John Musker gives behind-the-scenes presentation of short film “I’m Hip!”
The Disney director presented his short film “I’m Hip!” to Chapman students, faculty and other guests while explaining aspects of its production and its numerous easter eggs. Musker is known for co-directing Disney classics such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Hercules.” Photos courtesy of Gustavo V
After studying the longevity of his career, you would think that retirement would be the next step for director John Musker. Beginning his career studying at the California Institute of the Arts in 1975, Musker worked his way up from animating to co-directing — with creative partner Ron Clements — some of Disney’s most acclaimed films. His resume includes a multitude of titles from the Disney Renaissance, including “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin” and “Hercules,” and others from later periods, such as “Treasure Planet,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Moana.”
After entering a period of retirement, however, Musker realized that he wanted to get back to his roots as an animator. Following four years of work, Musker came up with his short film “I’m Hip!”. The piece was presented to Chapman students in the Digital Media Arts Center on Oct. 11.
In his presentation, Musker discussed aspects of the short’s creation while also drawing attention to numerous easter eggs and references to artistic styles he incorporated.
“I’m Hip!” follows a cat who parades around the city and interacts with the people and places within it. The feline continuously proclaims through song that he is “hip” and explains to the audience all of the activities he engages in that make him so cool.
The animation for “I’m Hip!” is fast and constantly moving. Musker remembered advice from animator Frank Thomas as he was figuring out how to do the animation for the short film, which also features over 120 caricatures.
With quick-paced, sporadically-moving scenes, Musker intended to elevate his characters’ animations as opposed to keeping them simple.
“I didn’t want limited animation, I wanted full animation…I wanted to have overlap, drag, squash and stretch,” Musker said. “I was unashamedly trying to make a cartoon.”
To create such fast, constant-moving animation, Musker utilized advice from animator Frank Thomas. Quoting Thomas after the event, Musker emphasized the importance of not having every movement within a film move at the same speed in order to keep the piece interesting to an audience.
“(Thomas’ work) has a texture and a timing,” Musker told The Panther. “So I tried to do that in my short — use the texture and the timing of the way the cat moved and the other characters so it wasn’t metronomic…If it’s too metronomic, then it may seem mechanical, and you may disengage.”
“I’m Hip!,” according to Musker, is packed with over 120 caricatures. Musker explained these caricatures to his audience, pointing out background characters that stand-in for collaborators, Disney animators and family members.
Seeing Musker’s use of caricatures was an aspect of the presentation that freshman animation major Ali Quijada enjoyed the most.
“I really liked seeing how he added all of his friends and family and everyone he knows into the short,” Quijada told The Panther. “I always like watching videos on YouTube of easter eggs that are hidden, and it was really cool hearing it from the creator himself.”
During production, Musker utilized real-life references to model his animations after. Scenes of his cat character dancing were specifically modeled on dance choreography he videoed. A shot of the cat playing the bass was modeled after a reference video of a bass being played. The specific notes played in the reference video are the exact notes that the cat plays in the final film.
This attention to detail stood out to Quijada, who also found importance in seeing Musker’s passion for the project.
“This was a project that he just did because he wanted to go back to his roots of animation, and I think it’s really cool because you get to see why he did it and you can tell how much passion he had to do it,” Quijada said. “It’s really inspiring.”
Like Quijada, freshman animation major Alessandra Soriano enjoyed the insight Musker provided about the short’s production. She found Musker’s presentation important in regards to teaching a new generation of animators to adhere to their personal creative choices.
“I think it was important for him to speak in order to inspire the new generation of animators to not be afraid to project their creative voices, because the industry is very rough, and although it’s a small industry, a lot of times our creative outputs are being pushed away,” Soriano said. “He’s trying to encourage us to do our own thing.”
“I think it was important for him to speak in order to inspire the new generation of animators to not be afraid to project their creative voices, because the industry is very rough, and although it’s a small industry, a lot of times our creative outputs are being pushed away. He’s trying to encourage us to do our own thing.”