Disney Movies

Author's note: I wrote this for the Disney project Sydney and I just finished. Be sure to also check out Sydney's piece on Disney characters on her blog.

The outcome of a Disney movie doesn’t really show how much effort is put into the movie making process. For example, try to think of Finding Nemo in millions of separate drawings all put together at 24 frames per second. That means that every single second, someone drew 24 pictures just slightly different from one another to create the effects that you see on the screen.

Behind the screen that you and I see, there’s an animation team that puts everything in a Disney movie together. The animation team is made up of directors, producers, songwriters, story artists, layout artists, background artists, supervising animators, actors, animators, inbetweeners, cleanup artists, special effects animators, computer people, computers themselves, artistic coordinator and the editor. As you can see, there are several people who have a part in Disney movies.

The first task is to take an idea and then dive into it. They have to think of who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then they might start thinking of the characters. Almost always, there will be a hero, villain, “fool”, (someone who is in the story mainly for the purpose of laughs) community, mentor, and a parent. (For some reason, there is usually only one parent, or one of the parents died early in the movie).

Then, after the main outline of the story is done, the artists will start to draw out the movie. They will start with only the major movements of the characters, and then give them do the people who write the script. They will then put words into the pictures to make the movie more interesting. The main thing they have to worry about is avoiding things that are shown in the pictures. For example, in Beauty and the Beast, when Belle first enters the beast’s castle, she wouldn’t say “I’m very afraid to enter this big dark castle, but I'm doing it to find my dad.”

The next step is drawing the characters moving according to the script. First they might draw the mouths moving along with all the movements the character makes while moving. Then they will fill in all the missing little details. This is the “inbetweeners” job. They have to take all the original movements that the animators drew, and fill in all the little, yet important movements that the character makes in between the major movements that the animators drew as a guideline. After the inbetweeners, the cleanup artists will then play out all the pictures to see if there are still missing movements in there.

The next step after art is sound. Sound plays a huge role in movies. Can you imagine the Lion King without any sound? That would completely ruin the great movie. In most Disney movies there are songs. If there are songs sung by the characters in the movie, there is typically an anthem, which might express the heroes hopes and dreams, a love song, the “I want something song,(where the hero is requesting something they want) the villain song, (where the villains might express his evil plans) and the entertainment song which follows the main theme of the movie but the main purpose is just to be fun.

There’s also the type of sound that is for the background of the movie. There is a thing called a sound library which is where you can download sounds like cars honking and horses neighing. The last sound steps are adding the words. This is where the actors and actresses come in. Once the people are selected for the job, they will start working. These people usually try to experience things that their characters are experiencing. For example, someone in Cinderella might learn how to ball room dance to experience the feeling that Cinderella is feeling while dancing with the prince. They will usually come into record about 5-6 times and almost always are either at a different time or place as the other actors.

The final process is called a CAPS process. (Computer animation production system) This process includes scanning, animation check, scene planning, sweatbox, animation check again, color model, markup, ink and paint, final checking, composting and film printing.

First, the computer will scan each drawing. One at a time. Then, they will make sure every little detail is there and start getting ready for color. Next, people will look at the movie to see what’s missing and come up with a “technical solution” to the problem. After that, everyone will get together in what’s called a sweatbox and critique the movie before it’s put into color. (The term sweatbox is named after a room they used to work in that had no air conditioning). Then you look at it again to see if anything’s missing. If not, we move on to the Color Model where all the colors are selected on a computer and then added to the characters and the backgrounds. Then, they will make a palette for everything. A palette is where they give a tray of colors that the character or scenes typically use so they do not have to constantly select the same color over and over again. After this, they use the palettes and apply color. Then everybody looks to see if they can find any flaws, and if not we finally move on to composting. Composting is where you combine every detail. Lastly they will play everything at once. (Including sound) Then, the reel is off to the editor.

The editors job is to make everything flow smoothly. The editor will work with the sound effects editors and the music editors to combine everything into a smoothly flowing movie. The editor will also have several assistants to help deal with the thousands of feet of film and sound.

As the finishing touches are in progress, people will be pulled from malls to come and preview a Disney movie. These people will then fill out reviews and if there needs to be changes the editor will then fix the problems.

At last the Disney movie is finally complete. All the effort into the movie is over. It’s then time for the workers to sit back and enjoy the show.

So next time you watch a Disney movie, think about everything that is put into making one. It gives you an entire new perspective on the classic movies you know and love.

Volleyball

Authors note: I wrote this after getting back from a fantastic volleyball match. The last game was so close we ended up winning 16-14 and I was the last one to serve! I just wanted to write about the intensity and fun I have playing my favorite sport.

No matter what some people make say or think, volleyball is a high intensity sport. It is true that you do not have to run the length of a soccer field to get a ball, but if you are a good volleyball player who is agressive, you will work just as hard.

Volleyball is a great sport. Not only is it a fun sport to play, it can be entertaining to watch. (If there are good volleys) No offense to soccer players, but in comparison, I think that although soccer can be very fun to play, it's not the most exciting sport to watch.

At my volleyball match that I just got back from, my team and I did pretty well. Considering we are the B team and we played the A team, I'm suprised we won the third game at all. The first two games in that match were closer than I even imagined they would be. I believe we only lost 25-18. I think that match showed that if you really want to win, and you are work hard, you can do wat you think might be close to impossible.

I love playing volleyball, and I hope you love playing a sport just as mucha as I do. It's a great way to stay in shape and have fun while doing it.

Music

Authors note: After having a discussion with Mr. Roehl, Mr. Johnson, and a couple of my peers, I decided I needed to show Mr. Roehl why music is so important. I am trying a somewhat new form of my writing; persuasive writing. Also, I am continuing to try and use thesis statements in my writing.

I believe that music is multi-talented. Not only can it entertain you when you're bored, it can also help you work. Another thing is that just playing music can sometime really affect your mood. Music is the greatest joy in life and I think everyone should have that joy within their hearts.

When you're doing chores, or somethings terribly boring, don't you think music helps lighten the dull and boring mood? Or at least keeps you somewhat entertained while you're doing the necessary, but dreary tasks in life? Well, I do at least, and I'm almost positive nearly everyone agrees with me. (Except for Mr. Roehl)

(If you play an instrument, you probably know exactly what I'm about to talk about.)

Do you ever just feel like you're going to explode? Or that your sadness from an event is overtaking you? Try sitting (or standing) down and playing an instrument. It doesn't have to be a happy song, or something you think might help. Sometimes it is best to just take out your emotion in your music, and let your feelings show in the piece you are playing.

I know Mr. Roehl says he'd rather just be with his thoughts, than have music in the background, but I would find that extremely boring. I asked a few of my friends what they thought and all of them said they'd rather listen to music. "(unless you're vacuuming)" one of them said.

I just want to say that music has played a very big role in my life. Even just little chores like cleaning the kitchen, I almost always have music in the background. If I try and imagine all of those chores, boring days, and long car rides without music, well, I can't. I think everyone should constantly have music in their lives. Almost everyday.

Go Pack Go!

Authors note: The Packers are my favorite team and I wanted to write about them as a football team and me as a fan. I also wanted to work on my thesis statement in this piece.

The Packers are the best team in the NFL. With a record of 5-0, (So far) they are tied for first with The Detroit Lions. (Which surprisingly, had a record of 0-16 just three years ago in 2008) They will be our biggest competition in our division this year because the Bears are 2-3 and the Vikings are only 1-4.

I hope to see the Packers get to the Super Bowl again like last year, especially because it's one day after my birthday. For a repeat of last year, I'm planning to have a fantastic birthday present once again. Speaking of my birthday, I feel the need to mention I was a Packer fan from the start. My first Packer outfit was when I was less than a year old.

Just like me, there are millions of other Packer fans as well. Packer fans are dedicated. They don't care if it's negative a couple degrees as long as they get to watch their beloved team, the Packers play. They will sit through the snow coming down on them in gusts, as long as they get to watch the Packers.

There's a reason they call Lambeau Field the frozen tundra. We are one of the farthest North teams there are and we have some of the harshest conditions. I believe that any other team that far north have roofs so they just close them when the weather gets rough.

There are many reasons I love the Packers. They won the Superbowl for my birthday, they have dedicated fans, the Lambeau leap,(If you're not familiar with the Lambeau leap it is where, after scoring a touchdown, the scoring player leaps into the crowd and sometimes even gives a fan the ball.) and that the Packers are a wonderful team. Other team fans don't know what they're missing.