Oct 18 2005

Natwick on Iwerks

Jonzeing for some audio until the next podcast? The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project Blog has a link to a snippet of an interview with Grim Natwick who talks about working with Ub Iwerks. Finally, I get to hear someone who worked with the man pronounce ‘Ub.’ You can also read a little more about the two on the page. See what I mean? ASIFA does good stuff!

The interwebs are bringing us all a little closer. Character Design is a great new blog by Randall, I think, that features interviews with . . . well, I’ll let you figure that part out. Go check it. Now.

After working in animation for eleven years, I decided that it was time to participate a little more in the animation community. This site is an tangible, um audible, result of that decision (hope you like it). Something else I decided to do was to finally join ASIFA-Hollywood. So earlier this week I dropped off a couple applications at their offices in Burbank (one for me, one for the intro voice). I figured what the heck, I’ll go for the Patron membership since it supports what their site calls the “Animation Preservation Project.” I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded reasonable enough. ASIFA-Hollywood does other cool things like the Annie Awards and the 2D Expo. Plus, for the months before I was hired at Disney, every Tuesday night I went to ASIFA’s little office on Victory Boulevard in Burbank for the cheapest figure drawing in town (not counting sneaking in to Art Center classes). I made my first good drawing there.

So anyhow, imagine how good I felt today when I read Cartoon Brew and learned about the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive Project. So that’s what they were talking about. What a fantastic idea! Hopefully our new membership will help get them a little closer to their goals. If you want to help by donating money or time, you can find more info on their blog. You might also consider becoming a member too.

Thanks to Jim for pointing out that they are hoping for some linkage to their blog.

From this point on, each show will be produced in two formats. The mp3 version you’ve come to love will still be available via the links on this site and through this iTunes page (iTunes required).

The second format is the same audio, but in the AAC format. This allows me to do a few great things like:

  • break the show in to chapters that are selectable
  • add images that play along like a slideshow
  • include links to relevant sites

All this and the files are usually smaller! Read on to see how to get ’em . . .

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Ron Clements and John Musker

In part two, directors and writers Ron Clements and John Musker detail how they made the transition from animating to the story department to directing.

Something interesting in this one: in Part Two, Ron & John talk about the days when Michael Eisner arrived at Disney. It’s a coincidence that today Eisner is giving his going away speech on the studio lot.

Get it here: Show 8: Ron and John, Part Two
Animation Podcast Show 8 MP3

(12.1MB, 26:16 minutes)

Continue for Show Notes…

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