Disney Animation Legends discuss decades of creativity at Dodge Master Class

On April 12, Academy Award winner Brenda ChapmanAcademy Award nominee John Musker and animation legend Floyd Norman came to the Folino Theater for a Master Class moderated by Academy Award-nominated producer Don Hahn. 

On April 12, Academy Award winner Brenda Chapman, Academy Award nominee John Musker and animation legend Floyd Norman came to the Folino Theater for a Master Class moderated by Academy Award-nominated producer Don Hahn. (Pictured from left) Hahn, Musker, Chapman and Norman have each contributed to a number of beloved Disney and even DreamWorks animations over the years. Photos courtesy of Gustavo V

When director Brenda Chapman was first hired at Disney, she thought it was to fill a quota and solve a lack of female voices in their story department. Decades later, she would discover that John Musker and Ron Clements, the directing duo responsible for “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Moana” had specifically requested her after seeing her student film from CalArts. 

Chapman would contribute the triumphant splash on the rocks as Ariel caps off the “Part of Your World” sequence in “The Little Mermaid.” Musker wanted the audience of the Folino Theater to know about Chapman’s contributions to animation prior to spearheading projects of her own as director of “Brave” and “Prince of Egypt.” 

Accompanied on stage by Floyd Norman, who worked directly with Walt Disney, the three animation legends spoke about the privilege of working with great artists. 

“You know, every artist who touched a sequence that I had done, it went up to 100%, and it made me feel ‘Am I a genius?’” Norman said. “No, I'm not, but I have a lot of good people working on my stuff, making me look good. You’ve gotta appreciate that.”

On April 12, Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts welcomed four titans of Disney Animation who, together, cover over half a century of Disney movies, from “The Jungle Book” to “Moana.” Chapman, Musker and Norman participated in a Master Class moderated by Don Hahn, the first producer to be nominated for Best Picture for an animated film, with 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast.” 

The event began with a sizzle reel of the collective portfolio of the four speakers before Hahn introduced the illustrious guests. Each of them discussed their creative roots and how they ended up in animation.

Although these panelists all share the title of Disney Legend, they forged distinctly different paths that brought them to animation. Musker was inspired by people like Richard Williams, a for-hire animator who worked on everything from ads to credit sequences to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” and Chuck Jones, a key architect of the “Looney Tunes” franchise.

“(Williams) talked so passionately about animation, there were people in the audience, I still remember, that raised their hands, (asking) ‘Can I come work for you,’” Musker said. “And then suddenly, he's like, ‘Don’t call me, I'll call you,’ so…it was very inspiring. As was Chuck (Jones).”

2 Disney Animation Greats Master Class Photo Courtesy of Gustavo V).jpg

Brenda Chapman used animation to escape a childhood in a small town in Illinois, where she found herself alienated from her peers because of her passion for drawing. Chapman not only found her people at CalArts, but also her style and sense for storytelling as well.

“It was like I found a bunch of me’s,” Chapman said. “It was just a bunch of weirdos that like to draw and talk in funny voices, and it was fun. They didn't look at me like I was a nut. So yeah, and then I went there for three years, and I found that I wasn't a gag person and most of the people were at CalArts at that time… I did this little emotional film about an old lady who's alone on her birthday.”

That film caught the attention of Musker and Clements. The administrator of her entrance interview gave her six weeks and said if it wasn’t working out, she’d leave Disney. She would remain there for years working on films like “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “The Lion King,” flip-flopping between the art and story departments on each major project until she left Disney to go direct “The Prince of Egypt” for a burgeoning new animation studio named DreamWorks.

Norman saw different employment procedures when he joined Disney in the late ‘50s. He had a month to get his bearings at the House of Mouse, working on the in-betweens that mark the gap between a character’s actions, or else he’d be fired. He worked on the “crummy stuff,” such as Donald Duck cartoons, as well as work that would find its way onto television rather than the big screen. Eventually, he worked on iconic Disney features like “101 Dalmatians” and “The Jungle Book” shortly thereafter.

The panel brought together many different perspectives from the history of Disney in one place, which freshman animation major Sami Seyedhosseini appreciated.

“I loved the different perspectives because one of them was from the ('50s)...the perspective from John Musker, [the perspective] from a woman in animation and also, the perspective [of] a guy who's worked with Walt Disney. That was crazy.” Seyedhosseini said.

Dodge College of Film and Media Arts Master Classes are available to all Chapman students and alumni. Seats are available either on a first-come, first-served basis or by lottery system, depending on the Master Class. Dates, times, upcoming guests and additional information can be found in the lobby of Marion Knott Studios or on the Dodge College Instagram account.