Disney Features/Hiawatha/Haavard

[Rob Klein]

For Dan Shane and others interested in 2d animation:  That is, indeed, terrible 
news, that Disney has decided to make all their new features as 3-D from now 
on.  I grew up enjoying the fantastic artistry of Snow White, Pinocchio, 
Fantasia, Bambi and the like. I liked them for their art for art's sake, not 
just for the effectiveness of bringing the stories to the screen.  I, myself, 
and many of my colleagues were (feature animation) casualties of the 
Warner/Turner merger and the dropping of Fox's Phoenix feature unit. That sent 
a lot of traditional animation artists scrambling for jobs in TV animation, 
advertising and interactive products. It also sent some to try to develop small 
independent productions.  With Disney closing down its two (2-D)traditional 
animation feature units, this puts much pressure on a large group of animation 
artists, to procure jobs in what traditional feature animation studios are 
left.  I assume that Dreamworks will still operate their 2-D unit for a while.  
I don't know if WB still has theirs, or if Sony, or any of the others still 
operate. As, in the past, the other studios have followed Disney, this is 
indeed, a bleak prospect.  I can only assume that many of these artists who 
love to hand draw tradionally, will work on small, independent projects which 
will be of extremely high quality (with no interference from monied 
interests).  Many may try to market their projects by themselves on the 
internet.  This may result in a plethora of inexpensively made, high quality 
animated productions, available to the public at low prices.  In the end, it 
may be a boon for the public, in terms of choice and quality of new 2-d 
animated product.

I know several people that are working on such projects. I, myself, am working 
on a DVD series project, of limited animation stories based on Brasilian 
Folktales. Several of the people I worked with at Warner Feature Animation are 
working on high-quality projects, which can be produced inexpensively, with 
today's animation software and film-editing software and equipment.  


As regards Disney's Hiawatha: it is true, that Longfellow had in mind The 
Ojibway Tribe, as Hiawatha's in his poem. They are the tribe that occupies the 
vast area north of the Western Great Lakes (the southern fringes of Western 
Ontario, and the Iron Range area of Northern Minnesota. However, I don't 
believe I saw any reference to The Ojibways in Disney comic books and newspaper 
comics (which is the field of the original question). I seem to recall a made-
up (comical) tribal name used in the comics.  Can anyone confirm this? Can 
anyone tell us where the reference to The Ojibways appeared in comics?


Regarding Haavard: 
The "a" with "ring" above is the "new" letter (since 1948) for the former 
letter "aa". For English speakers, its sounds can be explained thusly:

In some uses,it can be pronounced similarly to the English "a" in "call", 
except it's a more closed vowel, and pronounced from the back of the mouth.

That letter can also sound as follows: It can be a slightly shorter vowel than 
the sound that would result if one crossblended the English vowels in "hot" 
and "hut". This particular use is NOT the "aa" in Haavard.

I am not a native Scandinavian.  Therefore, if I have not described this letter 
in the best way, I apologise. I ask, then, for a native speaker to provide the 
more instructive description, so our non-Scandinavians can know how to 
pronounce Haavard's name.


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