17 Comments

Given that Disney Studios probably had a reference material library used as a primitive method of motion capture, it's no surprising that these sequences are the same. It's so easy for us to forget that most of this stuff is done by hand apart from maybe some of the "Beauty and the Beast" shots. Everyone has budgets deadlines and technical constraints to work within its no point creating everything to virtuoso levels when the general public will not notice the difference and you simply don't get the recognition for it. This does not make the work any worse only more efficient. You work with in your margins a lot of the time this means cutting corners creatively to make sure you get your work done on time and on budget and still manage to get home and see your family, clean, house bath, sleep, etc...
Gregory Allan
2009-04-20 11:12:53

Not wishing to sound pedantic, but I think you'll find that Snow White preceded The Jungle Book by 30 years.
Joe
2009-04-20 11:28:17

It can be fun observing the differences between the original and the recycled - like when the Red Hot Chili Peppers unconsciously ripped off Tom Petty's guitar riffs - but for people to scoff at the practice of recycling cels (as is common, particularly in the YouTube versions of these clips) is fairly ignorant.

Web designers recycle HTML and ActionScript code in their work every day. I recycle 3D models that I have already built in my 3D work. Why build them again?
bob
2009-04-20 11:55:52

Who was it that first noticed this, were they watching multiple Disney movies side by side? Besides, everyone recycles to one degree or another.
Mark Taylor
2009-04-20 13:40:59

Lols they obviously have too much time on their hands and need...
1) a job
2) a girlfriend
2) a social life
3) all of the above
Gregory Allan
2009-04-20 14:56:23

Fair enough.

If it took the world thirty years to notice, I think they got away with it.

I just wish the stories weren't stock as well.
Doug Kessler
2009-04-20 15:07:59

I'd say this was all fine but recycling whole gags (as in the Jungle Book, which I love) is a bit much isn't it?

Although I guess there are only so many slapstick scenes you can come up with...
Josh Geoghegan
2009-04-20 16:19:21

Animation wasn't the only cut and paste scenario from Disney. The long-forgotten "sound department" has seen much use and categorization of sounds from the past, many favored over others because, like the animations, they got the "fun" and desired points across.
AvalancheGroup
2009-04-21 00:51:10

Although Walt Disney did use some rotoscoping my guess is that he would film new stock footage rather than re-use it, Walt Disney was an obsessive perfectionist and had whole sequences re-done from scratch more than once, he really didn’t care about time/financial constraints.
As far as I can tell all the recycling is in films from 1967 or after. The company lost it’s way and there was a huge drop in quality after Walt Disney died in 1966 and I think that’s the reason it’s in these films – its definitely not business as usual for Disney (although it would have been for other studios).

No idea about recycled sound or gags
TCDouglas
2009-04-21 13:08:06

Why change a winning format!

Even though Walt Disney is allegedly part of the Illuminati etc etc I think the people who produce these cells are often overlooked!

I saw the making of the Family Guy on Sunday and was surprised how much air time the people who actually put together the animation got! Even less so on the credits! I understand the writes and voices are genius but as Seth MacFarlane said it can take a year to animate one episode so the work I presume is obviously split between many animation studios!

So to all animators, CGI and cartoonist's.......hat's off to you, Respect!
Framedink
2009-04-21 13:10:44

This is nothing new in the film industry... sadly i enjoy spotting when film sets are recylced ! - Its still goes on even with todays mega budgets... for example, the famous Town Hall in Back to the Future films, this pops up all over the place... keep your eye out for it !
Phil Holloway
2009-04-21 14:33:56

I live with an animation student, and watching him work, I have no idea how they have the patience to do it. The best part of a year with 6 people to produce a 5 minute film....forget that.
ben
2009-04-22 00:12:24

monkeys....dwarfs....that's one hell of a movie.
Tofurky
2009-04-22 07:12:06

I agree with TC Douglas.

A few inferior Disney productions from the late 60's/70s (Robin Hood, Sword in The Stone), have copied / mimicked set-pieces from earlier films. Not plotlines, not sound design or characters. Just some dances and/or slapstick comedy action scenes.

How many press ads follow the 'big clever image with witty clever line and brand logo in the bottom right' template??
Chris
2009-04-22 17:29:57

The drawing is different each time so what if the story board is reused. I do it all the time!
Paul Christie
2009-04-24 20:17:46

well i think snow whites really cool, snow whites really beautifull corrr i would ya know :)
i love her so much and i love the disney channel i want more toy story moveis
love luke hardy
k djhardy666
2009-04-30 10:51:12

why not re use the same things. the same structure. i think nowadays people are to focused on trying to think of things that has never been done, new ideas, but i think what is needed is for someone to look back at a classic film and see how it can be made better. i think thats what Disney's done here,and i wonder is it because of this same structure that they are now the classics?
ben elliott
2009-06-11 17:04:46

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