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Disney Completes Dali Animation

jbottero writes "Wired News has an interesting piece on a Salvador Dali animation coming out of Disney Studios. It seems that in 1946, Walt Disney and Dali teamed up on a short film called Destino. The film was shelved for money reason, and now, 57 years later, Disney animators has finished what Dali started. The six minute film will be shown in theaters next year before a Disney feature film. The remnants of the aborted film include 150 storyboards, drawings and paintings, which have sat for the last half-century in the Disney vaults. Notably, some of the project was modeled on the animation program Maya. An interesting quote from the article, Dali describes Walt Disney as one of America's greatest surrealists."

7 of 313 comments (clear)

  1. Notable ? by Animaether · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Notably, some of the project was modeled on the animation program Maya

    And this is notable, why ?
    Maya has been a mainstay for movie production involving 3D elements for a long time now. Or is this supposed to conjure images of Maya-on-Linux and thus make it relevant to Slashdot somehow ?

    This isn't any more notable than a CGI team doing shots for CSI using Bipeds from Character Studio ( 3ds max plugin ) for one of those tacky sticks-in-bullets-holes-tell-us-where-the-bullets- went animations.

    Effects houses will use the software that gets the job done, and hardly ever is the choice "notable".

    Just my 2cts on -that- topic.

    Disney completing a shelved project like this, for a 6-minute short, on the other hand, is more interesting.
  2. Sounds Like They Did It Right by the+darn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I always cringe when Disney takes one of their early artistic works (back when it at least seemed like someone cared what made it to the screen)and trots it out all "modernized" or worse, sequelized. In this instance, at least from what I can gather, they've produced something with artistic merit. I saw sketches and such of this project on the Fantasia Legacy DVD, and immediately was impressed by the bizarre vision it presented. Noone today would consider Disney avant garde...but it (well, more like HE) really was back in the day. I'm glad to see this innovative idea finally come to fruition. One can only hope that it might serve as a wake-up call as to the potential of animation as art, instead of just babysitting-fodder.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post.
  3. Re:Who? by Thjorska · · Score: 5, Funny

    the dude who painted the melting clocks.

    If you ever have the urge to sum up an artist's work in one sentence again... don't.
    --
    Current Karma Status: Roadkill
  4. One of Fantasia's Successors by Mr.+Fusion · · Score: 5, Informative
    With all the cutbacks and bad decisions Disney's made these past few years, it nice to see they've resurrected a gem of an idea like this one.

    So what happened originally you ask? Here's an excerpt from The Straight Dope:

    • Destino's fate is shrouded in as much mystery as its beginning. Disney and Dali, by mutual agreement, abandoned the project in 1947 after numerous storyboards and a 17 second test reel were completed. Hench said Disney felt the market for omnibus features had evaporated. Others privately felt that Dali's more extreme style and ideas may have been too much for Disney's midwestern sensibilities. After work on the short was shelved, much of the artwork was stolen from the studio and eventually showed up on the New York art market. Dali and Disney, however, remained good friends afterwards and continued to visit in each other's home countries.

    For more related articles, here are some great links too:

    -Mr. Fusion

  5. There's more on this in Wired Magazine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    This month's issue has several images from the movie, along with a photo of Dali and Disney together during the collaboration.

  6. It screened at Telluride by gessel · · Score: 5, Informative

    It really was worth the hype. Disney himself (grandson of the Walt) introduced it, and was justifiably proud of it. It's being introduced to compete for an Oscar. The joke was "imagine having your animated short up against Salvador Dali and Walt Disney."

    Anyway, it's a surprisingly effective melding of Dali imagery and Disney animation. The animator at Disney who had done the original work is still alive and still working at Disney, and worked to finish the movie, and the original soundtrack was restored for it.

    It's short, but if there's a screening, it's worth going just to see it. There's so much detail that the video transfer will be meaningfully less.

  7. Re:Dali Rocks!!! by mcpkaaos · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hate to burst your modern, surrealistic bubble, but Dali's inspirations came from his dreams, not from drugs. Taking acid to obtain Dali's inspiration is like kicking yourself in the nuts to get as pissed off as George Carlin.

    --
    It goes from God, to Jerry, to me.