Creative Capers, an animation studio out of Altadena, California, has begun to produce and publish via YouTube episodic, 2-minute videos in a stop motion series which they call, The Wonderful World of Walt. The inspiration for the films comes from rare, unachieved audio recordings of the most famous animation film legend of all, Walt Disney.
So far three short films in the series have been published on the Creative Caper YouTube channel, each focusing on a slightly different aspect of Walt Disney’s personality, life, and career. That being said, more imagination goes into these shorts than you might imagine, as all the animators, design crew, and creative team at Creative Capers have to work with is Walt’s voice. Everything, from the minutiae of Walt’s office and desk to his personality-specific gestures have to be thought-up by the team at Creative Capers from scratch, with the challenge of still doing justice to Mr. Disney.
The first episode is entitled, “Mr. Disney…What do you do?” and covers the subject of Walt’s later years of working at his studio his role in the Disney Co. at that time. In it, Walt, sitting at his desk and talking to someone else over a microphone, relays the story where an “intelligent little boy…about ten or eleven,” asked him exactly what his job was. “Did you draw all of those pictures yourself?” the boy asked Disney, who had to take a second-take and try to figure out a way to describe his job the boy.
The second episode is entitled “Teenagers N’ Things,” and it brings to life a recording of Walt talking about his relationship with his daughter in how it related to his designing Disneyland. In this episode we see a less-formal Walt, animated sitting on a bench, eating popcorn and watching live-action Disneyland tourists as they walk by him.
The third episode, in the same black-and-white style of the first, sees Walt at a theater, watching Bambi and narrating a story to a friend. The episode is entitled, “Daddy…Why did you have to kill Bambi’s mother?”, and it features Walt answering that very question, the discussion interweaving his professional and personal life.
What I thought quite a charming creative stylistic twist is that each episode changes settings to fit in the mood of the project: The first episode differs from the second in that it is in black-and-white, which seems to fit the occasion appropriately. The first from the second from the third in the occasion.
Here's a short history of the studio, followed by several behind-the-scenes photos that the kind folks over at Creative Capers were able to share with me:
Cartoon Brew, another great animation-news site, did a post featuring several behind-the-scenes photos which you can go see here. You can also have another peek behind the scenes in the behind-the-scenes video and through the posts on the Creative Capers Instagram profile. (You might have to scroll through their feed some to find the correct posts.)
Here are the credits for the videos:
So far three short films in the series have been published on the Creative Caper YouTube channel, each focusing on a slightly different aspect of Walt Disney’s personality, life, and career. That being said, more imagination goes into these shorts than you might imagine, as all the animators, design crew, and creative team at Creative Capers have to work with is Walt’s voice. Everything, from the minutiae of Walt’s office and desk to his personality-specific gestures have to be thought-up by the team at Creative Capers from scratch, with the challenge of still doing justice to Mr. Disney.
The first episode is entitled, “Mr. Disney…What do you do?” and covers the subject of Walt’s later years of working at his studio his role in the Disney Co. at that time. In it, Walt, sitting at his desk and talking to someone else over a microphone, relays the story where an “intelligent little boy…about ten or eleven,” asked him exactly what his job was. “Did you draw all of those pictures yourself?” the boy asked Disney, who had to take a second-take and try to figure out a way to describe his job the boy.
The second episode is entitled “Teenagers N’ Things,” and it brings to life a recording of Walt talking about his relationship with his daughter in how it related to his designing Disneyland. In this episode we see a less-formal Walt, animated sitting on a bench, eating popcorn and watching live-action Disneyland tourists as they walk by him.
The third episode, in the same black-and-white style of the first, sees Walt at a theater, watching Bambi and narrating a story to a friend. The episode is entitled, “Daddy…Why did you have to kill Bambi’s mother?”, and it features Walt answering that very question, the discussion interweaving his professional and personal life.
What I thought quite a charming creative stylistic twist is that each episode changes settings to fit in the mood of the project: The first episode differs from the second in that it is in black-and-white, which seems to fit the occasion appropriately. The first from the second from the third in the occasion.
Here's a short history of the studio, followed by several behind-the-scenes photos that the kind folks over at Creative Capers were able to share with me:
"Creative Capers Entertainment is an award winning animation and design studio that has worked on numerous Disney projects over the years. Terry Shakespeare and David Molina left Bluth Studios after Land Before Time to work in Disney Consumer Products. When Sue Shakespeare founded Creative Capers with the two directors in 1989, a partnership with Disney was already formed.
Having the chance to work on classic Disney characters, whether it be Mickey and the gang, or Merlin fighting the Disney Villains at the Magic Kingdom, it has been a great joy of Creative Capers to work on the same characters as Uncle Walt himself.
Walt Disney's legacy has always been an inspiration for the studio and we wanted to show our love for the man by bringing him back to life through this stop-motion series. The Wonderful World of Walt will be snippets and stories from the man himself about his studio, his life, dreams, and passions.
There will be no shortage of trains, musings on the Magic Kingdom, and what it took for Walt to build the empire we all know and love. In the fashion of Disneyland the Show and the Wonderful World of Color, we can't wait to explore more stories of the life and legacy of Walt Disney. Episode 3 will be coming soon!
You can follow us @creativecapers on Instagram and @capersofcce on twitter to find out when the next Wonderful World of Walt Episode presented by Bupkis Motors will air. Stay tuned!"
Cartoon Brew, another great animation-news site, did a post featuring several behind-the-scenes photos which you can go see here. You can also have another peek behind the scenes in the behind-the-scenes video and through the posts on the Creative Capers Instagram profile. (You might have to scroll through their feed some to find the correct posts.)
Here are the credits for the videos:
Executive Producer: Sue Shakespeare
Produced and Directed by Terry Shakespeare and David Molina
Stop Motion Animators: Terry Shakespeare, Matthew Bates, and David Molina
Special Process by Nicholas Reiber
Film Editor: Christian Weyne
Prop Artists: Ron Harris, Terry Shakespeare, David Molina, and Matthew Bates
Walt's Wardrobe: Alareece DiAndrea
Puppet Designed by David Molina and Terry Shakespeare
Additional Animation: Creative Capers Entertainment
Walt Disney Interview by Pete Martin and Diane Disney Miller
