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Disney Legend
We were pretty excited to speak with legendary animator Floyd Norman when he was in the country recently...
On a recent IMDB poll, three Walt Disney productions made their way into the top five most popular animated films. Toy Story 3 (#1), Wall-E (#2) and Up (#4) are undoubtedly treasures for fans and modern classics in their own right, and testimony to the skill of storytelling and animation seen in the Disney/Pixar group.
With Disney films still as popular as ever, FILMINK was given the opportunity to talk to legendary animator Floyd Norman, whose claim to fame includes working on some of the company's classic movies - The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book, Robin Hood - as well as some of its more recent features, including Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc. As a key player in Walt Disney's history, no better candidate can be found to discuss breaking into the animation business, the mystique of the animating art, and the popularity of the Disney Company and its films.
Now 75 years old, Norman's love for the animated film began in the same place he would eventually be employed - at Walt Disney. "Like most kids I had grown up watching Disney," Norman says. "I'd grown up watching the shorts and feature films as a small child. All of that was just part of me, and part of my life, as it was for many people. I guess I took it a step further in that it inspired me to want to work in the industry someday."
His first major break into animation was through comic books, working with Archie comic book artist Bill Woggon. "I was still at high school when I began working with him. Our home-office was back in New York, where everything was produced. However we were working out of Santa Barbara California where I lived. It was just a wonderful opportunity. Bear in mind that I was still in high school, I had dreams of becoming a professional cartoonist - so even before I'd finished high school I found myself working as an assistant on a professional comic book. It was a real opportunity for a kid to get into the business."
After being picked up by Disney, and working on two feature films, Sleeping Beauty and The Sword in the Stone, Norman makes a point of expressing how humbling it was to be employed at the company, and eventually work with the old gentleman himself, Walt Disney, on the feature animation The Jungle Book. "When I first came to the studio it was in the capacity of a young animation artist. I was lucky enough to eventually work my way up to feature films," says Norman. "Sleeping Beauty was my first feature film, and on that film I didn't really see Walt that much. But during The Jungle Book, I had the honour to work directly with the old gentleman himself. It was very, very special."
The relationship was not only a case of a mutual creative enterprise, but a master and student experience as well. On the topic of Walt Disney's unique style, Norman explains what he learnt during his time in the company. "I think we change stories. I think we rarely bring a tale to the screen without giving it our particular spin," he offers. "Certainly at Disney, Walt always brought his own manner of storytelling to every film. We try to keep that in mind every time we work on a project. When we began to tackle The Jungle Book, Walt didn't want to follow Rudyard Kipling verbatim. He wanted to do his own version of it. Over the years, the stories were brought to us by Walt Disney, and he would always say, ‘This is what I want to do!'"
The relationship between animation artists and the head of the company, Norman comments, often manifested itself directly in the creative process of a film. "Did you realise that Merlin, from The Sword in the Stone, was actually based on Walt Disney?" he laughs. "The lead animator I worked under, one of the "nine old men" by the name of Milt Kahl, actually had Walt Disney in mind when designing Merlin. A lot of the characteristics and the mannerisms, especially that ‘grouchy old man' attitude, were all Walt."
Norman remains amazed at the way in which Disney films affect the lives of so many fans. "It's so rewarding to see the impact our stories have," he says. "We set out to make a good film, and if we achieve that we feel we've achieved our goals. But still, we're sometimes amazed how much people hold some characters close to heart - they truly love them, they truly embrace those characters to the extent that they become part of their life experience. So when we see children singing our songs or wearing the costumes or even knowing lines of dialogue, it just makes us realise we've done more than just make a movie - we've become a part of people's lives."
Norman recently released his own personal memoir of his work at Disney and Pixar in a new book entitled, My Animated Life. He promises that he will continue helping Disney out as a creative consultant should they need him.
The latest Walt Disney Classic to be released was Dumbo which was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 1. Beauty and the Beast will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 13.