Mark Henn is a veteran animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios.Mark Henn is a seasoned animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has worked on characters like Ariel in The Little Mermaid, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Jasmine in Aladdin, Young Simba in The Lion King, titular characters in Mulan and Pocahontas, and Princess Tiana in The Princess and The Frog. He was the lead 2D animator on Oscar winning Big Hero 6 and Frozen. His latest project is Ralph Breaks the Internet which hits theaters tomorrow. In this interview with indianexpress.com, Henn speaks about how he became an animator and shares his advice for aspiring animators.
When did you realise you wanted to become an animator? Did a particular film inspire you?
Yes, it was a boyhood dream for me. I was pretty young, probably 10-year-old or less, when I saw my first Disney film, Cinderella. And that was very influential for me. Another film I saw early in my youth was a film called The Reluctant Dragon, which was a behind-the-scenes film on a person going to Disney Studios. They go into an animator’s office, and you see an animator actually drawing and making animation at Disney and when I saw that, I was pretty much hooked as a small boy. So if you asked me then what I wanted to become, I would have told you, ‘I want to grow up to be a Disney animator.’
You are a supervising animator. What are your duties?
I and other supervisors are responsible for setting the style and direction of a particular character. We work with other animators to make sure there is a consistent style of animation and an acting quality that the directors want to see in the film. That’s a big part of what the supervising animators do.
You have worked on iconic Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Which character or scene in the movie was the most difficult to design or animate?
Well, I can’t really tell you about any one particular character that was extremely difficult. Human characters always present unique challenges. So, any of the princesses I’ve animated were quite challenging. Four-legged animals present their own unique challenges. I can’t say there was any one particular character that was a real challenge. They were all challenging in terms of mechanics and also in terms of giving a personality to them.
When and why did cartoon and animation move out of the kids’ territory? When I was growing up, it was still considered that they were made, you know, for the little ones.
Well, at Disney we never felt our films were just for children. We always felt very strongly that our films were for all ages. They have always been entertainment for everybody and we worked hard to make sure that the films had elements that appealed to adults as well as children and it wasn’t just simply cartoons for kids. We always thought that at Disney Studios and we continue to feel that way till date.
What are your thoughts on the 2D vs 3D animation debate?
I think it is an apples and oranges comparison. Depending on who you talk to, I still very much enjoy animating the traditional way. Our CG animators (animators working on computer-generated imagery) are very, very talented. And I had the opportunity to do some CG animation on Meet the Robinsons (2007) and I still enjoyed the final results. Seeing your character coming alive is still a very exciting feeling as an animator. I personally prefer traditional animation but I love working with computer animators and helping them to make their CG animation as strong as possible. So they are two different things and each one does something better than the other and vice versa. It is going to be an ongoing debate.
Which is your favourite non-Disney animated film?
I don’t have too many non-Disney films as favourites. I mean if you are not excluding some of the Pixar films. I am a big fan of those Pixar films…
No, I am not excluding Pixar films.
Well, then one of my favourite non-Disney Pixar films would be Nausicaä (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), one of the Studio Ghibli films, a Miyazaki (Hayao Miyazaki) film. I think it was in the early 80s or 90s. So that’s one of my favourites.
Apart from Ralph Breaks the Internet, what are your other upcoming projects?
I am very excited about our upcoming projects. We have a lot of films and ideas in development. I am not sure about what are we going on to next once I finish Ralph Breaks the Internet. But I am very much excited to work on something as soon as possible.
You directed a short film John Henry back in 2000. I loved it. How was the experience? Would you like to sit in the director’s chair again?
Oh, I certainly enjoyed. Thanks a lot for your appreciation. I certainly enjoyed directing that film. And I would very much like to direct again if an opportunity were to come up. I would definitely love to do that again.
What advice would you give to an aspiring animator?
Well, I always encourage young people who want to become animators to first become good artists. I think it is still important to understand fundamental art principles. I think that’s still very valid. Today, I also encourage them to get some basic computer skills. The bulk of their work is going to be in the world of computers, so they are going to use those skills to find good work out there. So these two things combined would be the best advice I would give to aspiring animators.
