General

David Tanaka talks about the creation of the “Pixar in Concert” project

Published

12 years ago

August 2, 2012

The following is an email interview that I recently had with
David Tanaka, the creative editor of “Pixar in Concert.” I’d like to
thank David for his detailed answers and Chris Wiggum at Pixar for arranging
the interview.

Q: Please tell me about the process. What prompted the Pixar
in Concert idea? How easy was it to get everyone on board and how long did it
take from idea to this past weekend’s event?

Tanaka: The entire process for “Pixar in Concert”
actually took around two-plus years, starting in 2010. Show producers Brice
Parker and Laurel Ladevich, and myself were in constant communication with Pete
Docter, Jonas Rivera and John Lasseter over that period of time, as we
sharpened the conceptual approach to the concert, reached out to all the Pixar
directors, producers and music composers, and refined the evolving edited
musical suites for each of the Pixar movies to be featured in the performance.

It really all started with a simple, “What if we did a
concert on the music of Pixar?” from Brice Parker to Pete Docter. Pete,
whose mother is a music instructor and has a strong musical background himself,
loved the idea. Based on his interest in the proposal, I started editing a few
“sample cuts” on some of the Pixar films in accordance with the base
idea. I believe the first few edits included “UP,” “Finding
Nemo” and the first two “Toy Story” movies.

After review with Pete and Jonas Rivera, the results were
then shown to Disney Music Publishing’s Chris Montan and Tom MacDougall. They
in turn embraced the idea and encouraged us to continue to pursue the project.

A few edited iterations and additions later and we had a
formal presentation to show to John Lasseter in one of Pixar’s screening review
rooms. John also loved the idea and agreed that the concert should really be
only about the music – no dialogue at all from the Pixar movies to interrupt
the audience’s pleasure listening to the musical scores, very limited sound
effects only to enhance the point of the music if need be, and imagery directly
from the movies themselves with no additional “bonus material” such
as behind-the-scenes conceptual artwork or crew photos.

This would instead be “all about the music,” as it relates
to what the audience members themselves experienced when they first enjoyed the
Pixar movies through the years.

With this set of parameters understood and agreed upon, a
constant stream of editing was produced and sent to Pete and John as our
creative executives over the coming months. Given both individuals’ busy
schedules and other company commitments, this often resulted in a lot of
QuickTime movie files generated and many “iPad” reviews. They in turn
would give Brice Parker, Laurel Ladevich and myself cut content feedback via
email or voicemail, with occasional formal review get-togethers wherever
possible.

We would also arrange for individuals such as music composer
Michael Giacchino to stop by my Avid Media Composer edit suite from time to
time to review certain cuts (specifically “The Incredibles,”
“Ratatouille” and “UP” in Michael’s case). Michael in
particular was very gracious with his time, offering great suggestions not only
with musical selections, but also pointers on how, for example, to rhythmically
transition from low melodies to extremely fast paced scores and vice-versa in
certain cases.

Q: What was your role as creative editor?

Tanaka: My role as Creative Editor entailed performing all
edits for the entire set of Pixar musical concert suites, from the first
rough-cut conceptual passes to final online polishing. The process involved
collaborating with all of the Pixar directors, producers and music composers to
ensure that my personal selection of music and related animated imagery jibed
with their expectations for each of the 13 Pixar animated features to date.

Q: Tell me more about the selection and order of clips to
support the underlying music.

Tanaka: I was pretty much left to my own accord regarding
how to initially approach musical selection and accompanying Pixar picture
content. With the amount of creative control I was given, I thought it best to
approach the editing process by simply asking myself as a moviegoer, “What
are my fondest memories from each of the Pixar movies?” For that reason
picture and music were often cut together, directly from each Pixar movie as
they were synced for original feature film release, as a starting point.

(But) we had two major challenges throughout the editorial
process regarding edited content:

1 – Core Narrative Theme Per Film:

Since this concert project is to celebrate the music of
Pixar, we don’t necessarily want to re-tell the entire story of each movie,
from start to finish, in some kind of condensed cut version. We knew we could
pretty much assume that persons paying for tickets to experience this concert
had seen most of the Pixar movies, if not all of them. Therefore, from an
editorial standpoint, the challenge became how to craft one’s favorite moments
from the films into some central narrative core theme or message per movie.

In the case of “Ratatouille,” for example, it was
Remy’s “joy of cooking” over, say, Linguini’s romance story with
Collette or his butting heads with Sous Chef Skinner. For “Finding
Nemo,” it was the father/son relationship between Marlon and Nemo despite
how entertaining the banter between Marlon and Dory was to watch. For
“UP,” it was no question (it was) all about Carl Fredrickson’s love
for his best friend and wife Ellie, despite his newfound relationships with
Russell, Kevin the bird and talking dog, Dug, in the movie.

In making these clear cut decisions to focus on specific
narrative themes, it helped shape the direction of my edits further away from
just being “best of” or “highlights” montage reels. Adhering to this approach of conveying narrative themes as
best as possible, however, sometimes meant breaking with the actual
chronological unfolding of events as originally presented in the movies.

For “Monsters, Inc.,” for example, to tell the
story of Sully’s caring for Boo we needed to first explain how the factory
“scare floor” actually worked, with its access to children’s multiple
bedrooms. To show how sad it was for Sully to leave Boo behind before he
reopens her bedroom door at the end of the movie, however, I decided to
introduce the characters’ sad parting scene in “flashback,” right
before Sully opens the door. Such an arrangement deviated from the feature film,
but gave the best emotional payoff possible for the concert audience while at
the same time complementing Randy Newman’s underlying score.

Another example is “WALL•E” in which it was
decided early on that we would focus on the romance between the little trash
compacting robot and E.V.E, as opposed to the story of “humans in
space.” Such scenes struck an emotional chord with moviegoers and also
offered some of the most beautiful scores Thomas Newman created for the film.
In order to center on the romance theme, however, we felt we needed to remind
audiences of WALL•E’s personality first – his humor and sense of awe. Again
breaking from original feature film release narrative order, I decided to first
showcase scenes in which WALL•E comically sifts through trash in his “day
job,” as well as when he takes in the wonders of the universe upon leaving
Earth. Although WALL•E first meets E.V.E. before leaving his home planet,
presenting concert audiences with his tour of the universe first made for a better
understanding as to why WALLE•e is so awe-inspired by E.V.E.’s ability to fly (when she was introduced on Earth) and how
easy it was to immediately fall in love with her.

2 – Concert Performance Time Constraints

The other challenge to editing this concert was purely
logistical: time. Working closely with
San Francisco’s Davies Symphony Hall, we determined that a concert event of
this type should run approximately 90 minutes in total length, with a 20-minute
intermission included. With thirteen Pixar feature animated motion pictures to
account for, that roughly determined that each of my edited suites should run
for as short as four minutes to as long as seven or eight minutes, but no
longer. Given the adherence to highlighting particular narrative themes per movie
and the ability to shift scenes out of sequence, I could cut in accordance to
such time constraints, and as a whole deliver edited concert material within
the requested 70-minute total running time.

In the final stages of production, my job as Creative Editor
also entailed final video projection quality checks with Brice Parker and
Laurel Ladevich prior to the actual live performances at San Francisco’s Davies
Symphony Hall, connecting with Disney Music Publishing’s team of Jonathan Heely
and Ed Kainins to go over technical concerns regarding smooth video projection
playback rates and cross-comparing conductor versus audience synced video
footage, and also communicating with Music Arranger Mark Watters, regarding
any last (minute) questions or suggestions during rehearsals with Conductor
Sarah Hicks and the Davies Symphony Orchestra.

Q: I found it interesting that the music wasn’t shown in
chronological order starting with “Toy Story” and ending with
“Brave.” Knowing Pixar, I knew there was some thought given to the
program arrangement. Can you tell me more about the decision-making?

Tanaka: It was such an interesting selection process to go
through regarding concert program arrangement, for we definitely had several
key points of criteria to consider. Right from the start, however, the one fact
that we knew didn’t make any sense to adhere to was the chronological order in
which the Pixar movies were originally released. “So what,” right? As
personal fans of cinema ourselves, our love of movies really has no bearing on
compartmentalizing feature films to what specific year they were shown to the
public for the very first time (we just love them!).

Beyond starting the concert with Pixar’s first film
“Toy Story” as sort of an homage to “the little film company that
could,” the program arrangement of the other movies came down to other factors.
Those factors included:

who the Pixar director and music composer were for each
production
if that particular production was a Pixar sequel
and, the resulting overall tone of the piece I ended up
editing to represent each movie.

(L to R) Lee Unkrich, John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and friends.
Copyright Pixar. All rights reserved

We really felt that the specific movies per each of our five
Pixar directors (Andrews, Bird, Docter, Lasseter and Stanton) should be equally
spread across the program as opposed to being clumped together since there may
be aesthetic similarities if we group one filmmaker’s body of work one after
another. Why not instead spread them out?

Similarly, we felt that our four Pixar music composers
(Doyle, Giacchino, R. Newman and T. Newman) should also be separated across the
entire concert so their composing styles could be best appreciated played in
contrast to one another, as opposed to being performed one after another.

In addition, it only made sense that Pixar sequels (such as
sequels for the “Toy Story” and “Cars” sagas) should be
separated from one another in the program so they could be appreciated on their
own merits,and not unfairly condensed down as if to imply that they together
represent just one story and individually nothing more.

Lastly, the final edited suite I created for each Pixar
movie was then assessed for its content and the resulting overall tone that was
created. For example, “The
Incredibles” and “Cars 2” suites I cut really celebrated the
action adventure spirit contained in each of those films, therefore they should
perhaps not be placed next to each other in order to give the audience variety
spread across the entire concert.

On the other end of the spectrum, “Finding Nemo”
and “UP” evolved into offering two of our most dramatic and emotional
suites for the evening, therefore they should intentionally be set apart from
each other for optimum audience appreciation.

David Tanaka then volunteered some “closing
thoughts” :

As mentioned, the entire process lasted for (more than) two
years, with much collaboration and back and forth communication from all
involved. It was truly a fun process for myself and everyone involved, all in
the name of our love of musical scores.

In addition to the satisfaction of representing our Pixar
movies, directors, music composers and movie soundtracks as best as possible,
having audience members experience and enjoy Pixar’s 13 movies through music
and just in the span of a mere 90-minute concert performance was an extremely
rewarding experience for me as the project’s Creative Editor, and hopefully for
the audience as well!

General

Seward Johnson bronzes add a surreal, artistic touch to NYC’s Garment District

Published

9 years ago

June 23, 2015

Jim Hill

Greetings from NYC. Nancy and I drove down from New
Hampshire yesterday because we'll be checking out
Disney Consumer Products' annual Holiday Showcase later today.

Anyway … After checking into our hotel (i.e., The Paul.
Which is located down in NYC's NoMad district), we decided to grab some dinner.
Which is how we wound up at the Melt Shop.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is this restaurant that only sells grilled cheese sandwiches.
This comfort food was delicious, but kind of on the heavy side.

Photo by Jim Hill

Which is why — given that it was a beautiful summer night
— we'd then try and walk off our meals. We started our stroll down by the Empire
State Building
…

Photo by Jim Hill

… and eventually wound up just below Times
Square (right behind where the Waterford Crystal Times Square New
Year's Eve Ball is kept).

Photo by Jim Hill

But you know what we discovered en route? Right in the heart
of Manhattan's Garment District
along Broadway between 36th and 41st? This incredibly cool series of life-like
and life-sized sculptures that Seward
Johnson has created.

Photo by Jim Hill

And — yes — that is Abraham Lincoln (who seems to have
slipped out of WDW's Hall of Presidents when no one was looking and is now
leading tourists around Times Square). These 18 painted
bronze pieces (which were just installed late this past Sunday night / early
Monday morning) range from the surreal to the all-too-real.

Photo by Jim Hill

Some of these pieces look like typical New Yorkers. Like the
business woman planning out her day …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the postman delivering the mail …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the hot dog vendor working at his cart …

Photo by Jim Hill

… the street musician playing for tourists …

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention the tourists themselves.

Photo by Jim Hill

But right alongside the bronze businessmen …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and the tired grandmother hauling her groceries home …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there were also statues representing people who were
from out-of-town …

Photo by Jim Hill

… or — for that matter — out-of-time.

Photo by Jim Hill

These were the Seward Johnson pieces that genuinely beguiled. Famous impressionist paintings brought to life in three dimensions.

Note the out-of-period water bottle that some tourist left
behind. Photo by Jim Hill

Some of them so lifelike that you actually had to pause for
a moment (especially as day gave way to night in the city) and say to yourself
"Is that one of the bronzes? Or just someone pretending to be one of these
bronzes?"

Mind you, for those of you who aren't big fans of the
impressionists …

Photo by Jim Hill

… there's also an array of American icons. Among them
Marilyn Monroe …

Photo by Jim Hill

… and that farmer couple from Grant Wood's "American
Gothic."

Photo by Jim Hill

But for those of you who know your NYC history, it's hard to
beat that piece which recreates Alfred Eisenstaedt's famous photograph of V-J Day in Times Square.

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, a 25-foot-tall version of this particular Seward
Johnson piece ( which — FYI — is entitled "Embracing Peace") will actually
be placed in Times Square for a few days on or around August 14th to commemorate the 70th
anniversary of Victory Over Japan Day (V-J Day).

Photo by Jim Hill

By the way, if you'd like to check these Seward Johnson bronzes in
person (which — it should be noted — are part of the part of the Garment
District Alliance's new public art offering) — you'd best schedule a trip to
the City sometime over the next three months. For these pieces will only be on
display now through September 15th.

General

Wondering what you should “Boldly Go” see at the movies next year? The 2015 Licensing Expo offers you some clues

Published

9 years ago

June 10, 2015

Jim Hill

Greeting from the 2015 Licensing Expo, which is being held
at the Mandalay Bay
Convention Center in Las
Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

I have to admit that I enjoy covering the Licensing Expo.
Mostly becomes it allows bloggers & entertainment writers like myself to
get a peek over the horizon. Scope out some of the major motion pictures &
TV shows that today's vertically integrated entertainment conglomerates
(Remember when these companies used to be called movie studios?) will be
sending our way over the next two years or so.

Photo by Jim Hill

Take — for example — all of "The Secret Life of
Pets" banners that greeted Expo attendees as they made their way to the
show floor today. I actually got to see some footage from this new Illumination
Entertainment production (which will hit theaters on July 8, 2016) the last time I was in Vegas. Which
was for CinemaCon back in April. And the five or so minutes of film that I viewed
suggested that "The Secret Life of Pets" will be a really funny
animated feature.

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, Universal Pictures wanted to make sure that Expo
attendees remembered that there was another Illumination Entertainment production
coming-to-a-theater-near-them before "The Secret Life of Pets" (And
that's "Minions," the "Despicable Me" prequel. Which
premieres at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival next week but
won't be screened stateside 'til July 10th of this year). Which is why they had
three minions who were made entirely out of LEGOS loitering out in the lobby.

Photo by Jim Hill

And Warner Bros. — because they wanted "Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice" to start trending on Twitter today — brought
the Batmobile to Las Vegas.

Photo by Jim Hill

Not to mention full-sized macquettes of Batman, Superman and
Wonder Woman. Just so conventioneers could then see what these DC superheroes
would actually look like in this eagerly anticipated, March 25, 2016 release.

Photo by Jim Hill

That's the thing that can sometimes be a wee bit frustrating
about the Licensing Expo. It's all about delayed gratification. You'll come
around a corner and see this 100 foot-long ad for "The Peanuts Movie"
and think "Hey, that looks great. I want to see that Blue Sky Studios production
right now." It's only then that you notice the fine print and realize that
"The Peanuts Movie" doesn't actually open in theaters 'til November
6th of this year.

Photo by Jim Hill

And fan of Blue Sky's "Ice Age" film franchise are in for an even
longer wait. Given that the latest installment in that top grossing series
doesn't arrive in theaters 'til July
15, 2016.

Photo by Jim Hill

Of course, if you're one of those people who needs immediate
gratification when it comes to your entertainment, there was stuff like that to
be found at this year's Licensing Expo. Take — for example — how the WWE
booth was actually shaped like a wrestling ring. Which — I'm guessing — meant
that if the executives of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. didn't like
the offer that you were making, they were then allowed to toss you out over the
top rope, Royal Rumble-style.

Photo by Jim Hill

I also have to admit that — as a longtime Star Trek fan —
it was cool to see the enormous Starship Enterprise that hung in place over the
CBS booth. Not to mention getting a glimpse of the official Star Trek 50th
Anniversary logo.

Photo by Jim Hill

I was also pleased to see lots of activity in The Jim Henson
Company booth. Which suggests that JHC has actually finally carved out a
post-Muppets identity for itself.

Photo by Jim Hill

Likewise for all of us who were getting a little concerned
about DreamWorks Animation (what with all the layoffs & write-downs &
projects that were put into turnaround or outright cancelled last year), it was
nice to see that booth bustling.

Photo by Jim Hill

Every so often, you'd come across some people who were
promoting a movie that you weren't entirely sure that you actually wanted to
see (EX: "Angry Birds," which Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia
Pictures will be releasing to theaters on May 20, 2016). But then you remembered that Clay Kaytis —
who's this hugely talented former Walt Disney Animation Studios animator — is
riding herd on "Angry Birds" with Fergal Reilly. And you'd think
"Well, if Clay's working on 'Angry Birds,' I'm sure this animated feature
will turn out fine."

Photo by Jim Hill

Mind you, there were reminders at this year's Licensing Expo
of great animated features that we're never going to get to see now. I still
can't believe — especially after that brilliant proof-of-concept footage
popped up online last year — that Sony execs decided not to go forward
with production of Genndy Tartakovsky's
"Popeye" movie. But that's the
cruel thing about the entertainment business, folks. It will sometime break
your heart.

Photo by Jim Hill

And make no mistake about this. The Licensing Expo is all
about business. That point was clearly driven home at this year's show when —
as you walked through the doors of the Mandalay
Bay Convention Center
— the first thing that you saw was the Hasbros Booth. Which was this gleaming,
sleek two story-tall affair full of people who were negotiating deals &
signing contracts for all of the would-be summer blockbusters that have already
announced release dates for 2019 & beyond.

Photo by Jim Hill

"But what about The Walt Disney Company?," you
ask. "Weren't they represented on the show floor at this year's Licensing
Expo?" Not really, not. I mean, sure. There were a few companies there hyping
Disney-related products. Take — for example — the Disney Wikkeez people.

Photo by Jim Hill

I'm assuming that some Disney Consumer Products exec is
hoping that Wikkeez will eventually become the new Tsum Tsum. But to be blunt,
these little hard plastic figures don't seem to have the same huggable charm
that those stackable plush do. But I've been wrong before. So let's see what
happens with Disney Wikkeez once they start showing up on the shelves of the
Company's North American retail partners.

Photo by Jim Hill

And speaking of Disney's retail partners … They were
meeting with Mouse House executives behind closed doors one floor down from the
official show floor for this year's Licensing Expo.

Photo by Jim Hill

And the theme for this year's invitation-only Disney shindig? "Timeless
Stories" involving the Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm brands that
would then appeal to "tomorrow's consumer."

Photo by Jim Hill

And just to sort of hammer home the idea that Disney is no
longer the Company which cornered the market when it comes to little girls
(i.e., its Disney Princess and Disney Fairies franchises), check out this
wall-sized Star Wars-related image that DCP put up just outside of one of its
many private meeting rooms. "See?," this carefully crafted photo
screams. "It isn't just little boys who want to wield the Force. Little
girls also want to grow up and be Lords of the Sith."

Photo by Jim Hill

One final, kind-of-ironic note: According to this banner,
Paramount Pictures will be releasing a movie called "Amusement Park"
to theaters sometime in 2017.

Photo by Jim Hill

Well, given all the "Blackfish" -related issues
that have been dogged SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment over the past two years, I'm
just hoping that they'll still be in the amusement park business come 2017.

Your thoughts?

General

It takes more than three circles to craft a Classic version of Mickey Mouse

Published

9 years ago

June 9, 2015

Jim Hill

You know what Mickey Mouse looks like, right? Little guy,
big ears?

Truth be told, Disney's corporate symbol has a lot of
different looks. If Mickey's interacting with Guests at Disneyland
Park (especially this summer, when
the Happiest Place on Earth
is celebrating its 60th anniversary), he looks & dresses like this.

Or when he's appearing in one of those Emmy Award-winning shorts that Disney
Television Animation has produced (EX: "Bronco Busted," which debuts
on the Disney Channel tonight at 8 p.m. ET / PT), Mickey is drawn in a such a
way that he looks hip, cool, edgy & retro all at the same time.

Looking ahead to 2017 now, when Disney Junior rolls out "Mickey and the
Roadster Racers," this brand-new animated series will feature a sportier version
of Disney's corporate symbol. One that Mouse House managers hope will persuade
preschool boys to more fully embrace this now 86 year-old character.

That's what most people don't realize about the Mouse. The
Walt Disney Company deliberately tailors Mickey's look, even his style of
movement, depending on what sort of project / production he's appearing in.

Take — for example — Disney
California Adventure
Park's "World of Color:
Celebrate!" Because Disney's main mouse would be co-hosting this new
nighttime lagoon show with ace emcee Neil Patrick Harris, Eric Goldberg really had
to step up Mickey's game. Which is why this master Disney animator created
several minutes of all-new Mouse animation which then showed that Mickey was
just as skilled a showman as Neil was.

Better yet, let's take a look at what the folks at Avalanche Studios just went
through as they attempted to create a Classic version of Mickey & Minnie.
One that would then allow this popular pair to become part of Disney Infinity
3.0.

"I won't lie to you. We were under a lot of pressure to
get the look of this particular version of Mickey — he's called Red Pants
Mickey around here — just right," said Jeff Bunker, the VP of Art
Development at Avalanche Studios, during a recent phone interview. "When
we brought Sorcerer Mickey into Disney Infinity 1.0 back in January of 2014,
that one was relatively easy because … Well, everyone knows what Mickey Mouse
looked like when he appeared in 'Fantasia.' "

"But this time around, we were being asked to design
THE Mickey & Minnie," Bunker continued. "And given that these Classic
Disney characters have been around in various different forms for the better
part of the last century … Well, which look was the right look?"

Which is why Jeff and his team at Avalanche Studios began watching hours &
hours of Mickey Mouse shorts. As they tried to get a handle on which look would
work best for these characters in Disney Infinity 3.0.

"And we went all the way back to the very start of Mickey's career. We began
with 'Steamboat Willie' and then watched all of those black & white Mickey shorts
that Walt made back in the late 1920s & early 1930s. From there, we
transitioned to his Technicolor shorts. Which is when Mickey went from being
this pie-eyed, really feisty character to more of a well-behaved leading
man," Bunker recalled. "We then finished out our Mouse marathon by
watching all of those new Mickey shorts that Paul Rudish & his team have
been creating for Disney Television Animation. Those cartoons really recapture
a lot of the spirit and wild slapstick fun that Mickey's early, black &
white shorts had."

But given that the specific assignment that Avalanche Studios had been handed
was to create the most appealing looking, likeable version of Mickey Mouse
possible … In the end, Jeff and his team wound up borrowing bits & pieces
from a lot of different versions of the world's most famous mouse. So that
Classic Mickey would then look & move in a way that best fit the sort of
gameplay which people would soon be able to experience with Disney Infinity
3.0.

"That — in a lot of ways — was actually the toughest
part of the Classic Mickey design project. You have to remember that one of the
key creative conceits of Disney Infinity
is that all the characters which appear in this game are toys," Bunker
stated. "Okay. So they're beautifully detailed, highly stylized toy
versions of beloved Disney, Pixar, Marvel & Lucasfilm characters. But
they're still supposed to be toys. So our Classic versions of Mickey &
Minnie have the same sort of thickness & sturdiness to them that toys have.
So that they'll then be able to fit right in with all of the rest of the
characters that Avalanche Studios had previously designed for Disney Infinity."

And then there was the matter of coming up with just the
right pose for Classic Mickey & Minnie. Which — to hear Jeff tell the
story — involved input from a lot of Disney upper management.

"Everyone within the Company seemed to have an opinion
about how Mickey & Minnie should be posed. More to the point, if you Google
Mickey, you then discover that there are literally thousands of poses out there
for these two. Though — truth be told — a lot of those kind of play off the
way Mickey poses when he's being Disney's corporate symbol," Bunker said.
"But what I was most concerned about was that Mickey's pose had to work
with Minnie's pose. Because we were bringing the Classic versions of these
characters up into Disney Infinity 3.0 at the exact same time. And we wanted to
make sure — especially for those fans who like to put their Disney Infinity
figures on display — that Mickey's pose would then complement Minnie.

Which is why Jeff & the crew at Avalanche Studios
decided — when it came to Classic Mickey & Minnie's pose — that they
should go all the way back to the beginning. Which is why these two Disney icons
are sculpted in such a way that it almost seems as though you're witnessing the
very first time Mickey set eyes on Minnie.

"And what was really great about that was — as soon as
we began showing people within the Company this pose — everyone at Disney
quickly got on board with the idea. I mean, the Classic Mickey that we sculpted
for Disney Infinity 3.0 is clearly a very playful, spunky character. But at the
same time, he's obviously got eyes for Minnie," Bunker concluded. "So
in the end, we were able to come up with Classic versions of these characters
that will work well within the creative confines of Disney Infinity 3.0 but at
the same time please those Disney fans who just collect these figures because
they like the way the Disney Infinity characters look."

So now that this particular design project is over, does
Jeff regret that Mouse House upper management was so hands-on when it came to
making sure that the Classic versions of Mickey & Minnie were specifically
tailored to fit the look & style of gameplay found in Disney Infinity 3.0?

"To be blunt, we go through this every time we add a new character to the
game. The folks at Lucasfilm were just as hands-on when we were designing the
versions of Darth Vader and Yoda that will also soon be appearing in Disney
Infinity 3.0," Bunker laughed. "So in the end, if the character's
creators AND the fans are happy, then I'm happy."

This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Tuesday, June 9, 2015