Present at Ottawa’s International Animation Festival were two accomplished Disney employees: Eric Goldberg and Laura MacMullan. Goldberg was the head of the animation department for their short film project Mickey Mouse in “Get on a Horse” and MacMullan was the director. MacMullan is the first stand-alone Disney female director and has worked on other animated works such as The Simpsons. Goldberg’s credits include the animator of The Genie in Aladdin and co-directing Pocahontas.
MacMullan and Goldberg gave a detailed talk about the process of creating Mickey Mouse in “Get on a Horse” consisting of comparing sketches of Mickey Mouse and going through old Mickey cartoon archives to incorporate Walt Disney’s voice as Mickey himself.
The short film consisted of Disney characters, such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, riding in a carriage being pursued by the grumpy character Pete. The short begins in old classic black and white animation, depicting Mickey and Minnie as they were originally drawn, which also included damaging the film to bring out the authenticity of the short. As the story continues, Mickey is pushed out of the screen into the audience. MacMullan pointed out that this was inspired by The Purple Rose of Cairo. Mickey is now seen in colour and in 3D. Mickey and his other friends now all begin to transition back and forth between the classic black and white 2D world and the modern colour 3D world.
As explained by MacMullan and Goldberg, this short went through a long process of being able to incorporate both vintage animation and modern animation. It was executed with precision and a unique style which the audience loved to watch. It is a perfect example of why animation is a beautiful part of the arts and its ability to transport an audience back and forth between the past and current animation. This short will be presented before Disney’s new feature length film Frozen coming out this November. A superbly done animated short which reminds audiences why Disney is the prime of animation.
