Disney’s Planes - Views From the Ville

Learning to Draw Dusty at Disney Toon Studios

Nov 212013

Thank you to Disney for covering my expenses on our press trip where we learned about the animation design process. All opinions are my own.

Our trip to Disney Toon Studios had already been amazing, having had the opportunity to interview Disney Planes Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn, plus Pre-Vis Development team members Jason McKinley and Thomas Leavitt. But we also sat down with Dan Abraham, Head of Story and Art Hernandez, Story Artist.

Learning the Animation Design Process from Dan Abraham, Head of Story and Art Hernandez, Story Artist #DisneyPlanesBloggers

Photo Credit: Disney

Dan and Art walked us through the animation design process for movies. Once the script is written it goes to the story artists and they work from there. There are rare occasions where there is no script as a starting point, but Planes did have a script to work from. Continue reading »

A Passion for Flight: Chatting with “Planes” Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn

Disney, Entertainment 8 Responses »

Nov 142013

Thank you to Disney for covering my press trip expenses. All thoughts and words are my own.

While visiting Disney Toon Studios on our press trip we had the amazing opportunity to speak with Planes Director Klay Hall and Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn. We did a number of awesome things during our trip, but this was definitely one of the highlights. Not only was Disney Toon Studios a cool place to be, but hearing the passion Klay and Traci had for the film was beyond inspiring.

Planes Director Klay Hall and Planes Producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn #DisneyPlanesBloggers

Photo Credit: Disney

Giving Disney’s “Planes” Wings: A Salute to National Aviation Month

Disney, Entertainment 16 Responses »

Nov 122013

Thank you to Disney for providing trip expenses to Disney’s Toon Studios during National Aviation Month. All thoughts and words are my own.

One of my favorite parts of our Disney trip was a visit to the Disney Toon Studios. I love behind-the-scenes and making-of kind of features – I’m one of those people that actually watches all the extras on DVDs and Blu-rays. So getting a “behind the screen peek”, so to speak, of Disney’s Planes during National Aviation Month was pretty cool.

Celebrating National Aviation Month with "Planes" at Disney Toon Studios #DisneyPlanesBloggers

While we were there we spoke to Jason McKinley and Thomas Leavitt, two guys who worked on Planes in Pre-Vis Development. Jason McKinley was the actual Flight Supervisor for Planes. And why would you need a Flight Supervisor? Because, as Jason put it, “Flying is really, really hard.” They were having difficulty with realistically the movement of the planes, so they created a team that was dedicated solely to flight. Continue reading »

Weekly Movie News for the 1st Week of August

Disney, Entertainment No Responses »

Aug 092013

Here is the weekly movie news for the first full week of August (can you believe August is already here?). New trailer, some fun games and videos, a soundtrack song release, and more.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire #CatchingFire

The first track of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” soundtrack is about to be released. On August 26th “Atlas” by Coldplay will be available for purchase. This is the first time that the multi-Grammy winning band has recorded an original song for a major motion picture. This is in preparation for Catching Fire‘s November 22nd theatrical release. The first partnership between Republic Records and Lionsgate yielded the Grammy-winning, chart-dominating “The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 And Beyond” featuring Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, and others. Continue reading »

Catching Up on Two Week’s Worth of Entertainment Info

Disney, Entertainment 1 Response »

Aug 042013

I normally share a weekly entertainment round-up so that you can stay on top of all the new releases of movies, DVDs, music, TV shows, and more. But two weeks ago I was in Chicago and missed a week. So today I have two weeks’ worth of entertainment info for you.

Planes

Disney’s Planes opens this week! We cannot WAIT to go and see it. Here’s a cute clip and some free printable activities to tide you over. Continue reading »