Disney Short GET A HORSE Mixes 1920s Style Mickey Mouse and 3D
Disney’s Mickey Mouse shorts films of the late 1920s and '30s have a classic style that we don’t see much of anymore. Characters seemed to be made of infinitely stretchable rubber, and everything in the world could be turned into a musical instrument. There is something about that era that is just imaginative and witty. Walt Disney Animation Studios set out to make a new Mickey Mouse short called "Get A Horse" in that classic black and white 2D style with an extra 3D twist.
The team of 2D and 3D animators led by director Lauren MacMullan worked dutifully to replicate the classic style. To make it look like a long lost recovered short they created defects in the animation and age artifacts. The result is so convincing that attendees at D23 Expo where confused to how the short was created, likely due to how it was initially presented. While I was at Walt Disney Animation Studios they showed proof that every frame was newly created. I really hope they release a making of, because it’s insane how much work went into this 7min short.
The only thing they didn’t replicate was Mickey Mouse’s voice. The team carefully culled the audio archives using snippets from numerous shorts so that Walt Disney could be the voice in the new short.
To talk about how 3D is incorporated with Disney’s classic black and white 2D style would spoil the experience in a major way, and the less you know the better.
You can watch "Get a Horse" in front of Frozen, which will be in theaters on November 20th.