ups and downs working in animation.

  22. I originally wrote this in an e-mail to Clay, but after his comments about feedback on the latest show (17) I thought it would be a good idea to include what I wrote hear as well.

    You can find many of the Richard Williams commercials and film segments (including a christmas carol and the thief and the cobbler) what Andreas is talking about in this show on youtube (www.youtube.com)

    hope this helps 🙂