Is Walt Disney Imagineering dead?

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

I see it more as the boss micromanaging what you draw. You can still blend colors together effectively with only six crayons if you are a skilled artist. But if you're told to draw something derivative, there's not much to do about it.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can only draw what your boss says you can draw, and right now, that just happens to be the same characters over and over and over again...

 

[Disney Irish]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can only draw what your boss says you can draw, and right now, that just happens to be the same characters over and over and over again...

Practice makes perfect....

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

And I'll add that a majority of my ire about Disney Parks & Resorts - and there's plenty of it - is not due to WDI not being as perfect as I'd like them to be, but due to (a) the Company's executive team who make the big 'creative' decisions that really tee me off (Frozen in Norway; goodbye Great Movie Ride; modern mid-rise hotels) and (b) Ops Leadership, who run the parks much less appealingly than the Walties did (monetizing every inch; over-bright lighting; mass merchandising; removing curbs; removing mature trees; etc, etc).

Ohhhh...yeah...I DIG this one!

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

Practice makes perfect....

Why even hire an artist when you can just use a xerox machine?

 

[Disney Irish]

Why even hire an artist when you can just use a xerox machine?

An artist will practice their craft no matter how many times is seems repetitive.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

An artist will practice their craft no matter how many times is seems repetitive.

I get that...but it can also be stifling to an artist who is told they can only draw from pre-existing designs rather than creating something for themselves.

 

[180º]

I think you guys are giving too much credit to the current talent at WDI for supposedly being capable of much more than they are producing. WDI simply is no longer in the business of recruiting fine artists.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

I think you guys are giving too much credit to the current talent at WDI for supposedly being capable of much more than they are producing. WDI simply is no longer in the business of recruiting fine artists.

That's because fine artists see the same boring creatively bankrupt stuff Disney is creating and want no part of it.

Let's face it, the current model of WDI isn't likely to attract the next generation of guys like John Hench, Marc Davis, X Atencio, Claude Coates or Tony Baxter.

 

[180º]

That's because fine artists see the same boring creatively bankrupt stuff Disney is creating and want no part of it.

There will always be competent fine artists willing to work for money. Disney is free to approach lesser-known fine artists for commission work. That's how Sam McKim and Herb Ryman came on board for Disneyland, and Robert McCall for EPCOT Center. They need to be doing this now more than ever, but they won't. Architects, maybe. WDI commissioned a few architectural firms for a very superficial and literal translation of a setting into Buena Vista Street.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

There will always be competent fine artists willing to work for money. Disney is free to approach lesser-known fine artists for commission work. That's how Sam McKim and Herb Ryman came on board for Disneyland, and Robert McCall for EPCOT Center. They need to be doing this now more than ever, but they won't. Architects, maybe. WDI commissioned a few architectural firms for a very superficial and literal translation of a setting into Buena Vista Street.

That's true. And there are probably competent artists out there who won't mind being told they can only create from within the Disney toy box. But if all WDI is attracting is competent artists...then that's not a good sign. There are few and fewer people with actual vision left.

I daresay, guys like Joe Rohde are one of the few remaining in a dying breed of Imagineer.

 

[180º]

That's true. And there are probably competent artists out there who won't mind being told they can only create from within the Disney toy box. But if all WDI is attracting is competent artists...then that's not a good sign. There are few and fewer people with actual vision left.

I daresay, guys like Joe Rohde are one of the few remaining in a dying breed of Imagineer.

Good point. The cynical purpose of Parks and Resorts probably goes hand in hand with the low quality of art. I guess the idea of Artistic Integrity explains that.

 

[Disney Irish]

I get that...but it can also be stifling to an artist who is told they can only draw from pre-existing designs rather than creating something for themselves.

Except you had a whole generation of animators such as Ward Kimball who did just that. Go watch The Reluctant Dragon, Ward even makes a comment on drawing Goofy a couple hundred thousand times.

 

[phillip9698]

My problem isn't really that it's based on the movies, but that the ride is a movie. Despite a few good set pieces, AAs, and special effectives, far too much of it is screen based and in such a way that's it's evident that it's not real for me to give it a pass.

This discussion has moved from WDI can't tell a good story, to the story isn't good because the vehicle stops, and here it's you don't like it because of the screens. You had a topic fit for discussion but muddied it up with all the moving goalposts.

 

[Hatbox Ghostbuster]

Except you had a whole generation of animators such as Ward Kimball who did just that. Go watch The Reluctant Dragon, Ward even makes a comment on drawing Goofy a couple hundred thousand times.

Believe me, I'm more connected to the animation business than you know...

What I'm more getting at with my comments is that it would get boring creatively to have to re-hash the same characters with each new project you're assigned to. There's a reason Walt stopped with the Mickey shorts and went on to making features.

 

[TROR]

This discussion has moved from WDI can't tell a good story, to the story isn't good because the vehicle stops, and here it's you don't like it because of the screens. You had a topic fit for discussion but muddied it up with all the moving goalposts.

Nope. Having the ride vehicle stop to tell the story is an example of WDI being incapable of telling a story.

 

[Disney Irish]

Nope. Having the ride vehicle stop to tell the story is an example of WDI being incapable of telling a story.

Or its WDI wanting the guest to experience more of the story for a longer period than just 10 seconds or less.

 

[TROR]

Or its WDI wanting the guest to experience more of the story for a longer period than just 10 seconds or less.

Maybe they should get into the movie making business because that's not how stories are told in theme parks.

Oh wait, I forgot; WDI is in the movie making business...

 

[TwilightZone]

I hate to say this but I don't blame Iger or pressler, or chapek for modern disney.
I blame roy.
Think about it...really think about, he wanted somebody to raise disney's money in the bank and he got it twice.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Nope. Having the ride vehicle stop to tell the story is an example of WDI being incapable of telling a story.

Nope. That's you putting arbitrary restraints on narrative modalities.

 

[TROR]

Nope. That's you putting arbitrary restraints on narrative modalities.

Stopping to look at something isn't a ride. You need to have continual motion unless the story calls for you to stop. This can be your ride vehicle is frozen, the ride vehicle "breaks down," etc. But you can't have the ride vehicle stop without reason and call it a ride. The Carousel of Progress is not a ride, it's a show.