When the Walt Disney studios open in Paris in 2002, the Cinemagique" attraction was one of the best one, and still is. For those of you who have never seen it, the attraction is a tribute to cinema history. Here is the story line: The movie begin by a black and white 1920's sequence until somebody inside the audience is magically transport inside the movie - just like in Woody Allen's Purple rose of Cairo. Then, the man goes from one famous movie sequence to another - digitally include in the original shots, and funny and emotional things happen between him, the characters of the original sequences and a girl. That's very basically how it goes.
Now , some weeks ago, i was reading an article on the very good cartoon brew web site, talking about something called "Balloon movies" done by a mysterious director...just to discover that what they were talking about was one of the first and abandoned concept for Cinemagique! In this other concept, we always had the famous movie sequences, but a facetious balloon - digitally include in the original shots with After Effects - was going from a sequence to another. Not only it's perfectly done, but also funny or poetic. Here is what the director said in his own words about it: “The main through line was a romance between a guy in the audience and a woman in the movie. The “every man” goes into the movie (right through the screen) and meets a beautiful woman there. There is a spark of romance. He is then chased by villains out of her movie and stumbles through many other classic films, lost and alone. The woman leaves her movie to go on a quest to find him.
“So — now you’re probably wondering where the balloon shots come in. Well they don’t. Not in the final show. However, just before we committed to film the project, we decided to go through a kind of wild card period. Float some totally different ideas. I thought it might be fun to do a nod to “The Red Balloon”. I did a few of these balloon shots at home and took them into the studio. Everybody enjoyed them. So we explored a possible version centered on that idea. I did more and more shots, took them in, hunkered down with the editor and stitched together a draft. We all got a kick out of it, but utimately decided that we missed the romantic comedy of Plan A. So after the diversion, we returned to our original course.
“So I had all these shots at home that I’d done on spec. I figured that since I did them and they contain no material from the studio, and I don’t reference the context we used when toying with them, they’re safe to post.”
Please note that he didn't say that it was in relation with "Cinemagique" , I did.
Of course you certainly would like to see how it looks, and here is a youtube video where you will see the 18 different sequences , all together, plus a new one on "Lord of the Rings".
And remember to look for the arrival of the balloon!
Here are the name of the famous movies :
Harold Lloyd King Kong Casablanca The Wizard of Oz Singing in the rain African Queen Buthch Cassidy and the Sundance kid Once upon a time in the west North by northwest The Empire strikes back Nikita A" musical" Gentlemen prefer blondes Mary Poppins
Lord of the Rings
youtube videos by Cybershire cartoonbrew web site at: http://www.cartoonbrew.com/
It's the week-end, and, as usual, here is the magic show that i've found for you.
This time, here is the very first tv special done by David Copperfield in 1978.David was around 22 years old at that time , and , although he was a young magician doing his first show, he had the genius movie director Orson Welles himself to introduce him to the audience. In his introduction, Orson say "...although young, you will see him - David - for a long time" , and when we think to David's career, the least we can say is that he was right!
As you may know , Orson was not only an acclaimed movie director, but also was performing magic tours, as you will see at the end of this show. Orson's tour is perfectly done, but it's the way he's doing it that is pure "Orson Welles".
The new Pixar animated "Ratatouille" will be released soon, but in the meanwhile, enjoy these 9 minutes almost non-stop from the movie, presented by Brad Bird himself.
These two new Pirates of Caribbean , At world's end, featurettes "Characters" and "Pirates Lords" were put on line by the very good web site IGN. As it is possible to download them, what had to happen happened: somebody uploaded them on youtube . So here is below these two videos , direct from youtube where you will be pleased, i'm sure, to discover more new images from the third movie.
After the "Discovery Mountain " article of last week, here is the second part of this article, this time about the "final" version of DLP Space Mountain "from the earth to the moon" , with the original renderings and pictures of Imagineers at work.
As you've probably understood when you saw the renderings in the previous article, due to the financial situation of the park back in 1993, the Discovery Mountain project became suddenly too expensive, and the imagineers had to revise their blueprints!
It was decided to keep the “from the earth to the moon” roller coaster concept, and the Nautilus too, now located outside the building.The beautiful Columbiad cannon was always there, and even some reminiscence of the “volcano” first concept with these rocks emerging from the Discoveryland lagoon that you still can see today.
The “Columbiad “ canon is not only perfectly themed in a victorian way, but it's doing too a lot of things. The Imagineers could have design this 22 meters long canon only as an element of the decor , they did better than that. In fact, when the train is “catapulted” out of it, steam is projected in the front, and, too, in the back, like in a real one.
The upper part of the canon do have a “backing up” movement, and when the train enter it, before the launch , a door open , allowing the outside guests to see the arrival of the train inside the Columbiad. At the same time, a stylized sun on the side of the cannon turn right and left, and when all these elements work together, it makes the whole show “richer”.
Mind you, the title “Discovery mountain” remained in use until two months before the opening in 1995! Basically the change was for marketing reason: the executives thought that the word “Space “ would have been better understood as a clearer term for a “space roller coaster” by the visitors than “Discovery”... This is also why the initials “D.M” were still visible on the side of the trains as it was too late to change them, and the imagineers as well also like to keep a little bit of of the history of the ride in place.
Space Mountain first adventure “from the earth to the moon” from the opening day was a big hit . Great story line and solid theming by Tim Delaney, show producer, and his imagineers. For the first time inside a Space Mountain riders could directly walk in through the middle of the attraction, and watch the trains going by at high speeds between the meteorites.
The boarding room was designed as a victorian station which celebrates the “Gun club” first flight to the moon ( the name came from the Jules Verne novel ) and the “bronze” colour of the trains was perfectly chosen. For almost the first time ever, (in '95), the trains had on-board audio. (I have to say "almost" because the first time WDI utilized this unique system was the year before on the DLP Fantasyland "Casey Jr. Train.")
The launching with the cannon worked perfectly, and the ride was, in 1995, the fastest ride in a Disney theme park, with loops, etc, all that at 70 km per hour...
The theming in the ride was totally inspired by Verne’s novel: the train entered at high speed the “Lunar mining co” , then enter a huge meteorite, before he approach the moon , which was designed as a tribute to Georges Melies famous silent movie.
After a race through meteorites, the train came back to the station , passing through the “electro-de-velocitor” , another item inspired by the novel.
And there is the gorgeous night lighting. Designed by Michael Valentino, one of the best lighting expert of WDI, his work is stunning. It is so beautiful that it becomes “hypnotic” , you can’t take your eyes out of it. The mix of theatrical lighting and neon transforms Space Mountain at night in a kind of huge “space ship” and it's a wonder, really!
Two years ago, the Space Mountain "Mission two" was launched, with a totally new theming, this time with no relation to the Verne's novel. Among the new show additions: the encounter with a huge “Comet”. This is a big projection effect, extremely well done, but the genius idea is that , when you first see the comet from the train, you see it from a distance - when the train is still on the other side - and as the train goes on, he approach in the direction of the comet. In the same time, the comet seems to move on the opposite direction, which means coming in the direction of your train, giving you the feeling for a few seconds that you’re going to collide. Of course, the train goes over the comet, but the whole effect is perfectly done, specially with the new addition of the “star field” - similar to the US versions - projected on the dome of the building.
Right after the first loop, now is “galaxy” effect, before the train enter the giant asteroid - that was in the first version, but now with a mix of fog and light projection effect . The train goes down again, passing through a “cork screw” with meteorits thatlooks “in fire” - another projection effect . It’s also very well done , and it looks like if you were going to hit them...
At the top of the next “lift” awaits the “explosion” of a “super-nova”. There is another great idea before the arrival: a long red-neon “vortex” followed with blue-”flash” effect, which is supposed to bring back the train through “hyper space” at light speed to earth......before entering the “electro de velocitor”, one of the only decor element which remains from the first version .
It’s of course always difficult to describe with words the whole show - because it's a physical experience - but it’s real fun, always a speed roller coaster with a new musical score written by Michael Giacchino, who wrote the music for “the incredibles”. His score is good, goes very well with the new show, although i think the previous one by Steve Bramson was probably more “emotional”.
Below are two youtube videos, the first one , from johan30061967 shows the first version " from the earth to the moon " with a clever mix of on ride images and CGI video, and the second one is a brilliant 3D recreation of the "Mission two" ride by didyz.
Photos and Artwork: copyright Disney Please note that photos 4, 5, 6 and 7 from the top show the model of Discovery Mountain, not the actual Space Mountain.
This rare 1938 short movie show you "How Walt Disney Cartoons are made" and was filmed after the release of Snow White to show the audience how Disney artists prepare a long animated feature at the Walt Disney Studios. It's 8 and a half minutes long, and just like the other topic below , it's an incredible time machine at the glorious age of animation.
Here is a photo tribute to the opening of Disneyland, Anaheim, july 17, 1955.
The parking lot, full of cars for the very first time , Ronald Reagan anchor man for the tv special,the Mark Twain river boat, the opening ceremony, the parade, the children running through the castle, Walt's dedication, all these pictures are full of memories , and, as often with black and white photos, they are a time machine bringing us back to this very special day.
That's it! the Pirate Takeover at Hong Kong Disneyland began and the Pirates jumped into action! Here are the first pictures. Pirate crew has hoisted a pirate flag on Sleeping Beauty Castle to officially lay their claim on Hong Kong Disneyland and have gradually taken over Adventureland as Pirate signs are all over the arch at the entrance to Adventureland.
This Pirate Takeover is an authentic and immersive pirate event that will take place in Adventureland of Hong Kong Disneyland from May 4 to June 30, 2007.
For more details about it and art-work, see in the "Theme park and attaction art-work" section on the right at: HKD Adventureland's Pirate Takeover will begin May 4.
We are pleased to open a new section in Disney and more, with this Disney art gallery. We are doing it in collaboration with the Sanders Art Studio. The Sanders Art Studio is an authorized Disney Fine Art Gallery as part of the Collectors Editions Publishers of Disney Fine Art Gallery Network, and each week or so i will show you a selection of the Giclée on canvas you can find - and buy - directly trough their web site. Prices are between 450$ and 995$ depending on the size of the canvas, and i have good news for you , as Disney and more readers will have a special offer. All you have to do is to enter this promotional code: DLPARIS when they'll ask you. And you can pay with Paypal, too.
So, this week, here is a selection around the theme of Peter Pan.
To access the Sanders Art Studio web site, double-click on the title of this topic, above, or go to: http://www.sanderscc.com/ where you will find the Peter Pan section, and many others on different Disney characters.
Hollywood-based Universal Studios will develop a theme park in the Gulf emirate as part of a $2.2 billion project, offering adventures based on films such as King Kong, a state-owned Dubai firm said.
Universal Parks & Resorts, which operates similar theme parks in Hollywood, Florida and Japan, will develop the park and desert area outside Dubai, Tatweer, a company owned by the ruler of Dubai, said on Monday. Universal Studios officials said that the park will feature attractions based on hit films such as Jurassic Park and King Kong.
The park will be one of the largest in the world, covering 6.5 million square feet, Tatweer said. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum owns Tatweer through his Dubai Holding.
"The investor-support environment and the convenient geographical location ... all contribute to making Dubai our location of choice for our first branded theme park in the region," Thomas Williams, chairman of Universal Parks & Resorts, is quoted as saying in the statement.
Universal Studios is operated by NBC Universal Inc., a unit of General Electric Co.
Dubai is developing what it calls Universal City Dubai, a $2.2 billion project that will include 4,000 luxury hotel rooms, 100 restaurants, and retail outlets and office space, Tatweer said.
Universal Studios Dubailand, as the theme park will be known, lies at the heart of the project, Tatweer said.
Tatweer gave no completion date for the project, but phase one of Dubailand is due to open in early 2008.
The mammoth 279-million-square-meter (3-billion-square-foot) Dubailand theme park resort will cost Dh235 billion and is expected to attract 15 million visitors a year, according to its Web site.
Dubai, one of seven emirates making up the UAE, is in the midst of a construction frenzy, with resorts, malls, sport installations, and residential complexes sprouting up across its desert sands.
The new Space Mountain finally open at Tokyo Disneyland, and MintCrocodile took some pictures and a video of the ride. The main changes are in the boarding room - with a new spaceship and a kind of a green "radioactive" lighting, in the launch tunnel with spark lighting effects as well as at the end of the ride where the lighting effects looks similar to the Hong Kong Disneyland version. Very probably other special effects were added during the ride, but it's hard to see on this video, because of the darkness of the ride. The best part of it is during the first half where you can see the new boarding room with the huge new spaceship hanging from the ceiling.
Steve Martin is now a world famous comedian, but when he was 10 years old he was selling guide books at Disneyland, Anaheim. Later, he worked in Main Street's Magic shop as you can see on the black and white picture above. During the 50th anniversary celebration, Steve went back for a photo session in the magic shop and in front of the Opera house. But Steve's love for magic didn't stop there as you will see on this youtube video where he perfoms many years later - but not at Disneyland - one of the most hilarious magic tour that i - and probably, you, too - have ever saw.
Hong Kong Disneyland is Disney’s newest theme park and we begin today a 5 parts article about this new magic kingdom. I have the pleasure to introduce you to Tom MORRIS, executive creative show producer for an exclusive interview about the park. Tom , senior show producer at Walt Disney Imagineering was previously the show producer for Disneyland paris Fantasyland. He was also the show producer for the gorgeous sleeping beauty castle at DLP.
Alain Littaye: Hello Tom. Many thanks for this interview . What were the challenges in building a Disney theme park in Hong Kong?
Tom Morris: Hello Alain. Well, first, we have the challenge that we always have when we take a park overseas, which is to select the most classic attractions that we’ve done in the past, but also we have to think about a special one that we need to do for the visitors who will be coming to the park in this particular region. And the second thing is the climate, the weather conditions of Hong Kong . For Paris, it was about cold and four months of drizzle, here , in Hong Kong, it’s about heat and a lot of rain, more than in any of our other parks, significantly more. And that brings a lot of challenges in terms of coverage and drainage. And of course, probably the biggest challenge of all here is the fact that it was all just water five years ago! It was a big civil engineering challenges...All the land was under water four years ago. I remember that the first time we came out here in 2001,we came on the site in a boat! We were floating 15 feet beneath where i’m standing right now...So this whole site - i think 300 acres of landfill were created just in the last five years . The whole resort is around 4 or 500 acres, but 300 acres or so were just landfill.
A.L: And i think it’s pretty difficult to “visualize” a park when the land is under the ocean!...
T.M: That’s right!...So, these were the challenges, but some of the great benefits and a gift is having these beautiful mountains as backdrop for this park...There is mountains on one side, and , on the other one, the resort hotels benefit of a beautiful view on the Hong Kong skyline and the South China sea. It really is a remarkable site , so conveniently located, only at 20 or 30 minutes from any point in Hong Kong territories...
A.L: I wonder if it’s not - in terms of scenery - the best site you ever had for a Disney theme park...
T.M: I think you’re right. And, other than the heat, it’s just beautiful, gorgeous, even the thunder storms are quite spectacular here! they create beautiful waterfalls on the mountains, right after a big rain.
Note: There was another challenge for HKD: the old chinese art of “Feng shui”. The ancient Chinese practice involves ensuring that there is a good flow of energy, or "qi" when you’re building new houses, or, in this case, a theme park. Buildings and other structures need to face a certain direction depending on their surroundings. Elements such as wood, fire and earth have to be carefully balanced.
A.L: There is a long “promenade” which brings the visitors to the entrance of the park
T.M: Yes, the “Disney promenade”. I was not involved directly in the design, but it’s a wonderful walk way from the transportation center leading to the park and to the hotels and the ferry pier. I think it’s a kilometer long, there is four plazas with water features and topiaries..., beautiful gardens and this great fountain at the entrance of the park. Every hundred meters there is resting place. But from the train station to the entrance of the park there is only about 150 meters, so most people will only walk that much from the station to the park...
A.L: The park have four lands instead of five in the other magic kingdoms...
T.M: That’s right. We combined attributes of Frontierland and Adventureland in one big land on the left, another one big land on the right with Tomorrowland , one big land straight ahead with Fantasyland , and of course main street,, so it becomes like a quadrilater. We took attributes of Frontierland, basically the big river which we called here the “River of adventures”, and we put an island on it - the Tarzan island . We have the river traffic that usually Frontierland have by putting the jungle cruise boats on the river . So every minute or so, there is a jungle cruise boat which leave for a cruise on the river. It’s dinstinctly Adventureland in its “flavour” and we thought it was best to keep the american “icon” only for Main street. Main street is the piece of the park that represents america and nostalghia and we wanted the left part of the park to be very shady, very green, to use a lot of water... we wanted these four lands to very very distinctive. Plus, the stories that are in Adventureland are for the local audience to be able to have Tarzan, the Lion king, and characters from the newer films give it a little bit more relevant.
We keep space around the land, so the idea with Adventureland is that eventually you will be able to stroll around the key romantic regions of the world. We have Polynesia, south seas, part of Africa, part of south east Asia with Thailand and Cambodgia, there is flavours of elements of all these regions today in Adventureland... And then , in the future, eventually, people will visit other locals like Carribean, and, we think, may be North America... And in that North America neighborhood of Adventureland one will probably find some of the attractions that you will find in the Frontierland of the other parks.
A.L: But i think it will be hard to put the “dry” desert theming of “Big thunder mountain” in Adventureland...
T.M: We haven’t decide on any specific attractions for the future, but what we’ve done is we’ve create a neigborhood or a parcel of Adventureland that is representative of north america. So in this idea of going to all these “ports of call”, we can imagine that one could be along the pacific north west, and that could contain some of the attractions that one might find in Frontierland...
A.L: By the way, this Adventureland seems to be the biggest ever built..
T.M: Yes, i think in terms of “on stage area” i believe it’s the biggest Adventureland. And it’s quite large: imagine the rivers of america and several little neighborhood along the side of the river...
A.L: Can you tell me more about Tarzan island ? One of the good idea is that the Tarzan tree don’t have the exact shape than the Swiss robinson tree...
T.M: Right. It’s based on the Tarzan tree that was done at Disneyland some years ago, with the scenes of the highlights of the movie, and interactives at the base of the tree, the same you’ll find at Disneyland, and little baby elephants...and you take rafts to reach the Tarzan island. For the future, one of our plans is to expand the island theming.
A.L: Is the Jungle cruise identical to the one in the united states?
T.M: Yes, it share some scenes from the other jungle cruise, it has the Cambodgian ruins, the gorillas that trash the camp, and the hippos scenes, the natives, etc....but we have enhanced some effects : the elephants - how could i say - are a little more “invasive” than they’ve been in the past...we don’t mind getting our guests a little bit more wet on this attraction, not uncomfortably so, but just to get a little bit more surprised and more fun... And we have developped some other new effects with the natives scene - where the natives attack the boat, new effects too with the hippos, and a brand new scene for the finale of the attraction where you get caught in the cross fire of a battle between gods of fire and water ... this big finale of the attraction leaves people with a big smile on their face...
A.L: Are the “Liki Tikis “ a reminiscence from the “Tiki room” ?
T.M: No. They are some tikis that are in the style of those of the tiki room and they are over “professor porter’s” shop nearby , but the “Liki Tikis” are eight totem poles that blow steam and throw water. They are probably more reminiscent of the four totems that are in the magic kingdom in disney world.
A.L:Talking about reminiscence, i saw that you’ve recreated the “tahitian terrace”, although i think it’s a different one that the one which was built in Disneyland many years ago...
T.M: That’s right , but we have the “spirit” of the Tahitian terrace, that’s why we have some of the tikis from the tiki garden of the tiki room...but the tahitian terrace is where you can get chinese and asian food, barbecues, noodles, sushis...with a very pleasant environment with a patio with trees and beautiful light and tikis, of course. And it’s under a big thatch roof which is similar in some respect with the original tahitian terrace in disneyland,but it’s specially designed for this new park. Somewhere similar to main street , where we borrowed the original architecture but the inside is all new and all customed...
A.L: Is the “festival of the lion king” the same show than the one at animal kingdom?
T.M: It’s very similar, but the musical numbers and the costumes have been updated, and i think there is an additional musical number and more show action equipment involved. And a bigger theatre, too.
A.L: The “professor porter’s trading post “ is the only shop in adventureland...
T.M: Yes, the “Professor porter “ is the father of Jane in the movie, and his shop is the one of a excentric explorer scientist , and he has built a permanent trading post where you can see his personnal belongings that he brought with him to create a “home sweet home away from home”
Here is the end of the first part of the Tom Morris interview. Come back soon for the second part of Tom’s interview in a few days where he will talk about Main Street....and much more !
The “Disney character express” is a new 15th anniversary addition at DLP. The train moves up and down Main Street three times each day with 15 disney characters for a special meet and greet sessions on central plaza, near the castle. For those of you, who may have visit the park before, this train may sounds familiar ,as it was previously the Dumbo circus train float in the former parade. Totally repainted with the 15th anniversary official colours , he looks brand new and, honestly, quite fine, too. Now , the great idea is in the music , a kind of “tchu-tchu” song that comes from japan, from the tokyo disneyland’s show “disney’s party express” . Of course the words are now in english instead of japanese. But the rythm of the music and the characters movements give to it a kind of “cartoon” feeling pretty cool... Once on central plaza , the train stops in front of the castle , the characters step down and goes near one of the four huge “lumiere” photo location for several minutes before the “express” leaves again... This short video shows the train leaving after the stop in front of the castle.
Photo: copyright Disney for the first one, Alain Littaye for others.
European audience discovered David Copperfield in 1995, but David was well known in North America since a long time. At the end of the 70's , David was young, but had already his tv special, as you will see with this show "The Magic of David Copperfield" released in 1980. David , 24 years old at that time was young and romantic, but his magic was already stunning. Just like now, it's impossible to see the trick! The not-to-be-missed tour is this tribute to James Bond's "Goldfinger" , at 12 minutes from the beginning of the show. Not only the tour is great , but also funny - David play a James "Bondage" (!) looking after Mr "Ringfinger" - it's full of James Bond jokes, and there is a perfect use of John Barry's famous score. The other great thing is that you can feel the "innocence" of that period, something that i hope we have not lost forever.
Alain is the Co-Author with Didier Ghez of the Disneyland Paris "From sketch to reality" book and a Theme park lover since he discovered Walt Disney World , circa 1975!
He also worked in publishing as a publisher, book designer and photographer since 1973, and currently is.
