Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest-ID-80358.asp" target="_blank"><b>Latest: Video: An Animated Version of America Sings</b></a> <p>Disney animator James Lopez has been animating a 2D version of America Sings for more than 10 years. It's still not quite complete, but now you can take a look.</p> <p align="center"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/45136294" width="450" height="233" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p>(HT: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disneylands-america-sings-by-james-lopez.html">Cartoon Brew</a> and <a target="_blank" href="http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/2012/07/old-tomorrowland-animated-america-sings.html">Disney History Institute</a>)</p>
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 That was awesome, I hope he finishes it some day, it was my favorite attraction as a kid...
Originally Posted By phruby That was incrediable! It's definately got the Disney look. If it took ten years to make that, how long is the rest of the show going to take?
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA That's a pretty ambitious project. But the animation looks great. Go James!
Originally Posted By FerretAfros That's a really ambitious project, but it looks great so far. It definitely has a certain Pooh-quality to the animation and backgrounds, and just feels very familiar. I can't wait to see it finished (in another couple decades)!
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA My guess is that he's just working on animating the opening sequence of 'America Sings'
Originally Posted By WilliamK99 My guess is that he's just working on animating the opening sequence of 'America Sings'<< Not sure if Disney lawyers would let him, but it would be awesome if he started a Kickstarter project to fund for the rest of the project, it would be fantastic if future generations could experience this attraction.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Maybe by showing the work in progress .. can gain public. And obtain some help, and the project moving along at a quicker pace. If it took him 10-15 years just to work on what we saw ... (and I have no idea how old this guy is) ... may never see a completion. So ... whatever support/help he can gain .. the better.
Originally Posted By oc_dean >>My guess is that he's just working on animating the opening sequence of 'America Sings'<< We know the show runs some 24-25 minutes. And if it took 10-15 years just to do that much ... Makes you think - The opening act will be as much as he can do. If by some miracle he can do the entire show ... that will be so wonderful.
Originally Posted By oc_dean In addition to this .. Kevin Kidney has a new column on America Sings this month: <a href="http://miehana.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/hear-america-sing.html" target="_blank">http://miehana.blogspot.com.au...ing.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros While I really don't expect him to have fully animated the entire thing in his free time, I suspect that after 10 years, he probably has at least most of the show storyboarded. If it were me, I would sort of work in phases, getting all of each step done for the entire show before moving on to the next step. Maybe he prefers to finish each act of the show before moving on to the next, but this just doesn't seem like a lot of product for 10 years. I know that animation is a slow-going process (especially in your spare time), but it seems like he probably hasn't published ALL of his work yet. Just enough to get people excited for something more to come in the (hopfully sooner-rather-than-later) future.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros dean, that's a really fun article. I really haven't read many historic documents from Disneyland (though I've read plenty of modern descriptions of the old times), so it was good to see what they thought of it at the time. They sure seemed to have strong feelings about COP. And this quote really stood out to me. It really makes you wonder about all those survey-takers they have all over the place these days... >>Disney executives approved the project at several stages of development, but there was no real market testing. "I think we have a feeling if something is going to work," said Davis. After 39 years, he said, you just know when an idea will be popular or not.<<
Originally Posted By mawnck >>And if it took 10-15 years just to do that much ... Makes you think - The opening act will be as much as he can do. << It's my understanding that this is just a preview. A lot more has been completed. As for my opinion ... You want me to be the bad guy? OK, I'm the bad guy. The animation, what there is of it, is nicely done, but this appears to be shaping up as a terribly static and boring show. They're standing there talking. And talking. And talking. Rooted to the spot, and not doing much of anything. Which is great for animatronics, but doesn't work at all in hand drawn. Five minutes of this sort of thing, no matter how nicely animated, is going to be difficult to sit through. 25 is going to be deadly.
Originally Posted By oc_dean Sam takes off his hat, which was not done in the actual attraction. So perhaps .. there's more taking license (away from being a "perfect" representation of the exact show) .. and make the animals do more things, than they were capable of, as AAs.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Also, the owl (forget his name), jumps up and flaps his wings, which also never happened in the show. So, he's taken some nice liberties. Sure, the characters aren't moving much, but it wouldn't be the same show if they moved too much. It's a nice compromise. Since it seems to be an homage to classic 70's style Disney animation, it's expected that he wouldn't use too many sweeping shots or characters from different angles...Disney didn't do that either at the time. I am curious how the musical numbers will go though, since there should be much more action.
Originally Posted By Kidz-n-k9s That was nice to watch. I almost felt like my chair was moving onto the next scene at the end.
Originally Posted By Socrates Doesn't Jeff Lange have America Sings on one of his videos? Socrates "The unexamined life is not worth living."
