Floyd Norman: Playing with Toys

Wondering who that interesting character is?

Find out in the multi-part interview Jim Hill Media brings us with Floyd Norman, who worked on Toy Story 2. Norman, is considered by many to be the "10th Old Man," a member of Disney's trusted animation veterans, the "Nine Old Men."

He recounts an early discussion in Part 1:

It was the early nineties and I decided to stop in Pasadena's Old Town on my way home from the studio. I had just parked on Green Street when I noticed a car pull up directly behind me. A tall young man stepped out of the vehicle and called my name. Though I had not seen him in months I immediately recognized my old friend, Joe Ranft.

"Floyd," Joe shouted. "You've got to come up north. We've got some great things going at our studio." I had just signed a contract with Disney Feature Animation and purchased a town home in Pasadena, so I reluctantly begged off. It was a decision I came to regret, because the project Ranft was excited about was a little film called "Toy Story."

Norman also talks about the story creation atmosphere in Part 2:

The story artists in the Frogtown facility had individual offices. But we seem to spend a good deal of our time in the main story room hashing out the movie. I remember days when the crew would engage in a "story jam" that would last for hours. During these madcap sessions there would be laughing and yelling as sketches were pinned, ripped down, and redrawn on the spot. When we completed a sequence, the floor was littered with sketches and the storyboard was a haphazard mishmash of sketches done by different guys in different styles. Then the "chaotic mess" would be pitched to our co-director Ash Brannon for his take on the sequence. Once again, this "insane" way of working was in direct contrast to our colleagues down south where the process went according to the "efficient system" the creative executives had put in place.

Be sure to head over to the site to see what you've been missing!

Thanks to Animated News for noting that Part 2 has been posted.