A little late to the game on this podcast but I just recently discovered your podcasts. They’re all fantastic and like Zane above, I think they’re a great help for those of us sometimes stuck with the not-fun aspects of animation (I’m an animator in games and sometimes have to work with mocap).

I thought it was particularly great how candid Milt was about his own studio and their shortcomings when in this day and age everyone seems so afraid to admit (publicly anyway) that their studio isn’t perfect.

Also, hearing Brad Bird bring up the issue of dating movies with “modern” content (”groovy” in Aristrocats and prison suits in Robin Hood) in 1976 shows how sharp he really is, even back then as a student. Seeing all the pop culture jokes in many of today’s CGI flicks, you have to wonder if he had a crystal ball! Likewise, it’s nice to know how guys like Milt stood on this subject.

Please keep up the great work. Hearing these veterans and masters reminds me of everything I love about animation.

Ryan

I’ve been meaning to post a comment or at least call. This was indeed a gem… not only hearing Milt Kahl teach, but also hearing the very young Brad Bird ask questions. I have always been very interested in Milt (I consider him to be the finest animator who ever lived) and am pretty well-acquainted with his dissatisfaction with Disney. Notable is his comment that he thought Disney, even in its heyday, made mediorcre pictures as far as story went. He would have liked, I think, the later stories of Mulan, Emperor’s New Groove and Lilo and Stitch because the characters were very consistant and the stories made sense.
What I took most from this excellent show was a deep impression of the need for consistancy. Milt’s animation was incredibly consistant, and he wanted the characters, the writing, the acting, etc, to be equally so. When he says that “villians can be funny, but they need also to be scary,” I was immediately reminded of the hilarious and yet terrifying Syndrome on one hand and the inept yet terrifying Kent Mansley on the other. Clearly, Brad Bird took that class to heart. I’ve been thinking a great deal about what Milt said, and am very grateful to you and John Musker for that chance. Any more vault shows with Milt or Woolie or the other seven oldsters will be great.

Jason - I’m glad you liked hearing Milt. Even Andreas told me that he hadn’t actually heard this one, but he had read a transcript of it before (not surprising).

Andy - Thanks for the idea. I’ll file that in the good suggestion box.

Floyd - That’s cool to hear. We’ll have to talk - soon.

David - Great idea, I added the Animation Points of Interest map to the sidebar on the main page.

Corey - That’s what I like to hear!

Zane - I’m happy to provide the distraction. I will get back together with Andreas, and maybe some other guys too to talk about the Nine. Check out Mark Kennedy’s blog where he posted about a lecture we had at work this month about that very topic.

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2006/03/legacy-panel-part-one_10.html

Michael - Let’s drive them ALL crazy! Thanks for listening.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Even though the site might not change that often, I’m still working behind the scenes.

-Clay

first off all, again great many thanks for putting this up. I´m constantly listening to your shows at work over and over. Drives my co-workers crazy hehe

Micha

Thanks for putting all these shows together they are wonderful ( all of them so far) Ive got everyone on my pc . They are not only very interesting in there content but a great source of inspiration ,as at the moment im using Mo-cap (AHHH!)on our current project and the days can drag some what. When such a day occurs i put on the head phones listen to my favourte pod casts which so far are the Andreas Dejar and Nick Ranairi.
This leads me on to a question. In the Dejar casts he talked about coming back to talk about the animation the Nine old men did in depth and all the animation theory he picked up from them is ths going to happen soon? That really would be something!
All the very best and i better get back to that twitchy leg in the Mo_cap.

Thanks a Million.

Zane

Wow! It was so strange to hear Milt’s voice again. What a force he was at Disney, and I remember how afraid I was when I first began to work with him. Milt was a no nonsense guy, and you gave him nothing less than your best. He could be a demon — and a saint. I’ll never forget those years working with him on “The Sword in the Stone.”

Thanks again for another great podcast.