THE FASCINATION is not so much in making them move as it is in making them emote. For Disney animator Aaron Blaise, the challenge in animation is to make the movement of the characters expressive of emotions and personality. "Anybody can make something move," Blaise said, "but getting it believable and entertaining--that"s pretty satisfying." Making a sequence funny is also important but not always. "It depends on what I"m doing," Blaise said. "If "'m doing a Roger Rabbit thing, then--yeah, I want to make it funny. But if 'm doing something like Aladdin or Beauty and the Beast, it's different. I animated some of the Beast sequences--about five minutes' worth. There are a lot of sensitive things in them, and trying to get the emotion across--that's really satisfying." When we talked in late October 1992 in the animation department at the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park in Orlando, Blaise was between assignments. In addition to Beauty and the Beast, he'd worked on Aladdin, doing Rajah, Princess Jasmine's pet tiger, and a couple Roger Rabbit shorts, Roller Coaster Rabbit and Trail Mix-up. Now, he was gearing up for The Lion King, flexing his artistic muscles in rendering feline anatomy.
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