“Get A Horse!” is the new animated short showing before Frozen in theaters. Have you seen it yet? It’s a throwback to the Mickey and crew of the late ’20s with a modern twist. This short features all-new hand-drawn animation as well as cleverly rendered 3D computer graphics.
Bringing Mickey Back to the Silver Screen in “Get A Horse!”
We got the chance to sit down with Director Lauren MacMullan, Producer Dorothy McKim, Legendary Disney artist Eric Goldberg, and CG animator Adam Green to chat about “Get A Horse!”
The animation era around 1928 was chosen because a few different factors – everything was so non-PC at that time, Mickey could get a bit fresh with Minnie and she’d get right back at him, they could do anything with their arms and legs like infinitely stretching out, solutions were very inventive, etc. Families should note that the humor is a bit on the sarcastic, naughty side as other original shorts by Mr. Walt Disney were.
Interview Highlights
Throughout the interview, there were several other tidbits about the short that were quite interesting:
- All animation in the short is original and created specifically for this production.
- Many gags were proposed but only a select few made the cut.
- All of Mickey’s dialogue was voiced by Walt Disney. Sound bytes from 1928 to 1946 were collected and combined. They were able to find all the words except for ‘red’, which was pieced together by using the phonic sounds for R-E-D.
- Imperfections (like lines not being connected and uneven), noise, and scratches were added age the 2D animation and make it look old.
- For the scene where the characters loop in and out of the screen, this actually had to be created in both hand drawn animation and CG animation at the same time.
Sketching Lesson From A Famed Disney Animators
Then, Eric Goldberg took us through the changes of Mickey through the years. Unlike the fluid, pear-shaped, pupil-bearing character we’re most familiar with, the Mickey of the late ’20s was less refined. He had brick-like shoes, was bow-legged, smaller ears, more pronounced snout, arms and legs had no specific shape, and his body was more like a barbell.
He then gave us an art lesson with our pencils and sketchpads in hand. Here’s my Pete:
We also found out how challenging it was to render the characters in CG but still retain the same feel they had in 2D. Adam Green said the team had to utilize several ‘cheats’ to make it look right. Even then, the sequence only worked if viewing it straight on. At any other angle, the CG looked totally bizarre. I had no idea that animating in a certain manner could be so labor intensive. Some portions had to be assigned to additional animators to finish the project on time.
If you haven’t yet seen “Get A Horse!” make sure to hit the theaters soon and check out this soon-to-be-classic.
Disney’s FROZEN & “Get A Horse!” is now playing!
Online Links: Official Site, Facebook, Twitter @DisneyAnimation (#DisneyFrozen), Pinterest
I was invited on an all-expense paid media trip as a guest of Disney and in honor of the FROZEN movie. All opinions are my own.
