I have recently returned to lovely Ontario (totally not being sarcastic at all) after my summer in California, and it seemed about time to write a blog post about my experiences.
The feeling of being told that I'll be spending my summer at Disney was indescribable. I was laying in my bed at the time, certain that if I didn't get a call that day it wouldn't be coming at all. Thankfully, the call came. It was a release of every sort of emotion, the words coming through the phone became a jumble and I couldn't think straight. All I knew was that somehow, my dream had come true.
Once I arrived at the studio, a second flood of emotion washed over me. I was standing in front of the animation building. Not the hat building, but the old animation building on the studio lot. The one that produced the hand drawn classics I grew up on. Walking inside was mesmerising. I didn't care that there weren't any of the old animation desks or a 2D feature being made inside or any of that. I was standing in the old animation building, and that was all that mattered. Also, there is a giant damned building with the seven dwarfs sculpted on it. How cool is that?
Next was the hat building, or the Roy E Disney Animation building. This had a different kind of magic to it, as it was where Disney was currently producing the films I dreamed to be a part of, housing it's army of talent. Filled with the names of people who I would slavishly search the credits for, whose names I would scour the internet for. And all of these names were now accessible to me as an intern. I could walk down to the animation wing and bother any of the incredible animators at work on Big Hero 6 (coming to theatres near you, November 7th!). Or walk upstairs and marvel at the art on the third floor, and those making it. I made sure to meet every one of my art inspirations during my time at the studio, and not once was I met with anything but kindness. People love interns I guess.
Looking back at the whole summer, I find myself smiling uncontrollably. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, and it felt that much sweeter knowing how hard I worked to achieve it.
Hopefully I'll be back soon.
