Chud.com has an interesting interview with James Baxter and Jeffrey Katzenberg. In it Jeffrey says some very interesting things about how he learned all about animation after Disney dropped Feature Animation, which was in serious trouble in 1984, in his lap for him to turn around. He claims that he learned about the art of storytelling ,and how it relates to animation, by walking in Walt's footsteps. Here's an exerpt of the interview, followed by a link to the entire article:
When asked about where animation was these days, as part of his reply, Katzenberg said, "In 1984, I showed up at the lot at Walt Disney and somebody said, 'that building over there, that's animation. It's your problem.' And, it started as a problem and I can't explain it to you. I have no idea, but I loved it. From the moment I understood and I became an incredible student of Walt Disney's. I went back and read every single thing I could out of the archives there. Really re-traced his footsteps. He left breadcrumbs the size of Volkswagen Beetles, so it wasn't that hard to follow. He had a great mission statement for the company: I make movies for children and the child that exists in every one of us. And it was all there, frankly, to be rediscovered, I think."
http://www.chud.com/news/april02/april15sinbad.php3
When asked about where animation was these days, as part of his reply, Katzenberg said, "In 1984, I showed up at the lot at Walt Disney and somebody said, 'that building over there, that's animation. It's your problem.' And, it started as a problem and I can't explain it to you. I have no idea, but I loved it. From the moment I understood and I became an incredible student of Walt Disney's. I went back and read every single thing I could out of the archives there. Really re-traced his footsteps. He left breadcrumbs the size of Volkswagen Beetles, so it wasn't that hard to follow. He had a great mission statement for the company: I make movies for children and the child that exists in every one of us. And it was all there, frankly, to be rediscovered, I think."
http://www.chud.com/news/april02/april15sinbad.php3