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DO A DEER: DEJA TALKS BAMBI II
by Jennifer Contino (Pulse)
Disney's Bambi II is in stores today and we've got some information from the Animation Consultant, veteran animator Andreas Deja on why this sequel shouldn't be missed.
Before we get into the meat and potatoes of what this film is about, we got some clarification from Deja on what it means to be an "animation consultant." Deja, who has a strong connection to the original incarnation of Bambi through his friendship and past association with many of the men and women who worked on that classic animated feature, told us he is a "big student of the old Disney features." Deja said, "Although most of the original animators have passed away, I spent time and talked with them over the years about the films they worked on. I study old films so I can impassion the current animators in terms of how to draw Bambi and the cast. I want them to understand how Bambi is put together, what to look for in terms of how a deer and other animals should act and move, and other aspects. The animators went to a deer farm and studied deer anatomy up close. I taught them about these animals and showed them how the model sheet for Bambi had to be drawn. Also, aside from my animation consultant duties, I animated a bunch of scenes between Bambi and his father. It was a mixed bag for me working on Bambi II. It was a lot of fun and I loved teaching the other animators. I've had the teacher role at various art schools as well. I love nurturing and encouraging others to develop their talents."
"Working on Bambi II really wasn't anything new to me," Deja continued.
He said it was important that the film flowed easily from the first Bambi to what they were doing with this new incarnation. He said the art direction was key. "We tried really hard to hook up with the first one and to do it within those terms. The first Bambi had painted oils in the backgrounds. Art Director Tyrus Wong came up with that beautiful Impressionistic backgrounds that sometimes didn't have any detail at all in them except for a few leaves or branches or just something in the background. Overall the characters would be in a very open scene with just splotches of paint - it was very Impressionistic. We tried to hook up with that and understand that tone. I really think the feel of the first movie is in Bambi II.
Deja said it's very tough to work on a character like Bambi. "He's one of the most difficult characters to animate - not just because he's an animal, but because of the degree of realism involved in this film. It really is a challenge to animate him as beautifully as was done in the 1942 film. With Pluto or Mickey Mouse or any of the more cartoony characters, you have some liberty when bringing them to life, but things like a deer that has to walk like a deer and turn like a deer and have these poetic movements is tough. You have to be careful and subtle with the animation. It was a challenge for all of us, but we tried our best to incorporate what we learned from the original film and at the deer farm to leave our personal mark on the characters of Bambi II."
"It took a little longer than a year to get the story to work and probably took a year and a half just to set the story until everyone was satisfied with how it was happening and what was happening in the animation," Deja continued. We had about 120 people: animators, Supervising Animators, assistants, and others - in the end who drew Bambi and the other characters for over a year."
Deja said what intrigued him the most about this film was the familiar bonds that shone through in the story. "I really liked the relationship between the father and son and what it became," Deja said. "Bambi, of course, wanting to be with his father, petrified about the death of his mother and haunted by dreams of her; the father, stern and strict, who doesn't really want to raise this one fawn, because he's the Great Prince, responsible for all the deer. Bambi's upset by this. It's interesting to see how the father's attitude changes throughout the movie and how he realized that he's responsible for raising his son. It happens so gradual and beautiful. It could have been forced or abrupt, but it happened slowly so when his father changes his mind, it's great."
Deja worked on the film for a very long time, but just recently had a chance to see the finished product. He said he was happy to see how it all came together. "When you work on a film, you think about this scene and how to make it perfect or fix anything that's wrong with it," he said. "You really see all the mistakes and it's basically about fixing them, but there never seems to be enough time. I was quite pleased with how the story played out, how the problems were addressed and I think the characters were fairly consistent in the way they move and how they act. I love that the characters basically are as we remember them from childhood. It took a lot of studying to see who they are in their personalities. Thumper is the outgoing kid, who's very forthcoming. Bambi is shy and unsure of himself, but learns courage in this film. Each of them go through changes and have these character arcs. The main thing for us was we wanted people to say, 'this is what I remember Bambi being.' We wanted to really hook up with the first film and be consistent."
Deja has worked on dozens of films including The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Lilo and Stitch. He said working on this wasn't that different. "It's not the first time I tried myself on classic characters. I remember working on Who Framed Roger Rabbit in London with an European crew. I was responsible for animating Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, who had a cameo in the film. I also animated the Hippo from Fantasia. I've always had a love for the old Disney films all my life - even as a child."
"When you revisit the old films, it's important to look at the old scenes and see what worked best," he continued. "We have an Animation Research Library in Burbank where all the drawings for Disney films are kept. We can check out certain scenes and see how it was done. You study the scenes featuring the character you're working on to figure out what worked and why it was so good. With Bambi, I really studied the butterfly scene where Bambi is very childlike chasing after the butterfly and it lands on his tail at the end. It's all done to a musical beat and so elegant and dignified, which is tough to do with cartoons."
Deja said working on this version of Bambi was tough, "because there's no Walt Disney there to cheer you along and set the standard." He said, "We tried our best in acting these scenes out. It was a little intimidating looking at the old films and looking at what had been done before."
"There's an honesty to Bambi II," he continued. "You get so many animated films now that are sarcastic and have satire in them and a lot of action. This is something completely different. It deals with real kids and their situations. Even though the kids are animals, they have characteristics we all can pick out. One is an arrogant bully - we all know people like that from school or other places. We know people like Thumper who is out there and loud and saying what he thinks. We all know someone innocent like Bambi. I think these qualities in Bambi II are very appealing. I think people will identify with the characters. We also try to have long scenes, because you want to show a character interacting with others, but you can't do that in just two seconds. We need time for something like this to develop. We want people to be with these characters longer and feel like you really know them well. We want you to enjoy the personality of each and their quirkiness. We aren't just cutting away from one quick scene to the next. I hope people sense something really nice in here."
Bambi II is available for the next seventy days. Deja is busy working on his next Disney project a live action film called "The Enchanted." He described it as "an homage to fairy tales. It's live action, but the opening ten minutes of the film is animated featuring a Princess, Prince, and Witch. Susan Sarandon is voicing the Witch. "I'm animating her character."
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