Ever Wonder Where Disney Gets / Stores Their Animation Extras? Welcome to the ARL
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Ever Wonder Where Disney Gets / Stores Their Animation Extras? Welcome to the ARL
DISNEY UNVEILS SECRET STASH
Vault holds materials used for supplements
By Susanne Ault 2/6/2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's the secret to Disney's expansive DVD releases of classic animation titles? Its top-secret Animation Research Library might have something to do with it.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment relies on the ARL for many of the bonus features included in its revitalized classics.
For example, the Feb. 28 special edition of Lady and the Tramp includes extra material for a new scene that was discovered at the ARL by studio staffers. In the previously unreleased footage, Tramp describes people as pets.
When you're storing such coveted material, theft is a consideration. So the ARL is located in an unmarked building in a Los Angeles suburb and accessible only to Disney employees. On a recent rare press tour of the facility, attendees were forbidden to disclose the ARL address.
The ARL contains more than 65 million pieces of artwork and character figurines spanning from Disney's animated breakthrough, Steamboat Willie, up to this summer's Pixar movie Cars. Everything from finished background storyboards to scribbled-on paper scraps are treated as priceless artifacts.
To keep the items safe from aging, they are stored in a controlled 60-degree climate and many in oxygen-free casing. Otherwise such older pieces as a 1928 Mickey Mouse sketch from Steamboat Willie and a 1936 red-pencil draft of Snow White would be destroyed.
"It wasn't until the 1970s that animation became collectible," said Tim Campbell, senior manager at ARL. "Up until that time, studios thought the landfill was the best option to" store discarded material.
The Walt Disney Co. is considered the only studio to so comprehensively save all ingredients--including the mistakes--of its animated films. Campbell and tape librarian Fox Carney pointed out a discarded background painting to Fantasia.
Materials from Lady and the Tramp alone spreads out more than 900 boxes, holding sketches, storyboards and paintings.
"We are the group they come to for supplementary materials for photo galleries, menus and games," Carney said.
The ARL's inventory is overwhelmingly made up of items relating to 2D animation, often viewed as a dated technique. But 3D animators frequently visit ARL for character and scene inspiration for projects such as Cars. Live-action producers will hunt through ARL art for costume ideas.
ARL services about 300 to 400 various Disney theatrical and DVD projects each year.
"This is all landmark to the company's history," Carney said. "It's irreplaceable. We don't even look at this as collectible. We don't want to put a value on it."
One of the more beloved pieces at ARL is the original marionette doll used in creating the Pinocchio character.
"It was left in the basement of a [Disney studio] building," Carney said. "People had forgotten about it in a closet. We got it 2½ years ago. So you never know when you will find something."
For the most part, ARL goings-on are tightly controlled. Its first major off-site exhibit will be at Disney France in 2008.
"We'll insist on a courier to travel with the art and to be in view of it when it goes on to the plane and when it leaves the plane," Campbell said. "We haven't had any break-ins yet."
Vault holds materials used for supplements
By Susanne Ault 2/6/2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What's the secret to Disney's expansive DVD releases of classic animation titles? Its top-secret Animation Research Library might have something to do with it.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment relies on the ARL for many of the bonus features included in its revitalized classics.
For example, the Feb. 28 special edition of Lady and the Tramp includes extra material for a new scene that was discovered at the ARL by studio staffers. In the previously unreleased footage, Tramp describes people as pets.
When you're storing such coveted material, theft is a consideration. So the ARL is located in an unmarked building in a Los Angeles suburb and accessible only to Disney employees. On a recent rare press tour of the facility, attendees were forbidden to disclose the ARL address.
The ARL contains more than 65 million pieces of artwork and character figurines spanning from Disney's animated breakthrough, Steamboat Willie, up to this summer's Pixar movie Cars. Everything from finished background storyboards to scribbled-on paper scraps are treated as priceless artifacts.
To keep the items safe from aging, they are stored in a controlled 60-degree climate and many in oxygen-free casing. Otherwise such older pieces as a 1928 Mickey Mouse sketch from Steamboat Willie and a 1936 red-pencil draft of Snow White would be destroyed.
"It wasn't until the 1970s that animation became collectible," said Tim Campbell, senior manager at ARL. "Up until that time, studios thought the landfill was the best option to" store discarded material.
The Walt Disney Co. is considered the only studio to so comprehensively save all ingredients--including the mistakes--of its animated films. Campbell and tape librarian Fox Carney pointed out a discarded background painting to Fantasia.
Materials from Lady and the Tramp alone spreads out more than 900 boxes, holding sketches, storyboards and paintings.
"We are the group they come to for supplementary materials for photo galleries, menus and games," Carney said.
The ARL's inventory is overwhelmingly made up of items relating to 2D animation, often viewed as a dated technique. But 3D animators frequently visit ARL for character and scene inspiration for projects such as Cars. Live-action producers will hunt through ARL art for costume ideas.
ARL services about 300 to 400 various Disney theatrical and DVD projects each year.
"This is all landmark to the company's history," Carney said. "It's irreplaceable. We don't even look at this as collectible. We don't want to put a value on it."
One of the more beloved pieces at ARL is the original marionette doll used in creating the Pinocchio character.
"It was left in the basement of a [Disney studio] building," Carney said. "People had forgotten about it in a closet. We got it 2½ years ago. So you never know when you will find something."
For the most part, ARL goings-on are tightly controlled. Its first major off-site exhibit will be at Disney France in 2008.
"We'll insist on a courier to travel with the art and to be in view of it when it goes on to the plane and when it leaves the plane," Campbell said. "We haven't had any break-ins yet."
