Animating Antagonists and Crafting Mushka: A Journey with Andreas Deja from Disney Mastery to Directorial Debut

Join us for an exclusive conversation with the multifaceted Andreas Deja, the creative powerhouse behind the film Mushka. Over a decade in the making, Mushka's journey is a testament to Andreas's dedication to storytelling and animation mastery. With a career spanning 30 years at Disney, Andreas has breathed life into some of the studio's most notorious villains, and in this episode, he shares the intricacies of crafting antagonists that are memorable for more than just their evilness. Discover how collaboration was crucial in shaping Mushka's unique visual style.

Immerse yourself in the art of animation as Andreas reveals the secrets behind bringing characters to life through voice acting and artistic vision. With insights from working with legendary actor Jeremy Irons, we explore the dynamic process of animating to dialogue and how this has influenced both Disney classics and Mushka. Additionally, Andreas reflects on his evolution as a filmmaker, where he expanded his creative horizons to include directing, music, and storytelling, underscoring the multidimensional nature of animated film creation. This episode is not just a journey through Andreas's career but a celebration of the collaborative spirit and the boundless possibilities in the world of animation.

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Transcript

Exploring Cinematography and Villain Building

Speaker 1 0:00

That was one musical note that I'm responsible for and proud of . At the end of the montage sequence where we see the little tiger and Sarah growing up , we see them in bed sleeping together , and the tiger turns over and falls over , and then we cut outside and we see the shadows of the bad guys coming in and I didn't want to end up , in terms of music , on a happy note . I said let's go .

Speaker 3 0:32

So it fits the image of these bad guys . So that was me .

Speaker 2 0:37

This is the Cinematography for Actors podcast . More than a podcast , cinematography for Actors is a vibrant community devoted to bridging the gap between talent and crew . Each week , our show offers transparent , insightful conversations with industry leaders . We unveil the magic behind the scenes , from candid discussions about unique filmmaking processes to in-depth technical exploration . Join us in unraveling the intricacies of filmmaking , one episode at a time . It's more than just cameras and lenses we aim to inspire , educate and empower as we peel back the curtain on the art of effective storytelling . Now on to the episode .

Speaker 3 1:09

Hi everyone and welcome back to another episode of Cinematography for Actors podcast , one of our shorter episodes here at Mammoth Film Festival . We are joined by our second guest today , the wonderful and talented Andrea Steja , who is the writer , director , producer and animator of Mushka , which we had the fortune of seeing for opening night last night . Welcome , how are you ?

Speaker 3 1:28

Good Thanks for having me Of course , and I am very excited because not only did I get emotional with you while you were on stage last night as we were talking about Full Circle which we'll dive into , that idea of the Full Circle career and things but I'm a cat lover and it was also just so wonderful to see the amount of passion over a decade that it took you to put this film together . How incredible .

Speaker 1 1:49

Yeah , it seems like a crazy amount of time to do one film for so long , but , as I explained yesterday , I mean the main reason was that our crew remained so small . I really wasn't able to assemble a large group , which would have cut the time maybe down to five years . People were busy , people were doing their own project , so I ended up with just being a handful , having a handful of people , and therefore it took so long . But these handful of people were really really good , really strong .

Speaker 3 2:14

I mean it's it just shows how important your collaborators are and having good collaborators who you can work with , because not only do they move the story along , but but it's just wonderful to work with them through that amount of time .

Speaker 1 2:26

Yeah , and I knew most of them , most of these folks , from working at Disney .

Speaker 3 2:30

Yes .

Speaker 1 2:31

I mean at one time or another way back , they worked with me on Beauty and the Beast , lion King , aladdin , all of those , and I was lucky especially to have my background painter , natalie . She ended up really painting almost 90% of all the backgrounds and we didn't give her a lot of indications in terms of what the background should look like or what the color should look like . We left that up to her .

Speaker 1 2:51

Oh beautiful so she had a lot of freedom to put her own personal stamp onto the film , so the look of the film is very much Natalie .

Speaker 3 2:59

Oh , that's so wonderful , the creative collaboration that comes into play Now . I was talking to Hayley last night and I whispered over to her because I knew we were going to be interviewing you today . Um , uh , we had tanner , you know , introduce you and he had you sign some dvds because you know you have such a wonderful list of credits to your name at disney and and kind of worked there for 30 years and have done some of the most well-known villains of all time and then also heroes with lilo and um and and stuff , and so I just wanted to ask you and I told Haley this how do you start a villain ? What are the key characteristics of villain building ? As an animator , you know what ?

Speaker 1 3:32

that's a good question and that's an important thing to think about . How do I make a villain interesting ? Because you cannot simply make them bad . That's boring If the villain just slaps people or says bad things . They have to be interesting . There has to be more than just being bad .

Speaker 1 3:49

Certain , maybe they have a strange sense of humor , or they have a sidekick who they talk to . You know , or they're arrogant , or you have to really find within this evilness an individual personality . So when you look at my three villains Gaston , jafar and Scar , they are kind of different from each each other . Gaston was so pompous , everything was just about himself , that's it . He's only into himself . So that was a nice angle the arrogance of that right and the vanity .

Speaker 1 4:20

And then Jafar was just power hungry . You know , he would do anything to be the number one person in the country , in the world , so to speak . So there was that . And then Scar was special because he was smart . When you combine evil and intelligence , they become extra dangerous

Animating Voices and Finding Style

Speaker 1 4:40

. And also with that wonderful voice of Jeremy Irons that I had to work with , where I swear every sentence that he said , every line , was just a joy to work with because it was so , so full of character . You know he's an actor who can make even a dialogue that is not so well written sound amazing because he just has a way with words .

Speaker 3 5:00

So he was probably my favorite voice that I ever worked with and do you have multiple takes of that voice for potential ways in which you change the animation and then you see what works best based off of how the the actor has done a few different takes of it yes , so of course we have the actor say certain phrases , or actually all of them , several times , and even often it's the case that the actor or the actress would even say themselves can I do it like one more time or two more times ?

Speaker 1 5:30

I don't think I hit it right on the nose and then we let them .

Speaker 3 5:33

Yeah .

Speaker 1 5:34

And so we have options and pretty much in 99.9% I agree with the directors . Which take is the strongest one , okay , because it's kind of obvious , which has the most juice and the most personality . And then they're giving me the audio and I listen to that quite a few times , close my eyes and just imagine with images how I could illustrate that , how I could come up with the acting for this particular line of dialogue .

Speaker 2 6:01

So the process at Disney is you are animating two dialogue . Is that the same process you used for Mushka ? Did you have voice actors first ?

Speaker 1 6:08

Yeah , because I was used to that kind of pipeline and that way of working .

Speaker 1 6:13

So we did storyboard the film first . Storyboard is like a comic strip , you know , where nothing is moving yet just still images To set the story . We did that first , and then we had the voice actors come in Tanner , of course , was a part of that and and we had the voice actors come in Tanner , of course , was a part of that and then I would do the same thing . I would listen to that recording and let that inspire me on how I would move the character , what expressions I would use and all of that . It's funny because most people think it's the other way around .

Speaker 1 6:36

Right , right that we animate and then the actor comes in and does sort of a voiceover .

Speaker 2 6:41

An ADR type of situation .

Speaker 1 6:43

Yeah , it's not .

Speaker 3 6:47

It type of yeah , it's not , it's actually the other way around . That's beautiful . We have some exciting news . Cfa has teamed up with we make movies to get you a discount on production management services , including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers comp for your next shoot . Visit we make moviesorg slash insurance and use code cfa 23 on your intake form for 10% off your quote .

Speaker 2 7:08

And did you animate ? Because I learned last night that at Disney you animate a character in a film , so everyone kind of gets a character that they're the actor for , kind of .

Speaker 1 7:19

Exactly .

Speaker 2 7:21

Did you animate everyone in Mushka or did you also have a few people taking on different characters ?

Speaker 1 7:27

It was a little bit different on Mushka , First of all at Disney , when I would do a character like , let's say , Jafar . I didn't do every single scene because there's so much footage that I need help . So for each of the villains I had about five other animators who helped me Great .

Speaker 3 7:43

Other project managers supervising .

Speaker 1 7:44

And supervising , but I'm also doing most of the scenes myself , so we're kind of busy guys . We're doing our own footage plus supervising the others , and then something that comes into play is that everybody draws a little differently . And that's normal , but in the end it should look like one character . So then it's my responsibility to say , okay , so-and-so , just did that scene . But Jafar looks funny in that the eyes are too far apart . Let me redraw that .

Speaker 3 8:09

So I have to do that too Now one of the things I really wanted to ask you was you brought up that from when you were 10 and saw the Jungle Book . It was 10 , I think you wanted to be an animator and work at Disney and they told you . You sent them an email and you asked them and said how do I work with you guys ? What should I do ? Where should I go to school ? And they came back and they were like do all of these things ? They responded and then they also said don't send us Mickey Mouse . Please have your own voice , have your own characters , come with your own talent and your work . What would you , how would you define , with Mooshka being your project outside of Disney and your own film ? How would you define what your voice is as an animator or what your style is , how you like to animate and act those characters out ?

Speaker 1 8:56

Well , with Mushka I found myself . I'm still an animator . I animated most of those characters . I wasn't able to focus on one . I had to do Sarah and the grandmother kind of all of them . Of course I had help again by others who helped me to finish the whole film , but I had to become a filmmaker . So I was involved in story and I was involved in music and giving notes on music , which I'd never done . If you remember , for example , there was one musical note that I'm responsible for and proud of , at the end of the montage sequence where we see the little tiger and Sarah growing up , we see them in bed sleeping together , and the tiger turns over and falls over , and then we cut outside and we see the shadows of the bad guys coming in . And I didn't want to end up , in terms of music , on a happy note Da-da coming in and I didn't want to end up , in terms of music , on a happy note I said let's go .

Speaker 1 9:51

So it fits the the image of these bad guys . So that was me . I came up with that .

Speaker 2 9:57

Note you know you're a composer , well , I wouldn't go that far .

Speaker 1 10:02

But I just felt like it had to be a sour note .

Speaker 2 10:04

Yes .

Speaker 1 10:05

So it was just so much fun to get into areas of filmmaking that I really hadn't been able before .

Speaker 3 10:09

Yeah , now please can you talk about for those that weren't there yesterday or haven't heard , maybe , previous interviews where you've talked about this . We talked about how , at 10 , you wanted to work at Disney and you saw the Jungle Book . And let's talk about your wonderful composer and sound and how it became full circle .

Speaker 1 10:26

Well , the whole musical journey started with a gentleman called Richard Sherman . As I said yesterday , he's half of the Sherman Brothers and the Sherman Brothers worked for Walt Disney and they are responsible for all the Disney music and songs , not in the films but also in the theme park . During the 1960s they actually wrote that song . It's a Small World . Oh , wow that doesn't leave your head once you hear it , we're familiar .

Speaker 2 10:51

We'll all be singing it the rest of the day now , because now it's in your head . Thank you very much .

Speaker 1 10:55

And Richard , he completely gets it and is not offended when people say that song drives me nuts . But both of these brothers , they had a way of just writing these memorable , super memorable tunes , you know . And they did that for Mary Poppins and for the Jungle Book , the Aristocats . And so , yeah , richard and I talked we just knew each other socially a little bit a while back and he asked me what I was doing . I told him the story of this film was going to do and , lo and behold , he said , said , maybe somebody at this table here who has a musical background can write a song for you . And I was just are you kidding richard ? You know , and uh , and he did , and you know what his family told me he wrote it that evening wow , he was so excited he was just excited about this new project , this new animated project , oh my gosh , and .

Speaker 1 11:44

And . So we used , of course , his song for the end credits . But there's a certain theme , you know , and uh , yeah , full circle . You know jungle book , uh , the bare necessities . I want to be like you . Yeah , the elephant song .

Speaker 3 12:12

You know that that was my childhood , and if you had told me , hey , little andreas , in about 50 years or whatever , uh , you're going to be working with richard sherman on your own film , I think I would have had a childhood heart attack it's such a wonderful moment I can't even imagine , I think everyone you know listening to this , and also every filmmaker has something that would be that for them , and I think that's why it's so wonderful to to continue to grow in this industry and develop and and really make good connections and good collaborators and and be a good you know filmmaker , because , um , it ends up always coming full circle , yeah , when you end up really , uh , working with one of your heroes that you whose work you and be a good you know filmmaker , because it ends up always coming full circle .

Speaker 1 12:47

Yeah , when you end up really working with one of your heroes that you , whose work you grew up with . It just makes it that much more special , because Richard wouldn't have agreed to work with me if he hadn't liked the story or the project , and the fact that he did just means the world to me .

Speaker 3 13:03

Yes , Andreas . Thank you so much for joining us here with the CFA Podcast here at Mammoth Film Festival . We are so excited we got to see Mushka yesterday and are excited for the world to continue to be able to watch it . Thank you so much .

Speaker 1 13:13

Well , thank you so much for having me . Thank you .

Speaker 3 13:15

We'll see you next time .

Speaker 1 13:16

Okay , Thanks everyone .

Speaker 4 13:20

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