AN ANIMATED LIFE
Bear Necessities
Easily the most successful productions coming out of Orlando in the 1990’s and early 2000’s were the animated films coming from the Florida unit of Walt Disney Feature Animation. From Roger Rabbit shorts to bits and pieces of feature-length films, they graduated to developing their own features with Mulan, Lilo & Stitch and Brother Bear. And so we were honored to interview one of the co-directors of Brother Bear, Aaron Blaise.
Aaron was among the first people to get hired for the Florida unit, and one of the last to leave, so it was great to have a chance to talk to him about life as part of a tourist attraction (in the Disney-MGM Studios), and the family that grew up together there, and the sadness when they eventually were shut down.
Nowadays, he’s trying to spread his art and animation knowledge online. Check out creatureartteacher.com!
Aaron Blaise,
Co-Director – Disney’s “BROTHER BEAR”
Later Aaron graduated from the Ringling College of Art with a certificate in Illustration in 1989. He was then hired by Walt Disney Feature Animation where he spent 21 years helping to create some of the greatest animated films ever made. During that time he worked as an animator or supervising animator on “The Rescuers Down Under”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Aladdin”, “The Lion King”, “Pocahontas”, “Mulan” and he was co-director of “Brother Bear” for which he earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. Since “Brother Bear” he helped to develop several projects but ultimately left Disney to pursue an opportunity back home in Florida to help start up a new animation studio called Tradition Studios.
Now, Aaron has revived his painting career and launched a new website where he spreads his love of animation knowledge.
Blog
Kim Dawson
Acclaimed producer Kim Dawon sat down with us to discuss the creation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, his time at The New Mickey Mouse Club, as well as many other projects he continues to shepherd.
Rich West
From his first spaceship models in his garage to his first job building props for Clarissa Explains it All, Rich has honed his skills as a prop master. Rich was also a prop maker on the All-New Mickey Mouse Club, Adventures in Wonderland, Gullah Gullah Island, and From the Earth to the Moon, along with many others, and was last seen as an Art Director on Universal’s new Epic Universe theme park.
Paul Meena
Another Big Get! Finally hooked us a big fish from Universal Studios. Paul Meena is the former Vice President and General Manager of the Universal Studios Florida Production Group, but he earned his stripes the hard way.