The Disney Animation Renaissance
Behind the Glass at the Florida Studio
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida opened in Orlando at the dawn of the Disney Renaissance. As a member of the crew, Mary E. Lescher witnessed the small studio’s rise and fall during a transformative era in company and movie history. Her in-depth interviews with fellow artists, administrators, and support personnel reveal the human dimension of a technological revolution: the dramatic shift from hand-drawn cel animation to the digital format that eclipsed it in less than a decade. She also traces the Florida Studio’s parallel existence as a part of The Magic of Disney Animation, a living theme park attraction where Lescher and her colleagues worked in full view of Walt Disney World guests eager to experience the magic of the company’s legendary animation process. A ground-level look at the entertainment giant, The Disney Animation Renaissance profiles the people and purpose behind a little-known studio during a historic era.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lescher (1957–2019), a cameraperson and scene planner for Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, examines a transformative chapter of Disney's cinematic history in this focused study. In 1989, Disney opened its Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida studio as part of a Walt Disney World attraction that publicly showcased its animation process by allowing park guests to watch animators while they worked. The studio rode a wave of success—it produced blockbusters including Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King—before being shut down in 2004 after mishandling several variables: massive internal reorganization, an increase in production quotas, and consecutive box-office failures in the early 2000s. Lescher diligently explores the studio's rise from a theme park attraction to a full-fledged production company, and the pre-digital animation process is expertly detailed (The Prince and the Pauper, a 25-minute short released in 1990, required 36,000 handcrafted frames). Even now, some animators refuse to discuss their last days at the studio because it's too painful. Lescher's admiring narrative, which incorporates her firsthand experience and interviews with fellow artists, illuminates the talent of Disney animators. Readers who cherish all things House of Mouse will find much to appreciate.
