Il Était une Fois les Imagineers, les Visionnaires Disney [Disney - 2019]

Ouf! J'ai eu peur, faut pas me faire des coups comme ça!
Mais oui, je trouve qu'ils exagèrent un peu avec ce documentaire... Ils font des efforts pour qu'il soit le mieux possible, ça c'est très bien, mais on dirait que pour n'importe quelle raison, ils se sentent obligés de continuer à toujours ajouter des éléments. C'est un cycle infini.

Mais quand est-ce qu'on aura enfin une date de sortie ?

*Ceci était un message de désespoir. Merci de votre attention.

Suite aux demandes répétées, Leslie Iwerks a fait le point hier après-midi sur le film documentaire :

We have been receiving a number of inquiries regarding the status of the Imagineering documentary and wanted to provide an update ! The project is still in production and editorial as we document ongoing events within Imagineering across the world. As soon as we have more information on release plans we will be sure to announce it here... Thanks everyone for your ongoing support and interest in this exciting project !

Rassurant et toujours aussi frustrant...
En reregardant le trailer, je me suis demandé si John Lasseter allait survivre au montage.

Un jour viendra... Tu n’avais pas si tort en parlant de 2023

Il est question d'un reportage WDI sur la future plateforme Disney +. Je suppose qu'il s'agit de ce projet?

Bob Iger n'a pas donné plus de précisions, il pourrait effectivement s'agir du film documentaire de Leslie Iwerks reformaté pour une diffusion sur Disney+ sous forme de série documentaire.

Du reste, Leslie Iwerks poursuit le tournage : il y a une dizaine de jours, elle interviewait Michael Eisner qui fut à la tête de The Walt Disney Company de 1984 à 2005.

C'est désormais officiel, le film documentaire The Imagineering Story commandé à l'origine par Walt Disney Pictures a évolué en série documentaire pour la plateforme de streaming Disney+ !

Citation :

Untitled Walt Disney Imagineering Documentary Series

A Disney fan’s dream, this documentary series looks at the more than 65-year history of Walt Disney Imagineering through parallel storylines focused on the people, the craft, and the business. Oscar- and Emmy-nominated director and producer Leslie Iwerks is creator of the series that will feature exclusive interviews and never-before-seen footage from Disney parks around the globe.

https://d23.com/marvel-616-is-among-the-exciting-nonfiction-projects-just-announced-for-disney/

Excellente nouvelle ! Ça me pousse un peu plus à prendre un abonnement Disney + 

Ah yes, très bonne nouvelle! On va donc enfin pouvoir voir ce documentaire, je n'y croyais plus. x) Et au vu de ce que Leslie Iwerks veut raconter, un sujet qui est en perpétuelle évolution, faire une série est une très bonne idée.

Oui c'est officiel il arrive enfin

Nous l'attendons depuis une demi-douzaine d'année, mais d'un film documentaire de 90 minutes à l'origine, nous aurons au final une série documentaire d'une durée de six heures :  

Citation :

We are FINALLY happy to announce our long awaited now six-hour documentary series about Walt Disney Imagineering! We thank everyone for your patience over the years, as what started as a 90-minute documentary in 2013 confidentially morphed into travels to every park around the world, interviewing hundreds of Imagineers who shared their personal behind-the-scenes stories while mining the never-before-seen images across Disney’s global archives. We appreciate the many inquisitive emails and messages from fans over time wondering “What’s up Iwerks!?” even though we could not disclose our goings on until now. Needless to say, we have been having lots of fun and are excited to share it with you. Stay tuned for more updates between now and launch...

Leslie Iwerks - 12 avril 2019.

C'est dans la boite ! Il n'y plus qu'à attendre la diffusion sur Disney+  

Citation :

Our talented, fun, creative production team at Iwerks & Co is happy to announce our locked episodes on THE IMAGINEERING STORY! Scoring with the amazing composer Jeff Kryka, and on up to Skywalker Sound for some final mixing with our wonderful narrator, to be announced soon! And thanks to our hardworking production dog, Rickie, who got into the office supplies today...

Leslie Iwerks - 1er août 2019.

Citation :

We’re happy to announce that the incredibly talented Angela Bassett is narrating Iwerks and Co.’s The Imagineering Story for Disney+!

Leslie Iwerks et Bob Weiss, Président de Walt Disney Imagineering, ont présenté un premier aperçu de The Imagineering Story à la convention D23 Expo 2019.  

Citation :

Here’s the full synopsis of the Disney+ original series:

   Behind the magic of every Disney theme park lay mud, sweat, and fears. Creating happiness is hard work. For nearly seventy years, a unique blend of artists and engineers have cultivated an impossible notion from the mind of one man, Walt Disney, into a global phenomenon that touches the hearts of millions. These designers are called – Imagineers.

   Given unprecedented access, Academy-Award nominated filmmaker, Leslie Iwerks, leads the viewer on a journey behind the curtains of Walt Disney Imagineering, the little-known design and development center of The Walt Disney Company, to discover what it takes to create, design and build twelve Disney theme parks around the world.

   The story of Walt Disney has been told. The story of animation has been told. But the story of Imagineering lies deep within the essence of Disney, starting with its founder, Walt himself. This six-hour series chronicles its history – an organization best described as equal parts artist studio, design center, think tank and innovation laboratory. This is where an eclectic group of creative people bring ideas to life. They’re responsible for making make-believe believable inside the Happiest Places on Earth.

   People are connected to the Imagineers through their work, and yet, they remain a mystery. Three narrative threads intertwine through the decades -the spirit of the designers, the skill of the craft, and the drama of the theme park business. The viewer goes behind the scenes to witness the creation of Disneyland and every subsequent theme park, from Epcot and Disney’s Animal Kingdom to the parks in Tokyo, Paris, and Shanghai. The viewer sees the trials and tribulations as well as the joys and successes, behind the making of classic attractions – from Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion to new favorites like Cars Land and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

   From the words of the designers themselves and through never-before-seen archival footage, the viewer discovers who made these places and why. Guests sense that these places and these attractions grow from the heart of someone. This isn’t a corporate product put out there. Imagineers pour their hearts out there for guests to walk through and experience. These projects do change the world. They are places of acceptance, reassurance, and optimism during troubling times. Conceptually, Imagineering appears a similar place as it did under Walt. Very few companies have that creative DNA of continuity. The process has changed, the people have changed, but the fundamentals of who they are remains.

   Today’s Imagineers stand on the shoulders of those who came before. The keys to their future success lie in the culmination of nearly seventy years of lessons learned – tribal knowledge passed down through the generations. Once a spark of inspiration in Walt Disney’s mind, now the sun never sets on a Disney Park somewhere in the world.

   Narrated by Angela Bassett, The Imagineering Story is executive produced by Leslie Iwerks and produced by Michael E. Tang for Iwerks & Co.

arghhhhhhh

On en vient enfin à bout, après toutes ces années d'attentes! Et ça a vraiment l'air intéressant, la réalisation est pro, le sujet semble traité de manière sérieuse et semble bien aborder en profondeur la création des attractions Disney. Clairement une des émissions que j'attends le plus sur Disney+!

Rolala la bande d'annonce

Vinc a écrit:

Leslie Iwerks et Bob Weiss, Président de Walt Disney Imagineering, ont présenté un premier aperçu de The Imagineering Story à la convention D23 Expo 2019.  

Oh mais je suis sur la photo Comme ce topic le prouve, j'étais tellement impatient vis à vis de cette série que rater la conférence dessus à la D23 était impensable.
Si vous voulez voir les 2 premières minutes de la série, j'ai filmé tout ça et c'est à retrouver sur le Facebook, Twitter et Instagram de Disney Plus News. Le générique est juste incroyable.

Citation :

How Disney+’s The Imagineering Story Celebrates Walt Disney’s Legacy

It’s no secret that making Disney magic is in Leslie Iwerks’ DNA. The daughter of Disney Legend Don Iwerks and the granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks, the Academy Award-nominated filmmaker has been telling behind-the-scenes stories about The Walt Disney Company’s history for two decades, starting with the 1999 release of her first feature-length documentary, The Hand Behind the Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story. Next, Leslie will pull back the curtain on Disney Parks with the Disney+ original The Imagineering Story, a six-hour saga premiering at launch on November 12.

With unprecedented access, Leslie’s series will highlight Walt Disney Imagineering, the little-known design and development center of The Walt Disney Company, inviting viewers discover what it takes to create, design, and build Disney theme parks around the world. Leslie recently appeared in the IDA Presents: Disney+ Nonfiction Storytelling Showcase in Hollywood, where she shared never-before-seen footage from the highly anticipated docu-series and recalled how it evolved from initially being a 90-minute film.

“This started about six years ago, believe it or not. I had screened my film, The Pixar Story, at Imagineering. [Disney Legend] Marty Sklar, who was the former president of Imagineering, saw the film and said to me afterwards, ‘When are you going to do The Imagineering Story?’” Leslie recalled. “I said, ‘Well, you tell me!’” After making a formal pitch, the executives at Disney got back to Leslie and made her an offer. “They said, ‘Actually, we want to commission you for five years. We want you to travel to all the parks around the world. We want you to document behind the scenes and really capture the spirit of Imagineering and what we consider the golden age of that time.’ This was from 2014 to about 2017; it was an amazing experience to kind of relive my childhood.”

With the full cooperation of Imagineering, Leslie and her team spent half a decade filming on location across all Disney Parks—to the point where they had an “avalanche of material” to edit. After assembling a six-hour rough cut, Leslie went back to Disney and asked if they would consider a series. Disney liked the idea. There was just one problem: Where to put it? “There was no outlet at the time,” Leslie explained. By the time Disney+ was announced, everyone knew that’s where it belonged. “It was perfect timing,” she said. “They came in and said, ‘We would love to have this for our launch.’”

Initially, Leslie said her team had “limited access” to archival materials: “We had to pull a lot of the stuff from the Internet, because we had a limited budget.” But after moving under the Disney+ umbrella, her team was able to spend another year “really digging—and doing it properly.” Plus, now that she was making a docu-series as opposed to a film, Leslie had even more time to celebrate the Imagineers’ countless contributions. “As we got into it, we discovered so much really cool material—and it had never been seen before,” she said. “A large percentage of this film is material no one has ever seen, between photographs and archival footage, to transfers from raw negatives in the vault.”

Leslie, who is both the director and the executive producer of The Imagineering Story, also talked to Imagineers past and present about their work in Disney Parks. “Everyone is standing on the shoulders of Walt Disney. Everyone is standing on the shoulders of those who came before them,” she explained. “It was fascinating to see that evolution.”

The Imagineering Story will be told chronologically, to reflect the idea of Imagineers standing on Walt’s shoulders. “That, in essence, is how you build on the emotional thread of that story,” Leslie said. “Each episode, ultimately, has its own story arc, its own ups and downs, its own trials and tribulations—and it has a cliffhanger at the end.”

Citation :

[Interview] Leslie Iwerks, Director of ‘The Imagineering Story’ Documentary

As fans of animation, we love to get behind the scenes information of our favorite movies, and the stories of the companies that make them. And the company with arguably the most fascinating history is the Walt Disney Company, which started out as two guys in a tiny studio, drawing a mouse named Mickey. Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks’ creation spawned an empire that became so much more than animated shorts, including multiple theme parks around the world, dedicated to creativity, innovation, and of course, the studio’s animated creations.

On November 12th, Disney+ will launch, and among its slate of new programming, there is a new documentary series called The Imagineering Story, chronicling the history of the Disney Parks. The woman behind this series is none other than the granddaughter of Mickey Mouse’s co-creator, Leslie Iwerks! I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Leslie about her work on the series, some of the history of the company, and her family’s Disney legacy.



So to start out, for those of our readers who may not know who you are, can you tell us a little bit about yourself ?

Sure! My name’s Leslie Iwerks, I’m a filmmaker, largely doing documentaries for the past almost 20 years, and I’ve covered a wide variety of subject matters in my films, from movies and entertainment and animation, to environmental issues, social issues, political issues. [I’m] currently getting ready to launch my latest six hour series on the Imagineers called The Imagineering Story.

I know it will be interesting to our reader base here, you have a familial connection to the Walt Disney legacy. Can you tell us a little bit about that too ?

Yeah! My dad and grandpa both worked at Disney, my grandfather started with Walt back in 1918-ish, 1919, and they were business partners, and friends and collaborators on early animated films. And then he came out and met with Walt in California, and animated the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons, Alice in Cartoonland, and Mickey Mouse. He co-created Mickey Mouse with Walt and animated the early cartoons, and then was a chief pioneering technical genius for the studio, innovating on projection systems, and cameras and technologies that helped to further the Disney films and theme parks in new, innovative ways.



I noticed that your dad was featured in the episodes that I got to preview before the interview, were you involved in interviewing him at all ?

Yeah, I interviewed everybody. [I did] all the research, and questions, and was there filming with everybody, so yeah!

I noticed a big chunk of it was up to date interviews, and some of it was archive footage. Was it mostly new interviews, or was it mostly archive throughout the whole series ?

I would say we did around 250 interviews, individual interviews, for the whole show, traveling around the world and interviewing folks. But there were a lot of people that we interviewed multiple times, and there were a lot of, not sit-downs, but capturing people in the field, working on stuff, [and then] the archival interviews amounted to a whole lot more.

So I was curious, because you have such a long history of doing documentaries, was this Disney project your idea, or was this something that Disney brought you on to ?

[Imagineering] brought me onto it after seeing The Pixar Story. Marty Sklar really liked [that film] and said, “When are you going to do The Imagineering Story?” and I said, “You tell me!” [We] started talking about that because I was quite excited about that opportunity, and he saw how Imagineering would be a great story, and he knew a hell of a lot more than I ever did, ‘cause he was there!

So I said, “You’ve gotta help me figure out what the story is.” So we sat down, and I worked out kind of a story structure, did [we did] a lot of research. We went back and forth on email, on a bunch of different versions of the outline, and he illuminated me into a lot of things I didn’t know, so it was great!



It was very fortunate and fortuitous that I had Marty to help in those early days. I think the series has [been] largely expanded upon from that original outline, it went in new directions here and there, but overall, the major story beats are there. So his DNA is in the series and [I was] very fortunate with that.

So was the project originally conceived as a series, or did it start out as a film ?

It started out as a 90 minute film that was commissioned over five years. Imagineering said we want to hire you for five years to document the behind the scenes of the parks, and the making of Shanghai Disneyland as well. [So] instead of getting a budget for what I thought would be a year, year and a half of work, it turned out to be five years!

And then after we had our first cut, it was this amorphous, really long cut, and it was almost impossible to say we could do a 90 minute film based on the amount of material we got in the can, so much would be left of the cutting room floor, so I suggested to Disney, “Would you guys consider, taking this into a series? [You’d] probably get a lot more bang for your buck.”

[Then] Disney+ came along shortly thereafter and learned of this project and said, “Why don’t we take it over, and acquire it from Imagineering? We’ll fund the completion of it, and give you some good insight as to what might be good for additional filming.

[So] we filmed this spring, both in Anaheim and Orlando, for final filming and interviews, and then really got into the archives. [Then we were] able to get funding for further research [so we could] keep digging [and] get things transferred, [and get] really high res footage of material that no one’s ever seen before.



When I was watching the first two episodes I was thinking to myself, this probably started as a film, but Disney+ is the perfect outlet for something like this. I just thought it was such a great idea to have it as a series.

Yeah, [and we] never would have known that when we started. [You just] have patience in the process, and trust that [if] you make a good product, it will be seen at some point, somewhere. Or it will get acquired by some entity who will help to turn it into something even greater, you know?

Yeah, and I think that a lot of people don’t know a lot about the behind the scenes stuff for movies or theme parks, and I think that this is just the perfect opportunity to teach people what all goes into making something like that. Disney+ just seems like the perfect way to get the general public more interested in this kind of thing.

For sure. And it’s done in a way where it’s personal, with [real people] that already have a fan base within the Disney world, so we get to see them in a more personal setting as well.

Yeah, it’ll be really interesting to see what’s in the rest of the episodes. The first two were so interesting, I’m really excited to see more of the modern day stuff.

Cool, yeah, episode six is one of my favorite episodes, largely because we can all relate to it more than some of the other episodes that are kind of historical. We weren’t there when they happened, but Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the current projects, we all sort of grew up around, [so it’s] fun to see how those evolve.

In filming this whole thing, was there anything that stands out as the best part of the whole experience ?

I have moments that I like, that I felt were points I really wanted  to get out, like the Roy Disney section in episode two. I really wanted to make sure that we had a bow to Roy a little bit, because of all the hard work that he did. I just feel like Walt Disney gets so much of the credit, as he should, but his brother Roy was so instrumental in getting the financing in place to make these projects happen.



It was just kind of interesting, we got ahold of one of Roy’s audio interviews from back in the 60’s [or] early 70’s, during the time he was building Walt Disney World, and you just realize how much he was doing this for his brother and that creative spirit that he felt, when his brother was no longer around, and he got to work with the Imagineers, and really get a sense of all the things his brother was [trying to do.]

It seems like there was, not [a] newfound, but a personal appreciation for his [brother’s] creative spirit, his risk-taking, and not very often do you hear Walt complimenting his brother either. So I wanted to get those audio interviews in, [to really] have the audience feel this brotherly love, and the spirit that was there.

And you know, there was a point in time where [Walt and Roy] didn’t really speak, and they had a bit of a falling out, which we don’t really go into; there’s so many story lines we [could have gotten] into on this project that we didn’t use; but at the end of the day, it’s so rare to have two brothers that have created such a big enterprise, that launched the Disney company. So that was fun.

And I knew Roy E. quite well, [he was like] an early mentor for me, because he helped to greenlight my Hand Behind the Mouse film, [about] my grandfather, and he was a real champion of that, and a champion of my work as I moved forward in my career. [He] always took meetings with me, and [he became a real] friend, he was a family friend, so I had [him] in the back of my mind too while I was making this. I wanted the film to feel like it was told kind of from a family member, you know?

Yeah, it’s nice that the two families are still kind of connected in that way.

Yeah, and you know, my grandfather was friends with Roy, and obviously grew up with Walt, and Roy E. really respected my grandfather, and was friends with my dad, so all that was cool.

So anyway, I have a special tie to the Disney history, and it felt like now as [an] outsider, but still kind of an insider, to be able to witness, and partake in goings on in Imagineering, and witness all these geniuses that are just doing their thing, continuing that DNA of Disney and that spirit, and appreciating those that came before them.

So many people [at Disney] speak so lovingly of their predecessors, and they say they stand on the shoulders of those who came before. A lot of regimes or administrations, want to start fresh with a clean slate, but in this case, I feel like so much of Disney’s success is about knowing what that Disney DNA is, and not forgetting it. And I think you’ll see that in future episodes where certain mistakes are made because they bring in a whole new regime and things aren’t appreciated or revered like they should [be.]



I think you can even see that in the Disney “Eras.” Through most of the films of the 80’s, Disney fans call the “Bronze Age” of Disney, but then when you get to The Little Mermaid, they go back to all the old principles that Disney used to use for his films, and once they got back into all the old principles, it brought new life into all the movies after that.

Right, exactly! Well put.

I’m sure you learned a lot about Disney history in the process of making this series, but was there anything you learned that really surprised you ?

Every decade has its own surprises, and its own stories. I think the Disney California Adventure story was interesting, and to hear it from Michael Eisner’s point of view; [and he] was an illuminating interview, as was Bob Iger, just to kind of get their points of view from a top-level business standpoint, and how things were run.

I think at the end of the day, this film was kind of a combination of three storylines that are all interwoven. One is the Imagineer’s story, and their own technical challenges, creative challenges, and what they’re tasked to do. How did they overcome it? Given the [limitations and resources] they’re given, what can they do with that? That’s the Imagineer’s challenge.

And then you’ve got the second layer which is the CEO and the overall company administration. Who inspired what, and what was the take by various regimes, above Imagineering, and what Imagineering did? Did they inspire them? Did they curtail them? Did they hold them back for financial reasons? What were the things that impacted Imagineering from that level?

And then the third level is the overall arc, which is what’s happening in the world around them that impacts them as well? Whether it be economics, or natural disasters, or you name it. Weather. Anything beyond their control that impacts how they do their jobs, and how they achieve their goals.

For my last question, I’ve heard in interviews, some people talk about what they wished they would be asked, so in doing all these interviews, is there anything you want to talk about that you almost never get asked? Or anything you want our readers to know ?

[I want] to give a nod to my crew, my editors. Mark and Moe and Ian and the gang, because it was just a huge monumental effort to go through all that material and cull it down. And to have a great team of storytellers as editors was a real gift. With editors it can go really good or really bad, and I felt like I was on the lucky side, to have such a great team of really passionate editors.

I could tell from the finished product, the episodes I saw looked really good.

I think my takeaway on this film was that Walt Disney created the happiest place on earth, but when you really look behind the curtain, creating happiness is hard work, and that became our through line. And I hope that people that watch this film will have a newfound respect for the work and the time and the people behind all these amazing experiences [in the] parks. And I was just the lucky one to be able to tell the story. And [I] hope that I did it as good as they do their parks.

Rotoscopers - 6 novembre 2019.

Très beau premier épisode, long et complet sur les débuts de Walt Disney Imagineering jusqu'à la mort de Walt Disney. Cela couvre donc la création de Disneyland, la New York's World Fair mais aussi les prémices de Walt Disney World Resort.
La restauration de certaines images d'archives, notamment sur la construction de Disneyland, est géniale et donne une nouvelle dimension aux images.
Hâte de voir la suite.

Tu as Disney+ Dash ? comment voir se 1er épisode ?