Pirate Animatronic Behind-the-Scenes

Today we go behind-the-scenes to look at the figure-finishing process of Pirates of the Caribbean animatronic figures.

Animatronic figures are maintained on the inside by Engineers in the Engineering Services department. On the outside they are maintained by Figure Finishers, Show Artists, members of the Artist Prep department, Creative Costumers, etc. Ultimately Walt Disney Imagineering is responsible for the show standards of all AA figures. Let’s look at the process.

A pirate is sent to the shop on a trailer, truck, palette, or golf cart to be stripped down. Less prominent figures can be removed from an attraction without being immediately replaced. In theory... the more important figures are not removed unless an identical spare takes its place. You’ll notice this isn’t always the case.

Grab the new headskin that you’ve already buttered up. Buttering is a technique where you trim and add detail to the rubber using metal tips of various shapes on the end of a torch. Notice the hand filled with a spray styrofoam.

Place the headskin in a mold so it keeps its form while working on the inside.

Snaps with rubber flaps are buttered to the inside.

Each snap corresponds to the snaps on the hard under shell.

Ask this guy for the eyes.

Add rubber eyelids and plastic eyelashes to the eye mechanism.

Paint layer upon layer to match the original head shown in documentation photos. Exaggerate the skin tones and other details in order to be more visible from a distance. Consider show lighting conditions.

Add facial hair and wig. Check out the Peter Pan crocodile head in the background!

Add the hat you got from the nice ladies at Creative Costuming.

Once he's back in the show, ride through to see your handy work and tell your friends, "I did that". This process is definitely what I miss most about by past creative career. There's just something about working with these materials then seeing them come to life, animated and speaking and such.

All above photos are from Disneyland Paris. Not all job titles and department names mentioned are consistent with all properties.

Watch this great little video called "Disneyland et ses secrets HD Reportage France 3" for more behind-the-action footage:

Related posts:

Pirates of the Caribbean Like You've Never Seen It
Little Box of Treasures
ABANDONED DISNEY: Haunted Mansion Hitchhiking Ghosts
Walt Disney Studios Post Production Behind-the-Scenes
EYE CANDY: National Geographic Aug '63
Recreating the Pirates Jail Scene in Miniature

Disney's "The Story Of Menstruation"

It's a boy! My wife gave birth to our first child this week. She and the baby are doing very well. While discussing various details of "changing bodies", my mother-in-law pulled up this gem and shared interesting memories of watching this Walt Disney Production in middle school.

Leave it to 1940s Disney to produce an educational film presented to over 50 million young girls... about periods. I want to know which notable male animators worked on this. Did they admit it to anyone?? Were they assigned to this project after messing up on a different project? What were Walt's notes to the Story Department?

Let's watch the film and learn about:

Feeling sorry for yourself; exercising (but not too much); keeping smiling and even-tempered; relieving cramps; showering in the correct water temperature; slumpy posture; ovaries; avoiding constipation; dancing with boys; increasing morale by applying makeup; nature’s eternal plan of passing on life; and Mother Nature controling many of our routine bodily processes through automatic control centers.

Keep in mind, this was my wife's idea. With the encouragement of my mother-in-law.

Belle's Baby Boy

My wife is wonderful. She puts up with this silly blog and everything that goes with it. She humors me when I tell her about discovering something super geeky about old EPCOT Center or when I cover the upstairs in old park maps. And when it comes to delivering a baby, she's a real trooper. Her part-time job as Belle and Cinderella at Walt Disney World is on hold for a while. But you just may spot her all princessed-up later this year.

Related posts:

Walt Disney Studios Post Production Behind-the-Scenes
Imagineering Sound Design Behind-the-Scenes
Original Visions of CalArts
Our Friend the Atom
Magic Highway U.S.A... It doesn't get much better than this.

A Very Parent Trap Valentine's Day

We bring you a few pieces of one of history's most charming romantic comedies, The Parent Trap.

Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills play twins who get split up at birth. They meet at summer camp and decide to switch places in order to reunite their divorced parents. Get some Fig Newtons and see if their little "trap" works.

And watch for some great movie magic, largely credited to the great Ub Iwerks (the man behind Mickey Mouse's early success). Split screen and body double techniques hold up very well even against fancy new movie techniques of today. 

Charles Ruggles, who plays the Grandfather, is as charming as any old man could possibly be on film. And funny too.

Brian Keith's character lives in the Carmel, California area, is wealthy, outdoorsy, and has the best ranch house I've ever seen. Maureen O'Hara's character is wonderful. My wife says, "she is so stunningly beautiful" every time she first appears on the screen.

The Parent Trap (1961) is my favorite live-action Disney film. It is the most re-watchable of all the movies I own. It is extremely whitty, beautiful, and like I said, charming.

Haven't got plans for Valentine's Day? WATCH THIS. Never seen it? Go buy it right now. Try not to be tempted by the 1998 Lindsay Lohan version. Or the sequels. None of which are the worst things in the world but they don't hold a candle to the original.

One of the real gems of the film is the animated title sequence before the film. It's beautifully crafted  stop motion animation by Bill Justice, X. Atencio (Haunted Mansion, etc.), and T. Hee, (Fantasia, etc.).

Hayley Mills, we love you. Call me. Email me.

 
First six photos from the cover of my cool 2-disk Parent Trap laserdisc.

Related posts:

Walt Disney Studios Post Production Behind-the-Scenes
Fess Dies Today at 85
Original Visions of CalArts
The Makings of a Good Sequel
Magic Highway U.S.A... It doesn't get much better than this.
Swiss Family Treehouse Model