Walt Disney Animation’s “Once Upon a Studio” is a tribute to over 10 decades of artists and artistry from Disney Animation. It brings together an all-star cast of animated superstars in an all-new animated short packed with joy, laughter, and emotion. 543 characters from over 85 Disney feature-length and short films are featured or appear in this unique and delightful short.
During the course of production, dozens of voice performers (many of them reprising their famous roles) recorded new dialogue for the film, and a chorus of 54 voices contributed to the song’s finale. Adding to the joy and magic of the film is a newly recorded track of “Feed the Birds” by the Academy Award-winning composer/ songwriter and Disney Legend Richard Sherman, who, in 2022 at age 94, returned to Walt Disney’s office to play piano exclusively for this short.
The setting for “Once Upon a Studio” is the end of the work day at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, California, as the artists, technicians, and storytellers are headed for home. Disney Legend Burny Mattinson (who worked at the Studio for 70 years and passed away in early 2023) is the last one out the door and, when the coast is clear, Mickey and Minnie step out of a picture on the wall, and put out a call for everyone to assemble for an official 100th Anniversary Studio portrait.
During a recent press conference, we heard from the filmmakers about how this short came to be and what it took to create the animation.
Director and Writer Trent Correy was asked if AI was used to create the voices of the animated characters, and he commented There was no AI in the making of this short. He continued that we were so lucky that everyone we reached out to who was still with us returned. And then we wanted to infuse the short with some nostalgic voices.
Dan Abraham did mention that some of the folks have passed on, right? So, we got our best soundalikes that we possibly could, and Trent and I were so persnickety about making them sound good. So, they needed to look and sound exactly how you remember them. And that was very, very important to us.
Approximately 80 percent of the animated characters in the film are hand-drawn, with Eric Goldberg, a Disney veteran and one of the top animation talents of all time, serving as head of hand-drawn animation. Andrew Feliciano was the head of CG animation and worked with a talented group of Disney animators to give life and personality to a diverse group of characters. Cameos by CG characters run the gamut from some of Disney’s earliest CG features (including Aladar from the 2000 feature “Dinosaur,” and the title character from 2005’s “Chicken Little”) up through such recent blockbuster titles as “Wreck-it Ralph,” “Moana,” “Zootopia” and “Encanto.”
Directors Dan Abraham and Trent Correy dared to dream big in coming up with the idea for “Once Upon a Studio,” and were amazed throughout the production as one dream after another came true. As they contemplated the musical cue that would accompany the tender moment where Mickey Mouse stopped to express gratitude to a portrait of Walt Disney, they knew that it had to be something special in keeping with that emotional moment. Abraham recalls, “We already knew that the Sherman Brothers song ‘Feed the Birds’ had to be heard at that special moment in the short. There was no other song that would fit, as it was Walt’s favorite song and he often asked Richard and Robert Sherman to come to his office and play it for him on a Friday afternoon. One day, we were discussing this with [executive music producer] Matt Walker and he said, ‘What if we got Richard Sherman to actually play ‘Feed the Birds’ for this? And what if we recorded it up in Walt’s office?’
Abraham said “This has been so emotional this whole thing. Every time we’d see the rough animation come in we were seeing our friends again for the first time. Oh, it’s Belle and Beast and they’re still together and they’re still in love. Like, and it’s just that rough animation. And wait, we can get Richard Sherman to play the what, now? Like, it’s been unreal. I think we’ve all cried with happiness while making this.”
“Once Upon A Studio” is now streaming on Disney+.
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